Skipper

The picture is intended as a joke about the writing of Britain's constitution. Indeed there is an irony on this supposedly dry as dust topic. While Britain's evolving constitution has done so much to serve as a template for democracy everywhere and its transformation from absolute monarchy to representative democracy in a thousand years is truly astonishing, we are currently lagging behind many other democratic countries. This is partly to do with our innate conservatism, our disinclination to engage in root and branch reform. But now it seems we have a flurry of activity from Gordon and Jack and maybe we'll catch up a bit- or maybe not.

Politicians love to expiate on how they are going to introduce a new era of democratic politics, hand power back to the people and so forth, but rarely do they go on to deliver. How often, for example, have we heard local government is going to be given more power, to 'empower' ordinary people? We're still waiting. Does Gordon really mean all this stuff? We don't know but it does look promising, given that he's returning to the topic he raised in July with a consultation paper- if it had been a mere ploy, we'd have heard no more about it.

Brown's speech on improving liberty, complete with references to Mill et.al. must have pleased the likes of Henry Porter who has bravely persevered with this theme in The Observer for some years now. Citizens will receive more protection from the state regarding privacy, freedom of the press and data banks. Jack Straw backed this up with his speech at Cambridge promising a 'bill of rights and responsibilities', though whether this will 'enhance' the Human Rights Act or just muddy the water remains to be seen. Liberty has pointed out already that such promises from a government determined to press ahead with ID Cards and detention without trial are not that easy to accept at face value. The real test for me will be two fold.

Firstly, will Parliament be reformed in a truly democratic way: a substantially elected Lords and more powers against the executive like the right to vote on the use of troops abroad? Secondly, will the 'review' of voting systems show any sign of recognising the glaringly obvious and move to introduce PR for Westminster elections as well as for so many other elected bodies at regional and local levels in the UK? Actually writing the constitution down is less important though desirable. It will be a big 'ask' as it will so complex it potentially rivals in size the works of both Dicey and Erskine May. We should aim for concision and clarity: the US constitution, which has stood the test of time remarkably well, is only six pages long.