Charities lose out

The number of people giving to charity in December and January slumped to its lowest level since the National Lottery began over a year ago, an NOP survey for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations showed. Since the launch, people donating through charities' own raffles and lotteries fell from 30 per cent to 14 per cent, those giving to street collections was down from 29 per cent to 21 per cent, while door-to-door donations were down from 28 per cent to 20 per cent.

Four tickets shared Saturday's pounds 8.9m National Lottery jackpot. The winning numbers were: 2, 5, 7, 24, 35, and 44. The bonus ball was 30.