Leakage actually increased at six water companies over the past year, despite the pressures of drought and reams of bad publicity about how much water the firms have been wasting, the industry's economic regulator, Ofwat, said yesterday. According to research carried out at the Centre for Sleep Research at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woodfield, Australia, after 23 hours without sleep the average person's hand-eye co-ordination is as badly affected as somebody with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 per cent - over the British legal limit. But the Department of Transport yesterday admitted that lorry drivers are allowed to work for 20 hours without a break. A loophole in the law means lorry drivers can drive even when their judgment is almost as impaired as someone who is over the legal alcohol limit. The report reveals that of the complaints that raised a possible breach of the PCC's code, eight in 10 were resolved directly between the publication and the person complaining. PCC Chairman Lord Wakeham described the figure, the highest on record, as a sign that the public knew about the PCC and was confident it would deliver results..

Excalibur, which was introduced three years ago by Peter Mandelson, costs pounds 250,000 a year to run. Party officials said last night that the machine would be revived in the autumn.. More than 3,000 complaints were made to the Press Complaints Commission last year, an all-time record, according to its annual report, published yesterday. According to a report in this week's New Statesman, the party is in the red after a "massive overspend" during the election. Where there were 10 party workers constantly inputting facts and quotes into the machine for easy retrieval, now there is just one.

Excalibur, the rapid rebuttal computer at the heart of Labour's election campaign, has been wound down because of a shortage of cash. Two weeks ago Sir Gordon's three-volume, 900-page report found "compelling" evidence that Mr Hamilton took cash from Mohamed Al Fayed, the Harrods boss, in return for lobbying services Mr Hamilton denies the claims.. He is expected to question the logic of the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and to challenge MPs to interrogate Sir Gordon on his findings. Neil Hamilton, the former Tory MP, will today deliver by hand to the Commons a 30-page letter denying accusations made in Sir Gordon Downey's report into parliamentary sleaze. But he admitted there was no chance that the West Country hunts would be able to use National Trust land when the deer-hunting season begins on 1 August.. Mr Justice Tucker ruled that, because the trust is a charity, he had no jurisdiction to order a review of its policies. Matthew Knight, a solicitor representing the hunters, said he was considering challenging the "unfortunate" decision in the Court of Appeal or applying to the Charity Commissioners directly. Stag hunters were yesterday stopped from pursuing the National Trust through the High Court over its decision to ban deer hunting on its land.