LAST week was a time to salute and give thanks for our D-Day heroes. Seventy years ago the quintessence of evil in the form of Nazism that had swept across Europe was being doggedly beaten back at great cost. We must never forget.

I like the State Opening of Parliament. In particular the bit where Black Rod – traditionally a retired general chosen for having legs that look good in tights – gets the door of the Commons slammed in his face.

This piece of theatrical truculence is meant to assert the supremacy of the elected House. Point made, MPs trot down the corridor to the Lords to hear the Queen read a speech written by the government outlining what we will do in the coming months.

I’m pleased as an MP representing a lot of service people that the office of Service Complains Commissioner will be developed by Act of Parliament into an Ombudsman function.

I spent quite a lot of time helping in the Newark byelection and met a lot of very nice people, compensated for the murderously long round trip from our house in Wiltshire.

The outcome did not surprise me.

Interestingly, I found non- Tory voters intending to vote Conservative last Thursday for fear of getting UKIP and its candidate whose take on life worried them.

That said, UKIP has undoubtedly become the repository for reams of protest votes, an office previously discharged by the Lib Dems. That’s clear from Nick Clegg’s party losing its deposit even if it managed to beat the Loony Party’s “Nick the Flying Brick” into seventh place.

My good friend Michael Gove is right to reinvigorate the campaign to bump this country’s numeracy and literacy rates to the top of the league table of comparable states rather than tolerate them scraping along the bottom.

In the decades ahead Britain must increasingly live by its wits.

We cannot continue to waste our indigenous talent and human resources if we are to succeed.