Meaning of populism

SIR – The Italian elections have prompted me to wonder, once again, what it is that people mean when they use the word “populist” to describe a political party or an idea.

I think it means “a party or an idea with which I disagree but that attracts wide democratic support”. It is a word used to suppress ideas rather than confront them or attempt to determine their validity. The word has come to be part of an anti-democratic lexicon used by those who believe they know best and who seek to impose that “knowledge” on others. Andy Leeser

London E14