Life stranger than fiction say papers

It is not often the paper review kicks off with a romance but the apparent liaison between Britain's most famous Swedes appears too good to miss the front pages.

Throw in the government's key spin doctor and the broadsheets find themselves jostling with the tabloids for column inches about England football coach Sven Goran Eriksson and TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson.

According to the Daily Mirror among others, Tony Blair's key adviser Alastair Campbell introduced the pair, allowing the Mirror to splash with the headline "Sin Doctor".

Rather bemused at his role in the story, Mr Campbell tells the paper: "I thought as they were both Swedish and living in the UK they might have something in common".

Budget fall-out

He admits he knows no more about that first meeting.

"They were talking Swedish," he says "and I don't understand it".

Back to his job in the real world, he is still dealing with flak from the Budget earlier in the week.

The Times believes ministers have been taken aback by the ferocity of the reaction from major employers to the rise in national insurance contributions.

In a letter to the paper, one such businessman, James Reed of Reed Executive, warns that employers could move jobs abroad as a result.

Cabinet in-fighting

The Daily Express claims there is a bitter Cabinet power struggle going on between the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the Home Secretary, David Blunkett.

The paper says Mr Blunkett is fighting what it calls a "desperate rearguard action" to try to win more cash for crime-fighting initiatives.

And the paper suggests that outspoken comments about the Treasury , made by the Home Office minister, Lord Rooker, are the latest in a series of stunts masterminded by Mr Blunkett to try to force Mr Brown to open the purse strings.

Alleged skulduggery and date-fixing makes British politics sound a great deal more exciting than that across the Channel.

Marked cards

Reporting on the French Presidential election, which begins on Sunday, the Guardian says the main victor is likely to be apathy.

Latest opinion polls suggest that more than 30% of voters may stay at home.

The exam board, Edexcel, is attracting more controversy over its plans to use trainee teachers to mark GCSE papers.

The Times says teachers usually need two or three years' experience before becoming examiners.

According to the Independent, headteachers and parents warn the move could lead to a loss of confidence in the marking system.

One giant step

Finally, Britain's latest sporting "lunatic", as the Times calls Lloyd Scott, receives much praise for his stamina in finally completing the London Marathon in a deep sea diver's suit - after five days and eight and a half hours.

The Express describes his £100,000 fund-raising effort as "extraordinary".

While the Independent notes that if the winner of the men's race, Khalid Khannouchi, had continued at his winning pace for as long as Mr Scott, he could have found himself on the outskirts of the Egyptian city of Alexandria by now.