Christmas themes fill newspapers

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With two days to go, Christmas and its many themes hits Saturday's papers.

The Daily Star highlights bargains to be had in the final hours of shopping, saying "bargain-barmy Brits" will spend £1 billion this weekend.

The Daily Mail expects a row over Sunday opening hours if big stores bend the trading laws on Christmas Eve.

And the Daily Mirror uses four pages to feature Gordon Ramsay's trip to the Helmand province of Afghanistan to cook Christmas dinner for British troops - under the headline "Hel's Kitchen".

'Moral panic'

As papers discuss Christmas as a religious festival, the Financial Times says "there is an unmistakeable whiff of moral panic in the air". 

The Times agrees, saying there has been "a retreat into symbolism", a year of "petty" argument about the "trappings." 

It adds "the essence of belief is in valuing all life, and acknowledging individual differences".  

The FT blames western and developed countries for failing to integrate their increasingly diverse communities.

Fog delays

As the fog causes further delays at airports, the papers picture photographs of stranded passengers, with the Sun labelling it "Ground Fog Day".

The Daily Mail says theatre-style entertainers sent to lift spirits "deepens the misery at Heathrow".  

The Daily Telegraph talks of "families facing Christmas heartbreak". However, not everyone feels for them.  

A letter to the Guardian says: "How nice to see the climate wrecking flights for a change, rather than, as usually happens, flights wrecking the climate."

'High tax'

"Highest taxes in history," says the Daily Express headline. 

It says official figures show "nearly a quarter of the average wage packet" go to income tax and national insurance.  

Meanwhile, the Guardian mourns the death of a contributor, the writer Richard Boston, who made his name with a weekly column on beer.  

The Independent's Richard Ingrams calls him "one of those journalists who could be given almost any assignment and make a funny and fascinating piece".