Terror at home and abroad

The newspapers have difficulty in choosing the best story of the day and there are several front runners.

The Independent and the Guardian plump for the mass military deployments to the Gulf, with estimates of the total numbers of British troops ranging from 30-35,000.

The Independent talks of the "drumbeat of war getting louder".

The Times focuses on the raid on the Finsbury Park mosque, which it describes as "fully justified".

'Raid overdue'

True sacrilege, the paper says, would be to use a place of worship to plot terrorism.

"Insofar as any raid can be carried out sensitively," says the Guardian, "this one was. There can be NO no-go areas in conducting anti-terrorist operations".

According to the Daily Telegraph, the raid was necessary and probably overdue.

The Daily Express calls for the immediate deportation of the controversial cleric, Abu Hamza, who is based at the mosque.

The Sun says his furious opponents, including fellow Muslims, are urging him to leave Britain before he is kicked out.

Elite schooling

The Daily Telegraph reports a plan for children in care homes to be educated at some of Britain's top private boarding schools.

Local authority leaders have apparently met the Independent Schools Council to draw up a scheme.

It is pointed out that it would often be cheaper for local authorities to send children to private schools than to house them in residential homes.

The Guardian has an interview with the Education Secretary Charles Clarke in which he says his talks with Chancellor Gordon Brown over the cost of university education have not been "as acrimonious as reported".

He says there has been a "very positive and strong discussion in government" - and he does not resent the fact that everybody in the Cabinet is passionate about education.

Missing millions

Mr Clarke tells the paper that the sticking point in what was reported as a "showdown" with the Chancellor last week was whether future students would pay back only the cost of their own tuition, or a share of the pooled cost of different degrees.

The Sun reports charges from the Conservatives that Mr Brown has been "cooking the books" to hide £1bn of debt.

They say the shortfall will come from potential liabilities in Network Rail, the tube and private finance initiatives for new schools, hospitals and transport schemes - and that all this is in addition to a £60bn black hole experts say he is facing because the economy is not growing as fast a he had predicted.

Kelly backed

A host of celebrities have signed an open letter of support for the TV star Matthew Kelly, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

More than 40 actors, writers and directors have signed the letter in which they say they wish to record their pride and pleasure in knowing and working with this "gentle, caring man".

They say the image of him currently being painted in some quarters of the national press is one they do not recognise. Names on the list include Julie Walters, Robert Lindsay, Miranda Richardson, Anthony Sher, Les Dennis and Toyah Wilcox.

There is wide coverage of the announcement that Delia Smith is planning to give up cookery to indulge her real passion - football.

Although there's still a range of books in the pipeline, there will apparently be no more TV shows as Delia devotes herself to Norwich City Football Club.

The Daily Telegraph says her decision has sent the middle classes into panic.