What the papers say

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

DUP leader Ian Paisley's meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair is the main topic of discussion among the local leader writers.

The Belfast Telegraph says encounters between the two men have "never been cosy, but Thursday's must have been especially blunt".

The paper says there is a long history of protests against the government by unionists in general and the DUP in particular, but it wonders if they win any sympathy for their cause, nationally or internationally.

"The unpalatable truth," it says, "is that - thanks to Sinn Fein's public relations strategy - the world thinks the IRA's war is over for good."

And it warns that protesting too early will result in unionists being blamed for any breakdown.

But the News Letter accuses the government of being "lamentably ahead of the game" in delivering a full raft of concessions to republicans before a single bullet has been decommissioned.

Delay threat

It says the prime minister has set the political process "back by years", and there is no longer any enthusiasm among people in the unionist heartlands for entering a devolved administration with Sinn Fein.

But the Irish News comments that the angry response was "entirely predictable".

"It is clearly hard for many unionists to see recent moves as positive," it says, "but we can't have indefinite delays of the sort being threatened by the DUP."

It concludes that the lack of a devolved government is denying unionists as well as everyone else.

Daily Ireland claims that the DUP does not want to be convinced of the bona fides of the IRA.

It believes it will "stall at every turn to avoid the revival of the hated executive".

It accuses Tony Blair of giving Mr Paisley a veto.

Terror

And it concludes that he and his party won't baulk at the prospect of locking themselves out of power as long as it keeps Sinn Fein out too.

The Irish Times cartoonist, Martyn Turner, takes a wry look at Thursday's events.

His drawing shows the DUP leader and Gerry Adams leaving 10 Downing Street.

A policeman is saying: "The way things are going, Northern Ireland may never have a DUP/Sinn Fein government."

To which a journalist replies: "Well, they deserve a bit of luck up there."

The front pages of many of the cross-channel papers are taken up with the same image - Ayman al-Zawahiri, widely described as Osama bin Laden's deputy, delivering a message to a TV camera with a powerful assault rifle propped beside him.

That message, of course, included an admission of responsibility for the London bombings.

The Guardian says it was "hard to suppress a shudder at the image".

Millionaire

But it sees it as propaganda, with Al Qaeda trying to claim credit for something it might have had little to do with.

The Sun's political editor wants to know why MPs are away from Parliament for 80 days while Britain is being threatened.

The Irish Independent says al-Zawahiri's demand for western withdrawal from Iraq must not be met.

Only one person features in more photographs.

Dolores McNamara is shown on quite a few of the front pages collecting her huge lottery cheque.

The Daily Mirror reports that she plans to put the entire £77m in the bank and not touch it for several months. The paper says she appeared shell-shocked as people in the street applauded her.

Finally, the Guardian is one of several papers to report that the winners of a prize for reading groups have had to turn down the offer of a trip to the Edinburgh book festival.

That's because the prize winners are all residents of High Down Prison in Surrey.