Papers predict timing of war

It predicts Britain will follow suit, and says war could start as early as the middle of next month.

The military build-up, the Times thinks, runs the risk of opening a rift between the US and the United Nations.

The Daily Mail says American troops involved in the deployment the US Third Infantry Division are the ones most likely to lead an invasion of Iraq.

It also pinpoints mid-February as the likeliest time for the start of the campaign.

The Guardian's editorial tells President George W Bush he has failed to establish a just cause for war on Iraq, and urges him to call off the conflict.

Flood misery

'Our Worst Nightmare', is how the Mirror describes the floods with a two-page spread which says the entire south east of England is braced for disaster.

One photograph used in many papers shows a woman in Yalding, in Kent, ferrying her pet bird to safety in a cage in a dinghy.

Body parts

The grisly discovery of body parts dumped in bins in east London gets wide coverage.

'New Ripper on the Loose', is the main headline for the Daily Express.

The Sun takes a close look at Anthony Hardy, the man police want to question after finding a woman's torso at his flat in Camden.

There is also a photograph taken through the window of what the Sun calls the "flat of horrors".

A Level call

The Independent leads with a call for an independent ombudsman for schools and the exam system, to restore the faith of parents.

Mike Tomlinson, who led the inquiry into last summer's A Level grades, tells the paper there is a lack of trust in the system.

People with a grievance often find they have nowhere to turn except to the very organisations that may have created the problem.

New Year 'damp squib'

The lack of any official New Year celebration in London spoiled the big night for the Sun.

"London looked lousy," it says.

The Daily Mail draws an unfavourable comparison with the spectacular festivities elsewhere and sees it all as evidence of a wider malaise.

"The last thing people wanted at the end of the darkest and wettest December in living memory was a damp squib" it says, "one all too symptomatic of what is wrong with Britain."

Amid the doom and gloom both papers include lists of reasons to be cheerful.

The Sun produces 20, but the Mail manages 50 and with that glum New Year message in mind -they are designed especially for Tony Blair to cut out and keep on his desk.

At number 29 the Mail places Great Britain's success as the world 'Extreme Ironing' champions.