Papers assess damage to monarchy

It is now 11 days since the trial of Princess Diana's butler, Paul Burrell, collapsed.

And during this time, concludes the Daily Express, the monarchy has been shaken to its core.

The paper's stablemate, the Star, is convinced that the Royal Family is facing its worst ever crisis.

Whatever the truth behind the growing tally of allegations, the monarchy - it argues - has been seriously damaged.

The Sun's political editor, Trevor Kavanagh, believes it is impossible to exaggerate the devastation wreaked on the House of Windsor in the past week.

'Tarnished institution'

He detects an important change in the landscape: "For the first time in 50 honourable years on the throne, the Queen's reputation is deeply scarred."

This sense of crisis is shared by the Mirror's royal commentator, James Whitaker.

He tells how one Palace official described the current state of play as worse than the Abdication crisis.

The Daily Telegraph reports that St James's Palace is anxious that the publicity surrounding the affair does not overshadow a big week for the monarchy.

The Queen is due to make her traditional speech at the State Opening of Parliament this week.

We never imagined, says the Times, that the presence of the Queen in Parliament might be a case of one tarnished institution addressing another.

Fire alarm

The prospect of the first national fire strike in a quarter of a century alarms the Daily Mail.

The firefighters, it argues, could live to regret the decision. Further talks are planned later on Tuesday, but the Telegraph thinks the walk-out is now unavoidable.

The Guardian points out that the leadership of the Fire Brigades Union is under enormous grassroots pressure to sanction Wednesday's strike after postponing three earlier stoppages to take part in negotiations.

The Financial Times believes the recommendations of the Bain pay review have dealt a severe blow to the resumption of pay talks.

The Independent argues that the only way through seems to be for ministers and the employers to ignore many of Sir George Bain's suggestions and negotiate with a clean sheet.

Cricket of discontent

Tony Blair wore traditional evening dress for the Lord Mayor's Banquet in London on Monday night, but - in the words of the Guardian - rarely can a prime minister have delivered such a gloomy account of the state of the world to his well-fed City audience.

The Sun believes Mr Blair's warning about the threat from Al-Qaeda should be heeded - but it should not change the way we live.

However, the Telegraph questions what it calls the dramatic rhetoric, saying that ministers have not been told that a terrorist incident is any more likely than it was a few months ago.

The talk of a fire strike prompts the inevitable headlines predicting a winter of discontent.

As the Times points out, it could be a long winter for another reason - the gloom surrounding England's chances in the Ashes series.

After their humiliating defeat in the first test, the Times suggests a 10-point plan to make the remaining four games more competitive.

Among the more imaginative ideas are issuing the England fielders with the big gloves used by baseball players, and making the top Australian paceman, Glenn McGrath, bowl with his other hand using a short run-up.