Jacques Santer? Vanity Fair has produced what purports to be a definitive index of the 65 Men and Women Who Shape and Rule the World Today. As the magazine proudly announces, "Vanity Fair dispatched the largest stable of photographers it has ever assembled for a single project." No expense has been spared.Sadly, the same cannot be said of intelligence. It is using the results to create a household "satellite" to the formal national accounts.This first satellite for unpaid work shows that even on the smallest figures it far exceeds the total value of Britain's industrial production. Even so, some of the discrepancies in the breakdown between men and women are surprising.For example, it suggests that men sleep and rest for six minutes a day less than women.

But, as Henry Neuberger, of the Office for National Statistics, pointed out: "It is a self- reported survey." Perhaps we must assume that some men record lying in bed as self- improvement rather than rest.In carrying out the time-use survey, the ONS has followed an example set by about half the other EU countries. They spend 22 minutes a day on DIY versus 6 minutes for women. Men's 33 minutes on "self-improvement" - mainly education - exceeds women's 21 minutes.The fact that the figures are averaged over weekends and holidays as well as weekdays means that they do not paint a portrait of anybody's typical day. But women put in 295 minutes of unpaid domestic work to men's 155 minutes.The biggest discrepancy shows up in laundry and mending, where women's effort amounts to eight times more than men's. Slovenly males spend only three minutes a day on the care of clothing.Men outdo women on only two fronts.

For the first time official statisticians have attempted to put a value on the contribution unpaid work - mainly housework - makes to the economy Not surprisingly, it is large. People spend on average one and a half times as much time in unpaid as in paid work, with women putting in nearly twice as much time as men unpaid. Depending on whether this effort is valued at average pay rates or at the low rates typical of the catering and childcare industries, it is worth somewhere between pounds 341bn and pounds 739bn, or between 56 per cent and 122 per cent of conventionally measured national output. Catering in the home by itself forms the equivalent of a pounds 140bn a year industry, with a wage bill that would be around pounds 60bn if the home cooks were paid the same average hourly wage as employees in the commercial catering sector.The figures are derived from the results of a survey of how 2,000 adults, including students and pensioners, divided their time over a full week.Out of a total of 1,440 minutes in a day, sleep and rest absorb more than a third at 536 minutes, while leisure and eating account for 396 minutes.Paid work plus commuting time takes 214 minutes, compared to 280 minutes for unpaid work. Men on average spend longer than women in paid work each day, at 212 versus 127 minutes. Domestic activities such as childcare, cleaning and cooking make up the bulk of this, although the totals also include DIY, time spent in educational activities and voluntary work Men and women reported very different patterns of activity. Anybody who has ever laboured under the description "just a housewife" can at last feel thoroughly vindicated.

Perhaps the real surprise, says Diane Coyle, Economics Editor, is that men claim to do so much around the house. We spend more time working unpaid than in paid employment, and women do almost twice as much unpaid work as men. The speakers included Harriet Harman and Vivienne Westwood.There were three awards for Champions of Courage, awarded to women who have shown bravery. They were presented to Rita Restorick, whose son Stephen was shot by the IRA; Doreen Lawrence, whose son Stephen, 18, was killed in a racist attack in south London, and who has been campaigning for the conviction of his attackers, and Lisa Potts, the nursery nurse who saved children from an attacker at their school in Wolverhampton.The awards were presented by Queen Noor of Jordan, who paid special tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales and Mother Teresa of Calcutta: "They were united by qualities that distinguish those who make a difference - formidable energy, perseverance and determination to promote awareness of all controversial issues and human needs."Kate Watson-Smyth. Yet there is a great deal of public confusion."She said the booklets would give health professionals the key facts and inform women of what to expect from a smear test and what the results would mean.Available from Bacup, 3 Bath Place, Rivington Street, London EC2A 3JR.Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor. A blind woman, who has achieved the highest position in local government, as well as bringing up three children was honoured at the Woman of the Year lunch yesterday.

Elaine Noad, 40, director of community services with South Ayrshire Council, said she hoped her award would encourage working women everywhere. Among the 500 women at the awards were the ballerina Darcy Bussell and the TV presenter Jill Dando, as well as MPs and high achievers from the business world, including Nicola Horlick. The court was told that the horses at the stud had now been sold, the proceeds going to the estate.- Jojo Moyes. Confusion over cancer screening Cancer screening is causing anxiety among patients because of confusion about its effectiveness and its value, a charity said yesterday. Reports of technical errors and inaccuracies in the interpretation of screening tests has caused shock and anger and led to an increased demand for information. Publishing two booklets, "Cancer Screening" for GPs" and "Understanding Cervical Smears" for women, Jean Mossman, chief executive of the cancer charity Bacup, said: "Screening has a key role to play in preventing cancer and in its early detection.