Read this and go-WTF? Slavoj Žižek: ‘Trump is really a centrist liberal’

Depending on who you ask, Slavoj Žižek is either a darling of the international left; “the most dangerous philosopher in the west”; or, in some quarters, a cryptofascist buffoon, whose outspoken - although frequently ironic - stances against political correctness are singled out in particular as a grave threat to the cause, by those ready to disavow him on his own side of politics.

What happens to democracy when the majority is inclined to vote for racist and sexist laws?

That he is one of the most influential and indeed popular public intellectuals in the world seems more or less beyond doubt, though few self-declared Leninists could ever expect to draw sold-out crowds to their public appearances, as was the case at last week’s Guardian Live event at London’s Emmanuel Centre.

But Žižek is not just any self-declared Leninist: the Slovenian philosopher not only incorporates the intellectual rigours of Hegelian dialectics and Lacanian psychoanalysis into his wideranging critique of global capitalism, but also deploys an arsenal of dirty jokes and cultural references high and low to leaven the subject with sometimes outrageous humour - arguably rendering the critique all the more effective.