Ming's exit still excites papers

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The fall-out from Sir Menzies Campbell's resignation continues to prompt much coverage and comment in today's papers.

The Times says the only realistic path for the Lib Dems to secure ministerial red boxes is as the coalition partner in the event of a hung Parliament.

Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail says Sir Menzies was perhaps the one man who could have saved them from extinction.

One thing is certain, he writes, "neither (Nick) Clegg nor (Chris) Huhne nor the other mediocrities who threaten to throw their hat in the ring stand a chance of restoring the party's fortunes."

BBC cuts

The Daily Telegraph predicts that the BBC will face strike action when the cuts in staffing are revealed by the director general on Thursday.

Two thousand people - about a tenth of the workforce - says the paper, will be sacked in an attempt to find £2 billion in budget cuts.

The Guardian says the UK is planning to claim sovereign rights over a vast area of the seabed off Antarctica.

The submission to the UN covers more than 386,000 square miles and would extend the UK's oil and mineral rights.

The Daily Mirror claims a world exclusive by claiming to know that Sir Paul McCartney is on the point of settling a divorce deal.

This would see Heather Mills receiving around £25m of his £825m fortune. A source tells the paper that it could all be done and dusted by Friday.

Booker Prize

The latest winner of the Mann Booker Prize - Anne Enright for her novel The Gathering - is widely reported.

The Independent says that her victory is a happy ending for a saga of grief and suicide.

Although her triumph was seen as a surprise, the chairman of the judges, Sir Howard Davies, believes that's largely down to the cosy world of book reviewing.

The Times gives much prominence to his view that novelists who reviewed books by established authors often went overboard in their praise while at the same time ignoring the newer talents.

The Sun is among a number of papers that report that swearing at work can be a good thing - that is, as long as you're not one of the bosses.

Research undertaken by Norwich Business school found that swearing among ordinary employees was used - as it puts it - as a social phenomenon to reflect solidarity and enhance group cohesiveness or as a psychological phenomenon to release stress.

But the study found that it was wrong for managers to swear as it could make people feel bullied.