Papers ponder UK's economic woes

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Broadsheets in particular lead on the news that Britain's longest period of economic growth has finally come to an end

The Times, the Financial Times and the Independent all lead with the news, with many painting a bleak picture of the situation.

The Times reports that some economic analysts believe the country is already in recession. It quotes figures from supermarket chain Asda which show that the store is now regularly seeing a sharp fall in sales in the third week of the month.

The paper says this shows how people are struggling to make ends meet.

The Daily Mail also looks with gloom at the economic figures which point towards a recession for the UK.

Sporting honours?

Yet the news from the Olympics is still managing to lighten the mood, with many papers debating the possibility of royal recognition for the UK's sports men and women.

The Daily Mirror says that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is in Beijing for the closing ceremony, has let slip to several papers that the British team's medal winners are going to be showered with honours.

With the headline "Beijingo, didn't we do well", the paper says the British team has restored national sporting pride and what it calls the golden glow of success has lifted the entire nation.

Other papers are more cautious. The Mail says the PM was careful to clarify that honours were a matter for the Queen.

The Times, while considering the possible contenders, looks ahead in its leader column to next week when, as it puts it, real life resumes.

Marriage 'reward'

The Daily Telegraph reports under an exclusive tag that Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has told the paper a future Conservative government would offer tax breaks "as a priority" to married couples.

The paper says this would be worth about £20 a week. It had been thought he'd been against the idea, originally mooted by Tory leader David Cameron.

But Mr Osborne insisted that there was no disagreement at all.

Gary Glitter's return to the UK on Friday after serving almost three years in a Vietnamese jail for child sex abuse gives rise to much comment and pictures across the press.

The Mail says that by telling reporters at Heathrow he had been the victim of a show trial, he is now playing the human rights card.

Tortoise run

Finally, the Sun makes an unlikely comparison between Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt celebrating his third gold medal and the exploits of... Timmy the 50-year-old Tortoise.

The pet broke out from his home in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and his owners, in spite of putting up posters of him around the town and appealing for sightings, heard nothing.

A fortnight later he was found beside a main road in Midsomer Norton in Somerset, 13 miles away.

While Timmy is no sprinter, the Sun quotes an expert who says he has never known of a tortoise travelling that distance in such a short space of time.