Papers close in on Cherie

A wide-eyed Cherie Blair, with her famous fixed grin, stares out from most of the front pages, as yet more revelations fuel the so-called "Cheriegate" affair.

The broadsheets and tabloids alike wrestle with the detail of her involvement in the deportation proceedings against Peter Foster.

The Daily Mail publishes a diary of key dates for those who have become bogged down in all the claims and counter-claims.

It argues it is clear Mrs Blair knew Mr Foster had a criminal past on 22 November at the very latest - when she called his lawyers about his deportation case.

The paper goes on to ask whether it was just coincidence that Mr Foster's solicitor asked Mrs Blair's chambers - Matrix - to represent his client?

Blind trust

The paper's answer: "Given the relentless lying in this affair, it is difficult to believe so."

And then there is the issue of the blind trust set up to buy the two flats in Bristol.

The Mail says in the space of 24 hours the prime minister's office produced no fewer than three explanations for the use of the blind trust - but it rejects them all.

Instead the paper argues that blind trusts are simply "a device to conceal the financial affairs of politicians from legitimate scrutiny".

The Times says this story started life with the question: "Why did Mrs Blair allow a convicted conman to assist her in a property transaction?"

Radical reforms

Now it says the question has become, more significant: "How did a convicted conman ever acquire legal assistance from the wife of the prime minister?"

The Financial Times runs an exclusive interview with Tony Blair - in which he warns the Labour party and the unions that public sector reforms are irresistible.

He tells the paper that, with Iraq and the euro, the government is facing its "most testing time" since its election in 1997.

He dismisses the furore over his wife's activities, saying: "This is what comes with the territory nowadays. This type of media frenzy will come and it will go."

Squatters' law

Away from the Cherie Blair scandal, another property story features in the tabloids.

The Sun reports that a woman - thought to be in her 60s - has just won squatters' rights in a £2m house in South Kensington, in west London, having lived there for 12 years.

The paper explains that Elizabeth Smee moved in when the eccentric owners left to join a religious sect, and under current law she has a right to stay there as they have failed to assert their ownership.

The Daily Express leads with a front page investigation which reveals that hundreds of dogs are being stolen to order each month for illegal dog-fights, hunts or for their skins.

Hangover cures

The report says gun-dogs such as labradors and springer spaniels are the most sought after - fetching as much as £500 - but almost any pure breed is said to be at risk.

And finally, as the Christmas Party season approaches, the Daily Star offers advice on global hangover cures.

Puerto Rico's remedy is to rub half a lemon under your "drinking" arm, whereas in Outer Mongolia the preferred option is to tuck into pickled sheep's eye in tomato juice.

South Africans are said to favour Assyrian paste, which is a mixture of ground swallow's beak and myrrh, while doctors in the UK have another solution... drink plenty of water and stay in bed.