There are no black special advisers and only 24 per cent are women the same make-up as the Cabinet

There are no black special advisers and only 24 per cent are women, the same make-up as the Cabinet.The tribunal was told that Lord Irvine needed someone in the job that he could totally trust. But Ms Coker said: "Special advisers are high-powered and incredibly responsible jobs. To exclude those who might have excellent qualifications and to assume they are not trustworthy, because they are not personally known, is a nonsense."The Lord Chancellor says he intends to appeal against the ruling. Yesterday a spokeswoman in his department said she could not comment on the possibility of contempt proceedings.Ironically, the Lord Chancellor has already appointed Ms Osamor to sit on employment tribunals. Meanwhile, Jane Coker has been shortlisted for an assistant recorder post on the Oxford and Midland judges' circuit The decision over her appointment also rests with him..

THE DAYS of political deals being done in smoke-filled rooms are drawing to a close A smoking ban is to be imposed in the House of Lords. The Upper Chamber's Administration and Works Sub-Committee has approved proposals to forbid peers to smoke in most public areas. Smokers will be forced to skulk in a new "club room" tucked away in an obscure corner. Baroness Jay, the Leader of the Lords, is backing further plans to extend the ban to corridors as well as in restaurants and telephone kiosks, following a severe asthma attack suffered by a Labour hereditary peer reacting to the smoke.Smokers in the Lords accuse the Government and House authorities of "political correctness". Baroness Trumpington, the redoubtable Tory peer with a husky smoker's voice, last week told her colleagues to "buzz off to the Commons" if they did not want to be surrounded by smoke, during a debate on the proposed ban.Smoking has been part of the culture of the Lords. Peers have until now been allowed to smoke in almost all public areas in their House, though in the Commons MPs are forbidden to puff in corridors and committee rooms.Baroness Jay, a former health minister, and other peers, have become increasingly concerned about the impact of "passive smoking" on members. An all-party group, including deputy chief whips, was set up last year to examine the matter.A survey of peers, commissioned by the group, found that only one in five smoked and 60 per cent had suffered "ill-effects" from smoke. It also showed that 52 per cent believed there should be less smoking in public rooms, and a majority favoured the establishment of a club room.

In addition, 71 per cent of peers were in favour of banning smoking in telephone kiosks, 63 per cent supported a ban in the lavatories and 54 per cent thought smoking should be forbidden in committee rooms.Although peers will still be allowed to smoke in their own offices, a ban is likely to be imposed in public places. The proposals will be discussed by another sub-committee, then debated by the whole House.. THE DAYS of potpourri and tea towels are numbered. A shift in marketing strategy at the National Trust is seeing Europe's largest conservation charity attempting to shed its "Middle England" image and refashion itself as an "innovator". The new direction is part of a fin de siecle review of the 104-year-old Trust's activities and a concerted effort to attract younger members. In homage to the best of 20th-century design and culture, the Trust is acquiring a portfolio of key properties of the era, as well as planning an image makeover for its merchandising arm.In a radical departure from floral prints and china that dominate its gift shops, next year sees the launch of a product range inspired by the modernist architect Erno Goldfinger.Designed by students at the Royal College of Art, the merchandise embodies the innovative spirit of 2 Willow Road, Goldfinger's Hampstead home which the Trust acquired in 1994.

If it sells well, the Trust intends to develop further design-led ranges, in addition to updating its shops to cater for the sophisticated tastes of today's consumers.Meanwhile, the charity's futuristic inclinations are evident in its new state-of-the-art visitors' centre at the White Cliffs of Dover, which aims for a broader appeal. With its glass walls and grass roof, it is billed as a "theatrical space" from which to view the port, and could eventually feature live radar for tracking cross-Channel shipping.Recently the Trust threw open the doors of Coleton Fishacre, the "jazz and cocktails" art deco residence of the D'Oyly Carte opera family, owners of the Savoy and Claridge's Hotels.It also wants to restore the 1,800-seat art deco Plaza cinema in Stockport, which it views as "an escapist stately home for the middle classes of the 1930s".The idea is to run the building as a cinema, theatre and tourist attraction. However, it is not clear whether the Trust will be able to raise the pounds 7m to restore the cinema in time to meet a local authority deadline.Last year, the Trust opened Paul McCartney's childhood home in Liverpool, which it promoted as a typical 1950s council house and Beatles shrine.According to the Trust's head of communications, Warren Davis, these developments reflect the growing public interest in modern history and lifestyle design. "While our main task is to look after what we have already got, the Trust is anxious to shed some of the Middle England image we have acquired and enter the next century as an innovator," he said."In the old days, people were interested only in traditional gardens and classical houses.

Today, there is a growing awareness of the significance of 20th-century architecture and furnishings. As the things we have grown up with become history, there are nostalgic revivals of the style of earlier decades."But very little has so far been preserved and the Trust feels it is important to have some examples of lifestyle and architecture from this century."While the charity's loyal membership of 2.6 million is firmly rooted in people older than 50, each generation has different interests, according to Mr Davis. "We are trying to respond to changes in taste by moving away from potpourri and traditional floral patterns towards plainer, modern things," he said. Such a move incorporates an urbanising tendency, helping to distance the Trust from last year's damaging row with a splinter group of members that tried, but failed, to force the charity to reinstate hunting on its West Country properties.For some critics, the Trust, which was founded to preserve places of historic interest and natural beauty, was pigeon-holed into polite Middle England. Its nostalgia-driven shops, pioneers in the 1970s and early 1980s, had become a cliche of themselves after years of replication by other organisations.Acquiring properties such as 2 Willow Road has inevitably caused controversy among the old guard. The Daily Mail labelled the purchase of the McCartneys' family home at 20 Forthlin Road an "expensive practical joke". However, while Goldfinger's home is a huge attraction for design-literate 30-somethings, traditional members who visit the house are also fascinated and appreciative, according to its custodian, Harriet McKay."They are delighted to discover something modern that they like," she said.According to Frances Newell of the design consultancy Interbrand, Newell and Sorrell, the Trust is right to make investments in the 20th century."They need to build new audiences and pick up on the tremendous nostalgia for recent decades.