A new Constitution, do we need it?

Every so often, such as appeared on the page where my column used to appear on Saturday in the print Times, the discussion about whether we need a new Constitution raises its head above the parapet. Sometimes, the discussion is provoked by those who need to attract attention to themselves or to divert attention from other, more pressing, issues.  On other - perhaps synchronous - occasions, this particular flag is run up the flagpole to have it wave in the self-aggrandisement process of Premier Muscat. He seems to labour under the impression that the country Is waiting in awe for him to proclaim a "Second Republic", presumably with him taking Napoleon's place in the panoply of Grandees.  I tended, in the recent past, towards the idea that you don't need to fix something if it works. I freely admit that I was wrong. In my own defence, I cite this perhaps peculiar notion I have that the British system of checks and balances, inherent and unwritten in their, and likewise to an extent in our, Constitution, works and works well.  The thing is, the British system only works if it is respected and the events of the past three years have proved, beyond reasonable doubt (I invoke a...