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Five Star Movement: Italy's populist progressives?

The Five Star Movement was progressive from the start. Now they have another chance to shake things up – will they squander this too?

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Five Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo. Paimages/Domenico Stinellis. All rights reserved.

Last week, a woman called Prima Pagina and asked: “Why were things that cost 50,000 liras priced at 50 euros and not 25, their supposed value?” She wondered why the spike in prices had never been rectified.

The radio presenter Giorgio Meletti, a journalist from Il Fatto Quotidiano, replied that customers did lose money, but that was compensated by the fact that “each of us has a relative running a retail business who’s made a profit”. A baffling answer, yet it is typical of a major current in Italy's national discourse, one often dismissive of left-right differences.