Jennifer Nadel champions compassion as democracy’s fiercest ally on Closing Distance podcast
Jennifer Nadel, co-founder of Compassion in Politics and co-author of We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere with Gillian Anderson, joined Dominic Wilhelm on the Closing Distance podcast to emphasize why compassion and trust must stand at the core of modern democracy.
“Compassion isn’t soft. It’s fierce,” said Nadel, a barrister, award-winning journalist, and political reformer whose career has been defined by exposing injustice and holding power to account. On the podcast, she argued that embedding compassion into political life is not optional, but essential to democratic survival.
Compassion as a framework for political reform
Nadel’s journey spans investigative journalism, where her reporting on war crimes at ITN provided evidence to the United Nations, to co-authoring We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere, a call for shifting from individualism to collective responsibility. These principles align with Wilhelm’s Global Trust Project, which underscores trust as a foundation for bridging divides in society.
Through Compassion in Politics, Nadel has advanced reforms to bring empathy and integrity to governance. Initiatives include mental health support for MPs, campaigns such as Stop the Nastiness, and the Honesty Standard in Parliament, now being piloted in Wales to sanction dishonest politicians. “We’ve normalised politics that causes avoidable suffering,” Nadel said. “Compassion means standing up to dishonesty, refusing to turn away from hardship, and restoring politics to its moral compass.”
Building trust through compassion
Although critics dismiss compassion as naive, Nadel insists it is courageous and action-oriented. “Compassion requires courage. It means walking into adversarial spaces and saying there is another way.” This message resonates strongly with younger generations frustrated by political dishonesty, with only 1% of Britons under 35 believing politicians tell the truth.
Nadel’s personal story adds weight to her advocacy. After experiencing burnout from years of campaigning and frontline journalism, she rebuilt her life and concluded that compassion is not sentiment but activism: “Compassion is a call to act for the world we long for, not the one we settle for.”
The conversation on Closing Distance highlights the powerful intersection between compassion and trust, with Nadel and Wilhelm aligning on the urgent need for both to rebuild fairer, more truthful politics.
