Wednesday's papers

A poll in the Independent this morning suggests that the main justification offered by the Government for keeping troops in Afghanistan is rejected by the majority of British people

Four out of five of those questioned do not believe that British involvement in the conflict, with its rising toll of casualties, is keeping the streets of Britain safe from terrorist attacks.

The Times meanwhile reports that President Obama is to ask members of Nato to provide up to 4,000 more troops to help to break the deadlock in Afghanistan.The paper concludes that

His appeal is set to be largely ignored, however. At present only two Nato members have offered more troops — Britain and Turkey — and no other country is expected to come up with any,

Meanwhile the debate continues about Gordon Brown's letter to the mother of a dead soldier

Admitting he was shy, Brown gave an extraordinary personal confession at a Downing Street press conference after the Sun published extracts from a phone conversation between him and Jacqui Janes, the mother of a soldier, Jamie, killed in Helmand five weeks ago.

says the Guardian

It leads with political problems for the PM as it reports that

Nine former ministers today rounded on Gordon Brown's plans to cut childcare, warning the prime minister that he is threatening marginal Labour seats in the runup to the election by axing popular support for hard-working parents.

More problems looming in the Telegraph as the paper says that Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, the head of the new watchdog charged with cleaning up Parliament, has refused to publicly endorse the recommendations of an independent inquiry into reforming the system of MPs’ expenses.

Meanwhile many of the papers report that

Alan Johnson failed in an attempt to defuse the damaging row between the Government and Britain's top scientists after three more of his drugs advisers resigned last night.

All this on the day that David Cameron launched his plans for a more equal Britain

Cameron's speech, delivered as the Hugo Young lecture at the Guardian, was an attempt to rebut critics who claimed his party conference speech represented an embrace of rightwing Reaganite ideology, far more explicit about the need to reduce the state than on what should replace it. reports that paper

The Independent says that

the Tory leader rejected both a return to Thatcherism and New Labour's vision of a "smarter" state. He said voluntary groups and charities could take on a key role in helping people to escape poverty.

Father gives up court battle to keep his disabled boy alive is the main story in the Mail.In the end says the paper,the young father could fight no longer.

For more than a year he had made daily visits to the hospital bedside of his chronically-disabled son.
For six emotional days in the High Court he had battled against the hospital - and the baby's mother - who were reluctantly seeking the right to withdraw life support.
Finally, faced with overwhelming evidence, he made the 'agonising' decision to let his beloved son go.

According to the Times,Ofsted hid crucial evidence on the Baby P sacking

The childcare watchdog has admitted withholding crucial evidence that could potentially hand Sharon Shoesmith, the former head of children’s services at Haringey Council, hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.

The Telegraph reports that knife killers will face at least 25 years behind bars as Jack Straw pledged to crack down on those who take to the streets armed.

The Justice Secretary has raised the minimum tariff for murderers who use a knife or other weapon such as baseball bat from 15 to 25 years in the wake of the outrage following the killing of Ben Kinsella.

The winners of the biggest lottery haul are revealed to the press and the Sun leads with the story as it reports how

JOBLESS Les Scadding was the luckiest man alive yesterday after beating cancer and winning a record £45.6million EuroMillions jackpot.
Grandad Les, 58, survived testicular cancer five years ago.

Meanwhile the Mail reports how, 19-year-old Alex Parry

opted not to go to university because she was worried about getting into debt.
But yesterday she was reassessing that decision after she landed £6.5million on Euromillions.

Finally Xmas is approaching and the Times reports that families are about to reap the benefits of a supermarket price war in time for Christmas.

Leading grocery executives said that they were increasing their promotional activity to gain market share in what will be a fiercely competitive period, while analysts said that falling food price inflation would give supermarkets a “war chest” to allow for reduced prices.