Fixed term parliaments - a worthy reform

In the Guardian today Simon Jenkins advised Gordon Brown to ignore his detractors ("If I were Brown I'd tell the lot of them to get lost"), to stop dreaming up populist giveaways and to get on with enacting the progressive policies he purports to believe in. One such would be to make virtue out of necessity and introduce five year fixed terms for UK parliaments starting in June 2010. That would be a suitable legacy for someone who wants to be seen as a constitutional reformer but has so far failed to convince the public that he is any less opportunistic than his predecessor Tony Blair.