"A more useful yard stick could be just "do you give a shit about peoples suffering or not"?"

And a more useful yardstick to determining how much you give a shit (than simply claiming to give a shit) might be how much you get your hands dirty trying to help relieve that suffering.

While I don't get my hands dirty, I have considered participating in schemes my current landlord oversees for tenants willing provide support for other tenants, unpaid social support essentially. What puts me off is dealing with aggressive behaviour and abuse from those who either expect someone to magically provide the four bedroom house (which doesn't exist) they need to solve their overcrowding problem or those who would (and arguably quite rightly too of course) object to what they saw as interference from busy-body do-gooders.

Eliza's received a great deal of criticism here, but for all the pooh pooing, I haven't heard anyone else sharing the ways in which they offer their time and get their hands dirty directly addressing the problems that members of the 'underclass' currently face in this country. As said, I know I don't.