Mortgages, train fares, the NHS and the love life of Osama bin Laden's son - it's a mixed bag on the front pages today.
The Independent and the Mail lead with new figures showing that the number of people defaulting on their mortgage payments this year has doubled to 77,000 a month.
"Mortgage misery," says the Indy, warning of "mortgage meltdown". The paper reports that fears of a dramatic increase in the number of houses repossessed are growing, with the Council of Mortgage Lenders revising upwards its forecast of 18,000 repossessions this year. The two million people whose fixed-rate deals will come to an end during the coming 18 months are expected to suffer the most pain.
The Mail focuses on young house-buyers following a CML report showing that first-time buyers were borrowing a record 3.37 times their income. They face a "terrifying combination of factors" in their struggle to get on the housing ladder, the paper says, from the recent rises in interest rates to "punishing" stamp duty.
Meanwhile, the FT casts its eye across the water and splashes on problems in the US mortgage market. The dollar hit a record low against the euro yesterday after the ratings agency Standard and Poors predicted that US house prices would plunge 8% this year, dragging down the country's capital markets and hitting economic growth.
But it's the price of train fares that concerns the Times following what it calls a "stealth deal" between the government and train companies. Fare rises of at least 30% above inflation have been agreed for three companies - Stagecoach, Arriva and Go-Ahead - signing contracts for franchises in the past fortnight, the paper says.
The Department for Transport made clear to all the companies bidding for the latest franchises that they could only win if they planned sharp rises in unregulated fares, which account for 60% of total fare revenue. The Times reports that the rail companies are angry that the government is blaming them for fare rises, but only Stagecoach has spoken out so far because the others are worried about losing existing or future franchises. "It is profoundly dishonest," the paper adds. "Fares should be fairer."
For the Guardian, the end of the local general hospital is nigh with the revelation of the most radical reform of the NHS since 1948 in an exclusive interview with the newly appointed health minister, Sir Ara Darzai.
Plans for London include a network of 150 polyclinics across the capital, providing a complete range of services to meet routine healthcare needs. Many district general hospitals across London would lose maternity and paediatric departments. There would be more urgent care centres, but fewer full A&E departments, and ambulances would take patients to the most suitable hospital, not the nearest.
"The days of the district general hospital seeking to provide all services to a high enough standard are over," Sir Ara told the paper.
This is an extract from the Wrap, our digest of the daily papers.
