Sun 27th Nov .

What passes for the British constitution is ­famously uncodified and largely unwritten, a make-work of rags and patches, empty bling and hand-me-down protocol which politicians treat as gospel or guidelines as political expediency tends. The British constitution is the name we give to dignify a bag of stitch-ups and holding positions, confidence tricks, stopgaps and compromises.

It’s a bundle of old parchments, negotiable ­etiquette, conventions more honoured in the breach than the observance, and the all-important royal twaddle – all smoothed sleekly out by the usual channels to create an illusion of dignity, continuity and the impression that anyone knows what the hell is going on. Only the British could imagine that this compromised and often hypocritical mess demonstrates some kind of genius for governing by muddling along. Andew Tickell.