What the papers say

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

A striking picture in the Irish News takes up more than half the paper's front page, and shows the tearful face of Briege Hillyard, whose 24-year-old son was shot in the legs by a masked gang in west Belfast on Tuesday night.

She tells how the gang held a gun to her head and how she collapsed when she heard her son screaming.

The paper talks of a rising number of paramilitary-style shootings by dissidents and says there is "no justification for barbarity".

The Belfast Telegraph has been talking to Sir Christopher Kelly, who carried out the investigation into MPs' expenses.

He says Stormont is "the last in the queue" to put its house in order.

In a leader, the paper says the 16 Northern Ireland MPs, who are also members of the Assembly, should take note of his call for an end to "double-jobbing".

Poppies

The News Letter devotes its biggest headline to what it calls a dramatic warning by the Royal British Legion that it will walk away from Sunday's Remembrance Day parade in Bangor if loyalists try to hijack the event.

The paper says a loyalist group has claimed the right to be there because of the UVF's links to the Battle of the Somme.

The Daily Telegraph has a front page picture of an array of poppies in front of a bloodstained flak jacket - the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Afghanistan in which five soldiers were killed.

One of the poppies has a message attached that says simply: "World leaders note."

The paper says the incident casts doubt on the West's strategy in the region.

The Daily Mail reports that bereaved families and two former government ministers have called for an end to Britain's involvement in what one of them called "an impossible task".

The Independent comments that one attack by a rogue policeman must of course be seen in a wider context.

But it says that wider context is looking "increasingly bleak".

It concludes that the West's aims in training Afghans to take over their own security are now unrealistic and the military presence is doing more harm than good.

But "the case for withdrawal is not yet overwhelming".

'Tax net'

In Dublin, the Irish Times reports that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which is based in Paris, has said living standards in Ireland are likely to remain permanently lower.

It also recommends lower wages to bring greater stability to the economy.

The Irish Independent looks at another recommendation - that lower paid workers should be drawn into the tax net.

The paper says the clear message is that Ireland does not have the luxury of fixing the economy "over a period of three to five years".

The markets, it says, will no longer be appeased by good intentions.

There is continued coverage in quite a few of the papers of Wayne and Coleen Rooney and their new baby, who's been named Kai.

But a letter in the Daily Telegraph advises them not to let him go on any adventure holidays to New Guinea when he's older.

On the island, where cannibalism has been recorded, Kai is apparently the word for food.