The government's handling of law and order comes under the media spotlight after the first increase in recorded crime for six years.

The Times says Labour's credibility on crime has been "seriously undermined" by the figures.

Recalling that Mr Blair had promised to be "tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime", a Tory strategist declares: "We'll make him eat his words".

The Mirror says Mr Blair clearly has not been tough enough.

"Unless the growth in offences is reversed," it says, "this will become a lawless land" and adds: "Parts of the country are already not far from that."

The uniform of a London bobby is one of three images on the front of the Guardian which the paper links as being problems for the government.

It says there is alarm in Downing Street that the headline rate of crime could continue to rise, up to and beyond the general election.

'Problems for Labour'

The other images are of a giant Euro and a beaming smile on the face of the London mayoral hopeful, Ken Livingstone.

Opposition to Britain's entry to the single currency has reached 63%, according to the monthly Guardian/ICM phone poll published in the paper.

The Guardian says Tony Blair faces a dilemma: "He must decide whether to wait until public opinion changes or else lead a campaign to try to turn it round."

The paper says left-wing Labour MP Ken Livingstone has been approaching "high-profile individuals" to see if they will stand as independent candidates for the Greater London Assembly.

If he loses the Labour nomination, the paper says "those individuals would clearly be seen as his allies if he mounted an independent challenge for the job".

'Tyson insult to women'

The convicted rapist, Mike Tyson, who has been allowed in to Britain by the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, for a boxing match, has delivered "an insult to all women", according to the Express.

He is said to have described the protesters who tried to have him barred as "just a bunch of frustrated women who want to be men".

In the Daily Mail, Ross Benson says Mr Straw will be embarrassed by what he calls "the insensitive, inflammatory remarks".

The Daily Star highlights the arrest of two Leeds United players by police investigating an attack on an Asian youth outside a nightclub. It is the main story, too, in the Mirror.

The Financial Times says 20 of the UK's largest franchised car dealers have drawn up plans to import cheap new cars from continental Europe.

The chief executive of one dealership tells the FT: "I never, ever thought I'd be agreeing with the Consumers Association, but UK prices are too high; the public are being ripped off."

Boot in on Wellington

Legal action is under way in Belgium, says the Times, "to curtail the handsome rewards still being reaped by the Duke of Wellington's descendants, 185 years after his victory at the Battle of Waterloo".

King William of Holland, who ruled what is now Belgium after Napoleon's defeat by the Iron Duke, awarded him not only the title, Prince of Waterloo, but also thousands of acres near the battlefield.

The present duke receives a £100,000 a year from tenant farmers.

The man leading the challenge tells the paper: "The Duke of Wellington is a charming person, a real gentleman, but he really behaves as if the battle had happened in 1970."