Papers ponder IDS troubles

The Independent on Sunday is the only newspaper to lead with Iain Duncan Smith's troubles - but they are a favourite topic for the analysis pages and commentators.

The Sunday Times portrays the allegations about the employment of his wife as a battle between himself and a small group of undervalued but highly significant Tory women.

To his allies, the Conservative leader is the victim of plotters, beset by scheming women who have fallen out with him and are now taking unjustified revenge, the paper says.

But to his enemies, he has nothing to blame but his own failings.

The Observer says the woman making the allegations, Vanessa Gearson, has told friends there is a growing dirty tricks campaign against her at Conservative Central Office.

Dolce vita

The papers are exercised by other subjects as well.

The Sunday Express devotes two pages to a report on anti-social behaviour.

It compares towns in Italy and England.

In Dunstable, Bedfordshire, it discovered tales of violent drunkenness that have left residents in fear and despair.

While in Aprilia, south of Rome, there was a refreshing attitude to life among young people.

Rio off

The Sunday Mirror revisits what it calls "the mystery" of why Rio Ferdinand missed his drugs test.

In a report billed as an exclusive, the paper says the player's mobile phone was switched off while a number of attempts were made to contact him about the test.

The report says this constitutes a major development in the Football Association inquiry into whether Ferdinand, 24, deliberately avoided the doping team or simply forgot as he insists.

Road rage

The Observer examines what it calls Britain's congestion time bomb and how ministers are planning to "manage" traffic jams rather than get rid of them.

But in the Mail on Sunday, Kate Hoey says cyclists are the real menace on the roads.

Lycra louts, as she calls them, are "selfish, aggressive, law-breaking and infuriatingly smug", according to the former sports minister.

Bumpy landing

The People's chief writer, Rachael Bletchly, tells readers about how American immigration authorities reacted when she arrived at Los Angeles airport without realising she needed a special visa for a journalistic assignment.

She says she was searched, fingerprinted, handcuffed and locked up for 26 hours before being deported.

There are a number of affectionate tributes to Concorde as it prepares to bow out of service this week.

The Sunday Telegraph has 21 suggestions for how the fleet could be used in future - among them, as a restaurant and to fill the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Pampered pooches

Finally, the latest must-have accessory for pampered pooches will be on sale in Britain in the New Year - sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun, wind, grit and snow blindness.

The German manufacturers will be offering a choice of frames, lenses and colours, with prices ranging between about £40 and £60, according to the Telegraph.

A spokesman tells the paper their research has shown there is potentially a big market for dog sunglasses in the UK.