Speculation after by-election win

Speculation on Gordon Brown's chances at the next general election has been ratcheted up after Labour's victory in the Glasgow North East by-election.

The Times claims it has given the prime minister a respite and shows his party will be no pushover at the election.

But the Guardian's Polly Toynbee says it is just a "pin-prick of light penetrating a black hole of despair".

The Daily Mirror, meanwhile, thinks the result shows Labour is still in the game and David Cameron must be worried.

Deformities

A Ministry of Defence probe into new allegations of abuse by the UK military in Iraq is the lead in the Independent.

It reports allegations that British soldiers may have recreated the torture conditions of Abu Ghraib to sexually and physically abuse civilians.

The Guardian tells us there has been an extraordinary rise in birth defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja.

Deformities in infants are said to be up 15-fold, with toxic materials left over from fighting a possible cause.

Calorie guidelines

The Telegraph says the speaker of the House of Commons has refurbished his grace-and-favour Westminster apartment at a cost of £45,000 to the taxpayer.

The paper believes it will embarrass John Bercow, as he was elected on a promise to restore trust in Parliament.

The Daily Express tells us calorie guidelines trusted for nearly two decades now appear to be wrong.

A poll in the Times says less then half the population believes human activity is to blame for global warming.

Words of wisdom

The Daily Mirror reports that scouts at a Remembrance Day parade shouted death threats at Jewish veterans.

A District Scout Leader told the paper they would not be expelled if they visited the local synagogue to apologise in person to a Rabbi.

Matthew Parris uses his column in The Times to give examples of the advice he would write to his 16 year-old self.

Among his words of wisdom: "Be brutal about wedding invitations; there are only so many Saturdays in your life".