Monday 27th November

A mixed bag of headlines today with a mixture of hard and soft news.

As good as any is the Mail which headlines that

UK scientists invent male 'pill' that can be taken hours before sex

“The tablet would prevent a man from being able to impregnate a woman, but within a few hours his fertility would return to normal. “

The Express meanwhile solves the Diana riddle……finally

“THE suicide victim whose blood was mixed with samples taken from Princess Diana’s chauffeur has been identified.The breakthrough, revealed last night, comes as scientists conclude that “numerous serious errors” occurred when they initially examined blood from driver Henri Paul.”
However the paper is unable to name the other corpses because of French privacy laws.

The Mirror leads with

KILLED OVER A PARKING SPACE

“A DAD was killed yesterday during a punch-up between two neighbours over a parking space.
Motorist Keith Rolfe, 60, is said to have come to blows with another man after they rowed in the early hours about who had the right to the residents' spot.”

The Sun meanwhile has an appeal for the England centre half Rio Ferdinand who

Rio: Knives aren't cool, kids

RIO Ferdinand launches a hard-hitting anti-weapons campaign today — warning kids: “Knives are not cool, they kill.”

The England hero will stand alongside a Government minister to formally announce the crucial “pledge wall” drive, which hopes to draw backing from two million school pupils.

Amongst the heavyweights, the Independent has a picture of a nuclear warhead launching into the sky with the headline:

Blix vs Blair (but this time it is over our weapons of mass destruction)

“Dr Hans Blix, the former UN weapons inspector, will launch a new attack on Tony Blair today, warning that the decision to press ahead with a full replacement for Trident will make it more difficult to stop Iran acquiring the bomb.”


The Times focuses on the Israeli pullout from the Gaza strip

Bloody and wasted, both sides hope Gaza withdrawal may lead to peace

“All sides were cautious after five months of bloodshed that has followed the capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas on June 25, during which 400 Palestinians have been killed. Three Israeli soldiers have also been killed, and two civilians by Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza.”

The Guardian has a special report on the rise of creationism in British schools

“Dozens of schools are using creationist teaching materials condemned by the government as "not appropriate to support the science curriculum", the Guardian has learned.
The packs promote the creationist alternative to Darwinian evolution called intelligent design and the group behind them said 59 schools are using the information as "a useful classroom resource".

All of the papers have a prominent report on the case of the New York groom shot down by police hours before his wedding.

The Guardian reports that

“The New York authorities were scrambling to contain an angry backlash yesterday after police shot a group of three unarmed black men, killing one of them on his wedding day.
The shooting took place after a stag party at a strip club in Queens, a few hours before Sean Bell, 23, was due to marry the mother of his two small daughters. He was struck in the neck and arm and was dead on arrival at hospital.”

The Times has an exclusive interview with the British man released from a Pakistan jail after being on death row.In an often graphic interview he describes the attack by the taxi driver that saw him end up in prison

“He told me to get out of the car,” Mr Hussain said. “He asked me to go behind the bushes and perform an indecent act. I thought I had to resist somehow. He might kill me. I was very alert and looking for a chance to grab his gun from him. For one moment he pointed the gun away from me and in the blink of an eye I managed to get hold of his wrist and a scuffle took place. The gun went off during the scuffle and he was hit.”

The reverburations of the Litvinenko assassination continue with the papers picking up on the comments of Peter Hain

"The promise that President Putin had brought to Russia when he came to power has obviously been clouded by what's happened since and including some extremely murky murders." He referred to the death of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a friend of Mr Litvinenko.

The Independent describes

“President Vladimir Putin's credentials as a democrat were called into question by a cabinet minister yesterday, “

The Times tells us

“It emerged yesterday that Mr Litvinenko travelled to Israel just weeks before he died to hand over evidence to a Russian billionaire of how agents working for President Putin dealt with his enemies running the Yukos oil company.”

The same paper reports from France on the coronation of the Socialist candidate in next years Presidential elections

“Ms Royal cast herself as a feminist and left-wing revolutionary who would restore French grandeur. “Together we are opening a beautiful page in the history of France,” she told her “comrades”. “A new hope has risen in France, like a gathering wave that can only grow.” Packed into the Mutualité hall on the Left Bank, 1,500 party officials enacted the effective coronation of the 53-year-old woman whose outsider campaign knocked out the party barons who had wanted the candidacy. Laurent Fabius and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whom Ms Royal defeated in a primary vote ten days ago, joined in a standing ovation. “

The Indie headlines it

Royal promises 'beautiful chapter' in the history of France

Back to the tabloids and the Sun claims

“LABOUR lavished £64BILLION of taxpayers’ cash on “money for nothing” benefits last year, a report claims.

About 81p in every pound of last year’s welfare payments was dished out with NO duty on the claimant to find a job.

Tony Blair came to power pledging to get Britain working and end the handout culture.
But most benefits are handed out free of obligation and seven in ten claimants stay on benefits for over a year.”

A report also prominent in the Telegraph which says

“Ten years after Tony Blair promised a root-and-branch welfare reform and to use the money saved to fund health and education improvements, Britain's poor remained trapped in dependency and taxpayers are propping up an expensive and wasteful system.”

The Mirror meanwhile reports that

“TORY MP Bob Spink was last night at the centre of a race row after insisting the majority of criminals are black.

Mr Spink made his claim in an exchange of emails with a constituent.
He was asked: "Are you saying that a lot more criminals are black than white - or that there are more black people in jail than white because they are stopped more often?"
The MP replied: "The former and that's what people don't seem to like. But I didn't enter a beauty contest when I became an MP!!!!"
Mr Spink 58, MP for Castle Point, Essex, went on to say the problem was being ignored because of "political correctness".

To the jungle now and the Star headlines with

“COURAGEOUS Myleene Klass has been reduced to tears after being targeted by jealous bush bullies.The 28-year-old telly babe proved herself a real Jungle Jane after scoring the highest number of stars in a terrifying “Tomb Of Torment” Bushtucker Trial.”

The Sun reports on last night’s eviction

“ELATED Lauren Booth yelled “yes” as she was booted out the jungle last night — then seconds later said “no”.

Loudmouth Lauren, who lost in a vote to Malandra, was the fourth celeb voted off.
She told Ant and Dec: “I shouted ‘yes’ because it was fantastic. I want to see my family.
“But then ‘no’ because I didn’t want to disrespect anyone in camp. I’d have stayed and done my best.”

England’s ashes defeat doesn’t make the papers but is obviously prominent online.

The Telegraph reports

“Only an hour and a half into the final day, Australia wrapped up victory in this first Ashes Test by 277 runs. The new ball did the trick, bashing its way through the final five wickets for the addition of 77. Even after the encouraging batting of Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen on Sunday afternoon, this was still a thumping defeat for England.”

Now the post mortems will begin

“England came back from that Lord's defeat and they will believe they can come back again. Though Australia's batsmen have been awe-inspiring in this match, the tourists will feel they cannot bowl so badly again. And though both McGrath and Warne have been effective, they also showed some signs of tiredness when Collingwood and Pietersen were coming at them on Sunday. Over an intense six-week period, such vulnerability could be magnified.”

Of more concern is the England Rugby team,the Indie reports that

“Andy Robinson, who presided over England's eighth defeat in nine matches on Saturday, has started compiling his report on the world champions' impoverished performances in the four-match autumn series - a document he hopes and prays will convince the Rugby Football Union to keep him on the payroll for another 18 months. Robinson may not even get the chance to table it. Francis Baron, the chief executive of the RFU, is widely suspected to be pressing for the head coach's immediate dismissal as a direct consequence of the weekend failure against South Africa.”

The Sun is a little more down to earth

There's no way Bok

“THE thousands of fans filing silently out of Twickenham before the end of this mess were the lifeblood draining from Andy Robinson’s failed reign as England head coach.
Professional sport is as much about business as passion. When you spend millions to make Twickenham bigger you don’t want to see supporters desperate to leave it and unlikely to return.
But England rugby supporters have lost faith in Robinson and his regime. Before they left, they booed and jeered. That means he HAS to go.”

Finally continuing Xmas watch the Guardian tells us

It's the office Christmas party - and time to avoid the boss

“The office Christmas party is supposed to be a jolly affair, a rare chance for workers to unwind with a drink and some fancy dancing. But employers should, it seems, be wary of more malign consequences of mulled wine, mince pies and mistletoe.


Adding that

“This month a manager at a property firm won her claim for religious discrimination against her boss, who "humiliated" her at the company Christmas party after learning that she had converted to Islam. Caroline Elgedawy, a £52,000-a-year head of business information and strategy at the Hanover Park group, was insulted by the chief executive in front of other directors because of her religion.”