Boxing Day sales, footballing Prince Harry, Doctor Who and Mrs Brown
Continue reading the main storyAhead of another day of frantic shopping in the post-Christmas sales, the papers reflect on a bumper Boxing Day for retailers.
The Daily Mirror leads on the story, saying that £60,000 a second was spent on average. Inside, under the headline "shop and awe", it visits a variety of regional shopping centres to hear from those splashing the cash and pictures queues outside many malls.
Chinese tourists, along with visitors from Qatar and Russia, were among those bagging bargains, according to the Daily Telegraph. It says shoppers from around the world spent four times as much at UK stores than Britons.
And the Sun uses the angle as an excuse to roll out some puns. "Great Haul of China" and "Shop Suey" both make it into print. Consumer editor Dan Jones explains that Chinese shoppers love the UK because high-end goods are up to 30% cheaper, thanks to 20% refunds on VAT under British tax-free shopping rules.
Frenzy or failure?It's not just clothes or electrical goods flying off the shelves, according to the Daily Express. It says millions of families are hoping to beat the January blues with a bargain holiday.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail says the "real savings" are still online, printing comparisons between the prices charged by High Street retailers and web vendors.
Reviewing the papers for the BBC News Channel, the Daily Telegraph's Neil Midgley said: "I'm amazed people have found the time to be online."
Fellow panellist, solicitor Michael Caplan, warned the £2.7m figure for Boxing Day trade might not materialise, saying: "It doesn't mean there won't be things which are refunded later on."
The Times is similarly downbeat, saying: "Beneath the fairy lights and tinsel the malaise goes on." It says the underlying figures "make for unseasonably grim reading".
One-two princesIt's not often Princes Harry and William are pictured playing a proper game of football, so the papers make the most of the opportunity.
The annual Sandringham football match finished all-square but there's no doubt who won the day, if the headlines are anything to go by.
"Harry 1, Wills 0," is the Express's verdict, as it notes he scored in the 25th minute from just outside the penalty area.
"Harry scores," screams the Sun, although its mostly referring to a "dinner date with Cressida" Bonas he's reportedly planning. The paper enjoys a joke at William's expense saying: "His thinning hair led spectators to tease him for looking like 1966 World Cup hero Sir Bobby Charlton."
It also compares his red-and-white hooped top to cartoon character Where's Wally and hides the tiny figure in each of the photos of the royal heir.
The Daily Mirror's not much kinder. Under the headline "Heir we go," it shows William shielding his face from the ball with the caption: "It's wince William."
Meanwhile, the Mail focuses on "Dirty Harry's horror tackle," picturing the younger prince going into a challenge with his studs up.
The paper enlists former World Cup referee Graham Poll to say he would have shown a yellow card, at least, and sent him off if the tackle had landed.
Trouble brewing?There's disquiet in some of Friday's leader columns about relations between China and Japan.
The Financial Times says the dispute over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea is dangerous.
"The possibility of an accident or a deliberate provocation on the ground (or in the air, or at sea) is real.
"Nor, if that happened, can escalation be ruled out given that both countries have hawkish leaders and populations in no mood to make concessions," it says.
In the Independent's view, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe's visit to the Yasukuni shrine honouring the country's war dead - including those convicted of war crimes in China and Korea - has increased the chance of a "calamitous conflict".
"To most outsiders, it seems inconceivable that two such powerful and sophisticated countries... could come to blows over a few uninhabited islands," it says.
However, it adds: "Stranger things have happened," citing the origins of World War I.
To the Daily Telegraph, such comparisons are "mercifully exaggerated" but it adds: "Unless all parties remember that they have more to gain from co-operations than competition, the region could be set for a very unhappy new year".
Telly warsIt wasn't daleks causing the Doctor the most trouble on Christmas Day but a man in drag. And it's not clear exactly who won the battle for TV ratings.
"Whowunnit," according to the Sun, which says new Time Lord Peter Capaldi made Doctor Who the TV hit of Christmas Day - with a peak audience of 10.2m viewers - and helped the BBC "zap ITV".
The Daily Telegraph agrees that the commercial rival lost out, describing Downton Abbey as a "sideshow", but puts comedy Mrs Brown's Boys at the top of the tree, based on average viewers overall.
In its commentary, Veronica Lee calls the Irish sitcom "good old-fashioned fun" and suggests the key to its attraction is that "the British do love a chap in a frock".
And the Daily Express is in no doubt about the winner of the festive fight, saying: "Doctor Who is exterminated by Mrs Brown."
The Independent's Will Dean, meanwhile, describes Boxing Day's Still Open All Hours as "TV as Garfunkel without Simon, Wise without Morecambe", given the absence of Ronnie Barker as stuttering shopkeeper Arkwright.
But he says it was a "w-w-worthy effort", concluding: "Even if it wasn't quite what you'd hoped, there's consolation in the idea of an all-in-one local store going strong in the age of the Big Supermarket."
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