China's military spending in perspective...

A report by the US Defence Department has reported that China will spend between $85 and $125 billion on its defence in 2007, not the £45 billion the Chinese Government has officially reported. This, the report says, could indicate a shift in China’s military strategy away from a focus on Taiwan to a wider scope.

Of course what the report fails to do, is compare this figure to the US own spending. For the fiscal year starting in October 2007 George Bush has requested $484 billion to spend on defence, a figure which does not include military spending in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is nearly 4 times the $125 billion higher end figure the US estimates for China’s spending.

China has a population of 1,306,313,800 and the US of 299,114,218. Therefore China’s spending per head is $96.69 compared to the US $1618.11. That’s 16.7 times more per head the US spends on defence. I wonder which country we should really be worrying about?

Cash for honours investigation told to find more...

The Independent today is reporting that the cash for honours enquiry is to be reopened. Despite the articles report suggesting that the Crown Prosecution Service is taking the case very “very seriously”, the fact they have asked the police to “find key pieces of evidence to strengthen the case”, suggests that the vast file of evidence presented to the CPS before was not substantial enough.

The police will no doubt continue with their investigations but are they really likely to find more evidence than they did first time round? Perhaps once Blair has stepped down as Prime Minister they can apply more pressure. But it would appear a prosecution is a long way off yet, if there will even be one.

Government "netrual" on FoI Amendment....?

I’ve just seen the voting figures from Friday’s Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill. Now remember this is a Conservative Private Members Bill, which usually don’t stand a chance unless the Government backs it, and it’s extremely rare for an Opposition Private Members Bill to be backed by the Government.

Yet, Brown refused to back opponents of the bill, the PM refused to comment and the official line of the Government was that it was “neutral.”

The Bill passed by 96 to 25, of which 78 Labour MPs and 16 Conservative MPs voted in favour. So this bill only went through because Labour backed a Conservative Bill. Not even enough Conservatives backed it to send it through!

Lib Dems not so commited to FoI

There is an interesting post on Lib Dem Voice about the Lib Dems position over the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill that is well worth a read.

The post points out that despite repeated messages from Ming Campbell to oppose the bill, himself and a lot of his front bench failed to do so. Hardly the sign of a party that is supposedly committed to FoI.

Credit to David Heath (my own MP) for his role in trying to block this bill.

End of the DTI

Alastair Darling appears to be admitting on The Politics Show that the DTI will be abolished. He’s refused to confirm that the DTI is needed.

Same old New Labour

A lot has been said about the lack of an idea of what Gordon Brown’s Labour Government would be like. Well on Friday a clear sign was given and it would appear not a lot is going to change.

Part of Brown’s leadership bid launch was “open” politics and restoring the trust of the electorate in politicians. Yet within the same week Brown has refused to support a bid to block a move by MPs not to be bound by Freedom of Information laws.

Brown could quite easily of used this to show he is committed to his open politics agenda. Unfortunately he has chosen not to do so, instead a spokesman in his defence said the chancellor has promised not to dictate to MPs.

Let’s wait and see how long it is after he is officially installed as PM before he starts dictating to MPs. If he’s not going to dictate, surely that means all votes will be free votes?