Pre-Budget report 'lacking fizz'

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For many of Thursday's papers, Gordon Brown's pre-Budget report failed to live up to expectations.

"The dullest since records began", says the Times' Ann Treneman. "Boring," the Daily Star declares. "Dry as dust in parts," the Independent sighs. The Guardian complains Mr Brown did not provide big changes in policy.

The Daily Telegraph says he is hoarding his cache of eye-catching initiatives for the 100-day "blitzkrieg" he has promised when he moves into No 10.

More tax

Despite complaints about Gordon Brown's pre-Budget report lacking fizz, there are pages of reports and analysis on his measures.

The Daily Mail is unhappy that Britain is waking up yet again with a hefty new tax bill to add to all the other stealth taxes.

In the words of the Daily Mirror, the chancellor deserves to be Britain's next prime minister.

But he must remember that hard-working families don't have deep pockets.

Extra services

It seems there will not be any shortage of worshippers at cathedral services this Christmas.

According to the Telegraph, cathedrals are becoming so popular that they are having to lay on extra services to cope with the demand. London's St Paul's Cathedral turned 800 worshippers away last year, it reports.

The Dean of Southwark says that, in the face of "dangerous rampant secularism", people are trying to "preserve their Christian heritage".

No snow?

The Daily Express reports that the UK may have some of the worst storms for decades, followed in January by the worst blizzards for years.

The Independent and the Mirror, meanwhile, are concerned about the unusual lack of snow in the Alps.

Both have dramatic pictures of mountains with no snow at all.

As the Independent says, the passes are pressed, the pistes are pristine and the schnapps are on ice. But, it asks, where has all the snow gone?