Britain's conversation with itself can, more easily than in the recent past, descend into a swirling lather of indignation. Where a significant section of public opinion is in alliance with a part of the political elite the populist trend can appear unstoppable. This applies to both left and right. As Anthony King says, governments campaign and react too much, and govern too little. But it happens too at the domestic level.
Ministers feel impelled to do something in response to an outcry - often over a health scare.
What they do is often then hurried and misconceived. More recent examples include the Dangerous Dogs Act, gun control after Dunblane and much of the policy reaction to BSE and E. coli. And Derek Lewis, the former head of the prison service, describes in his book Hidden Agenda how policy on crime and prisons was often driven by Michael Howard's need to talk tough on the evening news. But perhaps there is something to be said for the new populism, too. The elite domination of the European debate in France and Germany is not a good advertisement for the old way of doing things.