GORDON BROWN is facing a cabinet revolt over controversial new terror laws amid concern in the government about an unprecedented collapse in his authority.the paper adds
Brown’s personal rating has plunged further and faster than any other British leader since political polling began in the 1930s, a new poll for The Sunday Times reveals.
The double blow came as the prime minister’s allies moved to quash speculation that his plummeting popularity could prompt a plot to remove him from office.
The cabinet dispute centres on Brown’s determination to push through legislation extending the maximum period terrorism suspects can be detained without charge to 42 days. Jack Straw, the justice secretary, has told Commons allies that he has reservations about the policy, which critics say will inflame tension among Muslims and lead to miscarriages of justice.
The Independent claims
Charles Clarke lines up southern 'stalking horses' to challenge Brown's leadership
Gordon Brown faces a possible stalking-horse challenge to his leadership orchestrated by his arch-enemy Charles Clarke, it was claimed last night.
The former home secretary is understood to be collecting names of MPs for an emergency contest if Labour performs badly in the 1 May London and local elections.
Meanwhile the Observer carries a poll which suggests
mayoral race on a knife edge
Boris Johnson has taken a narrow lead over Ken Livingstone in the race to be London's mayor, according to a poll for The Observer that will alarm Labour MPs.
The Conservative candidate appears to be gaining support from voters switching away from Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate, as Londoners increasingly decide that the election is a two-horse race. Paddick performed poorly in a debate for BBC2's Newsnight last week and has failed to make inroads.
The Telegraph reports
Recount of all votes in Zimbawe election
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will recount all votes cast in the March 29 election next Saturday, the state media has said.
The Sunday Mail quoted Justice George Chiweshe, the ZEC chairman, as saying ballots cast in parliamentary, presidential and council votes would be counted again in the presence of party representatives, candidates and observers.
The surprise announcement came as regional leaders met in Zambia to discuss a two-week delay in releasing results of the presidential poll which has raised fears of violence in Zimbabwe.
The Independent's front page tells us
Mugabe prepares for war
Robert Mugabe is preparing to defy international pressure and launch a systematic crackdown in Zimbabwe aimed at reversing his defeat in the presidential election two weeks ago, according to dissident policemen who have been briefed on his plans.
Through an intermediary, the policemen told The Independent on Sunday that they have been ordered to be ready to deploy today or tomorrow. With their ranks swollen by so-called "war veterans" given police uniforms, they would take over constituency "command centres" used in the 29 March elections.
A different angle in the Observer
First sign of hope at Zimbabwe summit
The regional leaders are known to favour Makoni, 51, as a successor to 84-year-old Mugabe because he too comes from Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party, which has been in power since the end of white rule in 1980.
Moments before the leaders began talks with Makoni - who ran as an independent in the presidential elections and is believed to have finished third - the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, left the talks abruptly with his delegation.
The paper leads with the story that
GPs warned over failure to diagnose cancers
Patients are dying of cancer because GPs are failing to identify their symptoms, the government's top cancer expert has warned. Professor Mike Richards said botched diagnoses were now 'a significant concern'.
In an interview with The Observer, Richards, national cancer director at the Department of Health, warned about the consequences of these mistakes. 'Ultimately it can mean that the cancer has progressed to a stage where it can't be cured,' he said. Failed diagnoses also meant that, when cancers were eventually spotted, particularly aggressive treatments, such as chemotherapy or surgery, had to be used. 'That could be a mastectomy rather than perhaps a breast conserving operation,' he said.
Staying with health and the Independent reports that
Hospitals that serve their patients poor food face fines or even closure under government plans to revolutionise meals on NHS wards.
Ministers want NHS trusts to use fresher, locally sourced ingredients in their kitchens after official figures showed dozens of institutions offer poor or barely acceptable nutrition. Hospitals and care homes persistently failing to provide patients with a high enough standard could be issued warning notices of suspension or fines or be closed.
The Sunday Express reports that
DRUG TEST SCANDAL RETURNS
TWO volunteers are in hospital after taking experimental drugs being tested by the company which ran the disastrous “Elephant Man” drug trials two years ago.
The controversial US giant Parexel has been recruiting “guinea-pigs” to test a potentially dangerous new drug designed to help people overcome addictions.
Both the Telegraph and the Mail lead with stories of our armed forces,the Mail shows us
Pictures that should shame us all reveal the shabby way Britain treats its heroes
They serve the same Queen, fight the same foe and lay down their lives with equal valour and sacrifice.
But when the fallen heroes of Canada and Britain come home, the welcome is very different.
At airbases in both countries there is only sombre respect.
But today The Mail on Sunday publishes extraordinary pictures that contrast the final road journeys: in Canada, there is a police escort and crowds line the route; in Britain, the hearses are denied outriders and go unremarked.
The Telegraph announces
Victory for Armed Forces Day campaign
Britain is to have a "special day of celebration" for the Armed Forces after Gordon Brown endorsed the idea in a victory for a campaign by The Sunday Telegraph.The Prime Minister signalled his backing for an annual day of parades, tattoos and other events, to be held on a weekend, to allow the public to express its support and respect for the military.
The red tops continue to concentrate on the Shannon Matthews case,the News of the World claims
THE brazen mum of Shannon Matthews ABANDONED her first baby in a screaming street bust-up over a fiver for ciggies.
Karen Matthews expected £15 from a pawn shop for her stereo. But when lover John Bretton got just a tenner she stormed off leaving him with their two-week-old son
Revealing all on his ex's squalid life John said: "Karen's a total slob."
The Sunday Mirror reports
Tormented Shannon Matthews is suffering nightmare hallucinations caused by her 24-day abduction.
The little girl is convinced she was taken on a day-trip to the seaside while she was being held.
She is now so disorientated that she believes people came to visit her while she was missing - although there is no actual evidence of it happening.
The Mail reports
Vandalism fears over Shannon 'welcome home' tree
A tree planted to welcome home missing Yorkshire schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been moved by supporters in fear that it would be vandalised.
The pink magnolia was planted near her home on March 19, five days after she was found by police.
But locals fear the tree and surrounding flowers would come under attack from people angry after the arrest of Shannon's mother Karen Matthews on charges of perverting the course of justice and neglect.
and the Express says
THE mother of Shannon Matthews is thought to be pregnant with her eighth child.
Karen Matthews, currently in prison accused of child neglect and perverting the course of justice in relation to the hunt for nine-year-old Shannon, already has seven children by five different fathers.
And neighbours on the tough Dewsbury Moor estate in Dewsbury, West Yorks, where she lives are convinced the 32-year-old is expecting once again.
The Observer reports that
Madeleine 'suspect' in massive libel claim
A British expatriate who was named as a formal suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is launching one of the largest libel claims in the history of the British media.
Robert Murat lists 11 newspapers and one TV station in his demand for damages, which litigation lawyers believe could lead to a record cumulative payout of more than £2m. It is the largest number of separate libel claims made by one person against the British media on the same issue.
According to the Times
Heathrow plans crash zone on motorway
PLANS for a third runway at Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport, flout safety guidelines by placing a proposed crash-landing zone on top of a motorway junction.
The missiting emerged in an investigation by The Sunday Times into the expansion of Heathrow. The investigation also revealed that figures for carbon emissions and the impact on air quality have been downplayed. The government is under pressure to rethink the £12.7 billion project
The Independent reports that
Defects found in nuclear reactor the French want to build in Britain
The French nuclear safety agency has uncovered a series of defects in the construction of a reactor in Normandy considered to be the template for the next generation of stations due to be built in Britain.
The agency, ASN, says that a quarter of the welds seen in its steel liner – a crucial line of defence if there were to be an accident – are not in accordance with welding norms, and that cracks have been found it its concrete base, also essential for containing radioactivity
The Mirror reports on
JEREMY CLARKSON IN FOUR-LETTER RANT TO BOY, 12
The BBC motoring show presenter tore into youngster Tom Dickman for snapping him asleep on a beach in Barbados.
He confronted the terrified youngster in front of shocked onlookers and ranted: "Are you the little f***er that took my picture? If you do that again or it goes on the internet I will hunt you down and rip your f***ing head off."
Tom ran to his dad Chris in tears. The 37-year-old garage owner, from Hitchin, Herts., said: "I saw it all happen.
Another photograph story in the Mail
Fergie used to be woken by a prince, but now it's a flashgun from a passing photographer
It was 3am and she'd had a busy night. So it was only natural that the Duchess of York succumbed to the inevitable and nodded off in the back of a Mercedes taxi taking her home.
But she had a rude awakening – when her slumbers were interrupted by a passing photographer.
Sarah Ferguson was caught off guard in the early hours of Thursday as she dozed in the back of the luxury taxi
Barack Obama regrets comments about 'bitter' small-town Americans reports the Telegraph
The senator from Illinois was forced into a frantic damage limitation exercise after a recording emerged in which he appeared to dismiss impoverished blue collar workers as bitter individuals who have turned to God, guns and immigrant bashing to make themselves feel better.
There is much coverage of the Italian elections,the Independent reporting that
'Acceptable face' of fascism may cost Berlusconi victory
The sensation of Italy's election campaign has been a glamorous 46-year-old widow with long, shapely legs, a piercing gaze, a fine Italian temper and the guts to say to Silvio Berlusconi: "You're not having me."
There is no chance she will become Italy's next prime minister; if her small, extreme, new-minted party manages to win seats in both houses of parliament it will be remarkable. But commentators on both sides agree that Daniela Santanche, the only woman candidate for prime minister, has been the revelation of an election which finishes in polling today and tomorrow.
Meanwhile the Observer reports that
Berlusconi ally denies Mafia-run ballot plot
An Italian senator and top aide to Silvio Berlusconi has been forced to deny reports linking him to an alleged Mafia-run plan to hand Berlusconi 50,000 fraudulent votes, as voting gets under way today in the Italian elections.
Marcello Dell'Utri, who is appealing against a sentence for consorting with Mafia clans, has admitted helping to enrol on Berlusconi's election campaign a man whom prosecutors suspect teamed up with the Calabrian Mafia to fix votes. But the Sicilian senator, who helped to launch Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in 1994, described reports of his possible links to the alleged vote fraud as 'lies and garbage', adding that he had not been told he was under
Finally the Times reports
Get a BA (2 for 1) at Tesco
DEGREES designed to widen higher education are to become available from Tesco.
The supermarket chain is to offer its own qualification in retail management, including the arts of display design, special offers and efficient shelf stacking. Teenagers may soon be able to study vocational courses to A-level standard at McDonald’s, a scheme announced in January, before going to Tesco for their degree.
The Tesco FD(A) (Foundation Degree (Arts)) is to be launched this month and will be offered to other retailers who can adapt it.
No comments:
Post a Comment