Papers assess fire strike threat

Stoked by ministers' comments, the Sun reveals what it says is "the stark truth" of the danger we all face from next week's firefighters' strike.

On its front page, the paper describes how car crash victims could die because no-one is on hand to cut them free.

It claims people trapped in fires could suffocate, as most stand-in firefighters have not been trained to use breathing apparatus

The Daily Telegraph tries not to add fuel to the flames. It sees the warnings given out on Tuesday as part of an intensified "propaganda effort" to undermine public support for the firefighters' action.

The Times explains that Tony Blair is determined to adopt a strong stance on the pay dispute, to stamp on a new wave of union militancy that surrounds it.

But the Daily Mirror has no time for such posturing. It calls on the Fire Brigades Union and the government to "swallow some humble pie and thrash out a workable deal".

Anglo-French 'bust-up'

There is speculation that ministers are heading for a new row with France in the run-up to talks on the enlargement of the European Union.

The front page of the Independent notes there was a "furious reaction" from Downing Street on Tuesday after the French President Jacques Chirac demanded Britain dipped into its annual £2bn rebate from Brussels to help pay for the expansion.

The Financial Times notes that the proposal will complicate talks on EU enlargement beginning tomorrow, while the Sun warns of "a new Anglo-French bust-up".

There is a mixed reaction to measures announced by the government to try to reduce the administrative burden on teachers.

Goodbye Miss Brodie

In an editorial, the Guardian welcomes the plans to introduce advanced classroom assistants, commenting that they will "help teachers achieve their main wish, to spend more time in the classroom".

The Independent is more cautious, observing that more assurances are needed about the quality of training on offer for new support staff.

For the Times though, the proposed changes spell the end of an era. The paper laments that Miss Jean Brodie is being banished from schools and replaced by a new model - the teacher "as team leader".

The Daily Mail reacts furiously to news that the charity, the National Coalition of Anti-deportation Campaigns, is to keep its controversial lottery grant of £340,000.

Zany winner

Under the headline "Rollover", the paper continues its campaign against the group which is alleged to have supported asylum seekers accused of terrorism.

The Mail dismisses demands made by the Lottery Community Fund for the charity to modify its behaviour, and describes the award as a "sickening insult" to lottery players.

Finally, there is universal acclaim for "Life of Pi", the novel by Yann Martel which won the Booker prize on Tuesday night.

The magic realist work - described as "eccentric and entrancing" and "zany and engaging" - is widely seen as having helped the literary award win back its reputation.

The Independent remarks that the choice of the novel about a boy adrift on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orang utan, a zebra and a tiger, "shipwrecked the expectations of pundits and publishers" and meant the Booker "recovered its roar."