Until yesterday, Chancellor Philip Hammond was among the most dismal of doom-mongers. But as he delivered his Autumn Statement, he seemed transformed.

As Hammond speeches go, the Autumn Statement was short and reasonably un-glum. He kept it to 45 minutes. By his own morose standards he was almost skittishly optimistic in places.

Hammond has backed recent HMRC proposals for a crackdown on using the loophole for smartphone and gym contracts, buying cars and TVs, or private medical insurance.

John McDonnell insisted today that Labour MPs were listening to his response to the Autumn Statement yesterday despite most of them being seen busy on their mobile phones.

The Chancellor said the government was treating the estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as a 'signal' of what might happen.

It was not the kind of Autumn Statement we had come to expect under George Osborne – all fire and brimstone – but Philip Hammond’s debut was not without its nasty side.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s first – and last – Autumn Statement was very much focused on measures to keep the economy out of recession.

Former health secretary Stephen Dorrell, who is now chairman of the NHS Confederation, said Philip Hammond (shown) had made a ‘mistake’ by failing to find extra funds in last week’s autumn statement.

Currently, employees do not have to pay income tax or national insurance if their redundancy pay is under £30,000.

Ministers spent £12.6billion more than they received in taxes and other income last month - but economists were pencilling in a figure of £11.6 billion.

Rio Ferdinand, who was on the pitch in October 2011 when Luis Suarez abused Patrice Evra, hit out at the length of time it has taken for any apology to come from those associated with Liverpool.

Takumi Minamino joins Liverpool as the Reds' first Japanese player and the ninth to have played in the Premier League. Here, Sportsmail takes a look back at how the first eight got on...

Little known Lviv in Ukraine heads up the list of the top ten cities identified by Airbnb as having the highest growth in bookings over the past 12 months.

The 71 year-old was told by the travel insurance firm that he would not be able to claim the money back as he had not informed it straight away of pending eye surgery.

Hundreds of angry passengers are demanding a full refund from Norwegian Cruise Line after its tour of South-East Asia on its Jade cruise ship visited only 2 out of 7 planned stops.

Australian fashion designer Camilla Franks will have her ovaries removed after being diagnosed with stage three breast cancer just months after giving birth to her daughter in 2018.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT - The 37-year-old Perth father had a 40cm chunk of his neck gauged out (pictured) in an effort to remove deadly melanoma.

Tania Morris (pictured) from Staffordshire fears this Christmas could be her last after she was struck down with Hodgkin Lymphoma a year ago and has been unable to find a donor.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: The horn was the result of a common cancer called a squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Doctors in Chester removed it and covered the hole with a skin graft.

The 24-year-old Sydneysider lashed out in his second round clash with Italian number 12 seed Fabio Fognini.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: In nine singles matches, and at the tender age of 15, Gauff can claim the unusual distinction of never having been off one of the show courts at a Grand Slam.

While she would have been hoping to bow out in a blaze of glory, Wozniacki insisted she was proud of her career and had no regrets about the way it had panned out.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Nick Kyrgios attempted to honour the memory of one of his basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant. In the end, the emotional Australian fell short against Nadal.

Australian Open fans did a double take on Saturday night when they thought Liam Hemsworth was taking on Nick Kyrgios in a third-round match-up. 

Australian world number one Ash Barty has defeated Czech player Petra Kvitova to reach the Australian Open semi finals.

World No 2 Novak Djokovic took another step to defending his Australian Open title on Sunday with a dominant display against big-hitting Canadian Milos Raonic.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Roger Federer rolled back the years to stage one of the most remarkable survival acts of his career to stay in the Australian Open.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: By now Roger Federer should have been back in Switzerland, embarking on the family skiing holiday he has planned.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: The quarter-final action in the men's and women's singles at the Australian Open continued on Wednesday.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: An aggravated Rafael Nadal was spent spinning out of the Australian Open by a brilliant performance from Austria's Dominic Thiem.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Just when you thought the old order was continuing with its hegemony in men's tennis, Rafael Nadal finally met his match in terms of brutal baseline slugging.

She has kept a relatively low profile after retiring from her incredible sprinting career.

Rebel Wilson was spotted greeting Olympic sprinter Cathy Freeman at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.

She lost her semi-final match to American Sofia Kenin in Melbourne on Thursday, going down in straight sets.

Apple technician Harry Xin said he had a racist encounter watching the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The mercury will hit 38C in western Sydney but Melbourne will be the hottest capital city as temperatures soar to 43C this afternoon, creating gruelling conditions for the Australian Open tennis.

The outage took place in the opening stages of the third set in the blockbuster clash between Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem on Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: In the unlikely event of Dominic Thiem making it third time lucky in a Grand Slam final nobody could accuse him having it easy.

Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem faced off against Alexander Zverev in a tense semi-final on Friday at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: If Thiem manages to upset Novak Djokovic he will do so with the unusual distinction of having fired a high-profile coach halfway through the tournament.

The world number two appeared to be frustrated about the overwhelming crowd support for Austrian opponent Dominic Thiem in the opening stages of the final on Rod Laver Arena.

Novak Djokovic faces Dominic Thiem in the Australian Open final in Melbourne. Sportsmail's KIERAN JACKSON will take you through all the action from the Rod Laver Arena.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic is up to Grand Slam title No 17 and in a tearing hurry to stake his claim for being considered the best player ever.

TA chief and Open director Craig Tiley concedes the annual summer of tennis 'will be compromised' as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

USA captain Clint Dempsey appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday night in a further indication of the rise in popularity of football in America.

Heine Allemagne, 43, the man man who invented the magic vanishing spray adopted for use in Brazil, us set to reap the financial rewards after years in poverty and facing bankruptcy.

For plenty, the World Cup coming to an end is unwelcome after more than a month of explosive football on the biggest of stages.

Your employer is contributing a large part of the cost of your pension, and it brings many benefits including guaranteed payouts from retirement onward, says pensions agony uncle Steve Webb.

What happens to my pension if the insurance company has serious financial problems or goes bump? Our agony uncle Steve Webb explains what happens to pensions that are bought out by insurers.

EXCLUSIVE BY MIKE KEEGAN AND CRAIG HOPE: Sources have disclosed that all the necessary paperwork has been lodged, and that the potential deal now awaits their approval.