There seems to be a line being drawn in the expenses disgrace between those MPs who may have committed fraud or who have manipulated the ‘rules’ to maximise personal gain – and those who have claimed for things that never should have even been thought of as a claim. In the case of the former it is in my view a matter for the law and resignation, and for the latter a matter of paying back, public humiliation and the electorate’s verdict in due course.

And then there’s the rest – who claim only for normal office expenses and proper receipts for renting or staying!

I can’t see this ever ending at the moment. And the awful disrepute into which we all collectively as MPs have fallen and the terrible blow to to parliamentary process and democracy altogether is horrific.

Also, this is the only story in town. And as someone who over the last week has been involved in two really desperately important issues both covered in the press: Will Pike’s right to compensation as a British citizen hideously injured in the terrorist attack in Mumbai and secondly the revelation that Great Ormond Street Hospital has been as bad as Haringey Council with regard to Baby P – I am worried that those who need to be pressured will not be getting the attention that the seriousness of those issues deserves.