Papers debate Prescott's 'gamble'

A menacing looking Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott stares out from the front page of the Times.

Alongside, the paper describes his plans to use emergency powers to impose a pay settlement on the firefighters, as an "historic breach with Labour allies".

The Guardian calls the move a "high-stakes gamble", and reports unions and left wing Labour MPs were enraged.

The Daily Mirror likens Mr Prescott to "the worst kind of nineteenth century mill owner", and says the way he is treating the firefighters is nothing less than a scandal.

'Mishandled'

The Daily Star calls the deputy prime minister the "Lennox Lewis of British politics", and urges him to talk to the firefighters, not bully them.

The Daily Mail acknowledges there is admiration and respect for fire staff, but says the same cannot be said of their union.

The paper says the Fire Brigades Union has mishandled the dispute, and would do well to seek an early end to it.

The Independent carries a photograph of President George W Bush rehearsing his State of the Union address.

The Daily Telegraph leads on his warning to Americans that war was all but inevitable.

The Guardian says US Secretary of State Colin Powell is to reveal evidence of a link between Iraq and the al- Qaeda terrorist network at what it calls a "climactic" meeting of the UN Security Council.

The Financial Times emphasises Mr Bush's efforts to reassure America that his determination to deal with President Saddam Hussein had not diverted his attention from the problems of the economy, health, and social problems.

"Blood on his hands" is the headline on the front page of the Mirror, across a picture of the prime minister with red dripping from his fingers.

The paper's veteran columnist, John Pilger, delivers what is described as his "most damning verdict on Tony Blair".

'Dangerous place'

In the piece, Mr Pilger says Mr Blair and President Bush are about to commit two crimes: an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign state which offers no threat, and the murder of civilians.

In the Daily Telegraph, Janet Daley wonders what evidence would be needed to convince the anti-war lobby that action against Saddam Hussein was necessary.

She poses a question which she says the left needs to answer: "Is it worth risking British lives to bring freedom to Iraq, and to help install rational government in the most dangerous area of the world?"

The Conservative Party's plans to lock up all asylum seekers until they are checked by the security services come under close scrutiny in many of the papers.

In The Guardian, the sketch writer Simon Hoggart says the news conference at Central Office to announce the proposals was "rather like Corporal Jones telling us that the time had at last come for us to panic".

Hero

In a leader, the paper says the policy is not new, but has been scraped from the bottom of the barrel "from Old Mother Widdecombe's second hand shop".

The Independent calls it a "desperate ploy" by the Conservatives, and says they are "reverting, again, to being the nasty party".

But the Daily Telegraph believes the Tories are right to resurrect the policy, and predicts that the government will take the suggestion seriously.

The Daily Mail leads on the man shot dead as he tried to stop an armed robber in Bradford.

On its front page, the paper calls Tasawar Hussein "A hero we should all be proud of".

The Mail says Britain would be a poorer place if it did not possess such "brave, decent citizens".

The Independent uses a quote from the Victoria Climbie report - "A disgraceful catalogue of failure" - as its main headline.

The Sun says that three social services bosses criticised by the inquiry, all went on to other top jobs.

Play pen

The paper believes that those in charge of child protection should be sacked.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Mary Kenny says the case illustrates the need for a return to the common sense values which she says used to characterise social workers.

She says that in the 1960s and 1970s, the "no experienced former coppers and no-nonsense battle-axes" were replaced by well meaning young sociologists who believed that social work was about social engineering.

The Times reports on a new ruling from Brussels, under which farmers will have to provide their pigs with toys, to keep the animals happy and prevent them chewing each other.

The story is accompanied by a cartoon showing a neat young boy in a tidy, toy-filled, bedroom.

His mother is saying 'Your room is looking like a pigsty".