Tuesday's papers

One story seems to take most of the front pages this morning.As the Mail sums it up,its BA's 12 strikes of Christmas as it reports that the Christmas plans of a million British Airways passengers were in ruins last night after the airline's cabin crew voted to strike.

Thousands of air stewards and stewardesses gathered at Sandown Park racecourse, in Surrey, yesterday for the verdict. Union leaders said that of the 12,700 cabin crew balloted — more than 80 per cent of BA’s total — 92 per cent backed a walkout. No BA flights would leave British airports during the strike period, Unite chiefs claimed.

reports the Times

Of the dispute,the Telegraph says that

It will cause chaos at airports at one of the busiest times of the year - when the airline normally operates 650 flights and carries 90,000 passengers a day - and risks doing enormous damage to the beleagured company's business.

The Independent describes the battle for British Airways as it says that Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and Ryanair are set to make a fortune at the expense of BA

Last night the lowest economy return fare on the world's premier intercontinental air route, Heathrow to New York JFK, on the first day of the strike, rose to £3,300. Other flights had more than doubled in price.

The Guardian leads with its latest opinion poll which the

Conservatives' lead over Labour has been reduced to single figureswhich increases the pressure on Gordon Brown to call an early general election.

Labour's vote share has risen for the fourth consecutive month, improving significantly on the 25% share it had in August. The gap between the parties is a sharp reduction from the 17 points recorded two months ago.

D-day for defence cuts in £36bn crisis reports the Times

Military spending will face a black hole of £36 billion over the next ten years if there is no increase in the defence budget, the National Audit Office warns today.

adding that

As Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, prepares to announce cuts in manpower and equipment totalling £1.5 billion to try to keep within existing budget limits, the NAO says that Ministry of Defence procurement is bankrupt.

The Guardian reports on a a fraught day in Copenhagen yesterday which

saw disputes cause the loss of five vital hours of negotiating time and the UN and Danish organisers accused of sidelining developing nations by holding informal consultations with selected countries.

Meanwhile the Times reports on problems for Al Gore

The former US Vice-President, who became an unlikely figurehead for the green movement after narrating the Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, became entangled in a new climate change “spin” row.

The Express leads with the headline,100 reason why global warming is natural saying that campaigners

yesterday attempted to pour scorn on “tenuous” global warming theories by issuing a dossier detailing 100 reasons why climate change is natural and not man-made.

The Telegraph reports on the first day of the Peter Tobin trial

the convicted killer who had already murdered one young woman, buried the body of a teenage victim in a makeshift graveyard in the garden of his suburban house, a court heard.

Prosecutor William Clegg QC told Chelmsford Crown Court today that detectives found the bodies of Miss McNicol and 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton when they searched the garden of a house in Margate, Kent, where Tobin lived in the early 1990s. adds the Mail

Both the Sun and the Mirror lead with the sex lives of the latest X Factor winner.I'm straight but girls can wait says the Sun,whilst the Mirror simply says No Sex factor

Silvio Berlusconi yesterday spoke of his amazement that anyone would wish him ill, following the assault on Sunday night that put him in hospital. reports the Independent adding that the Italain PM will stay in hospital for up to 25 days

More problems for Barack Obama over his health reforms

The main source of a potential delay was Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic senator who is now an independent and who has threatened to join the Republicans opposing the bill as it stands.

says the Guardian

Finally the Sun reports on the latest Xmas present which is cauisng offence, ice cubes shaped like the Titanic which the paper says

have been branded "sick" - because they urge drinkers to recreate the 1912 sea disaster which killed 1,522 people.
A cube-making kit called Gin and Titonic jokes: "Sink another round!"