Newspaper headlines: House sales 'slump', Tony Blair Brexit speech and NHS staff 'crisis' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 18 February 2017

Tony Blair's rallying cry to people who want to defy Brexit goes down like a lead balloon in many of Saturday's papers.

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The Daily Mail brands the former prime minister "messianic". The paper's leader column accuses Mr Blair of hypocrisy, having "twice promised a referendum on the EU and reneged both times".

However, commentator Rafael Behr tells the paper that while Mr Blair has a reasonable argument, he cannot be the "trusted messenger" who he says is needed to deliver it.

And most of the papers continue to be exercised by the government's forthcoming shake-up of business rates.

While his rates are doubling, the paper reports, those of the football club are getting a 2.3% cut.

"This isn't fair," says the owner. "Go tax someone else."

He wants the government to scrap business rates for traders with a turnover below a figure yet to be defined, and "whack the deficit on the giant retailers that dominate the major high streets".

The Daily Telegraph says it has spoken to three former trade secretaries - Lord Tebbit, Sir Vince Cable and Dame Margaret Beckett - who have all voiced concerns about the changes.

The lead story in the Times warns of a slump in the housing market, with homeowners in some areas reportedly waiting an average of 10 months to sell their properties.

"Inflated asking prices and economic uncertainty cause the housing market to stall," it reports.

Parts of southern England, where prices have risen rapidly, and the north-east, where the economy is slow, are worst affected. The paper says that "real pain" will be felt if the slowdown in the number of sales translates into tumbling prices.

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The two-bedroom mid-terrace at Trimdon, in County Durham, is going for auction with a guide price of £10,000, though it needs some work.

The paper says a similar property in London would cost 64 times as much.

Elsewhere, the front page story in the i says there is a looming staff crisis in the NHS in England . An investigation by the paper suggests government plans to recruit more GPs are struggling to keep pace with retirement, while figures show nurse recruitment levels have fallen.

Donald Trump continues to be a rich source of copy.

The paper believes it will be hard for the president to "plug the leaks" of the sort that cost the job of his short-lived national security adviser, Mike Flynn.

However, the FT argues that Mr Trump made himself "fair game" on the campaign trail, by celebrating the publication of thousands of Hillary Clinton's hacked emails.

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Researchers at De Montfort University in Leicester found that youngsters who were allowed to touch, handle and even squash their fruit and veg were more inclined to snack on them later.