This may seem a strange thing to say: Democracy isn't actually about finding out what the people want and just trying to do it. Democracy is about setting out a vision and a plan for the country and persuading people to follow it.
I really hate how the word populist is used.
Simple fact, if an opinion is popular. Completely ignoring it is anti-democratic.
If as a leader, you think it is a bad opinion. Convince the voters of that. That is after all your job as a leader of a representative democracy.
When "populist opinion" is used to encourage an idea to be ignored entirely. It clearly paints your political opinion as non-democratic.
Far too many of our politicians seemed to have forgone the importance of convincing the public to follow there lead.
The only thing I want to hear from Tony Blair is the death rattle and frantic struggling after the hangman pulls the lever.
and that vision is ... more austerity? more collapse for the poor and more champaign for the rich? fucking AI?