"And here's the Cabinet's starter for 10. If something's good for everyone, do you put a high tax on it to deter people from doing it?"

The paper's answer, of course, is "no" - but this, it argues, is what the government is doing by allowing university tuition fees to treble.

The Independent calculates that, once graduates reach the salary level where they have to start re-paying their debts, they will be facing a higher rate of tax than millionaires.

This, warns the Daily Express, means higher education is in danger of becoming, once again, the "preserve of the wealthy."

'Middle class tax'

In effect, the Daily Mail says, the burden of the government's policy will fall on the "already overtaxed middle classes."

The Mirror, though, takes aim at the rich. The whole nation reaps benefits from higher education so, in the paper's eyes, the whole nation should pay for it through higher taxes on the better off.

The Daily Star wants the young to learn a trade where there are skills shortages - such as plumbing or plastering - instead of being burdened with what the paper calls "Mickey Mouse degrees and massive debt".

The Guardian reports on its front page that the US military has drawn up detailed plans to secure and protect Iraq's oil-fields at the start of any ground campaign there.

Iraqi oil

The paper says the preparations were disclosed to Iraqi opposition parties at a meeting in Washington last month.

In addition, American, British, Russian and French companies are already taking private soundings about the future of the world's second biggest oil reserves.

But, says the Guardian, they are reluctant to mention this in public for fear of feeding Arab suspicions about the motives behind ousting Saddam Hussein.

"Are you listening now, Mr Blair?" asks the Mirror, referring to the response to its petition against war on Iraq.

The paper says 15,000 readers had backed the "not-in-my-name" campaign by first post yesterday - "not bad", in its estimation, for an initial effort.

Asylum petition

The Mirror says the level of support sends the clearest message yet to the prime minister that it is now time to halt the rush to conflict.

The Sun is also on the campaign trail, claiming that 50,000 of its readers have signed its petition demanding government action to stop, in its words, "Britain becoming a soft touch for illegal immigrants."

Both the Telegraph and the Express report that the immigration reception centre at Oakington in Cambridgeshire is almost empty.

There are just 32 asylum-seekers there - each one, say the papers, costing the tax-payer more than �9,000 a week.

Vacuum robots

The situation was caused by a decision to house only people from the 10 countries about to join the EU, instead of new arrivals from all over the world.

In a modern twist on the biblical demand to beat swords into plough-shares, the Telegraph says the technology used to guide cruise missiles may soon be available on vacuum cleaners.

Scientists at the South Korean firm, Samsung, have apparently adapted the navigation systems to allow robot cleaners to scurry around rooms, tidying floors and carpets.

The Telegraph reckons that, despite the chequered history of cruise missiles in combat, there is little danger that the robots will clean the wrong house by mistake.