Allen & Unwin The British Constitution book English Hardcover 144 pages

On the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, bestselling-humorist Guy Browning - the author of the phenomenally successful Never Hit a Jellyfish with a Spade - has a bash at his own immortal document: a British Bill of Rights, celebrating the right bits of Britishness.

Americans are particularly keen on their right to bear arms. This strikes the British as odd, largely because there are no longer bears in Britain so the idea of ursine limbs for all is impractical at best. But, strikingly, America has a whole host of these crack-pot rights promised to its citizens, which over time have come to define the very essence of American-ness. Or brashness, as we like to say. They call it their Bill of Rights, which is a bit grand when you consider it's just a really fancy list. And considering the British probably invented lists - a list, after all, is just a queue of words and everyone knows the British invented queuing - is it not time to have a very brilliant, very better and and very British version ?

Guy Browning has made a career bringing profound thinking to places where it really isn't needed. He is the Creative Director of the innovation agency Smokehouse, a writer, film director and dad dancer.He lives in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England.