And as they cling to power in the commons, so is the commons less able to respond rationally to the challenge to its authority from Scotland and the continent of Europe, or from a judiciary awakened by both these developments and newly ready to assume (Laker, Tameside) a modestly more interpretive, continental-style role.
The series went to L.A. tied, but true Laker fans, with memories of 1969 still fresh, understood that it was already over.
West proudly proclaimed Bryant "the best Laker player of all-time" and predicted a Lakers championship.
THE death of Sir Freddie Laker last week reminded the world's air travellers of the high cost of flying before he took on, and helped to break, the transatlantic oligopoly enjoyed by the big airlines.
Many have tried unsuccessfully to fly long-haul cheaply, from Freddie Laker in the 1970s to AirAsia's Tony Fernandes in recent years.
Mr Laker would surely have been pleased by that.
IN A lifetime dedicated to piloting and managing aircraft of all sorts, Freddie Laker rarely felt scared.
For the rest of his life, whenever high spirits seized him, the big, ebullient, grinning Mr Laker would spread out his arms and mimic a plane.Yet the sky, he was soon to find, was not as open as all that.
When the skies are filled with swarms of them, fares should hit rock-bottom and Laker's dream may finally come true.From the archives: Freddie Laker launches Skytrain .
The wide blue yonder was out of his reach.That it is not so these days is largely due to Mr Laker.
Mr Laker had made flying, once again, an occupation for the elite.
