So Mr Trimble must particularly dread a violent clash between atavistic hardliners and progressives.

ECONOMIST: Northern Ireland

The government has not tried to exploit Greek nationalism, but anything that involves Balkan neighbours tends to stir atavistic emotions.

ECONOMIST: George Papandreou, flouting Greek tradition

Scandal, or an eruption of atavistic, Conservatism may yet weaken Mr Cameron.

ECONOMIST: Gordon Brown

It's hot and easy to chew, and the juices drip down your chin, sending an atavistic memory of primal feasts racing through your nerves.

NPR: Building a Better Burger

Was it some atavistic impulse to die alone, out of sight?

NEWYORKER: Miss Lora

The filmmakers try to make Arquette and Slater lovably goofy compared to the rest of the characters, including the atavistic mafiosi of Detroit and the coke-snorting scuzzballs of Hollywood.

NEWYORKER: True Romance

It goes without saying that atavistic emotions such as class revenge or the sheer joy of exercising absolute power are wholly alien to the character and political philosophy of Britain's present prime minister.

ECONOMIST: Into the reshuffle season

He has indicated that his party's atavistic defence of hereditary peers in the House of Lords may now be reconsidered: good, though it might carry more conviction if he had not held his two-day shadow cabinet summit this week on the estate of one of them, Lord Cranborne.

ECONOMIST: Too little Hagueography