Whisper it, but maybe MPs are enjoying this bit of enforced leave

Most of the restaurants are closed, the normally bustling tables sit empty and people are in jeans or shorts in the bosses’ absence. It does not feel like a constitutional crisis

As weather-watchers know, the calmest part of the hurricane is its centre – which is exactly the experience of working at the Palace of Westminster this week.

Outside, the country appears to be sinking closer to a state of anarchy, as judges decide whether the prime minister lied to the Queen and acted unlawfully when shutting down parliament for five long weeks.

My disbelieving siblings abroad are pestering for information about the basket case of a homeland they left behind years ago, believing their brother to be at the heart of the action.