Mixed reaction to Trident issue

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The papers dwell on PM Tony Blair's announcement that Britain will retain its nuclear deterrent in the form of a smaller number of Trident missiles.

The decision was "disappointing" and "unsurprising", the Independent said.

The Guardian says the government's proposals are "unclear about the strategic purpose... of a British nuclear system in particular".

But the Sun believes that in these "troubled and uncertain times, it is vital that we maintain our guard".

British question

How "Britishness" is defined is considered by several papers.

They are responding to the Home Office's decision that people who want to settle permanently here should pass a test on English language and UK life.

"Migrants taught how to scrounge," says the front page of the Daily Express - a reference to advice about which benefits people could claim.

The Guardian says an extra hurdle is being put before those seeking human rights protection in the UK.

Downtown sounds

"Country tits and town tits sound as different as the Archers and the Sopranos" is the intriguing headline in the Times.

Research suggests the urban Great Tit has ditched the melodious warble still practised by its cousin in the countryside, the Times reports.

It has developed a more insistent and staccato sound.

The Daily Telegraph notes that researchers think the phenomenon occurs in all "noisy downtown areas".

Teapot storm

The Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror reveal an RAF Nimrod crew got the best from a teapot on a flight from Cornwall to the Kinloss base in Morayshire.

A hatch did not close and "with bitterly cold outside air streaming into the jet they covered the hole with a teapot", reports the Mirror.

Both papers quote one of the men on board the plane.

He insisted the plane was never in danger and that the story really was "a storm in a teapot".