Many of the papers speculate over the
content of the Queen's speech on Wednesday.
The Financial Times believes the legislative
programme will contain about twenty bills for a
short parliamentary session that is likely to be
dominated by speculation over the date of the
election.
The Daily Mail highlights proposals to give the
police powers to remove youths under the age
of 16 from the streets in known trouble-spots.
But the paper believes that if this approach is
to succeed, more police officers will have to be
recruited.
And The Daily Telegraph tells how the
Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John
Stevens, has called for action to address a
shortage of 3,000 officers in London.
He says efforts to recruit and retain officers
have been severely hampered by the damage
done to the force's image after the
Macpherson report into the Stephen Lawrence
murder case.
Hunt ban
The Independent reports that the Queen's
speech will also include a bill banning
fox-hunting in England and Wales.
According to The Guardian, leaders of the
Countryside Alliance have privately admitted
that they will have to accept the will of
Parliament if there is a vote on the issue.
The paper says confidential minutes of a
meeting the group held with Labour MPs reveal
CA members were prepared to give in on
hunting, in return for millions of pounds of new
investment in rural Britain.
Children 'betrayed'
The Mail cannot contain its disgust that
nursery school teachers are being told not to
call children "naughty" or "bad" when they
misbehave.
The Council for Awards in Children's Care and
Education - which trains nursery staff - argues
that such words have a negative effect on
youngsters, and instead of telling children off,
teachers should concentrate of praising good
behaviour.
The Mail condemns this approach as fatuous
and short-sighted, saying it betrays not only
the parents, but the children as well.
The chancellor's decision to write off the debts
owed to Britain by 20 Third World states is
welcomed by The Daily Express.
The paper praises Gordon Brown for having the
courage to take what it calls such a radical
step - and urges him to keep up the pressure
on other countries to follow suit.
Nasser tribute
There is much comment about what Simon
Barnes in The Times calls one of the finest
sporting achievements of the year.
He pays tribute to the way the England cricket
captain, Nasser Hussain, made a controlled and
stately walk back to the pavilion after he had
been dismissed for the second time in the test
against Pakistan - when he was clearly not
out.
John Etheridge in The Sun describes the
umpire's decision as shocking, while for Mike
Walters in The Mirror it was a "stinker".
Mobile meltdown
The popularity of mobile phones shows no
signs of abating, but, the Mail reports, there
are signs they could become a victim of their
own success.
There are concerns that phone networks could
face meltdown because they cannot cope with
the surge in use.
The paper features a cartoon by Mahood. It
shows a man reading a newspaper with the
headline "Mobile Phone Meltdown at Christmas"
- and the caption: "So there IS a God after
all!"