If mainstream politics is in crisis, nobody seems to have told the party members.
If mainstream means popular, then let that popularity provide its own payment.
Occasionally, it can feel as if mainstream television drama has given up on letting dialogue breathe.
The example of neighboring Austria demonstrates the possibility of a breakthrough for xenophobic nationalism if mainstream conservatism falters.
But one thing is certain: if mainstream parties want to retain support in Wales, they will need to start talking about it.
If mainstream Hollywood cleaves to the story arc, indie creators prefer the story sine wave, with a trough for every peak.
That argument will be much harder to sustain if mainstream, middle-class districts of the capital like Mezze begin rising up to demonstrate, as it did on Saturday.
And even within those bounds, there is the risk that, even if mainstream hostility to alternative sexualities declines, they are still seen as fundamentally other.
If mainstream journalism is the first draft of history, then obituaries are the first entries in the National Dictionary of Biography.
Le Pen can be declawed, he thinks, only if mainstream politicians can learn to speak truths that seem obvious to the stressed middle class.
If mainstream parties begin to treat new members with respect and support, they will bring sensible solutions to problems facing the young, elderly, sick, disgruntled and fearful.
