I AM disappointed that our MP Mark Harper does not tell us more about his job as Minister for Constitutional Affairs. This concerns us all, and one hopes that he would welcome our ideas on how we should be governed. We do know that the policy is to reduce the number of MPs to 600 from 630 and creating constituencies of a uniform 50,000 people. This means that West Gloucestershire will have to expand to meet the target.

I suggest we should take over Monmouth. In hundreds of visits I have never heard a single word of Welsh being spoken there even though it is a compulsory subject in schools. Of course Mark would have to introduce an amendment to ensure everyone in the new constituency could share the same benefits enjoyed by our neighbours across the Offa's Dyke in welfare, health and education/ Perhaps Anglo-Saxon, a most expressive language, could be substituted for Welsh.

Boundary changes must clearly be creating a good deal of tension amongst sitting MP's. It would only be natural if Mark found himself having to decline glasses of subsidised champagne in the Commons bars. But I would suggest there's a lot more to constitutional reform than drawing lines on maps. We are the only country in the world that does not have a written constitution. We rely on hundreds of Acts of Parliament many of which go back centuries when things were different and sometimes misunderstood. Magna Carta sealed on June 17th in 1215 was overwhelmingly about protecting the interests of the thuggish barons against a reforming King John. He appealed to the Pope, offering his support in the struggle for Europe by the Pope against the Holy Roman Emperor. The Pope abrogated the Charter, but there are still people who believe it is the foundation of English liberties.

Today the unwritten constitution works well for a tiny privileged elite who enjoy the best that society can offer. I might have joined it. I was the first boy in my grammar school to win a scholarship to Oxford. In the book of rules sent by the proctor Rule 1 stated "No undergraduate may fly his aeroplane within 20 miles of Carfac (ie. the city centre). I had just persuaded my girlfriend to lend me her ancient Hercules bicycle, and teach me how to ride it to lectures. When I lined up to be formally admitted to the university an American ahead of me was asked if he had any previous degrees. "Ph.D. at Harvard" he proclaimed. The official wrote down "No previous degree". What's the meaning of this?, he demanded. "Oxford usually accepts a degree from Cambridge but not foreign ones. Next please".

You can't get more elitist than that. But thanks to Oxford I was 25 years later guest of honour at Harvard. And thanks to Oxford (and Cambridge) we have a Prime Minister, a Chancellor, and a whole raft of top and mostly affluent people running the country. Are they superior? Of course not. But not many were born in families which cannot afford a bicycle and some have a flying start. How can we change the system and make it fairer and better?

I suggest we should start at the top. I admire the Queen for her sense of duty and long sufferance. How did she cope with Boris Yeltsin at dinner when he demanded Vodka during first course? Or how did she cope with the crusty Duke when he told the staff the royal family was hard up and they must bring their own soap to work. And how has she kept cool when 12 prime ministers have revealed to her the mess they are making in her name? The Queen has secured a future for the royal family by saying and doing nothing in public of a controversial nature for 60 years.

This means that the Prime Minister has greater powers than most dictators and even elected presidents like Barak Obama. There is nothing constitutionally that can stop the most crazy idea becoming law provided it receives a majority in the House of Commons which with the party system is not hard to achieve.

I am impressed with the Prince's Trust which helps youngsters into work, I believe every pupil in the state system should be enrolled in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme but they are trivial in the scheme of things.

On a visit to Sandringham as leader of some 40 of my old teacher friends I got on famously with the underling who gave us a special tour. When I got him off his script he had several tales to tell of the Queen's non-publicised activities which impressed me. Then he said: "When you come here to talk to the Queen, she will sit there and you will sit here."

The highest I have ever reached is being elected to the Forest of Dean District Council with a majority of 12 votes. But then that is more than the Queen gets. And most of our monarchs, let's face it, have been disasters except Alfred the Great in the 9th century.

Queen Elizabeth deserves respect, dignity and title, but I believe we need an elected president who has the power to call for a binding national referendum on national issues of a critical nature. I like the Swiss system.

The Duke of Clarence was presumptive heir to the throne. He was so degenerate that for a time he was on a police list of being Jack the Ripper. If he had not died when he did of a predictable disease he would have been King during World War One. What a morale boost that would have been.

We simply cannot always rely on an elite which I found at Oxford cannot understand fully what most of the people think, feel and need. Hence, let's try for democracy and hope for the best.

– Roger Horsfield, Bream.