Gerry Adams held, Nigel Farage's 'loss of courage', and Bob Hoskins tributes

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Gerry Adams' arrest in connection with a 1972 murder makes it onto several front pages.

The Daily Telegraph leads on the story, reporting the Sinn Fein leader's denial of the "malicious allegations" that he was involved in the death of widow and mother-of-10 Jean McConville.

Another paper to feature the report on its front page is the Daily Mail. It relives the day a gang of masked men burst into Mrs McConville's home and dragged her through the door as her children tried to fight the gunmen off. It recalls an interview given recently by her son Michael, in which he describes how his mother's disappearance "destroyed" the family, which ended up separate in various care homes.

The Daily Mirror describes how Mrs McConville was driven to an unknown location, shot in the back of the head and then buried on a beach in the Irish Republic, where her remains lay undiscovered for 30 years.

It quotes one of her daughters as saying: "We want the truth to finally come out for her children and the grandchildren she never got the chance to meet."

Tactical retreat?

The Independent finds plenty of folk in Newark, in Nottinghamshire, who are receptive to the idea of having Nigel Farage as their MP. So, it suggests, the UKIP leader's decision not to contest the coming by-election "could go down as one of missed opportunity rather than inspired tactical retreat".

"Afraid, Mr Farage?" wonders the Mail, which says: "He appears to have chickened out, calculating that if he won Newark he would only lose it at the general election within a year."

To illustrate the point, the Daily Mirror revives its "chicken" - the staffer-in-a-bird-outfit which pecked its way into Conservative photo opportunities during the 2010 general election campaign - in a bid to put Mr Farage "in a flap".

Commenting on Mr Farage's "loss of courage", the Daily Telegraph says: "If he is unwilling to chance his arm [in Newark], how can he plausibly convince voters that he and his party are a credible choice come the general election?"

"In politics, like in war and sport, leaders should do what their opponents most fear," reckons the Daily Express's Leo McKinstry. "In this case a by-election contest with Farage is what the Conservatives really dreaded." Rod Liddle, writing in the Sun, urges: "Change your mind, Nigel - and, for once, take a risk."

Martin Kettle, in the Guardian, suggests Mr Farage's choice was the option "to remain as an anti-politics party", rather than "for anything that it has any practical hope of achieving".

Still, even without the party leader, Newark's UKIP activists "believe their time has come", according to the Times. Cartoonists take inspiration from the announcement of the cast for the latest Star Wars film, with the Times's Morten Morland depicting Mr Farage as Darth Vader, declaring the by-election "would be a distraction from my bigger campaign".

Adams, in the Telegraph, has the UKIP leader as Yoda announcing: "Standing in Newark... I am..." Then, as his lightsaber fizzles out: "Not."

Interview over

There's "some good news for politicians", reports the Daily Telegraph, while the Independent says they can "sleep a little easier".

The reason? It's a farewell to "TV's fiercest inquisitor" Jeremy Paxman, according to the Express, which runs down his "greatest grillings".

Conal Urquhart, in the Guardian, recalls the "gentle but insistent prodding then increasing derision rising to damning indictment" that all-but ended Chloe Smith's ministerial career, when she was sent onto BBC2's Newsnight to defend a government U-turn on cutting fuel duty in 2012.

The Times is among those reminding readers of Paxman's best-known interview - when he asked former Conservative leader Michael Howard the same question 12 times, as the then home secretary failed to offer a straight answer.

Quentin Letts, in the Mail, recalls Paxman later confessing that he only kept repeating the question because the next item in the running order wasn't ready. The writer adds: "When they do a celebration tape of his greatest moments, it will catch many startled expressions on the faces of expenses-cheating, policy-swapping, voter-dodging politicos."

"Sighs of relief were heard all over Westminster" at the news, says the Telegraph's editorial, before adding: "The news is not so good for the nation's students. His withering gaze will still be felt on University Challenge."

Final frame

Appreciation of Bob Hoskins appears in many papers after he died of pneumonia, aged 71. Anna Pukas, in the Express, is among those saying "goodbye to a diamond geezer". She writes: "He was the go-to actor for roles requiring a Cockney accent and an edge of menace."

Despite that, the Independent's Geoffrey MacNab recalls how Hoskins never intended to become an actor: "He was waiting for a friend to finish an audition, was told he was "next", and got the part."

But, as the Guardian's obituary notes, he proved "equally able to play pitbull and poodle". The Sun recalls his description of himself as a "5ft 6in cube with the face of a squashed cabbage". Guy Adams, in the Mail, writes that "in an industry full of cosseted prima donnas, he always worked his socks off, and never behaved like a diva".

"He never took himself, or his acting, too seriously," says the Times's obituary, which recalls Hoskins describing how he was so recognisable that people thought they knew him: "I was in Marks & Spencer the other day when this woman said, 'Bob, where's the tea?'"

However, the Daily Mirror's David Edwards says the role Hoskins played as a violent gangster in The Long Good Friday remains "one of the most intense and terrifying turns in modern British cinema". The critic describes the closing minutes where his character had been bundled into a car by Irish terrorists: "He wordlessly communicated first anger, then resignation and then bitter humour at his fate."

The Telegraph's headline quotes his co-star from that film, Dame Helen Mirren, who described him as a "great actor and even greater man".

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