NICK Clegg has gone up a notch in my estimation following his refusal to share airport accommodation with an Argentine delegation even if, by all accounts, it was Britain’s deputy PM who ended up shifting to the cheap seats.

Buenos Aires is now going further than a bit of sabre rattling. It’s becoming a serious pain in the neck, apparently pressurising financial institutions to disengage from the Falklands. It’s difficult to know where this will end but we should remember that bullies throughout history are characterised by their nose for displays of weakness.

I am fully supportive of plans to have magistrates’ courts sit out of hours to deal with drunken yobs. It is important that people apprehended are brought before JPs swiftly so that justice can be dispensed immediately. We need to ensure that town centres are made more congenial to people who want a nice evening out and do not want to have to contend with drunken behaviour on the part of a few.

The budget is always a big occasion.

With the UK poised on the edge of a credit downgrade, we have to continue with the austerity measures that so far have allowed the country to borrow competitively.

In my view, cutting the temporary 50p income tax rate to 45p is sensible on revenue raising grounds, especially since the upper rate is the highest in the western world. At the other end of the spectrum, the removal of large number of people from tax altogether is obviously right and fiscally efficient.

The tapering of child benefit cuts shows the government has been listening while maintaining its focus on controlling the welfare budget.

The Queen came to Parliament to mark the Diamond Jubilee. No doubt she was as bewildered by the Speaker’s oration as the rest of us, but, consummate professional, she did not let on. I’m so very glad that Her Majesty used her speech to end any speculation in her 60th anniversary year that she might step down.

Long may she reign.