"It is how vulnerable a democracy can be to manipulation" - and still is.

The electoral system that gave us Hitler was what is generally referred to as "democratic".

Yes, he was elected by a minority of the electorate. But that's the normal state of afairs in countries we still call "democracies". Maggie Thatcher was elected by a little over 40 per cent of those who voted. So was Tony Blair. They both had huge majorities because of a bizarre electoral system. (Of course when the same thing hap-pened in Chile, the generals were told to take over - and that was a police state and a half.)

And of course all Presidents of America are elected by a small fraction of the country, given the tiny proportion of people who vote in yet another first past the post system.

The point I was making was, just because you can call it democratic doesn't mean you can trust it.