it has not been comfortable or easy but through the work of sir thomas legg and then sir paul kennedy in terms of past claims and sir christopher kelly and then sir ian kennedy in terms of future regulation we have achieved a settlement in which expenses have to be submitted openly for independent assessment. this is a very important outcome indeed. i am well aware that there have been difficulties in the first few weeks of the new ipsa regime but, to be candid, that is to be expected. you may recall that when heathrow airport's new terminal 5 building was opened in 2008 it was immediately beset by high-profile malfunctions which led some to suggest that the entire enterprise was doomed to failure. those problems were, nonetheless, overcome and now few would deny that t5 is one of the finest buildings of its kind on the planet. i believe that ipsa is traversing through the turbulence of its own terminal 5 experience but can emerge from it. as it does, the accusation that mps are "all on the take" will become infinitely less credible. as far as the increasing irrelevance of the house o