Pay rises and Catholisism are the topics on this last Sunday before Xmas.

The Mail leads with the news that

MPs demand inflation-busting 10 per cent pay rise

A political furore erupted last night after it was revealed that MPs are demanding an inflation-busting wage increase of up to £6,000 a year.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that Labour and Tory MPs have formed a secret pact which makes a mockery of Gordon Brown's call for wage restraint by forcing through a record pay deal for themselves in the New Year.
One reason for the big claim is that many Labour MPs fear they will lose their seats at the next Election - and want to boost their Commons pension rights before it is too late.

The Express meanwhile reports on the

POLICE PAY REBEL’S COLD SHOULDER

HOME Secretary Jacqui Smith has been accused of freezing out a bodyguard who wrote a cheeky message about pay on the frosty windscreen of her ministerial car.
Well-placed sources say the officer wrote “2.5 per cent” on the Jaguar’s glass – a pointed reference to the police pay demand that she has reduced to 1.9 per cent.

Meanwhile the papers are full of Tony Blair's conversion

Here comes trouble, Father says the Times

John Prescott had a barbed response yesterday when he heard that his old boss Tony Blair had at last converted to Catholicism.
“Well, it doesn’t come as any surprise to me,” said the former deputy prime minister. “Good luck to him and his family. Of course, there was a point when Tony was walking around with a Koran and a Bible. It looks like Catholicism has won out in the end.”
Some Catholics were not smiling, however. There have long been objections among some of the faithful to the welcoming into their church of a prime minister who pushed through legislation that was at odds with its teaching.

Blair's plan to convert started in No 10 says the Observer

Tony Blair began formal instructions to convert officially to Roman Catholicism four months before leaving office, it emerged last night, after it was confirmed that the former Prime Minister had achieved his long-held desire to leave the Anglican church and adopt the Catholic faith.
He was formally accepted into the church during a Mass led by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of Catholics in England and Wales, at Archbishop's House, Westminster, on Friday night. Before receiving full communion, Blair, now a Middle East peace envoy, would have had to confess all his sins.


Britain has become a 'Catholic country' is the top story in the Telegraph

Roman Catholics have overtaken Anglicans as the country's dominant religious group. More people attend Mass every Sunday than worship with the Church of England, figures seen by The Sunday Telegraph show.Last night, leading figures gave warning that the Church of England could become a minority faith and that the findings should act as a wake-up call.

The Times leads with the news that

Royal Mail loses 2m presents

ROYAL MAIL faces an angry consumer backlash this weekend over more than 2m parcels and letters lost or delayed in the Christmas post.
Customers across the country are in danger of being left without their presents as postal workers are overwhelmed by the £10 billion boom in online shopping. The backlog has allegedly been compounded by postal workers deliberately failing to deliver presents to save time on their rounds.

Xmas dominates the Independent

Britons seek greener Christmas and a planet-friendly new year

Britain is embarking on its greenest Christmas, according to an astonishing series of studies.
Four separate surveys show that most people are promising to make their celebrations more environmentally friendly to reduce the impact of what are traditionally the most polluting three days of the year – and to make green resolutions for the new year.

adding

Three-quarters say that they are actively trying to reduce the amount of waste they generate over the holiday, four in five mean to dispose of their Christmas tree in an environmentally responsible way, and nine out of 10 intend to recycle their Christmas cards and wrapping paper. More than 80 per cent say they have decided to live greener lives in 2008.

Meanwhile the paper reports that

On Santa Claus's trail: one billion people will log on to track his progress

When Santa Claus leaves the North Pole to begin his epic delivery tomorrow, he will be tracked closely by radar and satellite, and by jet fighters following the sleigh. And this Christmas Eve there will be more men and women and boys and girls watching than ever, as the website showing his progress around the world in real time expects a billion hits.
"Norad Tracks Santa" – run by the deadly serious North American Aerospace Defense Command – has become a massive festive phenomenon. For one night only each year, the organisation set up to defend the US from incoming missiles sets its sights on Santa.

Many of the papers report

YouTube to air Queen's Christmas message

Fifty years after her first televised Christmas broadcast, the Queen today embraces the technology of the 21st century by launching her own channel on YouTube, the global video-sharing website.says the Telegraph

How the Queen became very well connected reports the Observer

While aides were utterly convinced it was the way forward, the 81-year-old Queen - who only recently mastered emailing and had never used a personal computer until two years ago - was not immediately acquainted with the YouTube phenomenon. But after the concept was explained to her by, among others, her granddaughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie - both avid Facebook fans - she personally approved the channel's go-ahead after viewing its contents.

The Mail reports that

Binmen lose their Christmas tips as householders fume over fortnightly collections

growing resentment over fortnightly rubbish collections and complex recycling arrangements have sapped public goodwill so much that a Christmas present for the dustman is now a rarity.
Binmen say the worst areas for tips this year are parts of the country where there have been the strongest protests against misguided attempts by town halls to push up recycling rates, usually by forcing residents to put out different material on different days in different coloured bags.


Millions head for warmer shores as Christmas begins reports the Observer

Airports were struggling to recover from the effects of heavy fog yesterday, the busiest travel day of the Christmas holiday. Thousands of passengers had been stranded on Friday by a 'white out' that prevented planes from flying at either Gatwick or Southampton airports and caused diversions away from London's easterly terminals, Stansted and City. More fog was predicted to move in last night, and there were warnings of dangerous driving conditions.

Whilst the Telegraph reports on

The eCard vs the traditional Christmas card

Britain is falling out of love with the Christmas card. The number of festive cards bought in High Street shops has dropped by 20 million in the past two years.The fall has been blamed on the rise of the "eCard" - an electronic greeting sent over the Internet or by mobile phone and increasingly popular with young people who say it is easier, cheaper and more environmentally-friendly than traditional cards.






It leads with a report that

Crackdown urged on rip-off web ticket touts

Internet auction sites such as eBay are colluding with ticket touting gangs to obtain seats for top sports events and concerts, which are then sold to fans at rip-off prices, an inquiry by MPs has found.
Web-based black market ticket agencies collaborate with rings of touts who obtain large numbers of seats then sell them online, the Culture, Media and Sport select committee will claim next month

The Express reports on

FILTH OF ‘THIRD WORLD’ HOSPITAL

BLOODY bandages encrusted with deadly MRSA have been used repeatedly in a hospital – threatening 21,000 patients.
Politicians have demanded an inquiry after a study found two thirds of tourniquets were never washed, most were soiled or bloodied, and some were re-used for four years.

It was no suprise that the tabloids would follow up on the football sex allegations and the News of the World claims an exclusive

England ace in sex roast shame

ENGLAND ace Micah Richards has been caught ‘roasting' a young girl fan in a sick sex video passed to the News of the World.The Manchester City star and a Premier League pal filmed themselves on a mobile phone during the depraved hotel toilet romp in the latest scandal to rock English soccer.
Richards is today exposed as a vile animal captured on video "roasting" a teenage fan in a toilet with a pal.
The star player and his Premier League friend, grinning broadly with debauched pleasure, have sex with the girl at the same time while filming themselves on a mobile phone.

The Mirror meanwhile reports on

COLEEN'S WEDDING THREAT

Coleen McLoughlin has threatened to call off her wedding to Wayne Rooney over his antics at the notorious Manchester United Christmas party.
She was furious when she heard about the sordid bash where girls had orgies with first-team players - and fiance Roo asked two girls if they had ever had a threesome.
A pal said: "She started screaming and shouting, 'How could you do this to me? Don't ever, ever do this again. If you do, the wedding's off'.

Back to more normal matters and the Times reports that

Branson gets £24m for running late trains

SIR RICHARD BRANSON has pocketed a £24m payout from Virgin Rail as his passengers face fare rises of up to 9% and some of the worst punctuality rates in the country.
Branson and Virgin Rail’s other main shareholder, Stagecoach, are sharing a dividend of nearly £48m, more than double the firm’s profits.
Virgin Rail says the payout reflects its success in attracting more passengers. However, Branson has been accused of exploiting government handouts for the railways. “He is stripping the company of cash while saying at the same time I need more public subsidy,” said Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research, an independent consultancy.

The Telegraph reports that

Labour's Keith Vaz in inquiry over Tamil rally

A senior Labour MP has become embroiled in an investigation by anti-terrorism police after speaking at a rally in which suicide bombers were praised, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.News of the inquiry has put pressure on Keith Vaz, the former Labour minister who heads the all-party home affairs select committee, to defend his decision to speak at last month's rally at London's ExCeL exhibition centre in support of the Sri Lankan breakaway movement, the Tamil Tigers.

Watchdog called in over Tory donors says the Independent

The Electoral Commission is to be asked to investigate the Conservatives' network of financial supporters. The Labour MP Kevan Jones, who has been investigating Tory finances, said he would be writing to the elections watchdog to request more information after it emerged that the son of a controversial Guernsey-based donor has handed the party more than £500,000.


Alarmed allies warn Brown of defeat and call for fightback says the Observer

One of Gordon Brown's closest allies, the Fabian Society, has said that the Conservatives are the favourite to win the next general election and called on the embattled leader to begin the fightback.
'The government's autumn horribilis has made Gordon Brown the underdog,' Sunder Katwala, the society's general secretary, wrote in an article to be published in next month's Fabian Review. 'The country must now hear his public argument for a Labour government.'

Lebanon's new low as leader talks fail reports the same paper

Lebanon's political crisis deepened this weekend after the failure for the 10th time by rival parties to agree on a way to elect a President. Some say the latest postponement meant that the opportunity to find a replacement for Emile Lahoud, who stood down on 23 November, had been lost forever.

The Times reports that

Iraqi villagers battle to hold off Al-Qaeda

THIS is the front line of the war with Al-Qaeda. In other parts of Iraq their fighters are like ghosts, using car bombs and remotely triggered mines to deadly effect but rarely revealing themselves. In Diyala, Al-Qaeda troops are seizing villages in house-to-house battles that have plunged the province into an unacknowledged war.
Last week, about 200 Al-Qaeda fighters overran the neighbouring Shi’ite village of Sufayet and refugees streamed into Dojama with terrible tales. “An Al-Qaeda man shot my uncle in the street in front of our house,” said 10-year-old Abdullah Khaled, illustrating his point with his toy machinegun.

France fears arrival of cigarette-smoking ban reports the Telegraph

The authentic French bistro-dweller's look of perpetual anguish requires that the eyes be directed upwards, the corners of the mouth drawn downwards, and a crumpled cigarette balanced vaguely on the horizontal.The day of reckoning has arrived for Europe's most incorrigible smokers. On January 1, it will become illegal to light up in bars, restaurants or nightclubs, and as the deadline nears, a palpable sense of panic is taking hold.

The Mail reports on

Downsizing Jordan: How Katie Price shrank her assets in time for Christmas

Some may consider it a strange Christmas present to receive from your loved one, but then so little appears to be normal in the world of model Katie Price and her husband Peter Andre.
Mr Andre has paid for his wife, more famously known as Jordan, to have a breast reduction in time for the festive period.

Jordan boob reduction says the Mirror

And the same paper reports on

Kate's Xmas fun

Kate Middleton is spending Christmas away from Prince William - on the celebrity island of Mustique.
While William, 25, tucks into turkey at Sandringham, Kate will be enjoying the sunshine and luxurious surroundings of the Caribbean hideaway.
The island - made famous by the late Princess Margaret who owned a villa there - is now a hotspot for the rich and famous.

Pay £100,000 or we kidnap Amy reports the News of the world

GANGLAND mobsters are threatening to KIDNAP troubled rock star Amy Winehouse unless they get a ransom of £100,000.
Jailbird villains put the squeeze on the singer's terrified hubby Blake Fielder-Civil as he languishes in prison awaiting trial.
Now he has sent Amy a frantic warning: Be on your guard and stay safe.


Finally back to the Xmas theme and the Sindy reports from

Christmas in Bethlehem (Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire, that is)

Away on a playmat, no crib for a bed, the little lad Emyr lays down his sweet head. The stars in the bright sky look down on a baby in Bethlehem again this Christmas ... but the shepherds are more likely to be watching telly by night than their flocks.
The sheep are safe enough because this Bethlehem is a tiny farming village in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, not the one on the West Bank. There are only 16 settlements of that name on the planet, and the one where little Emyr McCrae Jones lies gurgling is among the smallest: just a cluster of homes and surrounding farms. It is, however, the second most famous.