What the papers say

Journalist Malachi O'Doherty takes a look at what is making the headlines in Tuesday's morning newspapers.

"Cool It, Cowboy", the extra large headline on the front of the Mirror, is addressed to President Bush.

"More Blix, No Blitz", demands a double-page spread, part of six pages devoted to the paper's campaign against war.

The run-up to war heads the main broadsheets from London too.

"Another Step Towards War," is how the Guardian refers to the issue.

'Economic meltdown'

The story says that the US and Britain were declaring victory for their hawkish stand on Iraq on Monday.

Inspectors have won more time, but only a limited reprieve of less than three weeks.

"The Damning of Saddam" is how The Daily Telegraph emphasises the criticisms in the inspectors' report and says it is an indictment that has strengthened the case for war.

And the Independent is less sure what it all means.

Tony Blair has begun to behave as a leader should, now that he is a confrontational rather than a consensus politician

The Times

"Inspectors expose Iraq's violations but leave the world unsure which way to turn."

And it is that uncertainty that gets the blame for the "Economic Meltdown" and the £30bn wiped off share values by the fears of war.

The Matt cartoon in the Daily Telegraph pulls the two together.

A man asks his wife: "I wonder if Hans Blix could find any trace of my pension fund?"

In the Times, Anthony Howard says that Tony Blair, once known as Bambi, has begun to behave as a leader should, now that he is a confrontational rather than a consensus politician.

Apology

A Coleraine teenager's Hallowe'en prank led to a chastening day in court on Monday and makes the front page of the News Letter.

David Cameron wept as he told Bristol Crown Court how he set alight to his friend Robert Lloyd. Both boys are students at Bath University.

The judge said the careless stupid joke made one of the saddest cases he had had to deal with.

The Irish News leads with a happier story.

Phoebe Lyle, the five-year-old from Bangor who survived a car crash while holidaying in Spain, is now going to school.

Phoebe is in a wheelchair and dependent on a ventilator and is only the second child on a ventilator to go to school in Northern Ireland.

It is the countdown to war that makes the lead in the Irish Times.

Conor O'Clery says Iraq is to be given at least 18 more days to show "pro-active co-operation on disarmament".

The paper also reports the largest compensation settlement yet on a case of clerical sex abuse in the Republic of Ireland.

Mervyn Rundle's case against Father Thomas Naughton will bring him a likely 400,000 euro settlement and an apology from Cardinal Connell.