China's quake response analysed

Reports and images from the Chinese earthquake fill the papers, as the death toll climbs to more than 10,000.

The Daily Telegraph believes China is anxious to avoid comparisons with the poorly-managed relief effort in Burma.

That is made easier, the Guardian says, because China has the resources and manpower to handle the crisis alone.

But the Independent recalls that in 1976 Beijing tried to hide the death toll in another earthquake and refused offers of international aid.

'Feckless disregard'

The Daily Mail leads with the issue of how Britain should pay for the care of its ageing population.

"Respect for the elderly is the bedrock of a decent society," the paper writes. It accuses the government of "feckless disregard" for the older generation.

The Times agrees. "The government has a moral obligation to ensure that people can move through their final years in safety, dignity and comfort," it says.

Gordon Brown must reform the system "to show he is a politician of substance", it says.

'Lawless savages'

Violence on the streets of London makes several tabloid front pages.

The Daily Mirror's Tony Parsons says the murder of "model son" Jimmy Mizen in a busy bakery proves that "slaughter can find us all".

The Sun, meanwhile, focuses on the fatal stabbing of a man on London's Oxford Street in rush hour.

"The capital is now more dangerous than once-notorious New York," its editorial warns, "where lawless savages are ready to kill for a laugh".

'Snide innuendo'

The decision by Cherie Blair to sell her memoirs to several newspapers is roundly criticised.

The Daily Star wonders why she bothered guarding the privacy of herself and her family while she was in Number 10.

"No subject seems too personal to air, no conversation too private to repeat and no innuendo too snide to express," the Daily Mail writes.

But in writing about her miscarriage, Vanessa Feltz in the Daily Express says "Cherie is right to share".