What is the difference between a populist and a demagogue?
A populist seeks to spit the sweetest game, while a demagogue seeks to be the deplorables’ loudest mouthpiece.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
• A demagogue is a populist on steroids. Both should support the interests and concerns of ordinary people, but for current examples, the verb is not support, but rather exploit.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• The word populist gets more coinage today because the word demagogue sounds draconian. But the actual difference between the two seems to be getting narrower.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• The populist swims with the tide; the demagogue tries to persuade us that only he can turn the tide.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
Pastry forks are evidently OK
Is airport security safe?
It is made as safe as possible via security patrols, metal detectors, ID and luggage checks, x-ray systems and cargo checks. But 100% safety can’t be guaranteed because of the ingenuity of human malefactors.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• At Heathrow, I was told that I could not take a set of pastry forks on board a plane but was allowed to proceed with a crystal plate, which presumably could have done more damage had I been inclined to break it and use it as a weapon.
Avril Taylor, Dundas, Ontario, Canada
• It must be. When was the last time you heard of an airport being stolen?
Ron Lowe, Hope Valley, South Australia
• Against the obvious, yes.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• Fingers crossed, I’m flying out tomorrow.
Marilyn Hamilton, Perth, Western Australia
• Generally speaking, yes. Although the sniffer dogs and fertiliser tests can be a bit alarming.
George Gatenby, Adelaide, South Australia
• I have two artificial hips. I think of them as canaries to test metal detectors, which go off less than half the time when I am flying overseas. Airport security is not half safe.
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
• Air travel is safe, except in terms of causing climate change.
Luc Lebon, Lausanne, Switzerland
Tomato soup and England
How does a certain drink conjure up a place, season or time of day?
A glass of Kir always takes me back many years to a small hotel in Burgundy, inappropriately named the Hotel Moderne, where an ancient retainer in a red waistcoat from a bygone age escorted us to our room.
The restaurant overlooked a little river, the food was superb and they made the best Kir in the world.
Joan Dawson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Tomato soup from a thermos – childhood in England, and all those wet car picnics.
John Caryl, Orillia, Ontario, Canada
White male privileges
What privileges are badly behaved citizens entitled to?
Invariably, white male ones.
Louis Robertson, Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia
• Far fewer than they seize.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• World leadership.
Mac Bradden, Port Hope, Ontario, Canada
Any answers?
When did you first accept that you were in fact mortal?
John Geffroy, Las Vegas, New Mexico, US
How does a fiddle stay fit?
R M Fransson, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com
