Papers criticise ban on Dutch MP

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7887587.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The decision to bar controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders from Britain is debated in many of Friday's papers.

Few would ever have heard of him, or his "offensive" film linking Islam to terrorism, if he had been allowed to come, the Guardian leader says.

The Independent also believes the ban was an own goal "playing into the hands of those whose agenda it is to set fellow Britons at each other's throats".

The Daily Telegraph mourns a serious blow to the "citadel of free speech".

Racing times

Several papers are angry at the extent of corporate hospitality enjoyed by top civil servants in 2007.

"High Life for Sir Humphrey" is the Daily Mail's headline. It claims staff enjoy "days at the races, nights at the opera and tickets to sporting events".

The Times and the Sun note that Sir Brian Bender, permanent secretary at the Department for Business, accepted the most invitations.

"How do he and his colleagues ever find time to do any work?" the Mail wonders.

'National malaise'

The Sun mourns the "lost childhood" of a boy who has become a father at just 13.

"His voice hasn't broken and he's barely out of short trousers. How will he cope?" the paper asks.

The Daily Express, meanwhile, is upset at the allocation of a £7.5bn railway contract to a Japanese firm - a move it says adds to the "national malaise".

"Britain is being failed by the people in authority," it writes, rubbishing as "shameless spin" the claim that UK workers will benefit.

'No finery'

The Daily Mirror is interested in the Queen's new website, pointing out that it offers "web tourists" the chance to snoop around the Queen's homes.

The Times says it allows fans "to track the movements and plans of all the royals using a built-in Google map".

But the Guardian is disappointed that the site has "no humour or pageantry... no gold, red or purple finery".

All in all, it wishes "the British monarchy could have loosened its tie just a little" and made it more fun.