Is Cameron a revolutionary?

Unlike the Americans and countless other imitators, we do not have a document with the stamp and authority of the founding fathers to guide us through the highways and by-ways of constitutional change.

In some ways, that makes the unthinkable more possible, unconstrained as we are by the rigidity of the printed word.

But convention can be equally powerful and it still takes a good deal to shift those structures and practices that have become embedded in our national institutions.

David Cameron seems intent on a shake-up, along with at least two cabinet ministers, including Alan Johnson who wants a referendum on proportional representation at the time of the next general election.

Many of Mr Cameron's ideas, set out in his speech to the Open University, have been floated before.

Giving parents and communities more power over schools and house building have been key themes of the Tory leader's premiership.

And ever since Ken Clarke's democracy task force reported, there has been plenty of talk about giving more power to MPs to hold ministers to account and even reducing the numbers of MPs at Westminster.

There are also some easy wins: so putting Parliament on YouTube will face no resistance; nor will sending out text messages to the public, letting them know where a particular bill is in its Parliamentary passage (let's see how many sign up for that one).


The real question is whether the public will buy the idea that constitutional reform is a panacea for the current difficulties

But his new thought for the day is the fixed term Parliament; not a commitment to a fixed term Parliament, but the promise to give it "serious consideration".

Like the farming out of decisions on interest rates to the Bank of England, why not depoliticise the timing of elections, remove that fact of the pre-election giveaway (though there's no chance of one of those this time round) and allow everyone to set their watches by the date of the next poll.

But as Mr Cameron knows only too well, there are difficulties with such an idea.

First of all, how does it chime with the idea of giving more power back to the people?

Isn't there a danger that the people will merely see it as giving those pesky politicians a guaranteed time in power, however badly they are doing?

Secondly, Mr Cameron has made much in recent weeks of his call for a general election now - Gordon Brown, he says, is an unelected prime minister.

But Mr Brown has a year to run on his government's mandate, so David Cameron runs the risk of it looking like he is trying to have his cake and eat it.

The other difficulty for Mr Cameron is that he is a Conservative - in other words, his party is not traditionally identified with radical constitutional change.

And you can expect to hear a great deal from the Labour Party, pointing out that the Tories opposed devolution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and House of Lords reform.

But the real question is whether the public will buy the idea that constitutional reform is a panacea for the current difficulties.

Can they be persuaded that the political nadir we have now reached can be remedied by fixing the roof?

Or will the people end up concluding that the rot comes from within?

Broadway theatres defy recession

Sales for tickets to see plays and musicals during the 2008-2009 season topped $943.3m (£589.5m).

It was $6m ($3.75m) up on last year, despite attendance being slightly down.

"If you put on a great show, people will come - even in the midst of an economic downturn," said Charlotte St. Martin, of the Broadway League.

"Research has shown that theatre provides escape from everyday life and especially during these tough times, we have given the audiences a reason to see a show."

Hollywood stars

The Broadway League, an industry trade association, said the 2008-09 season featured 43 shows, with revivals of classic musicals Hair and West Side Story among the biggest hits.

Hollywood names like Katie Holmes, Angela Lansbury, James Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon have also proved a big draw, the Broadway League said.

Attendance was 12.15 million, compared to 12.27 million during the 2007-2008 season.

The League's figures were approximate after estimated profits for the now-closed Young Frankenstein.

The Mel Brooks musical, which closed in January after a year's run, did not release its weekly figures.

International Problems of Resources and Energy


The world situation concerning resources and energy has taken on a very fluid form because it has reached a major turning point as a result of OPEC's petroleum policy, a rapid increase in the world's demand for energy, and the increased awareness of "an energy crisis" which stems from the prospects of an energy shortage in the United States.

OPEC member countries have been trying to emerge from their traditional status of being a mere tax collector in an effort to increase their control over the international petroleum industry by taking such measures as nationalistic policies on pricing, participation in management and nationalization. It seems that these policies are an irreversible current of history. As a result, the function of regulating the supply of petroleum to the world, hitherto performed by the international oil majors, has become gradually subjected to great restrictions. And there have been structural changes in the international supply of petroleum, and how to secure a stable supply of petroleum has become a matter of major concern to the major oil-consuming countries.

The prospects of an energy shortage in the United States has produced a strong impact on the energy and petroleum markets of the world. It is expected that imports of petroleum by the United States will rapidly increase in the future, and it has become clear that the United States, which hitherto has been an outsider in the world petroleum market, will enter the market as a giant importer. It is feared that there might develop an excessive competition between Japan and countries of the West, which are also heavily dependent on overseas petroleum, over efforts to secure petroleum.

It is also necessary to pay attention to the OPEC members' policies on resource conservation. Some of the OPEC members have already taken strong measures to conserve their resources. Some of the oil-producing countries with the greatest future potential resources do not necessarily have a strong incentive to increase production because they already have tremendous revenues from petroleum, and there is a fear that the oil-producing countries might not supply petroleum to the extent needed by the consuming countries.

Japan is poor in domestic resources and will have to import energy and petroleum resources in increasing quantities in the future. Therefore, Japan must extensively widen its scope of cooperation with the countries producing energy and petroleum on the basis of general international cooperation, within the situation where the interests of the producing countries, consuming countries and the international oil majors are intertwined in growing complexity, and promote multilateral international cooperation with the countries importing energy and petroleum, as well as to work out and carry out comprehensive measures to secure a stable supply of energy and petroleum resources over a long period of time.

LeBron's Big Night Finishes With A Miss

he Cleveland Cavaliers were down two with seconds remaining. Cavalier Nation -- this time, nearly 1,000 miles from the action -- was in panic mode, thousands certainly afraid to look at their televisions, thousands more certainly on the brink of tears.

Mo Williams was standing out of bounds with the ball in his hands, zeroed in on King James and King James alone. And the dream season was a swish or a miss away from either salvation or, for all intents and purposes, the end.

But this time, it would be more difficult. The Orlando Magic had learned their lesson after letting LeBron James squirt free for a game-winning 3-pointer in Game 2. This time, they put two defenders on him. This time, it seemed like he wouldn't even get the ball.

But he did, using what Magic coach Stan Van Gundy called a "tight end" move to shake loose from Mickael Pietrus and Courtney Lee.

He caught the pass from Williams, who was stationed beneath the Magic basket, in the backcourt with 3.2 seconds to play, and began racing toward the left sideline, eyeing the clock and preparing to fire.

But from the moment he let it go, he knew his 38-footer didn't contain a miracle, and as the buzzer sounded, it hit the backboard, short and to the left.

This time, there would be no talk of history, no talk of exorcising demons of seasons past. This time, James could not save the Cavs.

"I always feel like I can make any shot that I take," James said. "But as it traveled, it didn't look good. It felt good leaving my hand but didn't look good in the air."

Now nothing looks good for the Cavs.

Orlando's 116-114 overtime victory gave them a 3-1lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final, and if you think they'll come back and win the next three games, I've got a new pair of Nike Air Broussards to sell you for $350.

In the 62-year history of the NBA, 190 teams have taken a 3-1 lead in a playoff series, and 182 of them (or 95.6 percent) have won.

And that's not even to mention the Cavs' lousy history against this Magic team. A nightmare matchup if there ever was one, Orlando has now beaten Cleveland 10 times in 14 meetings over the last three years.

Eminem out-sells other US albums

Eminem's new record Relapse has sold more copies in its first week of release than any other album released in the US this year.

Nielsen SoundScan, the firm that tracks music sales, said his first album in nearly five years sold 608,000 copies.

The record beat Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, which topped the charts last week, after selling 215,000 copies in three days.

Eminem is currently number one in the UK and US album chart.

Relapse is Eminem's fifth straight number one album.

His last record in 2004, Encore, sold 711,000 in its first week - though that was only across four days.



It went on to sell 5.1 million copies.

In February the star's long-awaited comeback single broke a download record and topped the US Billboard singles chart.

Crack A Bottle, which also features Dr Dre, sold more than 418,000 online copies, the most ever in a first week of release.