Both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown feature in the papers this morning,the former setting out his vision of defending the UK from those that want further devolution,the latter defending his role in Britian's foreign policy.

The Telegraph features its interview with the Chancellor,

Brown's manifesto for Britishness

Writing in The Daily Telegraph to mark the tercentenary of the merger of the two parliaments in 1707, he stakes a bold claim to be the champion of Unionism against a "dangerous drift" to separatism The Chancellor of the Exchequer, widely expected to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister later this year, mounts a powerful defence of Britishness in the face of resurgent support for the Scottish National Party and a growing clamour for English laws to be decided by English MPs alone

Adding that

The Chancellor makes an audacious bid to capture political ground that was once the unchallenged territory of the Conservatives, warning of the dangers of a "balkanised Britain" — fractured by the twin forces of nationalism and multi-culturalism.

Meanwhile the Independent attacks the Pm,reporting on his speach yesterday

Shoot the messenger: PM blames media for anti-war mood

Tony Blair has turned the blame for his disastrous military campaigns in the Middle East on anti-war dissidents and the media.
Warning it would take the West another 20 years to defeat Islamic terrorism, the Prime Minister used a wide-ranging "swansong" lecture on defence to denounce critics and the media who have been a thorn in his side since the invasion of Iraq.
He also dismissed those - including many defence chiefs - who claimed the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath had fuelled insurgents and terrorism.

In its editorial it describes it as a

A mendacious attack by Mr Blair to cover up his fatal misjudgement

what we are looking at now is not a general crisis of confidence in the use of British military force, fostered by the sensation-driven modern media; it is a particular crisis of confidence precipitated by the débâcle of Iraq. For all Mr Blair's personal salesmanship at the time - the weapons of mass destruction and all that - this began as a highly unpopular war, and it remains one. Rather plaintively, Mr Blair said yesterday that the armed forces wanted public opinion "not just behind them, but behind their mission".

The Sun reports on his speach that

TONY Blair last night urged Britain to become a nation of WARRIORS not WORRIERS, braced for more military action to crush al-Qaeda.
The PM issued a rallying cry to war wobblers not to go soft.
He aped wartime leader Winston Churchill, calling for a Blitz spirit in the face of global terrorism.
And he warned that it would be a “catastrophe” for Britain to run from the battle with al-Qaeda.

According to the Guardian,

Britain's fragile public support for interventionist military action is being put at risk by the lobbying of armed forces chiefs about money, equipment and the over-stretch of resources, Tony Blair warned yesterday.
He said his political successors would be under huge pressure to pull back into a more limited peace-keeping role, a change that he said would"horrify" the armed forces and prove "catastrophic" for Britain's world power.
Mr Blair also urged his probable successor Gordon Brown, not to take the easy option, but continue with a role for Britain backed by long term increases in spending on "equipment, personnel and conditions of our armed forces".

Both the Times and teh Guardian lead on what has\become this week's theme of the Health service in the broadsheets.

The Times reports

NHS will 'run out of funds for best drugs'

Patients face much tougher rationing of treatments and restricted access to breakthrough drugs if the Government does not rethink its plans for health spending, the NHS’s treatment regulator has told The Times.
Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, the head of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), cited treatments ranging from new life-saving drugs to free food for the elderly in nursing homes as examples of care that could suffer if ministers slowed the rate of spending, as expected.

The Guardian takes a differing story

Revealed: the 11 government ministers fighting NHS cuts

At least 13 members of Tony Blair's ministerial team have campaigned over the last few months against closure of services at NHS hospitals used by their constituents, a Guardian survey has revealed.
The hitherto unrealised scale of opposition within the government's ranks to the consequences of NHS reform reflects the difficulty Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, faces in selling her policies to the nation. Many Labour backbenchers are also showing their dissent by making campaigns to save accident and emergency departments or maternity services the focus of their constituency activities.

The Mirror reveals

£¼M PAYOFF ..FOR 3 WEEKS IN NHS

Dr Iheadi Onwukwe was put on "gardening leave" for three years after a dispute with a senior colleague. Then he was given his golden handshake, which could have paid for 300 cataract operations or given more than 40 patients life-saving heart bypass surgery.

The Mail picks up on the story of

Now a school bans 13-year-old from wearing crucifix

A school provoked fury last night by ordering a devout Catholic schoolgirl to remove her cross necklace because it posed a health and safety risk.
Teachers demanded Samantha Devine remove her chain and tiny crucifix despite allowing Muslim and Sikh pupils to wear symbols of their religion.

The Sun's front page leads with the headline

SHOOT HIM

A DEPRAVED babysitter who raped a tot of three was jailed indefinitely yesterday as the girl’s mum praised her for helping cage the monster.
The mite became one of the youngest-ever witnesses in a British trial when she told how sex-crazed James Dean attacked her.
Clutching a big brown-and-white teddy and with a pink bow in her hair, the girl, now five, gave evidence to a hushed court via a video-link.
Yesterday, a jury found Dean, 20, guilty of raping her and of indecency with her sister, now nine, and another girl, now seven.

A couple of business stories take prominence in the Telegraph,

Giant of industry stands down as BP chief

Lord Browne of Madingley, widely regarded as the greatest British businessman of his generation, is standing down as chief executive of BP in the summer.

The 58-year-old was due to remain in charge of the troubled giant until the end of next year but will be replaced by Tony Hayward, BP's head of exploration and production, on Aug 1.

Whilst reporting that

EMI pays price of a fallen angel

Music giant EMI was counting the £200 million cost of Robbie Williams's ego and the digital revolution yesterday as it revealed an extraordinary slump in profits.

The label, which said sales for 2006 are likely to be 10 per cent lower than predicted, was immediately accused of being a dinosaur that had failed to adapt quickly enough to the era of digital music.

The Guardian reports on the

BNP ballerina dances through protest by anti-racists

The usual matinee mix of pensioners and schoolchildren had been joined at the London Coliseum, central London, by two less likely groups of ballet enthusiasts - about 30 members of the British National party and a smaller number of anti-racism activists. Both had turned up for Clarke's first public performance since the Guardian named the acclaimed dancer as a member of the BNP during an investigation into the far-right organisation last month.

Big Brother coninues to dominate,the Mirror keeping us up to date on yesterday's developments,

BIG Brother was thrown into chaos yesterday as Leo Sayer became the third person to walk out - because he was refused clean underpants.
The 70s singer forced his way through a wall with a broom just before 2pm after telling BB he refused to wash his dirty smalls because it would be "demeaning".
Hours later newspaper columnist Carole Malone was evicted in the public vote.

Finally the Indy reports on the story of parking rage in Sussex,

Exploding meters, parking vigilantes and a suspicious silence in a sleepy Sussex town

Since new parking restrictions were introduced - some say imposed - in Lewes in September 2004, there has been a remarkable backlash in which a group of vigilantes and vandals have been blowing up the newly installed meters.
So far there have been more than 200 attacks in which 35 of the town's 96 meters have been written off, while repairs have been needed on a further 170 machines at a total cost of £300,000. The covert bombers have used a variety of devices ranging from simple bangers and powerful crow scarers, to a mix of firework explosives that have scrambled the innards of the meters.