Benefits 'backtrack' and smacking 'could be criminal'
BBC
Several of Sunday's papers lead on the government reconsidering plans to freeze some disability benefits, after its own MPs raised concerns about the idea.
The Sunday Telegraph says ministers are "set to dilute welfare cuts to stave off a rebellion". The Observer's headline says "PM considers U-turn". According to The Sunday Times the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, has tried to offer what the paper calls "an olive branch" to rebels - insisting that people who cannot work "will be protected".
The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has written in the Telegraph that last week's announcement about scrapping NHS England marks "the beginning, and not the end" of cuts to health service quangos.
Mr Streeting has also told the paper that his team are going through budgets line by line, with what he's called "a relentless focus on slashing bloated bureaucracy".
Most of the papers cover Sir Keir Starmer's latest diplomatic efforts regarding the war in Ukraine.
On Saturday he hosted a virtual call with more than 25 world leaders who agreed to take plans for a peacekeeping force to an "operational phase".
The Mail on Sunday says the prime minister promised to "pile the pain" on Russia if President Putin failed to agree to a ceasefire. The Sunday Mirror's headline uses a quote from Sir Keir: "Let the guns fall silent".
According to the Times the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, has held talks with Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's former adviser, about how to take on the Conservatives and replace them as the main threat to Labour. The pair are said to have discussed political tactics in a face-to-face meeting before Christmas.
The front page of the Mail on Sunday claims that a former spy chief submitted a secret dossier to No 10 during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, which pointed to the origins of Covid-19.
The paper says the information suggested the virus did leak from a laboratory in China, but this was allegedly dismissed by the government's chief scientific adviser at the time, Lord Vallance. He has declined to comment to the paper but in a statement, a government spokesman said the UK supported the World Health Organization in its ongoing study into the origins of Covid-19.
Brain implants are to be tested as a way of helping alcoholics and opioid addicts, reports the Observer. The technique is already used to help patients control some of the effects of Parkinson's disease, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. And now a group of researchers from Cambridge and Oxford universities, as well as King's College London, are carrying out studies to see if deep brain stimulation can control and decrease an addict's cravings.
The Mirror says the late Tina Turner could be the next performer to return to the stage as a hologram. The company that manages her estate has filed an application to trademark her name in virtual reality. The paper says this could see her star in her own ABBA-style avatar show.
And the Times says sales of crumpets are booming. Supermarkets have seen an increase in demand and the teatime treat is even being served in Michelin-starred restaurants. One of the best known makers of crumpets, Warburton's, believes people are looking for "a healthy snack" which "provides value for money". The paper says other traditional British dishes also deserve the same attention, including bubble and squeak, jam roly-poly and toad in the hole.
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