Freezing conditions certainly woke me up as I headed to the park early in the morning for my run. Then into the House for a welcome bacon sandwich and then to CR5 for another session of our Defence Committee. Voting to replace our previous Chairman, Robert Courts, takes place next Wednesday. Today, we looked primarily on the Global Combat Air Programme and Defence industrial strategy aspects of the terms of reference. There were two panels, the first consisting of Lucia Retter, Research Leader, RAND Europe and Trevor Taylor, Director of the Defence, Industries & Society Programme, RUSI. On the second, we took evidence from Tim Rowntree, former Director, OCCAR, and Brian Phillipson, former CEO and COO, Eurofighter GmbH, who spent the majority of his lengthy career in Aerospace and Defence with BAE Systems. This was a fascinating two hour session and can be seen on Parliament TV. A sandwich lunch at my desk, when I drafted this week's column for my local paper. Early afternoon, I had quite a lengthy virtual meeting with a constituent, whose case I sympathised with. Then, it was off to meet Home Secretary James Cleverly, who was inquiring about the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Port. Having spoken to the police on this topic only yesterday, I was able to update him on how things were going. I am due to visit the barge again soon. In the Chamber, the Opposition ran two debates, with the last vote coming at 1900. The Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, was in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee for the first time today and said during the session that Israel "might have taken action" in breach of international law in Gaza. I am not sure that was a particularly helpful comment when you consider Israel is fighting for its very existence. War today is more transparent that it's ever been, with pictures and reports being beamed out virtually every minute of every day. I wonder how World War II would have played out with this much scrutiny and comment, a lot of it biased. The Post Office scandal took its first scalp, with its former boss Paula Vennells handing back her CBE with immediate effect after she faced mounting pressure over the Horizon IT scandal. The Lib Dem leader, Sir Ed Davey, the most sanctimonious MP in parliament, was also coming more into the spotlight as the then minister. And, in France, President Macron named his new lookalike prime minister, Gabriel Attal, who is horribly young for such a job.