A Variety of headlines in the papers this morning

'Liberated' – Women voters seize the day says the Times

Hillary Clinton is preparing to ride a wave of support from women into the next stage of her contest with Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.
Her extraordinary and unexpected comeback in the New Hampshire Democratic primary was driven by women voters in record numbers. They largely shunned her in Iowa last week but came flooding back on Tuesday to make her the first woman to win a presidential primary. Yesterday she claimed to have “liberated” women politicians, after a campaign in which she revealed a previously unseen passion and personal empathy.

Next stop the nation as the big two seek funds and votes says the Guardian

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama plunged straight into the next, nationwide stage of the battle for the Democratic nomination yesterday after her stunning comeback in the New Hampshire primary, both embarking on a fresh round of campaign events and fundraising.


The Independent whose fornt page got it wrong yesterday says

How the East was one: The incredible comeback of Hillary Clinton

As supporters and volunteers trickled in to the vast sports hall of Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday night, the electronic scoreboard showed two names where two competing teams would normally be displayed – "HILLARY" and "CLINTON". Anything to lift the spirits on a night not expected to be fun. Only the superstitious or deliriously optimistic among the early crowd would have taken this tiny gesture as any kind of omen for how the night would turn out. The pundits and the pollsters had called the Democratic primary here already. It was Barack Obama's to lose. And that wasn't going to happen.

It leads though with a different story

Ouch! British dental care the most expensive in Europe

Dental treatment in England is the most expensive in Europe, according to an unprecedented survey which is likely to fuel the exodus of patients seeking treatment abroad.
The survey of nine European countries found the total cost of a standard filling ranged from €156 (£117) in England to €8 in Hungary. That total included the cost of x-rays, materials, drugs and overheads, as well as the dentist's time.

Diana's Squidgygate tapes 'leaked by GCHQ' says the front page of the Telegraph

The infamous "Squidgygate" tapes of Diana, Princess of Wales talking intimately to an alleged lover were recorded by the British intelligence listening station GCHQ and then deliberately leaked, an inquest into the princess's death has been told.Other members of the Royal family and Cabinet ministers were also regularly bugged by the security services in the 1980s and 1990s, ostensibly to help protect them against assassination by the IRA, the princess's former bodyguard Ken Wharfe told the hearing.

The Express also leads with the same story

THE Royal Family was routinely bugged by British secret services, the Princess Diana inquest heard yesterday.
The disclosure by Diana’s former police bodyguard, Ken Wharfe, prompted coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker to call for a report into widespread phone tapping of the Royals.
Mr Wharfe told the inquest that all the Royals had been bugged by the British intelligence listening station GCHQ, adding: “I am fairly confident in my own mind that this was routinely done.” In a day of drama at the High Court, Mr Wharfe said the publication of the so-called “Squidgygate” tapes was the result of Diana being bugged by intelligence chiefs.

The Guardian leads with the Northern Rock crisis as the paper reports

Search for Middle East cash to rescue Northern Rock

The frantic search for a private sector solution to the Northern Rock crisis has been widened to include cash-rich governments in the Middle East.
Goldman Sachs, the investment bank brought in by the government to find financing for a takeover of the stricken bank, has widened the net as the deadline for potential bidders approaches. Alistair Darling, the chancellor, has told Goldman that the government has no objections in principle to so-called sovereign wealth funds being included in any financing solution.

Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that

Gordon Brown accused of ID cards retreat

During robust exchanges at Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron accused Mr Brown of failing to give a straight answer over whether he favoured ID cards - a pet policy of his predecessor Tony Blair.

Brown cooling towards compulsory ID cards, MPs believe says the Guardian

Senior Labour MPs yesterday seized on comments by Gordon Brown to suggest that he intends to shelve a compulsory universal identity card scheme. They interpreted his remarks at prime minister's questions as a sign that he is cooling towards a compulsory scheme and may instead settle for a scheme that applies to foreign nationals.

Hain admits failing to declare a further £100,000 in gifts says the Independent

The Work and Pensions Secretary's admission, which could be made today, may leave him fighting for his political life. There is speculation at Westminster that he may have failed to register donations totalling as much as £100,000 – on top of the £82,000 he has disclosed from 11 backers.

There is much coverage of Bush's visit to the Middle East,the same paper reports

Differing opinions fail to dent Israel's love affair with Bush

Whilst the Guardian reports

Bush fails to gain concessions on settlements from Olmert

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, last night refused to rule out further settlement building in East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank, highlighting the deep gulf between Israel and the Palestinians that confronts George Bush on his first visit to Israel and the West Bank as president.
Against a backdrop of bristling security that accompanied the presidential visit, the Israeli prime minister said the US and the Palestinians knew there was an Israeli "moratorium" on new settlements and on the new expropriation of Palestinian land in the occupied territories.

151,000 civilians killed since Iraq invasion reports the same paper

An estimated 151,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the violence that has engulfed the country from the time of the US-led invasion until June 2006, according to the latest and largest study of deaths officially accepted by the Iraqi government.
The figures come from a household survey carried out by the World Health Organisation and the Iraqi health ministry. They are substantially lower than the 601,027 death toll reported by US researchers in 2006 in the Lancet using similar study methods, but higher than the Iraq Body Count's (IBC) register - based on press reports - of 47,668.

SAVED FROM THE DINNER TABLE says the front page of the Mail

They were crammed into tiny, stinking pens with barely room to move.
Eighty-four horses, ponies and donkeys were standing on the rotting remains and skeletons of animals which had starved to death.And the reason for their suffering? A farmer who had paid just £1 apiece for them was planning to sell them on the Continent for food.
The abuse of animals including the bedraggled horse pictured here is one of the worst cases of animal cruelty ever seen in Britain, and there were demands for meat trader Jamie Gray to face a long prison sentence.

The Sun reporting

Twenty-eight horses and donkeys were already dead and three more were in such a pitiful state they were shot on the spot.
Many staff and rescue workers were left in tears.
An animal expert involved in the clear-up said it was feared horses were forced to eat the dead to survive.

It leads with an exclusive

EIGHTEEN British soldiers were last night facing an agonising wait to see if they will contract a deadly disease through contaminated blood supplied by America.
The gravely wounded men needed drastic transfusions after cheating death on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now they fear they could yet be killed — by donated blood that was not properly screened and “certified” by US authorities.
It could leave them vulnerable to potentially lethal infections such as HIV, hepatitis and syphilis.

The Mirror carries an interview with the McCanns

McCanns' regrets over night Maddy vanished

Gerry McCann has told how he blames himself for daughter Madeleine's disappearance and confessed he fears he may never see her again.
Riddled with guilt, the distraught dad said he wished he'd never gone out for a meal with friends and left the youngster asleep in their apartment on that fateful night last May.

Yesterday's bad news form the high street is covered by many of the papers

Christmas misery for M&S sparks rout among retailers says the Times

Nearly £1.6 billion was wiped off the value of Marks & Spencer yesterday as the retailer reported its worst Christmas for three years and gave warning of a “serious softening” on the high street.
Shares in M&S plunged by 19 per cent, or 94½p, to 409p as the group dashed hopes that it might have survived the spending slowdown and instead said that trading may not improve until spring 2009.
Sir Stuart Rose, the chief executive, joined the calls for an interest-rate cut and said: “These are the toughest conditions I have seen for a decade.”

Interest rate cut hopes hammer sterling says the Telegraph

The pound has slipped to a new record low against the euro and a 9½-month low against the dollar as markets bet that the Bank of England will cut interest rates today.Today's rate decision is regarded as one of the closest calls in recent months, with the City's experts and the markets divided over the course of action the Bank will take. According to a survey from Reuters, 51 of 63 economists expect the MPC to leave borrowing costs unchanged at 5.5pc.

The Mail as do many of the papers reports that

Star of The Bill 'slashes wrists' on set after being sacked from show

Veteran actor on the The Bill Jeff Stewart slashed his wrists on set in a 'cry for help' after he was sacked after 24 years on the show.
The 52-year-old who plays PC Reg Hollis desperately dialled for help from his dressing room after the apparent suicide attempt.
Security staff dashed to his assistance after the alarm was raised at the TV studios and he was taken to hospital.

According to the Sun

DISTRAUGHT Bill star Jeff Stewart tried to kill himself after racking up online gambling debts. Last night, pals planned to take him to the Priory clinic in Roehampton, South-West London, as he told them: “I’m on the edge.”
A source close to Jeff said: “Jeff is in financial trouble

Many of the papers report

Tony Blair to take up £500,000 job as political adviser to US company

Tony Blair is to take a job with JPMorgan Chase, the international financial services and investment banking group, The Times learnt last night.
The former Prime Minister is to be a political adviser to the American firm which operates in more than 50 countries and whose assets are put at $1.5 trillion, with interests also in commercial banking and private equity. says the Times

'No confidence' in Arts Council England reports the Telegraph

Arts Council England (Ace) was plunged into a crisis when 500 of the country's top actors passed an unprecedented vote of no confidence in the organisation over cuts it is making in grants to almost 200 theatres and music companies.
The vote, supported by prominent figures such as Kevin Spacey, Sir Ian McKellen, Felicity Kendal and Joanna Lumley, was taken at a packed meeting at London's Young Vic theatre to discuss the cuts with Peter Hewitt, the council's chief executive.

The Mail tells the story of

Girl, 18, confesses in TV documentary: 'I've slept with 50 men in TWO years'

Like most teenage girls, Cheryl Tunney is a fan of boy bands, likes chatting to friends on the internet and going out.
However, the unemployed 18-year-old admits to another, horrifying, "hobby".
Since losing her virginity at 16, this young girl claims to have had sex with at least 50 men she picked up on the internet. Miss Tunney, from Dagenham, Essex, can give the first names of 36 of her partners but the rest have been forgotten - or never known.
She explains with a shrug: "When you sleep with so many, you kind of lose count."

Finally the Telegraph reports

Dolce & Gabbana in men's 70s fashion revival

Fashionable men will be growing their sideburns long again next year, according to Italy's top style gurus, because a 70s revival is on its way.
Hordes of fashionistas descended yesterday on Pitti Uomo in Florence, the world's most important menswear trade show, to discover what the key trends will be in 2009.
The answer, it seems, is tight, unbuttoned shirts, medallions, checked safari jackets and even Nehru collars. The only salvation is that elephant flares will not, apparently, be making a return.