Both chambers will be busy on Wednesday.  There will be the usual Prime Ministers’ Questions in the Commons and the House will be debating the Government’s proposal for 42 days’ detention without charge.  The Lords will be debating the EU (Amendment) Bill and important votes are expected, not least on the issue of a referendum.

The same afternoon, in the Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, we will be taking evidence from two former Cabinet secretaries (Lord Wilson of Dinton and Lord Turnbull of Enfield) and Professor Peter Hennessy on the Bill’s provisions covering the civil service.  Professor Hennessy is always good value for money – informed and irreverential.  We will then hear from the Clerk of the House of Commons, his equivalent in the Lords (the Clerk of the Parliaments), the Serjeant at Arms and Black Rod, on demonstrations in the vicinity of Parliament.  It will be interesting to see if they all take the same view.  I suspect they may not.