Paper Monitor
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Welcome 2011. So what can we expect from the papers this year? Judging by today's stories, it's going to be a battle between the haves and the have-nots.
Most of the papers highlight just how much more expensive things are going to be for the have-nots this year. The expected price rise of anything and everything, from a , is calculated in the Sun. But at least the headline will raise a little smile: OUCH! VAT HURTS. Does that soften the blow a little bit?
No attempts at humour from the Daily Mail. It has its serious face on and gets straight to the point, with a headline telling us the VAT rise on Tuesday will cost families an extra £520 this year. Another whole page is taken up informing rail passengers just how much their tickets are going to rise by, and drivers just how much their petrol bills will climb to. Such a little ray of sunshine.
Now to those who have.
Step forward, Chancellor George Osborne. He is splashed across the Daily Mirror's front page, under the headline "TAKING THE PISTE".
His sin is to take a luxury skiing holiday in the upmarket Swiss resort of Klosters. The paper . Unions accuse him of "gross insensitivity", but a source "close to Mr Osborne" does put up some kind of defence, insisting he flew economy class.
The other person in the have category is Cheryl Cole. She has a new boyfriend, and a new £10,000 diamond bracelet that he's given her. It's safe to say we won't be forgetting what she looks like this year, if today's papers are anything to go by.
Happy New Year.