Magpies are the theme in the papers this morning as the chancellor's spending review is covered on many of the front pages

The Magpie budget sees Labour 'steal' Tory ideas says the Times

Alistair Darling raided the Conservative election locker yesterday, stealing proposals to exempt the vast majority of families from inheritance tax.
In an electioneering Autumn Budget that lacked only the election, the Chancellor adopted one Tory plan after another, including charging “nondomiciled” wealthy foreigners living in Britain and switching air travel duty from passengers to flights.
Opponents accused the Government of “scrabbling around in panic” to think of something to say to the country.

Smash and grab: how Labour stole the Tories' big ideas says the Guardian

Labour shamelessly burgled three populist planks of the planned Conservative manifesto yesterday when Alistair Darling used his first set-piece occasion as chancellor to raise the threshold for inheritance tax, close loopholes for wealthy non-domiciles and switch green aviation taxes from passengers to flights

Mr Magpie: Chancellor steals Tories' thunder by using their ideas is the front page of the Mail,whilst the Express trumpets that

NOW WE FORCE BROWN TO CUT DEATH TAX

DAILY Express readers achieved their greatest victory last night as the Government sounded the retreat over inheritance tax.

The Independent calls it THE GIANT GAMBLE on its front page

This is scary stuff. Gordon Brown traded on his reputation for prudence, whatever the substance behind it. His successor may, thanks to his mellifluous Edinburgh burr, present an even more polished image of care and caution. But the assumptions on which the whole superstructure of this Government's finances rest are really quite shaky.
In truth Alistair Darling's figures only add up if the global economic cycle is dead. If that proves the case, sure, we scramble by. But all past experience suggests that is unlikely in the extreme.

The Telegraph refers to the

Royal Mail at 'make or break' point

The company is already in the grip of the biggest strike for 20 years, which has cost it £260 million and left 200 million letters and packages piled up in sorting offices. Business groups have warned that firms have already begun to desert Royal Mail for rival couriers.

Union blasts Royal Mail for wanting slaves says the Mirror

Crisis talks between Royal Mail and union chiefs descended into a war of words yesterday after accusations of "slavery" against the firm were branded "cobblers".
With no end in sight to the deadlocked row over pay, jobs and pensions the union announced a series of rolling strikes from Monday.
The threat came as 130,000 Communication Workers Union members ended their latest 48-hour strike at 3am this morning and started to deliver a huge backlog.
Trouble flared when the union's deputy general secretary, Dave Ward, described the firm's plans to end "job and finish" - where posties knock off early if they have completed deliveries - as "slavery".

small businesses face ruin says the Times

Thousands of small businesses were braced for continued disruption and cash flow problems yesterday as the main postal union began preparing for more walkouts.

POSTIES STRIKING TO SAVE FIDDLES says the Sun

STRIKING posties were accused yesterday of claiming millions of pounds in “ghost” overtime perks.
Royal Mail chief Adam Crozier accused union leaders of talking “cobblers” by insisting the dispute is over pay. He claimed they were trying to protect ‘Spanish practices’ – deals to give them an easier life – that allowed them to claim overtime AND finish early. A few years ago there were 1,442 Spanish practices, but now they total 92.


Thousands of jobs to be axed from BBC in bid to claw back £2bn reports the Independent

BBC staff are bracing themselves for "savage" job losses in news and programme-making under cost-cutting plans to be unveiled by the corporation next week.

As many as 2,800 posts – at least 12 per cent of the BBC's 23,000 workforce –could be cut when the director general, Mark Thompson, presents his proposals to save billions of pounds to the BBC Trust. Mr Thompson is seeking budget cuts of 6 per cent in each of the next five years to make up a £2bn shortfall between the licence fee settlement and the funds he had wanted.

The Telegraph reports on the strike threats

Strike action appeared inevitable last night as unions digested the impact of proposed cuts of up to 12 per cent of the 23,000-strong work force.
Household name presenters such as John Humphrys and Jim Naughtie, who anchor Radio 4's Today programme, will refuse to cross any picket line, effectively forcing the programme off the air.
There were rumours last night that the BBC's One O'Clock News could be one of the casualties. If the show is axed, viewers may be provided with a 30-minute news feed taken from BBC News 24 instead of a separate bulletin.

Staying with strikes the Guardian reports that

Prison officers to be banned from striking

Prison officers are to be banned from going on strike, the justice secretary, Jack Straw, disclosed last night.
Mr Straw told MPs that he was now "actively considering" a statutory ban on industrial action in jails in the wake of the first national 24-hour strike by 20,000 prison officers in August over pay.
The decision to ban the Prison Officers' Association (POA), which represents nearly all prison officers in state-run jails, from taking industrial action will reinstate a measure first imposed by Michael Howard when he was home secretary in 1994. Charles Clarke repealed the ban when he was home secretary two years ago - on the condition that a voluntary no-strike agreement was honoured.

The Mirror returns to the Maddy story on its front page

McCann's flat searched for five hours

Police searched Madeleine McCann's holiday flat for five hours yesterday as one of Portugal's most senior detectives took over the case.
The feverish activity followed the appointment of Paulo Rebelo - the deputy director of the national force.
Three plain-clothes detectives inspected the ground-floor apartment after opening the sealed shutters at 7am.

Madeleine 'was left in room with six other youngsters' reports the Mail

Police are investigating 'significant' evidence that Madeleine McCann was left in her parents' apartment with six other children on the night she disappeared, it was claimed yesterday.
Detectives believe the seven friends holidaying with Kate and Gerry McCann in Portugal also left four of their young children in the couple's apartment.

The Guardian reports on the

Threat to surrender green belt for homes

A radical review which could see houses built on previously sacrosanct land and an end to the green belt's 50-year-old role as a buffer zone between town and country is being considered by the government's environmental advisory body.
Natural England's board will meet today to discuss the ideas, which are described in a document seen by the Guardian as "a mature examination of green belt principles to see if and how they can evolve to fit 21st-century circumstances".
Under the proposals, the best and most environmentally valuable green belt land would be safeguarded and improved, but some areas could be considered for eco-friendly housing schemes.

Bedfordshire police are fingered as worst in top of the cops league reports the Times

The worst-performing police force in England and Wales was identified as Bedfordshire in annual government figures published yesterday.
Greater Manchester, Thames Valley and Wiltshire were the next worst-rated forces, according to the annual assessment of the 43 police forces.
Joint top of the list - compiled by adding up figures awarded for performance in different areas of police work - were Lancashire and Surrey.
The amount of time that officers are spending on the front line barely increased in the past year despite a drive by the Government for more police officers to be on the streets rather than doing back-room duties.

New technology undermining childhood says the Telegraph

Parents are "ill-equipped" to keep their children safe from violent and damaging influences on the internet, the Government said on Tuesday. Few families are aware of the extreme images in many video games and websites used by thousands of young people every day, it is claimed Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, said only one-in-20 parents knew that many children gave out personal details online, raising fresh fears that uncontrolled access to new technology may be undermining childhood.

The Guardian on the same theme reports that

Almost all children aged 10-15 are victims of crime

A survey by the Howard League for Penal Reform of more than 3,000 children found that almost three-quarters had been assaulted over the previous year, and that two-thirds had been victims of theft. More than half the children had seen their property deliberately damaged, while others reported threats or verbal abuse

News from abroad in the papers,

Hillary Clinton woos voters with French fries says the Telegraph

Perched on a red vinyl bar stool, her elbows on the worn plastic counter of the Maid-Rite luncheonette, Hillary Clinton scooped up French fries with her fingers and hungrily tucked into a ground beef sandwich.The front runner for the White House carried on munching as she urged onlookers inside the eatery just off Route 30 to sample what Iowans regard as classic fare. "It's good, you should try it," she enthused. "It's got mustard in it and a tomato-based sauce."

Actor has stage fright but survives debate reports the Times from the republican side

Fred Thompson, once hailed as a Republican saviour in the 2008 Presidential elections but more recently dismissed as a dud, last night survived his biggest challenge yet largely unscathed.
In a TV debate in Dearborn, Michigan, against rivals for the Republican nomination, he knew that every word would be scrutinised, having missed the five previous such forums because of his much delayed entrance into the race .



Suu Kyi rejects Burma junta's preconditions on peace talks reports the Indy

Having beaten them, abused them and shot many of them dead, Burma's military junta says it is trying to rebuild a relationship with the country's Buddhist monks by donating supplies of food, medicine and toothpaste.
Lieutenant-General Myint Swe has apparently delivered £4,000 of supplies to 50 monasteries and a nunnery in Rangoon. The state-run New Light Of Myanmar newspaper said the donations were accepted by the monks but there was no independent confirmation of this.
News of the regime's attempts at reconciliation with the clergy following its violent repression of pro-democracy protests came as the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the junta should not affix preconditions to its offer to meet her.

Thousands flee as Pakistan pounds rebels reports the Guardian

Thousands fled Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area yesterday as air force jets pummelled militant positions after four days of clashes left almost 250 dead.
The fighting began after an army convoy was ambushed on Saturday near the town of Mir Ali. Residents of the town, which has a reputation as a Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold, fled the fighting in cars and tractors and on foot.

Which also reports

White House denies mishandling al-Qaida tip-off

The Bush administration today was accused of compromising surveillance of al-Qaida by leaking a video of Osama bin Laden 20 minutes after it received a copy from a small private intelligence firm.
The leak alerted al-Qaida to the firm's surveillance of a channel it had been using to pass along messages and advance warning of attacks, Site, or the Search for International Terrorist Entities, said.

The Times reveals

Tough-talking Nicolas Sarkozy spells out terms of new relationship to Vladimir PutinPresident Putin of Russia has made a big shift towards Western efforts to dissuade Iran from building nuclear weapons, President Sarkozy claimed in Moscow last night.
The French leader emerged with the news after a three-hour private dinner that was the first test of his resolve to add a harder edge to his country’s recently cosy relations with Moscow.
Chatting in his hotel, “Super-Sarko” appeared delighted with the success of his “frank and passionate” session at Mr Putin’s dacha on the outskirts of Moscow. The session had been billed as a test of wills between the powerful Russian boss and the would-be new strongman of Western Europe.

MEANIES UNITED says the front page of the Sun.The paper reporting that

MEGA-RICH footballers were blasted last night – after they refused to give a day’s pay to a fund for hard-up nurses.
The Mayday for Nurses charity asked Premier League aces to help raise more than £1million.
But the appeal has collected less than £200,000 from the players, some of whom are on MILLIONS a year.
NO players from wealthy Chelsea pledged cash for the nurses, although the club did make a donation.
Just THREE Arsenal players and TWO from Manchester United donated.

The Mail reports that

Six in ten women in UK have had an affair with a colleague

It used to be seen as an amorous adventure that would eventually end in tears.
But a study has revealed that almost six in ten women have had a secret affair with a colleague.
Eighty nine per cent say relationships with coworkers are "not frowned on at all" and half of all women meet the love of their life at work.
Even having a relationship with your boss, once seen as strictly taboo, is now widely acceptable.

The Telegraph reports on the

Cannabis dealing mother spared jail sentenceNicola Cooper, 43, told police she wanted to prevent her teenagers being exposed to dealers and getting involved in crime.
She made the admission after police found 116 gms of cannabis resin worth around £200 at her home in Ixworth, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
Cooper quit her job as a support assistant at Barrow primary school, near Bury St Edmunds, after being charged with supplying cannabis.

Family defends 'racist' Sir Kingsley Amis reports the Telegraph

The family of the late Sir Kingsley Amis has rallied to his defence after he was accused of being "a racist, anti-Semitic boor, a drink-sodden, self-hating reviler of women, gays and liberals", by Marxist intellectual Terry Eagleton.
Colin Howard, the homosexual brother-in-law of Sir Kingsley, has called Prof Eagleton "a little squirt" and said that the novelist, far from being homophobic, had extended an affectionate friendship to him and helped him come to terms with his sexuality


Finally the Mirror reports that

Police issue Coronation St warning

Police have told people not to phone during Coronation Street ad breaks - because they are too busy.
Soap addicts wait until then to report crimes they witness and one force is being overrun by calls.
Grampian Police call centre wants people to get in touch at quieter times.