Foot-and-mouth dominates Sundays

The foot-and-mouth crisis continues to grip the newspapers as livestock carcasses are piled up for burning.

"The horror begins" reads the caption under the photograph on the front page of the Independent on Sunday.

The picture shows men in overalls building a huge pyre of railway sleepers, discarded fences, and straw on the farm in Northumberland at the centre of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

"Not since half a million animals were burned in 1967 has the country witnessed such scenes," says The Observer.

Both papers see the drive to produce cheap food as the underlying cause for this latest agricultural catastrophe.

Modern farming practices, claims the paper, have brought us "an endless round of health scares from BSE to swine fever to e-coli and salmonella".

'Softie soldiers'

As the News of the World calls on the "Awol lovers" to surrender to the Army after seven months on the run, the Sunday Telegraph carries an interview with the new head of Britain's armed forces.

The Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, says a bias against discipline has had a detrimental impact on the quality of recruits.

He blames teachers and parents for not discharging their responsibilities.

Society is more fearful, he tells the paper, of clipping youngsters round the ear from time to time.

Supercop scheme

New government measures intended to reduce crime are trailed in several papers.

The Sunday Express and the Sunday People say Labour want to create thousands of "supercops" to patrol the streets.

Extra pay is to be offered to encourage experienced officers to go back on the beat in what the People calls a return to the old system of community policing.

The Sunday Mirror reports ministers are also considering a scheme to confiscate the cars of motorists who drive without licences or insurance.

Tories tackle NHS

The main story in The Observer claims to have the inside track on secret Conservative plans to carry out the biggest restructuring of the NHS since its creation.

Senior Tories have apparently discussed banning anyone who earns more than £35,000 a year from receiving treatment - instead they would have to rely on private insurance.

The paper's source is an interview with Doctor Michael Goldsmith - described as William Hague's top health adviser.

Cracking idea

Two days before Shrove Tuesday, the best way to break an egg neatly is revealed in the Sunday Telegraph.

Scientists at Glasgow University - who have studied the problem - say the egg should be held in the palm with the pointed end facing the fingers.

Then the middle of the egg should be struck with a palette knife with the kind of wrist action used to cast a fly-fishing line.