Blair's Euro quest leads the papers

The Times proclaims Tony Blair has "come out fighting" with his latest comments on the Euro.

The paper believes that in his BBC interview, the Prime Minister made the strongest declaration yet of his eagerness for Britain to join the single currency.

The Daily Telegraph tells its readers to prepare for a referendum next year.

The idea that years of "fudging" decisions about the Euro may soon be over, positively excites The Mirror, which celebrates the fact that "at last it really looks as if it could be on its way".

In an editorial, the paper observes that "We can't go on being left behind" in Europe.

By contrast, The Sun sees Mr Blair as boastful, stating that he is happy to go down in history as the man who "killed the pound".

The Sun accuses the Prime Minister of being "obsessed with a political dream" and declares that it's prepared to "fight, fight, fight" to save the pound.

Star Wars win

On its front-page, The Guardian reports that President Bush is poised to win what it calls the "final battle for Star Wars".

The paper claims the Americans are "capitalising on the new spirit of partnership" with Russia, to "sweep away" its opposition to the national missile defence project.

The Guardian states that after the recent "frenzy of intense diplomacy", the Kremlin has accepted a White House offer to co-operate with the missile shield scheme.

It adds that construction work for the controversial project is to start in Alaska within weeks.

Tracking down engineers

With evidence mounting that the Potters Bar rail crash was caused by inadequate maintenance, The Independent notes that Railtrack has been "scouring the globe" to find engineers and technical staff to make up a shortfall.

The paper reports that the company is seeking employees in countries such as South Africa, India and Romania.

It goes on to quote Railtrack's technical director as saying that since privatisation there's been insufficient emphasis on technical competence.

Blunkett fans

The speech made by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett at the Police Federation conference is widely reported.

The Times observes that Mr Blunkett went on a "charm offensive" to soothe irate officers.

One officer tells the paper that he now sees the home secretary as "an attractive character and a credible individual" while another comments that "out of all politicians, he is the one you want to believe".

Several of the papers report on another conference delegate who was seemingly impressed, the home secretary's cousin - also called David Blunkett - who is a police constable.

Explaining how the two men were reunited yesterday, The Sun reports that PC Blunkett said his relative did "brilliantly" admitting he had expected him to get a bit more heckling.

Multi-coloured carrots

Finally, The Times reveals that carrots are to return to their roots.

It seems that from this summer, the vegetable is to go on sale in its original colour, purple.

The paper notes that while generations of people in the West have grown up believing that carrots are always orange, they can actually come in a number of colours including purple, white and black.

It quotes a spokesman for a food producer in Cambridgeshire, who says his firm plans to sell rainbow bunches of carrots next year.