What the papers say

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

After talks involving Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, the Times says Mr Blair is like the "legendary Sisyphus, who was condemned to roll a boulder to the top of a hill, only to have it roll back just as the summit was within reach".

The Mirror comments that "if the local politicians put as much effort into finding a solution as the two prime ministers, Northern Ireland would be a better place".

The Independent says the big challenge for Mr Blair is to find a resolution that amounts to more than the stopgap measures that he has relied upon until now.

Security fears in America have led to the worst case of the jitters since September 11

The Independent

The Irish News says the signals coming from the local parties are contradictory and the key question is the actual meaning of the word "completion".

The paper quotes the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, who said that "if the final agreement identified certain concessions as acts of completion, then nothing more should be demanded in the future".

The Irish Times predicts that the eventual deal will include a declaration from the IRA that it is effectively standing down, as well as a timetable for decommissioning running in parallel with demilitarisation, and a pledge by the Ulster Unionist Party that it won't collapse the executive again.

It says the odds are in favour of an agreement.

In the local leader columns, the Irish News examines the case for placing Northern Ireland's new police training college in the north west of the province, and says the idea that the college should be in a mainly Protestant area of a mainly Catholic city is a compelling one.

It concludes that the proposal deserves to become a reality.

'Conflicting messages'

The News Letter is annoyed at the sudden ability of the government to provide massive security at English airports at a time when it is discussing the removal of security installations in areas of Northern Ireland where terrorists are still active.

In the cross-channel papers, the security measures come in for some criticism.

The Daily Telegraph detects some confusing signals over the scale of the terrorist threat, with the government considering the closure of Heathrow and then deciding against it.

The Mail poses the question: "How worried should we be?"

The paper adds ministers have been guilty of "spreading conflicting messages".

The Mirror has a similar question.

"What do they know", it wonders, before going on to accuse the government of "leaving millions of people worried and confused".

The Guardian says the alert was started by high-quality intelligence indicating that Al Qaeda terrorists had managed to smuggle a SAM 7 missile launcher into Britain.

The Express says there is now "a race against time to find it".

"Security fears in America have led to the worst case of the jitters since September 11," says the Independent.

The Times says Wednesday was like the first day of the January sales as people rushed to hardware stores to stock up on plastic sheets and storm lanterns in case of chemical or biological attack.