In The Daily Express Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, says when the newspaper gives voice to concerns about various recent events surrounding his party, he does not file it in a drawer marked “media smears” along with the attacks made on his party by those who have an agenda to do them down. Rather he regards it as a message from a candid friend. So today he answers the worries voiced yesterday in this newspaper’s leader column. The Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire thinks barmy Ukip is hell-bent on proving PM David Cameron right when he called the party ‘fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists’. The Daily Maii’s Sarah Vine thinks that the way to deal with men like Lord Rennard is not some interminable internal inquiry followed by major political meltdown, but a sharp slap to the wrist, a drink in the face or — my favourite — a Chinese burn. The Daily Mirror’s Alison Phillips
asks: Why should any woman have to resort to physical violence to defend herself? Women are generally not like that anyway, despite the bluster. The Sun’s Jane Moore thinks the Rennard case has been blown up out of all proportion by the court of political perception. In The Daily Telegraph Dan Hodges argues that Nick Clegg has squandered the opportunity to turn the Liberal Democrats into a serious force in British politics. In The Times Daniel Finkelstein that tje Coalition parties must develop a common understanding in the run-up to the next election. In The Guardian Melissa Kite tries to come up with some ideas for how traditional Conservative ideas could be dressed up to appear more cheerful. Let sunshine, as David Cameron once said, win the day. The Independent’s Matthew Norman thinks L’Affaire Rennard barely qualifies in itself as a micro-scandal.

The Daily Telegraph’s Richard Spencer thinks that without Tehran at the table there is no hope of peace and the talks may as well not take place. This is what people are saying but these aren’t peace talks and they wouldn’t have led to peace with or without the Iranians. In The Times Roger Boyes says Britain can no longer avert its eyes from the brutal reality of life, and death, in Syria’s Dark Ages. These shocking pictures are a powerful call to action. The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland believes the challenge for the people of Syria – besides staying alive, of course, in a civil war that has killed 130,000 and displaced millions – is to get the rest of the world to pay attention. For month after month, the killing grinds on and those outside Syria look the other way, either distracted or paralysed by the sense there is nothing that can be done.

The Guardian’s Simon Jenkins says let’s face it, we all live on Benefits Street. The Channel 4 series may be raising hackles to left and right, but I doubt if there is a person reading this column who is not “on the take” in some sense. We may work a bit, mostly obey the law and not look a total mess, but then we are not really poor. We can still be “on benefit”, and some of us are rich because of it. In The Daily Mail Max Pemberton, an NHS doctor, say she became so enraged when I listen to those critics who have convinced themselves that the kinds of people featured on Benefits Street don’t really exist; that they are a squalid creation designed to pander to the Right-wing. The problem is that many of those on the Left who have condemned the programme are as deluded as those on the Right who think that the cross-section of people featured represents everyone receiving welfare
benefits. The Sun’s Jane Moore thinks Benefits Street is a glimpse of those who are victims of circumstance and haven’t a clue how to dig themselves out of the financial black hole they occupy.

The Guardian says evidence of the starvation, torture and murder of up to 11,000 detainees by President Assad’s government represents a shocking new nadir in the brutal Syrian civil war. The provenance of the photographs is significant – they came via the partial agency of Qatar, which backs the rebels – and the evidence may never be tested in court. Nevertheless, in the words of Sir Desmond de Silva, one of three internationally respected war crimes prosecutors who scrutinised the material, the cache of 55,000 digital images obtained by a former regime photographer is concrete evidence of “industrial-scale killing” and enough to bring charges of crimes against humanity against the Assad government.

The FT believes Europe is slowly emerging from the crisis and economic growth is picking up. But the sluggish nature of the recovery means governments cannot ease up in the pursuit of reforms that boost investment and jobs. Much of the discussion about improving competitiveness revolves around labour market reforms and reductions in red tape. But far too little attention is paid to what has become a significant burden on European growth: the high cost of energy in Europe when compared with the US and other markets.

The Daily Mail points out that just nine months ago, the International Monetary Fund was urging George Osborne to pull back from his austerity strategy, while its chief economist warned that he was ‘playing with fire’. What a different tune the IMF played yesterday, when it upgraded Britain’s 2014 growth forecast to the highest in Europe, at 2.4 per cent, while urging the Chancellor to press on with his cuts.

In The Independent Peter Tatchell, director of the human rights lobby the Peter Tatchell Foundation, believes the attempt by Twiggy Garcia, a London bar worker, to arrest Tony Blair last week for crimes against peace in Iraq was a brave effort to bring to justice a former Prime Minister who many people regard as having got away with waging an illegal war. This is the value of citizen’s arrest powers: they grant ordinary people the right to arrest the bad guys when the forces of law and order fail to do so. Too often the rich and powerful use their influence to evade justice. The right of citizen’s arrest gives the unrich and unpowerful the means to make sure they don’t get away with it.

In The Times Stephen Pollard, Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, argues that footballer Nicolas Anelka’s quenelle gesture is far worse than a racial insult. The key here is context. The quenelle’s inventor, the French ‘comedian’ Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, is unambiguous about his message. The powerful Jews are the subject of hilarious jokes such as his references to Shoananas, melding the Hebrew word for holocaust with the French word for pineapple.

In The Daily Telegraph Mary Riddell argues that the undervalued skills that Britain needs – such as leadership, diligence, team-building and charm – are vital both for City high-fliers and those in the service industries, where employers are likely to choose the personable immigrant over the unmotivated native.

@fleetstreetfox