Papers on 'baby watch'

Firm news from the Chelsea and Westminster hospital had not come in time for the papers' first editions, but none could resist joining in the publicity surrounding the birth of Cherie Blair's fourth baby.

The Guardian says that Downing Street had resisted giving a "running commentary" on the event, while The Daily Telegraph notes that reporters and photographers were gathered three-deep outside the hospital, in scenes more usually associated with a royal birth.

That said, The Telegraph goes on to promote its own "Baby watch" page on its website for what it calls "up-to-the-minute news, day or night."

And now that we know it is a boy, will the Daily Express be proved right in taking its lead from the bookies on what the child is to be called?

William Hill was yesterday quoting odds of two to one that the Blairs would name him Leo, after Tony's father.

Had it been a girl, says the paper, the favourite was Gayle, after Cherie's mother, at six to one.

The Daily Mail prefers to reflect on the backlash to the controversy over genetically-modified oilseed rape being grown inadvertently in Britain.

It reports that leading supermarkets - including Asda and Safeway - have begun blacklisting those farms hit by the error.

But as the paper points out the oil from the 22,000 acres of the crop harvested last year could already have made its way into the food chain used in processed foods from margarine to biscuits.

In a tale reminiscent of a scene from the television show, Dad's Army, The Sun is among several papers to report the Royal Navy's latest cost-cutting initiative.

Instead of firing live shells, trainee gunners at HMS Cambridge, near Plymouth, have been ordered to shout "Bang" through a microphone.

The move is meant to save £642 pounds a time or £5m over three years.

One disappointed sailor is quoted as saying: "You used to feel the throb of the gun - now all you do is say bang all day. It's like playing cowboys and Indians in the school playground."

The Mirror claims that ministers are under pressure to back Rover, by ensuring they choose their company cars from among the company's models.

At present they have the choice of a Rover, Ford, Vauxhall or Nissan but now the Trade Secretary Stephen Byers is suggesting that all 200 government fleet cars should be Rovers when they come up for replacement.

Marks and Spencer's 390,000 small shareholders will be interested in the front page of The Financial Times.

The paper predicts that for the first time in its history, the struggling high street retailer is planning to cut its dividends to private investors by roughly a third.

The company's board is expected to approve the cut on Monday before publishing its annual profits on Tuesday.

And The Sun and The Star both tell the tale of a grandmother, Sharon Webb, who despite driving for 25 years has never managed to reverse into a parking space.

She either drives around looking for a space big enough to drive into forwards or when really stuck, asks complete strangers to perform the manoevre on her behalf.

Her husband has bought her a set of driving lessons specifically to learn how to reverse. But Mrs Webb is not convinced.

She says: "I'm waiting for the invention of sideways gears so you pull up alongside your space and they just slot you in."