What the papers say

Journalist Mike Philpott takes a look at what is making the headlines in Thursday's morning newspapers.

Paramilitary organisations are the focus of attention on the front pages of Northern Ireland's two morning daily papers.

The Irish News predicts that Johnny Adair's faction of the Ulster Defence Association will be isolated after the defection of one of its leading members and the likelihood of several others following his example.

The News Letter reports under its main headline that the Irish Government is under pressure to spell out its attitude to the IRA, in the light of new allegations of republican spying.

The high availability of the latest medical treatment does not produce a healthier population

News Letter

The outcome, it says, will determine whether or not the Ulster Unionists will join the latest round of political talks.

In a leader, the Irish News examines the latest twist in what it calls "the Derry name change saga", commenting that it illustrates the difficulty of trying to achieve any form of agreement on contentious issues.

But it feels that any alteration to the formal name of the city will have no effect on people's attitudes.

'Make all the difference'

They will continue to call it what they have always called it, the paper says. But it concludes that it is reasonable for residents to expect their preferred choice to be used in official documents.

It also has something to say about the latest figures indicating a reduction in death rates from coronary heart disease. It urges people not to be complacent and to improve their lifestyles.

The president's decision to present more evidence about Iraq's weapons programme to the UN is an acknowledgement that he has not yet persuaded enough allies to support his tough stance

Financial Times

The News Letter notes that the high availability of the latest medical treatment does not produce a healthier population.

It is concerned about dependence on the Health Service to fix things that people could fix themselves. Even something as simple as taking a walk every day could make all the difference, it says.

There is much analysis of President Bush's State of the Union address.

In the words of the Independent, his delivery was unusually sombre, as befitted a nation preparing for war.

The Sun thinks he made a logical and convincing case about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

'Tenuous'

The Financial Times believes the president's decision to present more evidence about Iraq's weapons programme to the UN was an acknowledgement that he had not yet persuaded enough allies to support his tough stance.

The Times says the White House is preparing to release satellite photographs showing the Iraqis removing rockets and other materials from various sites before the weapons inspectors arrived.

But the Guardian dismisses the attempts to link Iraq and al-Qaeda. The paper says the evidence is "somewhere between tenuous and non-existent".

Meanwhile, the Express reports that the firefighters' strike is affecting the preparations for military action.

It says nine Royal Navy warships are sitting idle in Portsmouth because so many of their crews are on fire duty.

The most remarkable picture of the morning appears in the Sun.

It shows a teenage motorist in the US who crashed his open-top jeep and was flung 25 feet in the air. He is shown clinging to overhead telephone cables as fire crews attempt to reach him.