Newspaper headlines: Council tax rises and strike warnings

This is, the Times declares, “no country for the old… the state of social care in Britain is a disgrace”.

Backing up an investigation into the problems facing care homes – and what it calls “the funding gap” that means people are growing old without the help they need – the newspaper, in its leading article, considers “a crisis unfolding”.

On its front page, the newspaper says the prime minister will back plans to increase council tax to cover the cost.

The Times says money may be tight, but, without more being found “from somewhere,” social care cannot improve.

In the end, it says, there is “a simple question of dignity – this is a rich country and it should be a good one to grow old in. At the moment, it is not, and that is unacceptable”.

As commuters brace themselves for more strikes on the railways, the home secretary has voiced her opinion in the Daily Telegraph.

Amber Rudd has branded this week’s strike on Southern Rail by the Aslef union – protesting against driver-only operated trains – as “unacceptable”.

The network, which serves her constituency of Hastings and Rye among its destinations, carries 500,000 passengers a day.

Ms Rudd calls on both sides to get back round the table and stop the “misery” being experienced by travellers trying to get to work.

It may have started nine days ago, according to the Times, but the comment by a former minister about Theresa May’s leather trousers and the following flurry of exchanges is still making headlines.

What followed, says the Daily Star, was a “bitter bust up”.

Matthew Norman, in the i, thinks Mrs May made a mistake by disclosing her sense of irritation.

He writes: “To reveal such brittleness about something so minor hints at deeper and more dangerous insecurities”.

In its leading article, the Times says: “We get few glimpses of Team May’s true tone of voice, but this is one, and its childishness is troubling. Mrs May needs to develop a thicker skin”.

Dominic Lawson, writing in the Daily Mail, also finds the episode “highly revealing,” but he thinks it shows that Mrs May “is her own woman in public as well as private,” describing “a welcome return to unaffectedness”.

Mrs May is pictured in several papers wearing fabric trousers, rather than leather, as she went to church yesterday, while her foreign secretary is widely pictured smiling as he met the Saudi king.

The Daily Mirror points out that the encounter happened just days after Boris Johnson had called the country’s leaders, in its phrase, “puppeteers of war.”

According to the Guardian, some fellow Conservatives want him to go on raising concerns about human rights, despite a rebuke from Downing Street.

The Mail thinks Mr Johnson will “refuse to keep quiet.” And the Daily Express says he promises “to continue speaking with candour”.

The foreign secretary earns himself some praise from The Sun.

The newspaper warmly commends him for turning down a request from Tony Blair for more public funds to be spent on security as the former prime minister travels in the Middle East. The Sun comments, “Bang on, Boris.”

The Daily Telegraph says two of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest allies have given him a year to improve his party’s ratings in the opinion polls.

“One year to save Labour,” is the headline in the the Daily Mirror and, in its comment column, the paper urges the party to unite, saying “divided parties do not win elections”.

The i suggests that senior figures, such as Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott, remain at odds in their approach to immigration.

While Leo McKinstry in the Daily Express believes Labour is a party in collapse, engaged in a “flight into the wilderness” that could leave it as “nothing more than an urban rump”.

The Financial Times reports on last month’s hack of Tesco Bank, saying the company “left its customers exposed” by issuing sequential debit card numbers.

The newspaper says most banks avoid the practice to protect themselves from cyber attacks.

Since the hack, it reports, the Financial Conduct Authority has contacted several British lenders to check if they are doing the same thing.

Such is the hold that Star Wars has over its fans, the Times reports, that “frenzy” was excited by the mere fact that the film company had applied for a trademark for merchandise which will promote the latest instalment.

The newspaper says many devotees were disappointed that the new episode could be called “Forces of Destiny” and by the idea that the branding could appear on such items as turbans, paint-ball ammunition, leotards and pet muzzles.

Concerns about the language used by students and university staff to refer to one another feature in several papers.

The Times reports that the student union at Oxford University has told undergraduates they should abandon the pronouns “he” and “she,” and use a gender-neutral alternative, such as “ze”.

The Daily Mirror says “schoolchildren as young as seven are being told to stop referring to each other as ‘boys’ and ‘girls'”.

And that is a step too far for the Express, which calls the proposal insane “nonsense” and “dangerous” too.

With the aim of keeping staff happy, says the Guardian, companies are filling their offices with toys, such as slides, computer games and action figures.

But the Mail says a big study of well-being by the London School of Economics concludes that “money really doesn’t make you happy.”

What does, says the Telegraph, would seem to be “having a partner… finding love and enjoying good mental health.”