British charity fundraiser Ben Southall is preparing to begin the “best job in the world” – caretaker of an Australian tropical island — after winning a highly publicised contest this month.

The job involves exploring the islands of the Great Barrier Reef for six months and reporting back to Tourism Queensland and the world via blogs, a photo diary, video updates and interviews. If he feels like it, he can feed the fish, collect the mail and clean the pool, all at a salary of about 74,000 pounds.

Not a bad little earner, then. But despite the obvious attractions of the great outdoors, it might not be to everyone’s taste. All that sun? And what about those legendary Australian insects or jellyfish that can kill at a thousand yards?    

There could be better jobs around, maybe even here in Britain. Being an MP sounds a pretty good number just now for example, what with all the junkets and expenses. 

What would be your choice as best job in the world?  

All we’ve heard for the past few weeks is how little room there is for Labour to pump more money into the economy to fight the recession.

The increasingly popular — and confident — opposition Conservatives have gained ground by blaming Prime Minister Gordon Brown for turning the public purse into a public hearse.

But there are a few reasons to suspect that when finance minister Alistair Darling steps up to the dispatch box tomorrow, he will deliver another blockbuster life-support package.

Yes, there are inklings of a recovery out there — some experts say we have reached the bottom — but Labour has to make sure this recession is long gone before it can hope to win an election.

And it only has until mid-2010 to wait before that day of reckoning must come.

Brown might be willing to chance his arm with some big spending to reassure the public that job losses will be kept to a minimum and that Labour cares more about ordinary peoples’ lives in the here and now than it does about the budget deficit and government debt markets.

If this is the worst economic crisis for decades, then there is no easy way out of it and the best thing to do is to take whatever action is necessary to bring it to an end and worry about the consequences later.

Respected think tank the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has called for a temporary 30 billion pound stimulus aimed at stuffing employers and employees coffers with
cash.

They say the level of government debt is nowhere near where it was at the end of the Second World War and so there is no real panic about getting it back under control eventually. Yes, it may mean higher taxes and less public spending in the future, but that might be a fair price to pay to avoid mass unemployment and social unrest.

All the indications are that Labour won’t risk the ire of experts and opposition alike with another big stimulus, but the truth is they won’t get a second chance to reduce the severity of the downturn.

Besides all that, something interesting was happening in Westminster on Tuesday.

Rather than hounding the Prime Minister’s office with questions about the Budget, Britain’s press pack were jumping all over an emergency announcement on how rules governing the much-maligned MPs expenses system might be changed.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Brown has put up a smoke screen before delivering a knockout, headline-grabbing blow.

Bumper budgets are a tried and tested vote winner … but that might also be just what the economy needs.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has apologised for using House of Commons expenses to claim the cost of two adult movies, watched by her husband while Smith was away from their family home.

The embarrassing incident is the latest in a series of rows over MPs’ expenses. Smith is already under investigation after claiming 116,000 pounds to pay for accommodation in London when she was living with her sister, while Works Minister Tony McNulty is under scrutiny after claiming 60,000 pounds for a house in Harrow, where his parents live, that is just 11 miles from the Commons.

Many people are also unhappy at the number of MPs employing family members at the taxpayers’ expense. The Committee on Standards in Public Life has announced that it will carry out a review of the whole system of expenses, but does not plan to report until after the next general election.

What reform do you think should be made to MPs’ pay and expenses? Is the current system acceptable? Should we raise their salary of 63,291 pounds a year and scrap the expenses system completely? Or should we just keep this sort of information private and let them get on with running the country?

How much should MPs be allowed to keep confidential?

The High Court has ruled that Members of Parliament must disclose details of expenses claimed for second homes and the location of those properties.

House of Commons authorities had sought to block the publication of second-home expense claims for 14 current and former MPs — including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown — requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

It had been argued on behalf of the politicians that publication of the addresses of second homes would pose a security risk and could inhibit what politicians would be
prepared to say publicly.

But Mr Justice Igor Judge disagreed, saying it was in the public interest to have a detailed breakdown of second-home allowances and that anyone determined enough could find an MP’s address anyway.

Under the so-called “John Lewis list” MPs can claim items up to 23,000 pounds a year for second homes, they need to be near their constituents. The details are here. They include for example 10,000 pounds for a new kitchen and over 6,000 pounds for a new bathroom.

Some critics have said the secret system allowed MPs effectively to “write their own cheques” but others say the war on MPs’ expenses has gone far enough — that they are public servants who devote a huge amount of their time to their jobs as MPs, often during antisocial hours and far from their homes and that they deserve some help if we are to have an effective national parliament.

What do you think?