The new Labour Leader did well today.

Quite the contrast with his predecessors, the bellowing Broon and the actor Blair.

Milliband was calm and forensic.

I liked the way he stuck with the issue, child benefit, returning again and again to the inadequacies of Cameron’s replies.

PMQs cannot be easy for either of them but, as Ed Milliband’s first outing as Opposition leader, he could have been forgiven for showing some first night nerves. I didn’t detect any.

Instead, it was Cameron visibly on the back foot.

Here is what Blair had to say about PMQs on page 111 of his (very readable) Journey:

…fifteen minutes may seem a very short time, but it’s not when you’re standing facing the howling mob gathered opposite the despatch box – believe me, time passes very slowly indeed – so half an hour could be an ordeal, especially if the wicket was sticky and there was an “issue of the day” around which questioning could coalesce.

PMQs was the most nerve-racking, discombobulating, nail-biting, bowel-moving, terror-inspiring, courage-draining experience in my Prime Ministerial life, without question. You know that scene in Marathon Man where the evil Nazi doctor played by Laurence Olivier drills through Dustin Hoffman’s teeth? At around 11.45 on Wednesday mornings, I would have swapped thirty minutes of PMQs for thirty minutes of that.

Elsewhere, a sober and measured speech from Pendle’s Conservative MP, Andrew Stephenson, on the terrible murders in Pakistan of three members of the Yousalf family from Nelson.

Andrew says he finds it “unbelievable” that two of the alleged murderers are arrested by police and then released on bail. Predictably, they didn’t show up at the police station when required and are now on the run.

He tells us that the post mortem finds 100 bullets in Tania Yousaf's shattered body.

When I read Andrew’s account of what happened I, too, was shocked but not surprised.

Corruption is deeply embedded in Pakistan. People have little or no faith in State Institutions, including the police. Bribes and back-handers are the order of the day.

We all want to see the killers brought to book. But, in a country that is so dysfunctional and unstable, there are limits to what any UK Government can do to ensure justice is done.

Small town politics in Canada

Voters in Ontario go to the polls on October 25 in the local elections and things here are hotting up.

Tonight, it is the candidates’ debate in a local high school and I am looking forward to it.

A guide to voting, published by the town, flutters through the letterbox. It tells me that, “Personal identification must be shown prior to receiving your ballot at the poll, or an oath must be taken. Identification must show your name, address and signature.”

Acceptable ID include a Driver’s Licence or an Ontario Health Card (photo version).

This reminds me of the huge uphill battle we had in the last Parliament to secure a commitment to individual voter registration. For me, it can’t come a moment too soon.

As it is, allegations of electoral fraud are becoming commonplace.

If Canada, increasingly diverse as she is, can take simple, straightforward steps to stamp out cheating in elections then so can we.

We shouldn’t have any hang-ups about sending election cheats to prison.

For a very long time.