Papers focus on Cherie row fall-out

Tony Blair was up for any battle at prime minister's questions, according to Michael Brown in the Independent - "just don't mention the wife".

Mr Brown is just one of several political commentators keen to note their thoughts on the latest developments in the row over Cherie Blair's dealings with convicted fraudster Peter Foster.

But it is the action, or rather inaction, of Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith which comes in for the harshest criticism.

His heart just was not in it, writes Anne Perkins in the Guardian.

He insisted there were unanswered questions but it was as if he had fired the gun, and a poppy had come out of the barrel.

In its editorial, the Daily Star thinks the "Quiet Man" found his voice and even sounded angry, but just does not cut it.

Paul Routledge, in the Daily Mirror , says Mr Duncan Smith could not score even with an open goal.

He managed to hammer a few more nails into his own coffin by not putting Mr Blair on the rack about his wife, he says.

Missile 'farce'

"Farce" is the word that sums up most papers' coverage of the dramatic interception, and then release, of a consignment of North Korean scud missiles in the Arabian Sea.

The Independent says what began as a feat of derring-do on the high seas in America's war on terror ended in a diplomatic dilemma.

The Guardian agrees, and believes Washington's doctrine of pre-emptive strikes misfired at its first outing.

The Sun dismisses Yemen's claims the missiles were for its own defensive purposes.

"If that's true", says the paper, "why did they hide them under 40,000 bags of cement?"

Child bride

The story of a 14-year-old "runaway bride" is featured on the front of the Daily Mirror.

Rachel Lloyd, from Wrexham, is thought to have forged her passport to travel to Turkey, so she could marry a 24-year-old man she met on holiday.

The paper says Rachel is with Mehmet Ocack who already has one wife.

According to the Mirror, police, social services, and the Foreign Office are now searching for the lovers, to bring Rachel home.

Black market booze

Cigarettes and alcohol seized by Customs and Excise have made their way onto the black market, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The paper says a National Audit Office study blames the lack of controls at some customs' warehouses.

Ironically, says the Guardian, the problem has arisen because officers have been so successful in seizing smuggled goods, that they have had to lease new buildings in which to keep them.

The paper suggests contractors appointed to run the new stores have not been properly supervised.

The Sun says the whole system is so chaotic that no one knows exactly how much has gone missing.

Labelled a drunk

The Times reports on a plan to stop drunken Christmas revellers from missing their stop on their train journeys home from the office party.

"You know how it is... the name board at York slips by the carriage window when you were only going to Stevenage," says the paper.

It says one train company, First Great Eastern, is now giving passengers labels to wear around their necks mailbag style, bearing their preferred destination so fellow travellers can wake them up in time.

But the Daily Express thinks mischievous souls will have fun playing a new seasonal party game "swap the label".