The first polls following the Tory conference feature in the papers this morning

Cameron bounces back says the Guardian

The scale of the election gamble confronting Gordon Brown is revealed today in a Guardian ICM poll showing Labour and the Tories neck and neck, closing an eight-point gap since the Guardian polled at the start of the conference season.
The poll was conducted after David Cameron had completed his much-hailed conference speech in Blackpool. But Labour aides said last night they had identified the source of the surge as the Tory announcement on inheritance tax and the promise that only millionaires would have to pay death duties.

David Cameron surge puts the heat on Labour headlines the Times

A Populus poll for The Times, and two others with similar findings, cast strong doubt over whether the Prime Minister will opt for an election on November 1 or November 8 when he meets advisers on Sunday.
The Populus poll, undertaken on Tuesday and Wednesday, puts the Conservatives five points up at 36 per cent, with Labour two points down on 39 per cent. The Liberal Democrats are two points lower at 15 per cent. Three fifths of the poll, of 803 adults, was undertaken after Mr Cameron’s speech on Wednesday.
A YouGov poll for Channel 4 News put Labour on 40 per cent and the Conservatives on 36 per cent, a lead of four points compared with 11 points last week. A third poll, conducted by ICM for The Guardian, has Labour and the Conservatives both on 38 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats third on 16 per cent.

Tories renew election call after poll is the Telegraph's headline

The Conservatives renewed their challenge to Gordon Brown to call an early election after David Cameron pulled off a significant comeback in the opinion polls.With a decision on whether to call an autumn vote expected by the beginning of next week, the Prime Minister now finds himself confronted by a buoyant Conservative party galvanised by a successful conference this week.

Election fever cools as Cameron wipes out Labour poll lead says the Mail

The first test of public opinion since the Tory leader challenged his opponent to an election showed the Conservatives have drawn neck and neck with Labour.
It followed a 100- day honeymoon period which saw the Prime Minister enjoy leads of up to 11 per cent.

The paper is still concentrating on the Diana inquest

Mystery of driver Henri Paul's missing eight minutes is its lead

Despite blanket CCTV coverage around the Ritz in Paris, Paul's movements in a period of fully 8 1/2 minutes cannot be accounted for.
The hotel security chief left the building three times to speak to paparazzi before he drove Diana and Dodi away in a Mercedes limousine.

Henri the rat says the Mirror

Princess Diana's driver Henri Paul tipped off paparazzi five minutes before she and Dodi al Fayed left the Ritz Hotel in Paris, an inquest heard yesterday.
Paul was at the centre of a complex plan to avoid photographers that involved Diana and Dodi departing by a back entrance soon after a decoy car moved off from the front.
But he spoke to photographers at the front of the hotel at least three times. And minutes before the plan was put into operation, he waved to three snappers who had gathered in the Rue Cambon at the rear of the hotel.

The Sun asks

Was Paul paid for Di tip-offs?

He also appeared to SIGNAL to waiting photographers that she and Dodi Fayed were about to sneak out of the hotel by a rear entrance — a plan HE helped draw up.As Ritz security boss Paul, 41, briefed trusting Di and Dodi on the bid to dodge the paparazzi, she was caught on CCTV flashing him a cheery mock military salute.

The tabloids return to the Maddy case for their front pages though,

The Mirror has the

Kate McCann's most emotional interview so far...

Kate and Gerry yesterday spoke fully for the first time since returning to the UK, they said none of those torments compared with the agony of discovering their four-year-old was gone.
Kate, 39, said: "Obviously, nothing can compare with the night Madeleine went missing. A lot has happened since then. Sometimes the most trivial of things can bring you crashing down.

I weep for my Madeleine says the Sun

FRAGILE Kate McCann revealed yesterday she cries every day — both for missing daughter Madeleine, and with emotion at the touching letters of support she receives.
Kate, 39, said: “I’ve had days when if I wasn’t crying for Madeleine, I was crying from the messages people have sent us.”
The GP said the hope of still finding four-year-old Maddie and the need to care for her toddler twins Sean and Amelie has helped her get through each painful day.

I CRY EVERY DAY SAYS KATE is the headline in the Express

A lot has happened since then. Time passed by so surreally. It was the first few hours, then eight hours, then 24 hours, 48 hours, then 72 hours ... I don’t remember. Each day felt like a week.
“The messages of support, friends and family rallying round – you just can’t overestimate what those have meant for us.”

Postal service takes a very long weekend as more strikes begin reports the Times

Postal services were thrown into chaos yesterday as the Communication Workers Union began the first of two 48-hour strikes. As the strikes, which began at noon yesterday, stretch around the weekend, there will be virtually no service until next Wednesday.
The consumers’ group Postwatch gave warning that a full normal service was unlikely to resume until October 15, by which time the union was due to start a rolling programme of selective walkouts throughout the network. Postwatch and Royal Mail advised people not to post anything unless absolutely necessary. A spokeswoman for Postwatch criticised Royal Mail’s decision to leave post boxes open rather than seal them as in previous disputes. “I expect it is being done to protect the brand but this gives the impression that it is business as normal and people may post items expecting them to go somewhere.”

No post for a week is a 'nightmare for economy' says the Mail

Business leaders warned yesterday that the national postal strike threatens 'frightening' disruption to the economy.
Royal Mail staff walked out in a dispute over pay, pensions and a radical reorganisation that will cost 40,000 jobs.
Their industrial action - the widestreaching to hit the country in 11 years - will effectively stop all deliveries for a week.

The Independent leads with

British guards 'assault and racially abuse' deportees

Hundreds of failed asylum-seekers deported from the United Kingdom have been beaten and racially abused by British escort teams who are paid to take them back to their home countries,
The scale of the alleged abuse has been uncovered in a joint investigation by The Independent and a group co-ordinating the representation and medical care of failed asylum-seekers.
A dossier of 200 cases, collated by doctors, lawyers, immigration centre visitors and campaign groups over the past two years, has unearthed shocking claims of physical and mental mistreatment of some of the most vulnerable people in our asylum system.

The same paper reports from South Africa where

Recriminations start as trapped miners are freed

The South African government shut down Elandsrand gold mine yesterday as the last of 3,200 miners trapped more than a mile underground made their way back to the surface after more than 36 hours underground.
The 3,000 men and 200 women became trapped when the electricity cable of the main lift at the mine near Carletonville was severed on Wednesday morning, condemning them to a long and anxious wait in a confined, cramped space where temperatures touched 40C.

Bill Clinton: Hillary wants me to restore image of US says the Guardian

If Hillary Clinton wins the US presidency, Bill Clinton will be given the job of repairing America's damaged international reputation, the former president tells the Guardian in an interview today.
Mr Clinton, 61, reveals that his wife has said she would ask him to "go out and immediately restore America's standing, go out and tell people America was open for business and cooperation again" after eight years marked by unilateralist policies that have "enrage[d] the world".

Meanwhile the Telegraph reports

US 'must break Iran and Syria regimes'

America should seize every opportunity to force regime change in Syria and Iran, a former senior adviser to the White House has urged.We need to do everything possible to destabilise the Syrian regime and exploit every single moment they strategically overstep," said David Wurmser, who recently resigned after four years as Vice President Dick Cheney's Middle East adviser

Staying with the paper it reports that

Married parents 'in the minority by 2031'

A report on family life by the Office for National Statistics suggests that Britain is only 24 years away from married couples being in the minority.
The report, published yesterday, said the number of couples who live together has increased 65 per cent to 2.3 million in the past 10 years, while married couple families fell by four per cent to 12.1 million. The number of single mothers rose by eight per cent, to 2.6 million, over the decade.adding that

with serious implications for the health and education of children

The Guardian reports on yesterday's health review

Injection for NHS includes GP surgeries at weekends

Gordon Brown yesterday unveiled a clutch of populist NHS reforms to increase hospital safety and improve patients' access to GPs, presenting them as the first fruits of a fundamental review of healthcare in England by the surgeon-minister Lord Darzi.
The prime minister's pre-election pleasers included a plan for at least half the nation's GP surgeries to open during evenings or weekends, which he described as "an immediate aim". He also promised to fund 150 extra health centres in easily-accessible places across the country, open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm.

Alistair Darling admits Britain’s economy is slowing as house prices start to fall says the Times

The first monthly fall in house prices this year was reported yesterday, fuelling fears that a looming downturn in the property market will hit the economy hard next year.
In the latest sign that the housing market is now rapidly losing steam, Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, said its regular survey showed that average national house prices fell by 0.6 per cent in September, marking their first monthly fall since December

''Sex assault' on Premiership soccer star's son reports the Mirror

The young son of a Premiership soccer ace has allegedly been sexually assaulted at home.
The primary school pupil is said to have been attacked by a workman who was a family friend.
Albert Callender, 63, has now been charged and is due in court later this month.
The footballer, a household name, is said to be heartbroken and "terribly upset".

The Sun claims

Pete in death plunge quizROCKER Pete Doherty could face a murder probe into the death of a partygoer who fell from a balcony.

A coroner dramatically halted an inquest yesterday on Mark Blanco after hearing that one of Doherty’s minders admitted he had pushed the man over.
Dr Andrew Reid recorded an open verdict and said: “I have heard enough conflicting evidence.”
He dismissed suggestions of suicide and that Mark may have died after trying to leap from the balcony to a lamppost. Dr Reid said there was not enough information to determine whether the death was an accident or an unlawful killing.

The Telegraph reports on the return of a stolen painting

Four held as stolen da Vinci painting found

A painting by Leonardo da Vinci worth at least £25 million has been recovered in a police raid four years after it was stolen from Britain’s biggest private landowner.The 16th century masterpiece, Madonna of the Yarnwinder, was taken from one of the three stately homes of the ninth Duke of Buccleuch by thieves posing as tourists.

According to the Indpendent

One in 10 adults a victim of mass marketing fraud

More than 3.2 million people have handed over cash after being approached by fraudsters by email, letter or telephone.
The total cost of such cons is more than £3.5bn every year, according to the Office of Fair Trading.
The figures were revealed as the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) announced it has set its sights on the organised criminal gangs behind these frauds in the UK and abroad. Officials said they have seized fake cheques, postal orders and bank drafts exceeding £8m.


Tony Benn, aged 82, plans shock return to politics as Labour election candidate in Kensington reports the Mail

If Labour selects him he would join his granddaughter Emily, who at nearly 18 will become the youngest person to run for Parliament after being selected to fight East Worthing and Shoreham in West Sussex for Labour

The paper also reports on

The first town in Britain to put up its Christmas lights - with just 92 days to go!

Residents of a market town are feeling a distinct lack of festive cheer after its Christmas lights were put up 92 days early.
Visitors to Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, were stunned to see the festive display appear on September 24.
Rather than rushing out to buy tinsel and crackers, residents have been busy criticising those behind the bizarre decision

It's official: swallowing swords hurts your throat reports the Guardian

For the world's sword swallowers, it must have been an important study: a medical analysis of the dangers and side-effects of their profession. Fortunately, doctors concluded that the most likely injury from inserting a long piece of sharp steel down your food pipe was just a humble sore throat.
As well as adding to crucial knowledge about work-related injuries, the unique study last night earned its author, radiologist Brian Witcombe at Gloucestershire Royal NHS foundation trust, this year's Ig Nobel prize for medicine.

Finally according to the Sun

Birmingham top for sex thrills

BRUMMIES are Britain’s kinkiest lovers, a survey has revealed.
Midlands folk as a whole think they are the most sexually adventurous.
But nookie really hots up in swinging Birmingham and the Black Country, which led the poll.
When asked if they would try threesomes, dogging, wife swapping and sex in public, 78 per cent of Midlanders said they would — or already had.