Papers attack Blair's health plans

The papers raise concerns about Labour's plans for the future of the National Health Service.

The Independent trumpets a letter it has received from a group of eight medical academics, warning that Tony Blair's plans for the NHS will damage it.

They write that private money has already led to cash being channelled away from patient care and into the coffers of business.

They also they warn that the replacement of the so-called "internal market" with what they see as the "real market" will increase the very inequalities the government has committed itself to reducing.

Other papers highlight the case of 79-year-old Barbara Woodward who, having moved house to be close to her daughter, was told by her new health authority that it would not pay for her treatment for Alzheimer's Disease.

The Guardian says this shows that the "post code prescribing" the government had promised to stamp out still exists.

The Daily Express acknowledges that Mr Blair is clearly sincere about his desire for big improvements in the NHS, but it says while voters might give him the benefit of the doubt this time around, they'll expect to see results soon after the election.

Victor Kiam dies

The Times reports the death of the American entrepreneur, Victor Kiam, who famously liked the Remington shaver so much that he bought the company.

The paper says Mr Kiam, who starred in the company's television adverts for 15 years, suffered a heart attack.

One of his business associates, Jonathan Lyons, is quoted as saying that he was "a truly remarkable entrepreneur of the old kind - the kind they simply don't make any more".

Soap text

Attempts to switch off from the daily diet of soap operas is about to become even harder, according to the Independent.

After television, radio and the internet, the paper says soaps are now heading for mobile phones.

The paper reports that for 10p per instalment, a German company will soon be text-messaging out an English-language drama.

Text election?

If you can't wait for that, the Sun is offering to text-message readers hourly updates on the reality soap of the moment, Channel Four's Big Brother 2.

Both the Sun and the Daily Star study the women contestants in Big Brother - and its ITV rival Survivor - who are trying to boost their chances of victory by seducing their male counterparts.

Noting the popularity of these shows among young people, the Mirror suggests that the party leaders could be put in a specially designed house to see who would be voted out last.

"They should feel quite at home in the back-stabbing, double-dealing world of Big Brother," it observes.