Papers predict Rock rescue plans

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7199521.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The Chancellor's proposals on the future of Northern Rock make the lead for the Times, the Guardian, the Independent and the Financial Times.

For the Independent, Alistair Darling's statement in the Commons later will be a way out of one of the sorriest messes in British banking history.

The Guardian's says ministers are nearing the endgame of Northern Rock.

The Times says the taxpayer may get a slice of any windfall profits made by a private buyer.

'Federalist agenda'

As MPs begin the process of debating the EU Reform Treaty, many papers claim the government must put the document to a referendum.

The Daily Express says everybody knows the treaty enacts the federalist agenda of the defunct constitution.

In the Daily Mail's opinion, the government fears a referendum because it would focus on how much sovereignty has already been ceded to Brussels.

The Daily Telegraph says MPs are under an obligation to call a referendum.

Beach crowds

There are pictures on the front page of the Daily Mail of thousands of planks of wood washed up on Worthing beach.

For the Sun, showing its talent for puns, it was a sight for "saw eyes".

It was the day, the Daily Telegraph says, a beach became a lumber yard. The sight in Sussex attracted huge crowds of locals, the paper reports.

But the Daily Mirror says there was no scavenging on the scale seen on a beach in Devon a year ago. However, the paper adds, the booty did include motorbikes.

Pants support

The papers are in jocular mood after BBC Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman's complaint about Marks & Spencer pants.

The Times tells readers that television's leading interrogator has stretched his brief to tackle the shop over its lack of support.

The Daily Express says the Newsnight inquisitor-in-chief has given men something new to debate in the pub.

The Sun imagines Paxman demanding: "Come on...What evidence do you have these pants provide adequate support?"