Applying devolution to England itself would, he says, give us "a modern and effective federal democracy". If it did, that would make us almost unique, since there are very few democracies which are both devolved and effective.

 Germany's Länder can push its federal authorities into violation of EU law by refusing to accept British beef; Canada's provinces are in a more-or-less permanent deadlock over Quebec; and devolved Scotland and Wales are in crisis, to say nothing of Northern Ireland.

 Meanwhile, parts of Italy and Spain still want outright independence, Czechoslovakia broke in two, federal Yugoslavia exploded into multiple civil wars, federal Russia settles unrest with massive military assaults and bombs still go off in Corsica.

 Devolution and federalism are nice-sounding goals for the armchair constitutionalist, but the reality is that what is modern is not automatically effective as a system of government.

 The truth is that no "system" by itself has magical powers. Only the determination of a people will make a system of government work. With the determination to stay and work together, almost any governmental system works, and without it, none does.