What Thursday's papers are saying

Many of the papers report on the case of how a father was allowed to continually rape and abuse two of his daughters over a 35-year period.

The executive summary into the case described how the family had been in contact with 28 different agencies between 1973 and 2008, and that they had been seen by more than 100 professionals including social workers, police and housing officials.says the Guardian

Slammed social services chiefs issued a grovelling apology yesterday - for letting an incest monster rape his terrified daughters for a hellish 25 years.says the Sun

whilst the Times adds

Agencies involved with the family failed to confront the man even though they strongly suspected for many years that he was the father of the girls’ seven babies, some of them born with severe genetic defects.

Both the Mail and the Express choose to lead on what they call death taxes.The former reports that

Millions of middle income families are facing a 10 per cent 'death tax' levy to pay for social care of the elderly.

The levy would be charged on all estates up to the current inheritance tax threshold of £325,000.says the Express

According to the Times,Britain’s leading criminal judges are warning that a shake-up of sentencing guidelines could push prison overcrowding to crisis levels.

To politics and the Telegraph leads with news that a fifth Labour MP is being investigated by police over his expenses,

The Metropolitan Police has begun a criminal inquiry into Harry Cohen after he claimed more than £70,000 for a “second home” while renting out his main property.

says the paper

The Independent features Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg who in an interview with the paper

will this weekend announce the four "tests" he would set for Labour and the Conservatives in return for the support of the Liberal Democrats if neither main party wins an overall majority at the general election.

The row over defence spending continues.Lord Guthrie, the first chief of the defence staff under New Labour

last night said plans to replace the Trident nuclear missile system and build two large aircraft carriers should be abandoned and the money saved spent on alternatives more relevant to future conflicts, including a bigger army.

reports the Guardian

As the row continued in the Commons the Telegraph reports that

Gordon Brown has hit back at former military chiefs who accused him of starving the armed forces of funds when he was Chancellor, describing the criticism as "wrong" and inappropriate.

The number of billionaires has soared in the past year, and dozens of people who lost that elite status in the credit crisis have won it back as stock markets and commodities prices have rebounded.reports the Independent

The Devil is lurking in the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church reports the Telegraph.

The Vatican's chief exorcist claimed yesterday that

the assault on Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve by a mentally unstable woman and the sex abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof that the Anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See.

Finally a shock for those escaping to the Med as the Mail reports that

A rare blizzard has struck the Spanish coast and Balearic Islands in some of the worst weather seen in 50 years.
The snow storm swept in on the holiday island of Majorca after causing havoc in Barcelona, the Costa Brava and parts of the French Mediterranean coast.