'War' on economy engages papers

Both the Independent and Daily Mail lead with the "blistering attacks" by senior German politicians on Gordon Brown's handling of the economy.

"Don't mention the economy" shouts the Mail, referring to a diplomatic war "as Germans savage Brown's grand plan to save the world from financial crisis".

The Independent gives a column to shadow chancellor George Osborne.

He notes: "In the very same week Gordon Brown claimed he was saving the world, the world answered back."

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph, Conservative leader David Cameron pledges to help savers if his party wins the next election.

He calls them the "forgotten victims" of the financial crisis.

The Times is heavily critical of moves to get the Irish Republic to vote again on the Lisbon Treaty.

It says: "The EU has many challenges. Chief among them is understanding democracy," adding that Europe must thrive as a "coalition of the willing".

Many of the papers highlight the amount of money local councils are spending on public relations - £430m last year, says the Sun.

According to the Daily Express, council PR departments produce a tidal wave of self-congratulatory nonsense.

Meanwhile, motorists who drive to work may be forced to pay hundreds of pounds a year to use company parking spaces.

The Daily Telegraph says the government will allow councils to impose workplace parking levies of up to £350 a year.

Finally, the Telegraph says a vicar from Dorset has banned the singing of the carol Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, with its line "how still we see thee lie".

He says it does not represent the modern-day reality of the troubled city.

Meanwhile, several papers reported that a junior school choir was made to pull out of a "winter festival" in Essex.

It had been intending to sing traditional Christmas carols, which were deemed "too religious".