Thursday's papers

The headlines say it all as the papers ract to the Chancellor's Pre Budget report.

Pain postponed says the Independent,the Buck passers budget says the Mail and the Times says the Axeman Dithereth.

According to the Independent

Rarely has a pre-Budget report promised so much and delivered so little. Many were expecting – indeed hoping – for a substantial statement that would set a clear course for Britain's fiscal future. In the end the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, delivered a speech shaped more by politics than economics.

The Times says that

The Chancellor landed himself or his successor with a budget deficit continuing to run at more than £170 billion, public debt set almost to double to £1.5 trillion and a ferocious Cabinet battle over spending cuts. There is also the real threat of strikes after he announced an effective pay cut for millions of public sector workers.

Whilst the Mail says that he

refused to set out plans to rein in public spending. Instead, he gambled that 10m voters earning over £20,000 will resign themselves to a 1p rise in National Insurance in 2011 so Labour can fight on a pledge to maintain schools, hospitals and the police.

The Telegraph says that the middle classes and the better-off are to be hit with £7 billion a year in new taxes

Millions of households face losing more than £400 a year in a series of swingeing Treasury measures aimed squarely at middle-income earners says the Express

Whilst the Guardian says that "Darling soaks the rich and the rest of us too" adding that

As punishment for the City, he also imposed a populist one-off 50% tax on bankers' bonuses of more than £25,000. The Tories said they would not oppose the measure, which would also impose a levy on the banks who choose to reward their staff instead of building up cash reserves.

The Times says that

The Chancellor was accused last night of going soft on the City by producing a tax on bonuses that would be easy to avoid and which exempts, among others, former Lehman Brothers staff blamed for the financial crisis.

In Copenhagen another busy day

Prospects for an agreement to control global warming are being jeopardised by a wholly new phenomenon in international relations – a confrontation between the main polluting countries and the greatest potential victims of climate change says the Telegraph

Meanwhile the Independent says that new research by British scientists indicates

Keeping the global temperature rise caused by climate change to C, which is widely regarded as the limit of what the Earth can safely stand, is going to be extremely difficult and will involve an enormous effort by the world

The Guardian reports that

MPs are braced for a further deluge of potentially embarrassing revelations as another batch of expenses covering claims for second homes is released by the Commons authorities.

Commons bosses were shamed into a double climbdown over MPs' expenses last night.says the Mail

The total sums claimed by MPs on their second homes will be published today - allowing voters to see how their MP compares with others. Previously, MPs' receipts for such claims would have been released - but not the total figures.

The Telegraph meanwhile claims that David Miliband used his office expenses to pay for two photo shoots as speculation grew that he was about to launch a bid for leadership of the Labour party.

A former senior army commander warned today that lessons learned in Iraq were not being applied in Afghanistan and "amateurs" were being placed in important roles,says the Guardian

Lieutenant General Frederick Viggers, Britain's senior military representative in Iraq in 2003, one of five senior military officers and diplomats who delivered a damning indictment to the Chilcot inquiry of the failure to plan for the aftermath of the Iraq invasion.

Away from politics and the Independent reports that medical experts will warn today that

The detention of hundreds of children in Britain's immigration camps is harmful and ministers should change the policy.The call for a new approach to the treatment of young refugees and their families follows a report which found that their detention in the asylum system was linked to serious physical and psychological harm.

Meanwhile the Guardian says that

Ireland's ban on abortion faced one of its biggest challenges today when three women forced to travel abroad for terminations turned to the European court of human rights.

Hatchet burying is on the agenda today.The Times reports that

Gordon Brown and President Sarkozy will try to make peace today after the French leader called Britain the “big losers” in the carve-up of EU jobs and hailed France’s victory against the “excesses of Anglo-Saxon financial capitalism”.

The Tooth's out says the headline in the Sun

Tiger Woods is in hiding after one of his teeth was broken when furious wife Elin hurled a mobile phone at him, it emerged last night.

adding that

US reports said Elin "went psycho" during their blazing row over his affairs on the night he crashed his car.

Finally the Mail reports how dogs are man's better friend:

In the 'great pet showdown' experts compared 11 traits from brain size to environmental impact by looking at research published in scientific journals. Dogs came out on top in six categories to cats' five.