What the papers say

Journalist Andy Wood takes a look at what is making the headlines in Wednesday's morning newspapers.

There is gloomy reading for observers of the Northern Ireland crime scene in today's News Letter.

Under the headline "Shock rise in crime", the paper says detection rates have "plunged to their lowest in four years".

The News Letter couples this with statistics from the Northern Ireland Policing Board's first annual report which shows that over the past two years, bombings have leaped from 66 to 318 with shootings up from 131 to 358 over the same period.

Police Federation Chairman Irwin Montgomery tells the paper the amount of police resources dedicated to tackling street disorder obviously reduces the resources available to deal with what he calls "ordinary crime".

The best hope of targeting the priorities which matter most to people here lies with the current structures, run by locally-accountable politicians

Irish News

The Irish News front page details what it says is an "administrative oversight" which means that loyalist leader Johnny Adair could be sent back to prison at any time up to January 2005.

The paper explains the Northern Ireland Office did not tell Mr Adair he lost his early release status when he was returned to jail just over two years ago.

The paper's leading article picks up Tuesday's budget allocations for public services in Northern Ireland.

The paper comments that while there is "a slight air of unreality" in discussing a budget for next year while the devolved administration faces an uncertain future, "the best hope of targeting the priorities which matter most to people here lies with the current structures, run by locally-accountable politicians".

'Chilling picture'

Tuesday's recall of Parliament and the publication of the government's dossier of evidence against Saddam Hussein gives the national papers plenty to report on.

The Daily Express chooses to headline the claim that Saddam could have his weapons of mass destruction ready to fire in 45 minutes.

The paper's leading article says that, although the 50-page dossier contained little new, "the comprehensive picture it paints is chilling and Saddam must be stopped".

The Guardian leader notes that in his Commons statements, Tony Blair " took his stand in the right places" - namely the need to enforce UN resolutions.

The paper says this is in line with a poll finding that 86% of voters want to follow the UN and parliamentary routes.

Broker

The Daily Mirror's front page answers it own question. "Did the Prime Minister succeed in proving the case for an attack on Iraq? No".

The paper piles on the criticism with a dossier of its own where academics, politicians and commentators all reject the prime minister's dossier as a basis for action.

The Daily Telegraph leader praises Tony's Blair's action in persuading the US to act against Slobodan Milosovic in 1999 but warns that this time it is the US which is drawing in the prime minister as he tries to act as a transatlantic broker.

Finally, if you know the saying "behind every great man there stands an exhausted wife and an astonished mother-in-law", you'll enjoy the paper's third leader.

Picking up Yoko Ono's description of her late husband as "a member of a band called The Beatles" it surmises how other wives might have described their husbands.

Mrs Julius Caesar on her old man: "Chief executive of a multi-national organisation based in Rome", Mrs Bonaparte on Napoleon: "A soldier and politician who travelled widely and once spent a night in Moscow", and Cherie Blair on Tony: "Lead singer in a pop group called Ugly Rumours".