Papers consider Army abuse claims

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Claims that the British Army's high command approved the abuse of prisoners in Iraq is the lead in the Times.

Major Anthony Royce said he checked with an army legal adviser and was assured that various "conditioning techniques" were acceptable.

There are lengthy obituaries in the papers following the death of Professor Milton Friedman, the monetarist thinker behind much of Thatcherism.

He is described in the Guardian as one of the greatest economists of all time.

There is unease in a Daily Mirror editorial over a suggestion by Tony Blair on the Downing Street website.

He says there will be new proposals before Christmas on plans to hold terror suspects for up to ninety days without trial.

Parents are bullying GPs into prescribing anti-depressants for their children, according to a survey reported by the Daily Mail.

Middle class parents are said to be among the worst culprits.

Dual role

The Daily Express carries the story of the doctor at Withenshawe hospital in Manchester who also decided to became a special constable.

Fourth-year student doctor, Sammy Syed, decided to train as a special because he was so worried by the drunken abuse faced by staff and patients.

The Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins chides the Health and Safety Executive.

He accuses it of persecuting the National Trust over the death of a boy hit by a tree blown over in high winds.

The Times reports on a survey revealing that Britain now has six Gandalfs, 39 Gazzas, two Supermen and 36 Arsenals, of both sexes of children.

The paper observes that: "Children are in growing danger of 'name abuse' by their parents."

According to the Guardian, the NASA space agency believes the public wants it to do something about the threat to earth posed by killer asteroids.

Therefore it is now looking at ways of landing an astronaut onto one.