The Guardian leads with

Nato general: we need one more year to defeat Taliban

In an interview with the paper General David Richards

warns today that the military effort needs more money and more troops for a year-long push that he believes will defeat the Taliban. While Nato troops had frustrated the Taliban's plans to mount a winter campaign for the first time, it had been "against the odds" and the result of "exceptionally skilled and brave fighting",

It had been achieved with fewer troops than were required, he said. "I am concerned that Nato nations will assume the same level of risk in 2007, believing they can get away with it. They might, but it's a dangerous assumption to believe the same ingredients will exist this year as they did last. And anyway a stabilised situation is not a good enough aim. We should and can win in Afghanistan but we need to put more military effort into the country ... We must apply ourselves more energetically for one more year in order to win."

Staying with a military topic,the Telegraph leads with the story that

Defence spending is lowest since the 1930s

According to a report by the Conservatives,

Cost-cutting imposed by the Ministry of Defence is now threatening the Navy's warship-building programme and leading to unprecedented levels of disaffection among senior serving and recently retired officers.
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, will be challenged in the Commons today over reports of further cutbacks in the programme for new Type 45 destroyers and growing doubts on whether the Government will fulfil its promise to build two new aircraft carriers.

The Independent launches a campaign with a picture of a swede on its front page

Campaign aims to reduce the mountains of waste

The shrink-wrapped swede, bought from a London supermarket at the weekend, says it all. Why on earth add a skin to something that's got a tough enough skin of its own?
Wrapping that's entirely unnecessary is not confined to root vegetables: it's everywhere. And today The Independent launches a campaign to highlight how environmentally unfriendly, how problematic and - not least - how irritating the phenomenon of packaging and packaging waste has become.

The Times runs with the story that

Women at cancer risk shunning smear test

Tens of thousands of young women are putting themselves at risk of cervical cancer by not turning up for their smear tests.

Every year, 660,000 women aged 25-29 are invited for screening in England. But in 2005-06, only 69.4 per cent of them did so, compared with almost 80 per cent in 1995. The drop has been attributed to complacency and an increasing reluctance to undergo an unpleasant and invasive procedure.

Much coverage on the two political stories of the weekend,the same paper reports

Downing Street cautious over Reid plans to split Home Office

John Reid won the backing yesterday of two leading Cabinet heavyweights for his proposal to split in two the 225-year-old Home Office. No 10 and the Treasury, however, adopted a much more cautious approach to the idea of creating a justice ministry and department of national security.
David Blunkett, a former home secretary, warned Mr Reid of the danger of the “Balkanisation” of Whitehall into a multitude of small departments headed by ministers unable to counter the combined weight of the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The Guardian reports that

Blair likely to quit if aides charged in loans inquiry

Tony Blair is likely to stand down early if charges are brought in the cash-for-honours affair against any of his key aides, including Ruth Turner, arrested on Friday on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
Ministers said they were certain Mr Blair would not seek to stay until his planned departure date of June or July if any of his immediate entourage were charged.
One senior Labour minister told the Guardian: "He knows he would need to do the right thing for the party."

The Telegraph reports on

US troops surge into Baghdad as 25 are killed in day of bloodshed

More than 3,000 fresh US troops arrived in Baghdad this weekend, in the first phase of a "surge" of forces to secure the streets of the capital.
The reinforcements came as the US military prepared to send home 25 troops in bodybags after its deadliest day in the past two years.
About 3,200 paratroops of the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division deployed as the first of a 21,500-strong taskforce ordered by President George W Bush to reinforce security in the city.

The Indy says that

The heavy US toll overshadowed the return of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to the political fold. Followers of the radical cleric have ended a damaging two-month boycott of the Iraqi parliament after reaching a deal with the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
The Sadrists control a bloc of 32 MPs in the 275-seat assembly and have six members in the Shia-majority cabinet. The deal yesterday signals a thaw in relations among factions within the government.

Big Brother continues to make news,the Guardian reporting on Channel 4's board meeting today,

Duncan's darkest hour

The lamentable performances of Duncan and Johnson, and Channel 4's inability to contain the political and social storm over Big Brother, have exposed the gaping deficiencies at the top of the network. The Big Brother fi asco is a body blow for Duncan, a former Flora margarine marketing man who was teased for his lack of television experience when he was appointed at the channel in 2004. In the past year he apparently confounded his sceptics, carefully treading a difficult tightrope as profits increased at the same time as he was trying to persuade policymakers that Channel 4's funding model faced mortal threat from digitalage challenges. But the events of the past week have served only to illustrate the desperate lack of creative, strategic and political leadership at a channel often hailed as the biggest success story in the recent history of broadcasting policy.

The Mirror has the large headline RESIGN across it front page,

CHANNEL 4 bosses were yesterday facing demands to say sorry or be sacked over the Big Brother race row.
Britain's race watchdog said ministers must take action if Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson fails to apologise after a crisis meeting of the company today.

The Sun though continue to focus on Jade Goody,

Jade 'suicidal' after race row

SHAKEN Jade Goody broke down on live television yesterday and wept that she had ruined her children’s lives.
The race row star revealed plans to see a psychiatrist — and voiced fears that sons Bobby Jack, three, and Freddy, two would be “rejected”.
But, as sources revealed she was on the brink of suicide, she STILL maintained she was not a racist, adding: “In my biggest rage I’ve never come out with a racist comment.”

The same paper reports one of the consequences of the aftermath of last week's storms reporting that

THOUSANDS of people flocked to the coast yesterday as BOOZE washed ashore from a stricken cargo ship.
Barrels of wine were among masses of debris which floated on to the beach after 200 containers slipped off the MSC Napoli.
The bonanza drew huge crowds hoping to grab some booty in scenes mirroring classic 1940s film Whisky Galore!, in which crafty islanders plunder a shipwreck for thousands of bottles of “the water of life”.

And staying with the weather,the Express plasters its front page with

Get ready for the big freeze

BRITAIN is today braced for Arctic blasts as low as -9C, with snow and hail in most regions.Snow was already falling in Manchester last night and beginning to settle.Heavy snow will push down from Scotland into eastern England today and will fall as far south as Kent by tonight. Forecasters said the wind chill factor means it could feel as cold as -9C (15.8F) in parts of the country.

The Mail leads with the story

Starving of the elderly

A health minister made the shameful admission that elderly people are effectively being starved in care homes and hospitals.
Ivan Lewis said some are given just a single scoop of mash as a meal.
Other bedridden pensioners are 'tortured' with trays of food placed just out of their reach.
The minister's words are a stunning acknowledgement of how the care system still lets down the frail and elderly after nearly ten years of Labour rule.

And joins many of the papers in commenting on Chelsy Davy's dress sense

Chelsy joins the TopShop brigade

But now it seems that Prince Harry's current squeeze has decided to follow her elder counterpart's example - by making tracks for Topshop.
The 20-year-old from Zimbabwe was pictured leaving a nightclub in Mayfair in a Topshop dress which cost less than the price of four cocktails. The blue-and-white print long-sleeved tunic dress would have set her back a mere £38.

Finally the Times reports on the

Top judge arrested over 'flashing on train'

One of the most senior judges in the country has been arrested over allegations that he indecently exposed himself to a female passenger on a train.
Lord Justice Richards, 56, a Court of Appeal judge, will not sit in the courts while police investigations continue into the alleged incident.

The judge, who is married with three children, also serves as chairman of the board of governors at King’s College School, Wimbledon, a leading independent school.