Papers investigate bugging of MP

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The question across several UK front pages is: who knew about the bugging of the Muslim Labour MP, Sadiq Khan?

The Daily Mail prints a letter warning of the recording which Tory David Davies says he sent to Gordon Brown - but which Downing Street says never arrived.

Meanwhile, the Guardian says that more than 250,000 surveillance requests were made in the first nine months of 2007 by hundreds of different agencies.

This slide towards routine snooping must be stopped and reversed, it says.

Family affairs

"Sleaze checks" is how the Sun describes plans to bring in random inspections of MPs' expenses which will be discussed by a Commons committee.

They come after Derek Conway MP was told to return payments to his son.

The Daily Mirror focuses on Tory Sir Nicholas Winterton and his wife, Ann - who it says used a loophole to claim "rent" on a flat they own outright.

But the Daily Telegraph targets Labour minister Phil Hope, who admits employing his son and daughter.

Cold comfort

The mouse that "caught a cold" is on the front of the Independent.

This genetically-modified rodent is the first non-primate to catch the common cold virus, the paper says.

It adds that scientists at Imperial College hope this will lead to the development of new treatments to stop colds spreading among humans.

The Guardian adds that as well as offering hope of relief from coughs and sneezes, the development could also help sufferers of asthma.

History lessons

Never in the field of human ignorance, have so many known so little about famous Britons, says the Daily Mail.

It reports that out of 3,000 people who took part in a general knowledge survey, a quarter thought Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character.

Others doubted the existence of Charles Dickens and Sir Walter Raleigh, the paper says.

And the Daily Express adds that fictional characters such as Sherlock Holmes, Robinson Crusoe and Biggles were believed to be real-life heroes.