THE GUARDIAN: Recession alert as Brown fights back

Gordon Brown’s drive to recapture the political agenda with a programme of new laws to create “an opportunity-rich Britain” was badly shaken yesterday by King’s warning.

“The nice decade is behind us,” Mervyn King declared in funereal tones, warning that the economy was “travelling along a bumpy road” as he predicted rising prices would put a squeeze on take-home pay for millions of workers.

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FINANCIAL TIMES: No rate cuts before 2010

Britons should not expect another cut in interest rates for at least two years, the Bank of England indicated yesterday as it warned that inflation would rise far above its previous forecasts and persist at levels well above the government’s target until early 2010.

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DAILY TELEGRAPH: Recession danger is real, says Bank governor

The British economy faces the real risk of falling into recession, the Governor of the Bank of England has admitted.

Mervyn King warned families to brace themselves for a further “squeeze” on household finances as energy bills and food prices continue to rise.

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THE TIMES: The “nice decade” is over, says Bank chief

Britain faces two years of economic pain and could sink into recession, the Governor of the Bank of England has said in a stark warning to the nation.

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THE INDEPENDENT: Meningitis: Defeated at last?

The annual scourge of deaths and severe illness caused by meningitis could be consigned to the history books after scientists announced startling results from trials of a potential vaccine.

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DAILY MAIL: Death of the ‘nice’ decade

The good times are gone and there is now a real risk of recession, the Bank of England warned yesterday.

Families face a five-pronged assault on their finances, the BoE’s Mervyn King said in his bleakest assessment yet of the state of the country.

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DAILY EXPRESS: New bin tax bombshell

Ministers are pushing ahead with plans for pay-as-you-throw bin taxes – just days after Gordon Brown signalled they would be axed.

Five pilot schemes are being rolled out across the country which could slap up to £1,000 a year on every family that fails to recycle enough.

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THE SUN: Crackers
Amy Winehouse will not be prosecuted for smoking crack.

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DAILY MIRROR: Help him

He’s just two days out of rehab - but as troubled Paul Gascoigne staggers along a road at 8am yesterday, it’s clear he is still urgently in need of help.

The ex-England star, 40, looked dazed as he tottered along in Gateshead with a towel flung over one shoulder.

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DAILY STAR: Cellar boy: My Story

Cellar monster Josef Fritzl’s freed dungeon kids have spelled out their simple dreams for a happy life.

Felix, 6, says all he really wants is a ride in a car - and to run across a meadow playing with other normal kids.

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The papers are nearly all agreed that Chancellor Alistair Darling’s 2.7 billion pound fix for the 10p tax row is the day’s main story.

“Darling seeks end to 10p tax backlash” reports the Financial Times, noting that the move will still leave 1.1 million poorer households worse off following the abolition of the lowest tax band in last year’s budget.

For the Daily Mail the tax giveaway is a “2.7 billion pound gamble” to appease fury on the Labour backbenches over the scrapping of the 10p starting rate.

But the papers also find room for other stories: Drivers face a 185 pound tax to park at work, says the Daily Telegraph of a government push to cut traffic congestion. The paper reports that Nottingham city council will be the first to introduce the “workplace parking levy as an alternative to road pricing.

The Sun reports that Yorkshire ripper Peter Sutcliffe is making a legal bid for freedom from the secure Broadmoor hospital, claiming his human rights have been breached. It says Sutcliffe, jailed in 1981 for killing 13 women, wants to be declared sane and given a release date.

The Independent opts for an analytic lead, suggesting that “Britain could once again be haunted by the spectre of stagflation“. It says a combination of stagnant output and high inflation not seen for decades will dog policymakers for months if not years to come.

By contrast the Daily Express says there is “Now a race to cut prices“, reporting that supermarkets Asda and Tesco and mortgage lender Nationwide have all unveiled plans for a host of cost-cutting deals to help “Britain’s hard-pressed families.”

The Times publishes a revealing photo of Housing Minster Caroline Flint — exposing her briefing notes on the state of the housing market as she walked to a cabinet meeting. “Safe as houses? Not this minister’s private papers” runs the headline over the picture. You can see a magnified image of the notes themselves on the front of the Telegraph.

The Guardian reports that Spain is being forced to ship drinking water to Barcelona to cope with the effects of the worst drought in the country since records began 60 years ago.

The Daily Mirror leads with the arrest of a 19-year-old man over the weekend murder of 16-year-old Jimmy Mizen in a southeast London bakers, while the Daily Star says police are following a reported sighting of missing Madeleine McCann on a flight to Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The cost of living and falling house prices, school tests, knife crime and pictures from the Chinese earthquake feature in Tuesday’s headlines. 

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Abolish Tests for Pupils at 11 and 14, Urge MPs

MPs who say pupils are being drilled to pass exams to inflate schools’ positions in league tables rather than being encouraged to learn, are calling for some tests to be scrapped, the paper says. Story here

DAILY EXPRESS: 415 pounds Jump in Energy Bills

The paper continues to say the cost of living is on the rise, this time pointing out that families face an increase in energy bills of 46 percent. Story here

DAILY MIRROR: Saint Jimmy

The paper quotes the mother of Jimmy Mizen, killed in an unprovoked attack in a London bakers, about how she believes her son will go to heaven. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: Thousands Die in China Quake

The paper describes how rescuers struggled to reach victims of the devastating earthquake that killed thousands of people in central China and trapped thousands more in the rubble of collapsed schools, factories, hospitals and homes. Story here

THE TIMES: Elite Police Abandon Hunt for Crime Lords

The special police squad set up to take on the barons of organised crime has gone back to the drawing board after prosecuting only a handful of the 130 figures it aimed to bring to book, the paper says. Story here

THE SUN: Licence to Kill

The paper runs with a dramatic headline and picture of a bloodied knife left on a street after a man was stabbed to death in Oxford Street. The paper says it came hours after courts were told to let knife yobs off with a slap on the wrist. Story here

THE INDEPENDENT: Housing Market Worst for 30 Years

Confidence in Britain’s housing market has sunk to its lowest level for more than 30 years, as property prices continue to fall and mortgage lenders restrict home loan finance, the paper says. Story here

FINANCIAL TIMES: Mounting Signs of Economic Slowdown

Poor economic figures revealed inflationary pressures are rising to levels not seen in nearly 20 years and new data due are expected to show important parts of the economy are stagnating. Story here 

DAILY MAIL: Now a Tax to Pay for Old Age

Every working family could face paying an “ageing tax” to provide care for the elderly, the prime minister proposed, the paper says. Story here

There were further potentially damaging revelations about Gordon Brown from within the Labour Party, claims about the rising cost of living, as well as coverage of Manchester United’s Premier League title win on Monday’s front pages.

DAILY EXPRESS: Family Tax Up 51 Percent

The tax burden has risen by 51 percent under Labour and the average family now pays a crippling 20,700 pounds a year, the paper says. Story here

FINANCIAL TIMES: Banks’ Losses to Hit Public Finances

Losses suffered by the country’s largest banks as a result of the global credit turmoil will add further pressure on the public finances by cutting the amount of corporation tax paid by the financial services industry, the paper says. Story here 

THE INDEPENDENT: Strawberry Fields Forsaken

Millions of pounds worth of soft fruit and vegetables are likely to be left to rot in fields this summer because of a shortage of foreign pickers caused by the falling value of the pound and new restrictions on the number of seasonal labourers allowed to enter Britain, farmers’ leaders warned the paper. Story here

THE TIMES: Blair Used Wife’s Grief to Protect Iraq Strategy

The paper, which is covering Cherie Blair’s autobiography, tells how she was astonished by the ruthless manner in which her husband and Alastair Campbell made public within hours the fact that she had lost the baby she was carrying in 2002  in order that a delay in their holiday did not trigger false speculation of an early invasion of Iraq. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: MPs Set to Back New Embryo Research Laws

The paper contacted 109 MPs over new embryo research laws, and says MPs will reject demands for tighter controls on abortion but are ready to allow new laws pushing back the boundary of research on human embryo. Story here

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Labour in Turmoil as Levy Warns Brown

There was no let up for Gordon Brown after a weekend of potentially damaging revelations. This time it was Tony Blair’s former fundraiser Lord Levy who said Brown should consider his position as prime minster after a series of disastrous poll results. Story here

THE SUN: Cherie: My Lost Baby

The paper also covers Cherie Blair’s heartbreak at the loss of her baby in a miscarriage. Story here

DAILY MIRROR: How Much Did She Know

The paper continues to ask how much the wife of Josef Fritzl knew about the cellar in which he kept his daughter and where he fathered seven children. Story here

DAILY MAIL: Food Inflation Soars to 19 Percent

The paper also looks at the cost of living, saying millions of families are having to spend almost 1,000 pounds a year extra on food after more punishing price rises. Story here

Abortion, Ant and Dec’s award - that wasn’t, and the confessions of the Austrian cellar man dominate the front pages of Friday’s papers.

THE INDEPENDENT: Abortion; the Battle Lines Are Drawn

The paper uses just three lines of text and three pictures for its main story about survival rates of premature babies and its significance in the abortion debate. Story here

THE TIMES: Drivers in Worse Jam as Traffic Plan Fails

The paper says motorists are wasting more time sitting in queues on motorways and A-roads because the government has failed to meet its key three-year target for reducing congestion. Story here

THE SUN: Hitler Made Me Do It

The man at the centre of the Austrian cell scandal has blamed his tyrannical rapist behaviour on his growing up under Adolf Hitler’s Nazis, the paper says - using a photo of Fritzl interposed on an image of Hitler. Story here 

DAILY MIRROR: I Confess

More confessions by Fritzl dominate the front page. Story here

DAILY MAIL: Can You Believe a Thing You See on ITV?

The paper asks the provocative question after the commercial TV channel was fined a record amount by the regulator Ofcom after the extent of its phone-in scandal was exposed in two reports. Story here

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Hospital Services Face Axe in NHS Shake-Up

Scores of hospital departments such as maternity units and cancer clinics will be closed or merged across the country under plans for a radical shake-up of the NHS, the paper says. Story here

DAILY EXPRESS: Banks in Current Accounts Rip-Off

Banks were criticised for ramping up fees on current accounts as fears grow that the days of free banking are numbered, the paper says. Story here

FINANCIAL TIMES: EDF Snaps up “Nuclear” Land

Europe’s biggest power company has been quietly buying land around nuclear sites in England and Wales, the paper says, putting itself in a position to build power stations even if it fails in its attempt to buy British energy, the nuclear generator. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: New Research on Baby Survival Rates Stokes Abortion Limit Row

Survival rates for babies born before 24 weeks are extremely low and getting no better in spite of medical advances, the paper quotes an authoritative study as saying. Story here

The latest initiative to tackle anti-social behaviour and an apparent loophole in airport security feature prominently on Thursday’s front pages, along with the Chelsea gun siege and the Austrian house of horrors.

The Guardian says Home Secretary Jacqui Smith  wants police to harass anti-social youths and make life as unpleasant for them as they do for their victims. Young thugs should be hounded and filmed.  Story here

The Daily Telegraph is among several newspapers to pick up a BBC 2 “Newsnight” expose that foreign employees working in sensitive airport locations are not having their criminal records checked because of the time and effort that would involve. Story here 

The Daily Mail features a picture of the wife of the Chelsea siege gunman looking on in horror during the standoff and runs the story under the headline: “I Love My Wife Dearly” — the message the paper says he threw out of a window before his death. Story here

A report that suggests Britain wastes around 10 billion pounds worth of food a year is the subject of The Independent front page. The paper says most of the waste is made up of entirely untouched food products. Story here

The Sun splashes what it says is the last picture of Elisabeth Fritzl before she was imprisoned for 24 years in a cellar by her father. Story here, while the Daily Mirror leads on the father’s insistence that he is not a monster because at least he did not kill his daughter and the children he fathered with her. Story here

The Times carries allegations from an Iraqi cleaner and two cooks that a culture of sexual harassment, abuse and bullying exists at the British embassy in Baghdad. Story here

The prospect of household energy bills rising up to 40 percent this Winter as oil prices continue to go up is the lead story in the Daily Express. Story here 

The Financial Times meanwhile concentrates on the link-up between Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy of the U.S. Story here

The destruction and loss of life caused by the cyclone in Burma features on many of the broadsheet front pages, while Chelsea’s win, which keeps the title race going until the final day of the football season, is promoted in all the papers.

DAILY MAIL: Abortion: Fight to Save 2,500 Babies Every Year

MPs will begin a fight to cut the number of abortions by limiting a woman’s right to have a termination for social reasons, from the current 24 weeks to 20, the paper says. Story here

DAILY MIRROR: Boy from the Cellar

The paper features a picture of one of the children born in the cellar in Austria where his mother was kept captive for 24 years. Alex was one of three who was brought up in the family home upstairs. Story here

DAILY EXPRESS: Secret 25 percent Pay Rise for MPs

The paper says politicians are secretly plotting to award themselves a pay rise of up to 14,000 pounds a year, taking their salaries to more than 75,000 pounds. Story here

THE INDEPENDENT: Burma’s Wind of Change

The paper goes with dramatic pictures on its front of the cyclone which has swept across the country, killing thousands, and forcing the military regime to make an unprecedented plea for international help. Story here

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Estate Agencies Shut 150 Branches a Week

A further sign of the sub-prime lending crisis and credit crunch hitting home came with the paper’s disclosure that estate agencies were closing 150 branches a week with the loss of 4,000 jobs. Story here

THE TIMES: 10,000 Dead in Cyclone

The paper goes with the stark headline and the same main picture as the Independent to show the impact of the cyclone in Burma. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: Burma Seeks Emergency Aid as Cyclone Kills at Least 10,000

Again, the same picture of a monk crouching under a tangle of fallen tree trunks as it is reported the military leaders are willing to accept foreign help. Story here

“This was no journalistic accident, but a sustained campaign of vitriol against a grief-stricken family.”

That’s the verdict of media commentator Roy Greenslade after the Daily Express and Daily Star apologised to Kate and Gerry McCann for suggesting they were involved in their daughter’s disappearance.

The former Daily Mirror editor said “wild claims” about the parents of Madeleine McCann have undermined British journalism.

“The stories were not merely speculative, but laced with innuendo which continually made accusations against the McCanns on the basis of anonymous sources and without any hard evidence,” he wrote.

Greenslade said he doubted whether the paper’s editors would resign or whether the Press Complaints Commission would take any action.

Public relations consultant Max Clifford says reporters were put under huge pressure to deliver “news” even when there were no firm developments.

“Rumours and nonsense are being given to us as facts,” he told BBC radio.

Gerry McCann wrote on his blog that the family was “utterly dismayed” by some of the media coverage of the case.

Charlie Beckett, director of the media think-tank Polis, said: “This could be the moment when the tide turns against certain media excesses that have been growing in recent years. Most of the media had gone a bit mad over this story”

Do you think the media as a whole were unfair to Kate and Gerry McCann?