Papers focus on drinking age plea

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Most papers carry a call by the chief constable of Cheshire, Peter Fahy, for the drinking age to rise to 21.

The Times talks of a "yob culture" which has left communities under siege.

A similar phrase is used by the Sun - "Yob Britain" - to describe what it calls the booze-fuelled teen violence on which he wants to see a crackdown.

Much of the blame, says the Daily Telegraph, can be laid at the door of parents who willingly turn a blind eye to their children's behaviour.

Sofa so good

With inflation unexpectedly dropping below 2%, reports the Financial Times, there are now doubts as to whether interest rates will rise again in the autumn.

This, as the Guardian points out, is good news for home buyers.

The fall was brought about, it says, by a sequence of events that began with discount chains slashing the cost of household furniture last month.

That, it reports, set off a reaction which saw the pound fall below $2 for the first time in two months.

Shock issue

A picture of an electric chair covers most of the Independent's front page.

It illustrates a report that the White House is planning to cut the right of appeal of Death Row inmates.

"Bush's lethal legacy" headlines a story that several layers of appeals are being removed - "fast-tracking" prisoners' deaths, the paper says.

The new legislation would allow states to turn to the Justice Department as the final arbiter deciding whether an inmate will live or die, it adds.

'Wrecking' wags

Most papers report how Sunderland manager Roy Keane has had enough of wags: players' free-spending wives and girlfriends.

Keane reckons spouses are "wrecking" football by blocking moves to Wearside because the shopping, apparently, is not good enough, the Daily Mirror says.

The outburst has echoes of his infamous "prawn sandwich" diatribe against corporate supporters, the Times says.

The Daily Mail claims Sunderland cannot supply the wags with their customary Versace, Gucci and Jimmy Choo.