In one corner the world saw the Big Dog, eight years out of office and his energy sapped by heart surgery.

It should be no surprise, therefore, that the protest movement that brought down Mubarak no longer looked to the constitution for guidance.

Those whose claims look downright fraudulent should stand down immediately.

In these conditions, created by dictatorship, the vocabulary of revolt could not but concentrate on dictatorship—and its downfall—in a political discourse, and no more.

Today he said his Independence party and its Social Democrat partners were quitting immediately after a disagreement over whether he should step down as prime minister.