IF you enjoy life in a free society you must exercise responsibility as well as expressing your rights.

Those responsible for so-called Wikileaks have, in my view, acted irresponsibly. The unauthorised release of classified or personal information threatens life and, at a more prurient level, the reputation of innocents.

It will be a sad day when everything about us is laid bare. With the sovereignty of the individual trashed, we will be reduced to inconsequential bits of a collective - a grisly prospect.

Retired admirals and generals in the Lords have been grumbling about defence cuts. Two points. Firstly, we risk banging the drum for our own particular interest without necessarily bothering with the big picture. Secondly, currency is vital for anybody that holds themselves up as an expert. Evidently, Admiral Lord West has not shifted his worldview since he and I served in HMS Bristol in the late 1980s. Wondering what a Britain without aircraft carriers will do in the Pacific if the Korean conflict deteriorates rather misses the point. Post imperial Britain has no business doing anything in America’s backyard.

It was good to have my report Fighting Fit dealing with military mental healthcare endorsed by David Cameron at the dispatch box. Its 13 recommendations are in the process of being taken forward by the MoD and the Department of Health.

I know many of my constituents will have been as sickened as I was by the behaviour of the tuition fee mob last week. Vandalism, hooliganism and gross disrespect shown towards national monuments, notably the Cenotaph, must not be tolerated. I was pleased that the Home Secretary when asked about one highly privileged, expensively educated individual who took it into his head to swing from the union flag at the Cenotaph, presumably knowing the distress it would cause, agreed that such outrageous behaviour should be met with the full rigour of the criminal justice system.