Jeremy Hunt's big day - the Autumn Statement. I was in early to secure a seat in the Chamber in my usual place. The proverbial helicopter hovered over No 10 for most of the morning. What it thinks it can achieve in that time is anyone's guess. The PM was in combative mood during PMQs, after which it was the turn of the Chancellor. He spoke for about an hour, announcing a bigger than expected cut in National Insurance. Regrettably, there was no raising of the tax thresholds and no cut in Corporation Tax. You can read his Statement on the website. After the Statement, the three day debate began. I headed to the Grimmond Room for the next session of our Defence Committee. We continued gathering evidence on the 'readiness' of our Armed Forces. Our two witnesses were The Rt Hon James Heappey MP, Minister for Armed Forces, and General Sir Jim Hockenhull, Commander, Strategic Command. You can listen to the two hour session on Parliament TV. In the evening, my colleague Caroline Nokes had an end of day Adjournment Debate, where she raised concerns about social home provider Aster Homes. I was having similar problems with Aster in S Dorset, where they are charging residents huge sums of money to either repair or replace sewage treatment plants. Caroline kindly included our issue in her speech and we are hoping for a meeting with the minister to press our joint cases. In other news, Shrewsbury was in mourning after four teenage friends were killed in a crash in north Wales. This was a terrible story and my heartfelt sympathies go to the family and friends of these young men, whose lives have been so cruelly cut short. Abroad, a four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was delayed until Friday, after it was expected the release of hostages and prisoners by both sides would take place on Thursday. Two people died after the vehicle they were in exploded on a bridge connecting the US and Canada. And the anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders upended Dutch politics after an exit poll suggested he had won a landslide victory in the general election.