The change, under proposals drawn up by local-authority leaders, would see autumn, spring and summer terms replaced by a five-term year. The question now is whether any of the information was passed to the US to help it in its efforts in Iraq to destabilise the regime.State Department spokesman James Rubin said it was naive to suppose that the United States does not use material that UNSCOM collected. "The United States, like every government, obtains information and analysis judgements wherever it can That's the way governments do business," added Rubin.. The claims triggered a crisis at UN headquarters, where a divided Security Council is struggling to formulate a new policy on Iraq since last month's bombardment by the US and Britain. Behind the furore are suspicions that aides to the Secretary-General, if not Mr Annan himself, may wish to promote the claims to weaken Unscom and seek its replacement by a less aggressive mechanism and the ousting of its head, Richard Butler. Relations between Mr Annan and Mr Butler have been at rock bottom since the air attacks.A spokesman confirmed that Mr Annan approached Mr Butler about rumours of the leaks; Mr Butler reportedly denied it. While Unscom seeks assistance from countries including Britain, Israel and the US in its efforts to monitor activities in Iraq, it would be illegal for it to share any information it gathers with those governments.Responding to the reports, in the Washington Post and Boston Globe, the UN spokesman denied the UN had evidence of wrongdoing. Mr Butler said the reports were unfounded: "Have we facilitated spying? Are we spies? Absolutely not," he told reporters.Since 1995 Unscom has accepted technical help, including the loan of American U-2 aircraft, to eavesdrop on Iraq and its security operations.

THE FUTURE of Unscom, the United Nations disarmament mission in Iraq, was again thrown into doubt last night after the publication of allegations that intelligence it gathered on the security apparatus surrounding Saddam Hussein was secretly conveyed to the US. The reports, in US newspapers, said evidence that it had become a surrogate spy agency for Washington had been presented to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary- General. But I assure you it intends to polish it up until it shines and relaunch `the middle of the road' and `the art of the possible' as something contemporary, exciting, idealistic."Lord Saatchi argues that the Tories need a "strategic sense" more than ever, and must avoid the mistakes of previous generations of Conservatives who "seemed to abhor a strategy more than a vacuum".He added that the Tories' fate remained in their own hands, and that they should not merely sit back to wait for Labour to lose an election.Insisting that the Government was now starting to make mistakes, he said: "If we develop new ideas and put New Labour under pressure, we can create weaknesses in their organisation and start to win.". "We lost our strategic bearings when Labour convinced the public its copying of our economics was a sincere conversion." Lord Saatchi admitted the Tories were slow to face the fact that Labour had turned from a Marxist-socialist party into a social democratic one."Maybe Labour's third way is just stealing our clothes again. By finding a new middle way, Labour could consign the Tories "to the same intellectual dustbin of history as communism and Marxism".He said: "Some Tory critics say the `third way' is an empty phrase Don't listen to them.

They are the same Tories who dismissed Labour as an empty phrase."We were left flat-footed by the launch of New Labour; uncertain whether to criticise it for being empty or dangerous; a con-trick or candyfloss; a copy of us, or what."Admiring Mr Blair's simplistic slogan, he said Old Labour was portrayed as bad and dangerous, so New Labour must be good and safe. "If we attempt to muddle along, or to wait on events, or to be obsessed with where we went wrong last time, we will lose."Mr Hague has poured scorn on Mr Blair's adoption of a "third way" between old-style socialism and traditional Conservatism. They found that it made them grow small extensions through which they could connect with neighbouring cells, the New Scientist magazine reported.The discovery is seen as important since contacts between neural cells are broken in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. "By daily reinforcing these contacts, we can prevent neurodegeneration," said Mr Bertelli.French scientists published a paper last year which showed that people who drank moderate amounts of wine daily were less likely to develop neurodegenerative diseases..

MAURICE SAATCHI, the Tory advertising guru, has told William Hague to stop mocking Tony Blair's much-criticised "third way" strategy and warned that it could be a huge vote-winner for Labour. The Tory peer, a central figure in Conservative campaigns at the last five general elections, paid tribute to Mr Blair's skilful rebranding of New Labour and warned that his ultimate goal is to "destroy us completely". In a pamphlet to be published today by the Bow Group, Lord Saatchi suggested that under Mr Hague the Tories had not yet developed a strategy to bring them back to power."The Labour Party has a plan, and we must have one too if we are to fight them successfully," he said. A CHEMICAL in wine boosts the activity of an enzyme that stimulates and regenerates brain cells up to seven-fold, scientists have discovered. The chemical, resveratrol, is produced by vines to fight infection and is found in grapes and wine. Alberto Bertelli and colleagues at the Human Anatomy Institute at the University of Milan, Italy, tested resveratrol on human neural cells in the laboratory. This would suggest that they had stepped outside their own stated aims and are not just filming what is occurring but interfering in the care of young people."Channel 4 has accused Nottingham council of a "crude attempt to stop us showing an important film".It said: "The public have the right to see this series. Channel 4 will defend robustly any proceedings issued by the council in court."The film is being made by Tom Roberts, the highly respected producer who won a Royal Television Society award for the Dispatches programme "Mother Russia's Children"..