A British minister warned yesterday of the potential havoc of the Millennium Bomb - the electronic bug which could "wipe out a century" unless computers are adjusted in time for the year 2000.

Mr John Battle said many companies were failing to act to avoid people waking up to a "strange Kafkaesque world" on January 1st, 2000 - or even earlier than that - where nothing will work if nothing is done.

"The problem cannot be wished away. The deadline is a fixed feast. That single-digit switch could wipe out a century," he said.