After the inquiry, insult was heaped upon humiliation when his lawyers considered a defence suggesting he was too stupid to understand why he had been taking steroids.

BBC: The pariah of the sporting world

It also spends more on internal security than national defence, suggesting it fears its own people.

BBC: Asia

China's increasingly prickly relations with Australia were intensified in May when Mr Rudd unveiled a defence white paper suggesting that China was now Australia's biggest strategic threat.

ECONOMIST: Australia and China: With a little understanding | The

He did that by suggesting he would cut "unnecessary and wasteful" defence spending, abolish the children's trust fund and plans for national identity cards, and put the money instead into front-line services.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Politics | Kennedy fights to focus on issues

The coalition government put the idea on hold over the summer, he said, but transport and defence ministers had now made a joint submission to the Treasury suggesting a private finance initiative (PFI) deal.

BBC: Ministers plan to privatise search and rescue

She called for a "fundamental re-negotiation" of Britain's links with the EU, stopping short of calling for withdrawal but nevertheless suggesting that the UK should pull out of common agricultural, fisheries, foreign and defence policies.

BBC: Thatcher and her tussles with Europe

The veteran Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams came to the defence of Lord Rennard yesterday describing him as a "very fine man" and suggesting the allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour were exaggerated.

BBC: Parliament women 'treated as sex objects'