THE morning after the momentous debate on bombing Syria, the House of Commons returned to business as usual. It just seemed a little less full.

There were questions on local provision of superspeed broadband, on getting more children involved in sport and from Tracey Crouch, the sports minister, high praise for the chairman of the Ebac Northern League.

Not quite business as usual, perhaps.

It may not have escaped attention that this is my final season after 20 years in that hot seat. Certainly it hadn’t passed by Ian Lavery, shadow communities minister and chairman of Ashington FC. Hansard takes up the story.

Ian Lavery (Wansbeck: Labour): “The Northern League was founded in 1889 and is the second oldest football league in the world. It could not have survived without the dedication and commitment of supporters and volunteers. A shining example of that is Mr Mike Amos, the chairman of the Northern League.

“Like many other volunteers in non-league football across the country, he has done a fantastic job. Will the minister join me in thanking the likes of Mr Amos for their dedication and commitment, and wish him and his family the very best for the future?”

Tracey Crouch: “Football is nothing without its fans, its volunteers and the communities that they work in. It is important that we celebrate and honour those who dedicate their lives in a variety of different ways to football, so I join the hon Gentleman in congratulating Mr Amos on all that he has done to serve the Northern League.”

No matter that the Speaker seemed to be fiddling with his retractable pen, that a gentleman in glasses appeared to be in and out of somnolence or that other hon Members may have been compiling a Christmas card list beneath their clipboards, it was a real parliamentary privilege, nonetheless.

The extract from Hansard is immodestly reproduced and very gratefully acknowledged.

PART of the demob process, as readers will know, is the Last Legs Challenge. Last Saturday, Newcastle to Morpeth, it passed the 300-mile mark.

From the Regent Centre in Gosforth, the route lay chiefly up the old Great North Road through places like Wideopen (which may once have been) and Seaton Burn, which isn’t. Everywhere seemed to be selling Christmas trees, even – 7am-11pm – Northern Rugby Club. A growth industry, no doubt.

We also passed very close to Northumberlandia, the huge rock and soil sculpture of the naked female form created from 1.5m tonnes of opencast earth by the Blagdon Estate and the ubiquitous Banks Group and known to ungrateful locals as Slag Alice.

“Not bad, but not like Blackpool Tower,” said Martin Haworth, our native guide, obliquely.

We decided against closer inspection. Once you’ve seen one naked….well, best not go there, either.

Happily, the wind remained behind us. A pint at the Ridley Arms in Stannington, shepherd's pie but no football at the end, it was still a very good day.

THOUGH headed in the opposite direction, the route between Newcastle and Morpeth may best be remembered for the annual New Year’s Day race, a sort of extreme hangover cure.

First footed in 1904, it was abandoned exactly 100 years later because of spiralling safety costs.

Redoubtable North-East athletes Jim Alder and Mike McLeod both won it five times, though the record is held by Dunky Wright who, presumably having marked Hogmanay a little less boisterously than his fellow Glaswegians, was first home on seven occasions between 1927-34.

The forename Dunky, incidentally, had nothing to do with dipping his shortbread into his Earl Grey. His old mother still called him Duncan.

Running reports now confirm that The Morpeth, as generally it was known, is being revived next year – but on Sunday, July 17. There’ll be a marathon, a “fast” half marathon, a mile kids’ race and a 26-mile cycling event, all along closed roads and finishing on the Town Moor.

The website says that The Morpeth “captured the imagination of runners the world over.” More on morpeth2newcastle.com

….and finally, the youngest and oldest players to have scored a Test match century for England (Backtrack, December 3) are Dennis Compton, aged 20 in 1938, and Jack Hobbs, who was 46 when hitting the last of his 15 international tons in 1929.

Amazingly, says Graham Phelps – who posed the question – nine Pakistani centurions have been younger than Compton. The youngest was 17.

Today back to football. Everyone knows that the awesome Arsene is the Premiership’s longest-serving manager – but who’s been second-longest in office?

No matter what happened in Greece last night, best and second best next week.