Monday's papers

Both the Times and the Telegraph feature our defence forces this morning

The Ministry of Defence has been criticised for spending £149 million on an “urgent” upgrade to 900 tanks that can still only be used for training

. says the former

A defence source described the procurement, at a time when equipment shortages for troops have caused public anger, as a waste of money. “We certainly don’t need 900 of these things for training. It seems crazy to do this upgrade work on vehicles that are more than 40 years old and then put them into storage, which is what will happen to most of them,” he said.

The Telegraph reveals a deep hostility of Britain’s senior military commanders in Iraq towards their American allies

the British chief of staff in Iraq, Colonel J.K.Tanner, described his US military counterparts as “a group of Martians” for whom “dialogue is alien,” saying: “Despite our so-called ‘special relationship,’ I reckon we were treated no differently to the Portuguese.”

Meanwhile the Guardian reports that US special forces are supporting anti-Taliban militias in at least 14 areas of Afghanistan as part of a secretive programme that experts warn could fuel long-term instability in the country.

The Community Defence Initiative (CDI) is enthusiastically backed by Stanley McChrystal, the US general commanding Nato forces in Afghanistan, but details about the programme have been held back from non-US alliance members who are likely to strongly protest.

It leads though with news that Ofsted is facing a crisis in public confidence as it comes under a series of attacks on its authority this week, with the watchdog accused of being "flawed, wasteful and failing".

Education features on the front of the Independent as the paper reveals that the body which funds English universities has taken the unprecedented step of calling for the mass resignation of governors at a university accused of misusing public money.

According to the paper

London Metropolitan University falsely claimed funding for thousands of students. As a result it has been ordered to repay an unprecedented £36m in funding – which is expected to lead to hundreds of job losses among academic staff.

The Mail leads with the story that the family of Jean Charles de Menezes are to receive reduced compensation because they are so poor.

Lawyers for Scotland Yard and the family are believed to have reached an out-of-court settlement.

There is plenty of coverage of the continuing situation in Cumbria.

According to the front page of the Mirror,parts of the county are almost out of food

towns and villages could be cut off for months after more than a dozen bridges were swept away or badly damaged by flood waters. says the Times

Engineers are examining 1,800 bridges in Cumbria, where six have collapsed after the floods on the rivers Cocker and Derwent, which meet at Cockermouth. The county council estimates that at least £75m of damage was done to property and infrastructure, with detailed surveys likely to take weeks to reach a final bill. The eventual insurance bill for Cumbria could reach £100m.reports the Guardian

The Telegraph reveals that a second member of the Commons committee that governs the conduct of MPs is facing a call to step down over his use of £65,000 in parliamentary allowances

Andrew Dismore claimed £34,000 in second home expenses for a west London flat, which houses his girlfriend’s homeopathy surgery, while designating a property just a few miles away in his north London constituency as his main home.

Meanwhile another sector comes under scrutiny in the Independent which reports that expenses claims by judges and magistrates have risen by £3m in the last two years

First-class train tickets, air fares, hotels and dining bills are among the record £32m claims made by the judiciary this year. The figure includes compensation paid to judges who buy homes closer to the courts where they work, and nightly allowances of £32 when they choose to stay at their second homes.

Irish terrorism will return to the top of the security agenda today after co-ordinated gun and bomb attacks in Northern Ireland confirmed the determination by so-called dissident republicans to strike hard against the Province’s fragile peace before Christmas.reports the Times as the paper reports that

A 400lb car bomb — nearly the size of the Real IRA device that killed 29 people in Omagh in 1998 — which failed to explode properly at the weekend was designed to cause widespread destruction, police said yesterday.

After yesterday's narrow opinion lead for the Tories,there is much talk of a hung Parliament.

David Cameron could be forced to accept an offer of support from Nick Clegg after a poll suggested Britain is on course for its first hung Parliament since 1974.
The LibDem leader declared for the first time that he would back the Tories if they emerge as the largest party but do not secure an overall working majority.

says the Mail

Asked on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme if he would "feel it was right to offer his support to the party that had done best", Clegg replied: "I think it is an inevitable fact, it is just stating the obvious, the party which has got the strongest mandate from the British people will have the first right to seek to govern.says the Guardian

As election talk ratches up the Independent reveals that

A multi-billion pound pledge to build a high-speed rail link is set to be included as a key measure in Labour's manifesto for the next election,

It's that time of the year,no Xmas but celeb shows and the Sun leads with the news that

TWINS John and Edward Grimes reached the end of the line on X Factor last night as judges finally sent them packing.

Finally staying with celebs and scandal,many of the papers report that

Silvio Berlusconi faces more damage to his reputation with claims that he was directly linked to Mafia bosses and new disclosures about his private life in the memoirs of an escort girl who says that she was attacked and threatened after sleeping with him.