For 17 months after the coup that drove him from power and into exile, Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's longest-serving elected prime minister, hovered like a spectre over his country. He rattled the generals as he gallivanted around the globe and acquired Manchester City, an English -Premier League football club, to stay in local headlines.

Last week, with his People's Power party allies ensconced in power and the generals seemingly sidelined, Mr Thaksin finally went home. His emotional return - which began with his prostration at the airport - seemingly made real the new government's pledge to bring back both Mr Thaksin and his personal brand of economic populism - so-called "Thaksinomics".