UK paper review - pre-election warm-up bores press

After the first day of what is being termed the pre-election campaign in the UK, several commentators are already willing it to be over.

"Five more months of this nonsense!" cries Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail. "Wake me up when it's over."

With "election starts" emblazoned across a television screen, cartoonist Matt's character in the Daily Telegraph covers his eyes in despair.

"If I was wearing exploding underpants, I'd set them off right now," he says.

First blood?

"The sooner we have that election," argues the Sun, "the sooner Britain can get back on its feet."

Labour's bid to launch an attack on Tory spending plans backfired, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The move exposed divisions in the Government's own economic policies, says the paper.

But the Guardian believes Labour drew first blood in the pre-election battle with David Cameron appearing to change policy on married couples' tax breaks.

Al-Qaeda concerns

Britain's relationship with Yemen is the focus of much press attention.

The Financial Times highlights concerns that al- Qaeda is seeking to make Yemen a haven.

It says a crackdown in Saudi Arabia has shifted the threat to its neighbour, adding that al-Qaeda could relocate there from Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The Times notes an added concern - that 14% of Guantanamo Bay detainees turned to terrorism after release and nearly half of the remaining 198 are Yemeni.

Chilled out

The Daily Star notes that the country is frozen solid, with no end in sight.

Beneath the headline "Just Chilling", the Daily Mirror pictures families skating and tobogganing during what it says is the coldest snap for 100 years.

The Guardian says that while it is bad in Britain, it is much worse elsewhere, highlighting record snow in China and South Korea.

The Arctic freeze wreaking havoc across the planet might seem to defy the logic of a warming world, notes the Times.

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