Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Serious question. It's a word that gets thrown around an awful lot these days, but it's hard to get any real feel for what it actually means, beyond the fact that it's usually used pejoratively. At its most basic it just means appealing to large numbers of people, doesn't it? In which case, a government in any democracy that isn't to some extent 'populist' isn't going to be a government for much longer, and an opposition party with no populist tendencies is never going to form a government at all.
In the context of Putin, Berlusconi, Le Pen, Farage and Brexit and of course now Trump, it's become common for people to talk about populism as an inherently right-wing thing, but there's also such a thing as left-wing populism, or at least there can be - it certainly looks as if Corbyn could use a bit of this right now, what with Labour's approval rating dragging along at levels not seen since 1983.
Can't remember who it was, but I recall a quote that went something like: "When our side is winning, it's democracy and the will of the people. When your side is winning, it's crass populism".
In the context of Putin, Berlusconi, Le Pen, Farage and Brexit and of course now Trump, it's become common for people to talk about populism as an inherently right-wing thing, but there's also such a thing as left-wing populism, or at least there can be - it certainly looks as if Corbyn could use a bit of this right now, what with Labour's approval rating dragging along at levels not seen since 1983.
Can't remember who it was, but I recall a quote that went something like: "When our side is winning, it's democracy and the will of the people. When your side is winning, it's crass populism".