They also sent a jointly signed letter to Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, who were about to meet for the first time, urging them to make a commitment to eliminate nuclear weapons and start making further big cuts in their own arsenals.

ECONOMIST: Banning the bomb will be hard, but not impossible

And this is not the first time questions have been asked about Sir Stuart Bell's commitment to constituency work in Middlesbrough.

BBC: Middlesbrough MP Sir Stuart Bell fights laziest MP tag

As I spend the last few days of 2012 evaluating how my time was invested this year, I am going to be looking at 2013 first with the perspective of making more time and then with the commitment to investing my newfound commodity wisely towards the much bigger goals the year ahead holds.

FORBES: Add 15.2 Days to Your 2013