Increasing public spending levels is not necessarily a boon to
the poor. The money often ends up lining the pockets of the
wealthier classes Comprehensive Spending Review 2000: special
report  A mystery at the heart of the third way is how much a
progressive, fairness-minded government should actually be
spending. Is the UK's 39.5% of GDP the right amount; would 10%
more - pushing us up to French and German levels - be better? It
is not a question Gordon Brown is going to answer this week
when, despite the size and shape of his rabbit having been plain
for a long while, the prestidigitator of the public finances
performs.  On present evidence, Labour is wedded to 40% as a
kind of norm. If the economy continues broadly on track, by 2005
public spending will have risen to only 40.5% of GDP, which is
still less than in John Major's last year. Edging it up in a
continental direction would be, says Peter Robinson of the
Institute for Public Policy Research "a perfectly feasible
option". Provided taxes rose to pay