Hi °C | Lo °C The corridors of power are buzzing again, and our MPs have returned to Parliament after recess. But the real show this week takes place a mile away, in Court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice.
For months, developments at the Leveson Inquiry have been a distraction from events in Parliament for Westminster-watchers.
But this week's cast reads like that of a political blockbuster. After Gordon Brown and George Osborne yesterday, we have John Major, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, Alex Salmond and the star attraction - David Cameron - on Thursday.
When the Prime Minister announced the inquiry to MPs last July, it was largely reported as being a 'phone hacking' probe. It seemed like the appropriate course of action at the time, with anger over the News of the World's activities at a peak. However, enthusiasm might have waned among ministers past and present since that day.
Lord Justice Leveson has peered into matters way beyond the interception of voicemails including, awkwardly for this week's A-list witnesses, the operation of inner government.
We have heard about Mr Cameron's 'LOL' text messages to Rebekah Brooks, Tony Blair's godfathering of Rupert Murdoch's daughter, and a chummy dialogue between a News International lobbyist and a minister's special adviser.
Yesterday Mr Brown raised eyebrows when he said he had not authorised his aides to brief against Tony Blair.
It's certainly proving to be a warts-and-all examination. And the question of just how government is carried out is rearing its head again.
Five years ago, the Conservatives published a report, called An End to Sofa Government, by a taskforce led by the now Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke.
It called for an end to Tony Blair's much criticised 'sofa style' of governing, demanding a return to proper cabinet decision-making and for the number of ministerial special advisers to be halved.
There's been little sign of that reduction. And decisions are now taken by the Coalition's all-powerful 'quad' - made up of Cameron, Osborne, Clegg and Alexander. They may or may not sit on a sofa, but the effect is the same.
The way the last Budget was released, with the good bits leaked in advance, suggested that the Alastair Campbell era of spin was not behind us. This was reinforced when the subsequent U-turns emerged while the press was focusing on high-profile appearances at, appropriately enough, the Leveson Inquiry.
Perhaps the pledge to do government differently will be another noble intention that seemed straightforward in opposition but proved rather tricky in government.
