Newspaper headlines: 'New age of austerity' and 'grin and bear it'

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By BBC News
Staff
Getty Images

The Times believes the Autumn Statement will "target the wealthy" with the "biggest package of tax rises and spending cuts for more than a decade".

It says Jeremy Hunt will drag thousands into the top rate of tax and that most of the spending cuts will be pencilled in for after the next election in the hope that, if conditions improve, they will not be necessary.

The i thinks the measures will herald a "new age of austerity". Yet it does not expect Mr Hunt to reveal the detail of which government departments and projects will be cut, meaning the arguments will rage on as to how to achieve the savings.

According to the Financial Times, the chancellor will insist the pain is necessary to curb soaring prices and restore faith in Britain.

The Guardian focuses on what the statement could mean for energy bills. It says the changes to the price cap will result in millions of households paying more for gas and electricity from next April.

The concern felt by world leaders after reports of a missile strike in Poland is captured in a picture printed in many of the papers. Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, Emmanuel Macron and others are seen huddled in talks at the G20.

"When the world held its breath," is the Daily Mail's headline.

Writing in the i, Patrick Cockburn says the alacrity with which presidents and prime ministers in Bali jumped out of bed in the middle of the night shows how fearful they are that the Ukraine war will spread.

The Sun's defence editor, Jerome Starkey, says Western officials breathed a sigh of relief after concluding the missile was from an air defence system fired by Ukraine, as it sought to defend itself.

Kyiv has denied this, and its stance, according to the Financial Times, has created tensions with Nato. One Western diplomat tells the paper that Ukraine is openly lying.

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The Daily Mirror leads with the warning issued by MI5 chief Ken McCallum about Iran. He said the security services had uncovered at least 10 plots by Iran's intelligence agencies to kidnap or kill British people on UK soil this year alone.

In an editorial, the Daily Mail praises the way that Britain's spymasters are now informing the public of the biggest threats to their way of life, saying it is a move to be warmly welcomed.

Photos of the Artemis 1 rocket beginning its mission to the moon from the Kennedy Space Center are in several papers.

But the Times reveals how the final few hours before blast off were packed with drama after a liquid hydrogen leak opened up on the launch platform, threatening a postponement.

The paper says engineers hopped into their cars and headed to the danger zone, using a wrench to tighten a nut and save the mission.

One of them describes how the 19 storey rocket towering above them made creaking and venting noises. "It was pretty scary," he says.