Sunday papers

The Sunday's follow up the week's news about failing hospitals

Research that ranks every general hospital in England against a range of safety measures has named 12 NHS hospital trusts judged to be "significantly underperforming".

reports the Observer

The three hospitals with the highest patient death rates in the country can be named, amid a deepening crisis over the standard of care in the NHS. says the Telegraph

Bolton, Greater Manchester and Basildon NHS trusts have elite “foundation status”. However, The Sunday Telegraph has learned that statistics to be published this week will show a higher percentage of patients died while in their care in 2008-09 than in any other trusts in the country.

Meanwhile on the same theme the Independent reports that

Profiteering pharmacists, hospitals and wholesalers are putting British patients' lives at risk by selling prescription drugs, intended for the UK, to customers in Europe.

The other big story of the week is also examined.The Mail on Sunday reavels an explosive secret letter that exposes how Tony Blair lied over the legality of the Iraq War.

Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wrote the letter to Mr Blair in July 2002 - a full eight months before the war - telling him that deposing Saddam Hussein was a blatant breach of international law.

Then Attorney General Goldsmith was 'pinned to the wall and bullied into keeping quiet' while the Prime Minister kept the Cabinet in the dark says the Independent

Meanwhile the Observer says that

Gordon Brown is facing demands to change the rules of the Iraq inquiry this weekend amid fears that the most explosive documents explaining why Britain went to war will not be made public.

The Telegraph reports that the countdown to handing back Helmand province to Afghan control began yesterday when Gordon Brown announced a detailed exit timetable.

His declaration came as President Barack Obama prepared to announce his new strategy in the region, which is expected to include a surge of up to 35,000 extra troops. Mr Brown will also formally commit to sending 500 more troops this week taking Britain's military presence in the country to 9,500.

Helicopters used by British special forces to mentor their Afghan counterparts on anti-drugs operations have been grounded to save just £2m a year.says the Sunday Times

The funding for the helicopters — used by the Special Boat Service (SBS) and Afghan special forces for raids on drugs barons and Taliban insurgents — was cut by the Foreign Office two months ago.

It leads with a report that parents who want to accompany their children to Christmas carol services and other festive activities are being officially vetted for criminal records in case they are paedophiles.

In the latest expansion of the government’s child protection agenda, parents are checked against a database of people banned from working with children for sex offences and for other reasons.

Tiger Wood's car accident features heavily in both the tabloids and the broadsheets.

According to the News of the World he

had a furious row with his wife Elin over another woman seconds before he crashed his car.Elin is said to have smashed Woods' window with two golf clubs after flying into a rage over false reports he had a fling with New York party girl Rachel Uchitel.

The Observer describes a swirl of rumours and speculation has swept through the golfing world as to why Woods was driving so erratically at such an hour.

The Independent follows up its lead story from last week as it reports that

Insurance companies were yesterday accused of profiteering from victims of the deadly asbestos cancer mesothelioma. Hundreds of victims of the disease are going without compensation because many of the insurance policies meant to protect workers allegedly have been lost.

Prince Charles could be in legal hot water.According to the Sunday Times

The Candy brothers, property developers for the super-rich, want to call the Prince of Wales as a witness in an £81m case in which they are suing the Qatari royal family over the collapse of their plans to build Britain’s most expensive residential block.

The Mail adds that

Papers lodged in the High Court last Friday claim the Prince is the main influence behind an alleged breach of contract by the Qataris in the £3billion redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks.

Finally,it's an ordinary small town in England, but its residents claim they've discovered the secret that could save the planet.

The Independent reports that

the people of Todmorden in the Pennines this week issued an invitation: come to our town and see what we've done.

In under two years, Todmorden has transformed the way it produces its food and the way residents think about the environment. Compared with 18 months ago, a third more townspeople now grow their own veg; almost seven in 10 now buy local produce regularly, and 15 times as many people are keeping chickens.