What the papers say

Journalist Mike Philpott takes a look at what is making the headlines in Friday's morning newspapers.

Many papers report that tensions within loyalism have been cranked up to a new level.

Several - the Daily Telegraph among them - report that senior figures in the UDA have been warned by the police that their lives are at risk.

The Irish News says rival loyalists are "sitting back, armed to the hilt, waiting to see who blinks first".

It has a picture taken in a north Belfast street showing a poster of Johnny Adair which says his "only crime is loyalism to himself".

The Mirror says the UDA faction allied to Adair has threatened to kill up to 30 of its opponents.

But the News Letter, in a story that carries an exclusive tag, reports that a mediation group has been established to stop any potential feud before it starts.

Union

In a leader, the paper says loyalist terror groups have "no mandate from unionism and should disband".

For the vast majority of people, says the paper, it is nauseating to hear these groups talking about "brigades" and "brigadiers" holding "army councils" when "what they are talking about is carving up territory and threatening others".

Mafia-style shootings, beatings, racketeering and drug-dealing are not doing anything to improve Northern Ireland's good name or to strengthen the union, it says.

The Irish News is worried about the prospects for a university campus on the peaceline, after the announcement that the venture is to be reviewed.

It is ironic, it says, that this landmark scheme is fraught with uncertainty at a time when the peace process itself is under threat.

In Dublin, the big story is the report of the Flood Tribunal, which, according to the Irish Independent, uncovered a web of political corruption, collusion and concealment.

The paper comments that it has finally lifted the lid on the Ireland of the backhander and the brown envelope.

It says it will have "explosive implications" for the entire political establishment.

A former senior politician is the subject of many headlines in the cross-channel papers.

Champagne

The Guardian has a picture of the van carrying Lord Archer into Lincoln jail after his stay at an open prison was ended by a story in the Sun which claimed he had attended a party while on temporary release.

The Mail says his new accommodation will be much tougher and he will be limited to two short visits from his family each month.

A drawing in the Guardian shows two prisoners looking at another man who is swigging champagne and smoking a cigar.

"That's Riley", says one, "he's living the life of Archer".