World Notes BRITAIN

Even before British Defense Secretary Tom King unveiled his five-year plan for reductions in the country's armed forces in Parliament two weeks ago, lawmakers were debating how to spend the resulting "peace dividend." King's program, a response to the decreased threat from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, calls for reducing regular forces 18% over five years.

The cuts, according to some estimates, will trim $1.1 billion from Britain's $38.6 billion defense budget. There is no dearth of ideas on how best to spend the windfall: suggestions range from funding Britain's flagging social services to protecting the environment. But, warns David Greenwood, director of the Center for Defense Studies at the University of Aberdeen, "it's not a political gold mine for the Health Minister or the Transport Minister to put his hand in now." Inflation and modernization programs could gobble up most of the money before a single pound gets spent.