Saturday's papers

The recession returns to the front pages this morning.

The Times reporting that

Shock figures showing that Britain is still struggling through recession sent the pound plunging and threw fresh doubt over Alistair Darling’s plans to cut the national debt.

The Telegraph saying that

The economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.4pc between July and September, defying City economists' expectations that the UK had emerged from recession with 0.2pc growth.

The Independent describing it as the day when

recession was supposed to turn to recovery, if only in technical terms. Instead the champagne corks stayed stubbornly uncorked in the City, as the latest official figures shocked analysts and showed that, far from following Germany, France, Japan and other major industrialised nations into expansion, Britain is mired in the longest downturn since the Second World War, and probably since the Great Depression

.

The week's main story continues to rumble on

The British National party will receive a pre-general election boost in the opinion polls, ministers fear, after more than 8 million people watched the far-right leader Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time on Thursday evening

.says the Guardian

The Mail says that

The BBC was accused last night of letting BNP bigot Nick Griffin 'play the martyr' amid bitter recriminations over his appearance on Question Time.
Senior MPs accused the corporation of whipping up controversy to maximise viewing figures - then crudely stage-managing the programme so he was under attack throughout from the audience and fellow panellists.

Whilst the Sun under the headline Downfall says that

BNP activists rounded on Nick Griffin yesterday over his car-crash performance on Question Time - playing their own part in the fascist bigot's downfall.

The Times meanwhile reports the comments of the BNP leader who

thanked the BBC yesterday for the second time in a week, claiming that its decision to turn Question Time into a rigorous examination of his views had led to “thousands of pounds” in donations and a record number of membership inquiries.

More than 30m undelivered letters and parcels are languishing in delivery offices after the first two days of national postal strikes says the Guardian as the Mail reports that

Peter Mandelson was forced to deny last night that he was 'orchestrating' the post strike

adding that

it emerged that the bitter stand-off was likely to escalate with 12,000 Royal Mail managers being encouraged to join the industrial action. Instead of covering for striking postal workers, they have been urged by their own union, Unite, to down tools 'to help ensure a satisfactory settlement to the dispute'.

Worrying news from Iran is in many of the papers.Iran has ignored a deadline to respond to a proposed deal from the UN nuclear watchdog, saying it would give its verdict next week.says the Independent adding that

Tehran's playing for time, coupled with reports of a counter-proposal that would keep its enriched uranium in-country, cast fresh doubts on the success of the diplomatic channel and raised the prospect of further sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

According to the Times,President Obama will almost certainly not travel to the Copenhagen climate change summit in December and may instead use his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech to set out US environmental goals,

A Growing number of people are taking psychedelic drugs to help them cope with conditions such as chronic anxiety attacks says the Guardian

The emergence of a community that passes the drugs between users on the basis of friendship, support and need – with money rarely involved – comes amid a resurgence of research into the possible therapeutic benefits of psychedelics.

adds the paper

To politics and the Telegraph reveals that Paddy Tipping, the Labour MP for Sherwood, is to resign at the next election, he has announced.

Earlier this year he paid back more than £14,000 in mortgage interest payments for his London flat, after it emerged that he had increased the size of the loan to refurbish the property.

Meanwhile the Guardian reports that Robin Alexander, head of the Cambridge review of primary schools,and the man behind the enquiry into primary schools

accused Ed Balls and his ministers of "lashing out wildly" and dismissing his review findings without properly reading it.

he sets out how the government's response to the review betrayed the fact that ministers had not properly read it, setting out inaccuracies in how both they and their Conservative shadows described it.

Finally the Express returns to a familiar topic as it leads with the news that

French officials who investigated Princess Diana’s death were blamed for a cover-up yesterday in a dramatic court ruling which condemned them for failing to check whether vital evidence was forged.