Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Few understand better the passing of the old, informal constitution and its virtues than Roger Scruton. Commenting on Gordon Brown’s proposals, Roger has said that rather than a written constitution he’d like his familiar liberties to be returned to him, such as the right to hunt old foxie to his death and then recount the leaps and falls in a cheerful smoke-filled pub, preferably one could add, in the company of a hereditary peer or two who also exercise their judgement in the upper house.
For many, the old order was indeed a way of life. It is interesting to debate when and by whom that consensus was ploughed up. Nonetheless, as he will probably agree, a return to his longed-for bad old days is most unlikely. What, then, is Roger’s preferred plan B for the country of his birth, given the constitutional discussion that has now begun?
