Well what do you know, a PMQs followed some unemployment statistics that weren't bad for the government! And David Cameron wasn't going to let those watching forget it. Ed Miliband had only asked his first question - about the 50p tax rate - before the PM was on his feet, leaping down Miliband's throat and castigating him for not asking about unemployment.

It set the tone for half an hour which offered a possible foretaste of the weeks and months to come - with David Cameron on the defensive from all sides, including two unwelcome interventions from the coalition backbenches.

Throughout Ed Miliband's questioning the PM managed to avoid answering any of the questions, jabbing his finger at Miliband in response, telling the Labour leader what his questions should have been.

It's normal for prime ministers to dodge questions but rarer for them to get annoyed that the questions aren't the ones they'd rather answer.

About halfway through Ed Miliband's questions Cameron's pen ran out. The PM furiously scrawled it on his papers briefly, before giving up and tucking the pen away in his suit jacket.

This came just as Ed Miliband was claiming "the prime minister talks rubbish, as always," a bit scornfully. It wasn't a particularly stellar performance from Miliband, either, but he can at least be credited for mastering the art of getting to the ends of his sentences in one go despite Tory barracking.

And his branding of the fallout from the Budget as an "omnishambles" (charity tax, pasty tax, caravan tax, church tax) is a view no doubt shared by some on the government benches.

Miliband did manage to get the questions back onto 50p tax at the end of his exchanges with the PM, who once again refused to answer and just accused Labour of introducing the top rate of tax a month before a general election they knew they were going to lose, which was a good line much appreciated by Tory backbenchers.

The Commons at PMQs is now so constantly noisy even chief monitor John Bercow has given up trying to get people to be quiet, most of the time, and it's not clear that Cameron performs particularly well in this new, noisier chamber.

A question from Lib Dem Stephen Gilbert on the pasty tax (on which he'll likely rebel later in a Budget vote) saw Cameron struggling to be heard amid Labour cheers of glee at this overt coalition crack.

Perhaps it was all getting to the PM, because by the time perennial irritant Tory Douglas Carswell stood up to ask whether the PM has really been bullied about by civil servants in Whitehall - something a lot of people are starting to think is true - Cameron just snapped back that Carswell needed to get a sense of humour. Physician heal thyself!

George Galloway had his first moment on his feet at the very end of PMQs, starting off with: "As I was saying, Mr Speaker," which is a bit of a recycled Ken Livingstone gag. Galloway asked the PM to consider withdrawing from Afghanistan, and while Cameron was respectful to begin with, the PM began to lose his rag even as he continued with his response.

Ed Balls wanted to get the PM to hang around on a point of order but Cameron was already on his way out of the Commons and wasn't about to turn around. It just seemed that Balls wanted to have his own version of PMQs, which tells you an awful lot about Balls. Nobody was particularly impressed, including, one suspects, Ed Miliband.