Black November - Labour back to last days of Blair is the headline in the Guardian this morning as the latest opinion polls are published

Gordon Brown's electoral advantage for Labour has been wiped out as the party's support drops to the rock bottom level it endured during the dying months of Tony Blair's government, a Guardian/ICM poll reveals today.
The survey, taken as the prime minister faces serious questions about the competence of his administration in the wake of Northern Rock and the lost child benefit records fiasco, shows that the "Brown bounce" of early summer has vanished.

The papers continue to look at the crisis of the week

Pressure mounts on Alistair Darling as six more CDs reported missing reports the Times

Alistair Darling was at the centre of a new storm over the loss of personal data last night as The Times learnt that six more CDs containing confidential information were missing in the Revenue & Customs internal post.
The Revenue’s head office, which adjoins the Treasury, reported that the data was missing more than three weeks ago.

Business leaders lose confidence in Chancellor reports the Independent

The reputation of the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, among business leaders has slumped in the wake of the Northern Rock crisis, according to a survey. Fewer leading businessmen think Mr Darling understands business than last month and fewer believe that he is well-equipped to steer the economy through problems, while more of them feel he is out of his depth, the poll by ComRes, formerly CommunicateResearch, showed.

Meanwhile the Mail reports that

Home loans by banks slump to a record low

The number of new house purchase loans agreed by the big banks plunged to a record low in October, triggering fears of a property market slowdown.
Just 44,100 mortgages were approved last month - down from September's 54,000, the British Bankers' Association revealed yesterday.

It leads though with a story on the flu jabs,according to the paper

Flu could claim tens of thousands of lives this winter and vaccine will do little to stop it, warns the jab's inventor.
Dr Graeme Laver believes an exceptionally-severe outbreak is likely.
And although 15 million Britons a year receive the flu jab, he says it does not guarantee protection.

The crisis in Lebanon is well covered by the broadsheets

State of emergency declared in Lebanon says the Telegraph

Lebanon is bracing itself for violence after the pro-Syrian president declared a state of emergency to stop power passing to rivals loyal to the prime minister.
Just hours before his presidential term expired at midnight, President Emile Lahoud said he was handing power to the army to "preserve security all over the Lebanese territory".

Lebanon in crisis as Lahoud leaves army in charge says the Independent

Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his presidential term last night with no successor, following days of acrimonious wrangling over a candidate between the Western-backed government and the pro-Syrian opposition.
"The dangers of a state of emergency exist and have been fulfilled. [The President] entrusts the army with the authority to maintain security on all Lebanese territory and put all armed forces at its disposal," he said.

Many of the papers carry pictures of the Antartic cruise ship hit by an iceberg

Iceberg blamed as passengers flee holed ship in icy waters reports the Times

They had paid more than £4,000 each for an adventure in the Antarctic Ocean. Last night the 24 Britons who had kept their spirits up by telling Titanic jokes as they drifted for hours in icy waters must have felt that they had got their money’s worth.
The ship on which they were awoken by a loud bang soon after midnight became the focus of a huge rescue operation off King George Island involving the Chilean Navy and coastguards from Argentina, Britain and America.

Cruise of a lifetime ends with passengers adrift in icy waters off coast of Antarctica says the Guardian

Environmental campaigners have long complained about the growth in tourist numbers polluting the once pristine expanses of the world's last great wilderness, Antarctica.
But for a group of hapless adventurers bobbing around in lifeboats, buffetted by a freezing Antarctic wind as their cruise ship lurched lower in the water, it was the busy tourist traffic through the Southern Ocean that ultimately saved them.
Last night, the group were recovering aboard a Norwegian tourist vessel which also happened to be cruising through the area, reflecting on an ordeal which demonstrated that more than 90 years after the Titanic, icebergs still sink ships.

Passengers feared titanic 2 says the Sun

Green issues meanwhile are on the front of the Indy

Take over our rain forest says the paper


Rich nations fail to honour climate pledge reports the Guardian

A group of rich countries including Britain has broken a promise to pay more than a billion dollars to help the developing world cope with the effects of climate change. The group agreed in 2001 to pay $1.2bn (£600m) to help poor and vulnerable countries predict and plan for the effects of global warming, as well as fund flood defences, conservation and thousands of other projects. But new figures show less than £90m of the promised money has been delivered. Britain has so far paid just £10m.


The Tabloids return to Madeleine on their front pages

Doubt over Murat lover's alibi reports the Mirror

Michaela Walczuch claims she was at a Jehovah's Witness meeting four miles away when the four-year-old was snatched.
But church elder Brother Teofilo Castela said: "She was thrown out of the church more than a year ago and doesn't attend."

The false alibi says the front page of the Sun

If correct, it wrecks her alibi that she was in Lagos, five miles from the McCann’s Portuguese holiday resort Praia da Luz, on May 3. adding that

The apparent discrepancy in Michaela’s story emerged as it was revealed Kate McCann, 39, has had herself tested for drugs — to prove she was not “unstable” and on medication when her daughter vanished.

The Express' front page menawhile tells us that

MUM FACES TEN YEARS IN JAIL

THE mother of Madeleine McCann could be jailed for up to 10 years for abandoning her children, it emerged last night.
Kate and her husband Gerry face being put behind bars even if they are cleared of any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
A lawyer yesterday accused the couple of committing the crime of child abandonment simply by leaving their three children alone in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

The Telegraph reports that

Children of five to be taught alcohol dangers

From primary school onwards, youngsters nationwide will be taught about the harmful effects of alcohol, the influence of advertising and safe drinking levels.Parents are also to receive training in talking to their children about alcohol and how to set limits for them, under guidance from the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

The Times alerts us to the dangers of mobile phones

Thousands hit by phone bill scams

Sales tactics used by mobile phone companies are to be subjected to strict new rules amid widespread evidence that customers are being duped over deals, The Times has learnt.
A surge in complaints about the sales practices of phone companies and their agents, which are being registered by customers at a rate of almost 100 a day, has prompted the telecoms watchdog to plan a crackdown on malpractice.

Finally with a month to go the Telegraph announces

The death of the Xmas pudding

In years gone by, Stir Up Sunday - the last Sunday before Advent - would have seen excited children cramming into the kitchen to help prepare the pudding mix.
However, this tradition is under threat as never before.
Almost two thirds of British children have never stirred a Christmas pudding mix, according to a survey, meaning Stir Up Sunday is in danger of becoming a thing of the past.