Labour's windfall fuels comment

The Labour Party's recent bout of good fortune continues to attract headlines and comment in the newspapers.

"Anyone else given Labour £2m?" asks the Daily Mail, over its front page article explaining how the party has been "rocked by another spectacular cash row".

The Independent wonders what explains such largesse.

It believes William Hague should be most flattered that all these shrewd business people think Tony Blair needs so much money to beat him at the next election - especially as everyone else thinks all Labour needs to do to win is turn up on polling day.

The Mirrorhas no qualms; Labour's good for business, so naturally some businessmen want to help it stay in power.

The paper says: "It isn't charity, it's good business sense".

According to The Guardian, Labour could be on course to achieve a historic first by raising more funds than the Tory party, which is traditionally bankrolled by big business.

Shipman toll

The news that the former Manchester GP Harold Shipman is now believed to have murdered more than 250 former patients is the lead in The Times.

In an editorial, the paper likens him to Josef Mengele, the camp doctor at Auschwitz.

All at sea

A report in the Daily Express warns that thousands of seaside homeowners face financial ruin because of increased risk of landslides caused by months of heavy rain.

The paper has a map of Britain, with danger areas identified by the Royal Geographical Society.

In an editorial, the Express accuses insurance companies of trying to dodge their obligations to what the paper calls "those poor souls whose houses are endangered".

They should do their duty and pay out, the paper says, and if they don't, the government should step in and force them.

E-mail antics

More office workers, it seems, have fallen foul of company rules on the use of e-mail.

Several papers report the sackings of 10 members of staff at the Royal and Sun Alliance in Liverpool, for exchanging what are described as "lewd" pictures...of the cartoon character, Bart Simpson.

Eighty others have been suspended pending an inquiry, according to the Daily Telegraph.

In an editorial, the Mirror calls it all harmless fun and says employers will have to come to terms with their workers using the internet.