Newspaper headlines: Dementia 'crisis', Cameron book claims, Jackie Collins tributes, and 'exceptional' Murray By Alex Kleiderman

BBC News Published duration 21 September 2015

Analysis suggesting the UK is facing a looming crisis over dementia attracts much attention in Monday's papers.

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The charity Alzheimer's Research examined life expectancy projections by the Office for National Statistics and, reports the Times on its front page , found 37% of girls and 27% of boys born in 2015 would be affected.

However, the paper points out that the estimates contradict a study by Cambridge University which suggested dementia levels were stabilising.

The Daily Express says the problem threatens to send the NHS into meltdown but has prompted officials to embark on an unprecedented crusade to hammer home the message that healthy lifestyles can help stave off the onset of mental decline.

Scientists are still trying to find the first treatment that can stop or slow dementia, but, says the Independent in its leader column, "governments must do more because they set agendas and priorities in health".

'Extraordinary feud'

The Daily Mail's front page story focuses on extracts from a new unauthorised biography about Prime Minister David Cameron which the paper says "lays Dave bare".

It has been written by the former treasurer of the Conservative Party, Lord Ashcroft - with the help of the political journalist Isabel Oakeshott.

The Mail describes it as a story of "revenge" and says the peer has had an extraordinary feud with the prime minister.

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In the book, Call Me Dave - which has drawn on hundreds of interviews with friends, enemies and Downing Street insiders, - are allegations of drug taking when Mr Cameron was at Oxford University.

The Mail says the book praises the prime minister for increasing the number of Conservative seats but it also is likely to trigger a row at Westminster about how much Mr Cameron knew of Lord Ashcroft's tax arrangements.

Downing Street has not commented on the story.

Eye-catching headlines

C-3PO star Daniels reveals amazing 39-year feud with R2-D2 actor - It's a real life robot war between the only two actors to appear in all seven Star Wars films - Daily Mirror

It's a real life robot war between the only two actors to appear in all seven Star Wars films - Daily Mirror City invite to Corbyn's anti-capitalists as Square Mile seeks common ground - The City of London embarks on a Labour charm offensive as concerns mount over the anti-capitalist policies of new leader Jeremy Corbyn's top team - Financial Times

- The City of London embarks on a Labour charm offensive as concerns mount over the anti-capitalist policies of new leader Jeremy Corbyn's top team - Financial Times Is The Mikado racist? Chorus of disapproval closes comic opera - Promotional material for US production of Gilbert and Sullivan's classic is criticised for being insensitive to Japanese people and prompts company to cancel run - Independent

- Promotional material for US production of Gilbert and Sullivan's classic is criticised for being insensitive to Japanese people and prompts company to cancel run - Independent Pre-reptile could be earliest to stand up on all fours - Oxen-sized beast dating from 30 million years before the era of the dinosaurs is thought to have been the first to straighten up from lizard-like stance, says US scientists - Times

Literary queen

There are warm tributes to the novelist Jackie Collins who has died in Los Angeles from breast cancer at the age of 77.

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The Guardian carries what it says was the last British interview with the novelist who sold more than 500 million copies of her books in 40 countries. "She was in a surprisingly reflective and candid mood," recalls the paper's Ruth Huntman. "And in retrospect, it's easy to wonder if she was looking back on her life from a new perspective."

Mark Lawson in the Guardian writes: "In person, she was much cleverer and more thoughtful than was suggested by prose deliberately written to be read swiftly and widely translated. She was a feminist less by ideology than through the example of equalling or bettering the achievements of men."

In the Sun , Louise Mensch, who as Louise Bagshawe penned 13 best-selling "chick lit" novels, explains how Collins's "fearless" and "fun" works inspired her to become a writer.

The Times devotes a leader to Jackie Collins , noting that the themes of her books "replicated some of the perennial concerns of the English novel". Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Updike and Dickens have all covered subjects of wealth and status and adultery, says the Times. Collins' work is part of a "great literary tradition".

Populist pretensions?

As Alexis Tsipras begins work on a new coalition government after being returned to power in Greece, there is agreement that much uncertainty remains in the debt-struck nation.

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The Financial Times was inside Syriza's campaign tent in central Athens as the polls closed and witnessed applause quickly fade into the "hum of fervent discussion" as exit results flashed up that showed the party had won but was short of a majority.

Syriza smashed expectations to retain power but a month after a party mutiny, Mr Tsipras may well feel that he needs more of a cushion as he embarks on an EU-mandated reform programme that tests his party's radical principles, says the FT.

For the Times, Mr Tsipras "deepened rather than resolved" Greece's crisis during his first term in office and he should resign. If Syriza wants to be taken seriously by the world it must now abandon its populist pretensions, it adds. "The revolution is over and it is time to get to work."

"It will require an improbably strong and rapid recovery for Greece to meet the optimistic growth and deficit reduction targets contained in its current bailout deal...

"What does that mean? It means that Greece will be back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons before too long."

What the commentators say...

media caption Former Fleet Street editor Eve Pollard and Martin Bentham, home affairs editor for the London Evening Standard, join the BBC News Channel to review Monday's front pages.

'Exceptional Murray'

There is much praise for Andy Murray after he helped Great Britain's tennis players reach the final of the Davis Cup for the first time in 37 years.

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A 3-2 victory over Australia in Glasgow, where Murray defeated Bernard Tomic in straights sets, means the team will now face Belgium in November.

The team has not been in the final since 1978 and has not won it since 1936 but "has not had a tennis player - or arguably a sportsman - like Murray," says the Sun.

Making people click

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