The populist bandwagon suffered a setback and another step forward this weekend, but this is just the beginning, To find out why we have to look beyond immigration.
It was another one of those 52-48% votes, but just for once the majority voted for the old guard. At least in Austria.
In Italy things were back to front. The reformist candidate was the Prime Minister. Matteo Renzi wanted political reform and Italians who work abroad voted overwhelmingly in his favour, but the poorer areas, such as Sicily, voted against. This time the overall margin of victory was overwhelming, near 60%.
The party that now moves into poll position in Italy is M5S. If the ultimate result of the no vote is an Italian election, an EU referendum may well follow.
In Austria the position of President is largely ceremonial, although the President does have the authority to call an election. The victory by the more traditionalist, slightly to the left, former Green Party member, Alexander Van der Bellen, but by a narrow margin (just under 52%) is hugely symbolic. It means the majority of Austrians voted against the Far Right, but whether a general election, where there is one Far Right, and lots of other parties, will reflect this, remains to be seen.
The markets have reacted indifferently to the results, but then for once the final outcomes were expected, and markets don't tend to sell or buy when the expected happens.
But recently, the US Center of Economics and Social Research from State Ball University, found that 85% of job losses in US manufacturing during the first 15 years of this century can be explained by technological change.
Technology change is unavoidable. The lesson of the past is that technological change creates wealth, but it takes time, sometimes decades, for ordinary workers to benefit. Army records from the Victorian era show that during the height of the industrial revolution, average height fell, a symptom of a worsening diet.
Across the world, we are seeing a popular backlash against immigration and globalisation, but the real problem is lack of trickle down from 'progress'.
And this needs to be faced up to.
