Newspaper review: Migrants in kayaks and ethnic divides By Owen Amos

BBC News Published duration 2 November 2016

Migrants reaching Britain - whether by kayak or Queens Park Rangers coach - is, once again, a major story.

Metro leads on an asylum seeker who was rescued off the Kent coast in an inflatable kayak on Saturday.

The paper says the man lived in the Jungle in Calais, but headed for England after the camp was "cleared by bulldozers".

He was picked up by the Border Force eight miles from shore and immediately claimed asylum - on the grounds that "he would be persecuted in Iran for converting to Christianity".

The Times says the Iranian may have been dropped off in the Channel by a bigger boat, rather than paddling all the way from France.

Meanwhile, the Daily Star reports that Queens Park Rangers FC has offered to provide buses to bring migrant children stranded in France into the UK.

The London-based club has held talks with the authorities. Chairman Tony Fernandes said: "There are children in France who are facing awful challenges, and seeing things that no child should see."

Mobile madness

image copyright PA image caption Picture posed by model

The Daily Mail's front page carries nine pictures of lorry drivers using their mobile phones.

The pictures were taken by a Mail photographer on the M20 in Kent on Tuesday. In total, the paper says, 17 lorry drivers were spotted on their phones in 90 minutes.

On Monday, a Polish driver was jailed for 10 years for killing a mother and three children while using his phone. All the drivers pictured in the Mail are in left-hand-drive vehicles.

The Sun has the same story idea, and carries 15 pictures of drivers on their phones across two pages.

The headline reads: "Lethal weapons".

Harry's girl?

image copyright PA

Famous, photogenic, and with a family that talks to reporters: Prince Harry's rumoured new girlfriend is a tabloid's dream come true.

The sisters have "barely spoken" since Samantha was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008, the paper says.

"Hollywood has changed her," says Samantha. "I think her ambition is to become a princess."

The Mail also carries quotes from Samantha. " The Royal Family would be appalled by what she (Meghan) has done to her own family," she says.

Meanwhile, Afua Hirsch in the Guardian focuses on Miss Markle's race.

"[Markle] has spoken extensively about her dual heritage," writes Hirsch.

"If Harry was previously oblivious to the complex world of race and identity, he's about to get a crash course.

"News of his latest relationship threatens to bring Britain's issues with the myth of royal racial purity into the open."

media caption Henry Bonsu and Hugo Rifkind review Wednesday's papers

Lives apart

The Guardian's front page also focuses on race . "Ethnic divide in British cities grows rapidly," reads the headline.

The story is based on a report from the University of London. It shows "the steepest decline in the white population" has happened "where numbers were already well below the national average".

The paper's reporter, Nazia Parveen, visits Blackburn in Lancashire which - it's said - is " one of the most divided places in Britain ".

"It's a simple fact," the report begins. "Mohammed Tabrez Noorji has never served a white customer in his butcher's shop."

"Asian families like to live in the same area so we can support one another, but then white people move out," Noorji explains.

"It's not that we deliberately choose to live separately - it is just what happens."

The power of love

image copyright Family handout image caption Jessie and Ray Lorrison

The Mirror, among others, reports on Jessie and Ray Lorrison , who've been married since 1950.

Jessie, 88, fell ill nine weeks ago and was taken to hospital. Ray, who's 95 and has Alzheimer's, was taken to a care home.

Social services in South Tyneside decided that - after being discharged from hospital - Jessie didn't meet the criteria to join Ray in the home, meaning they were separated for the first time since 1946.

But, after 20,000 people signed an online petition, the council changed its mind.

"We are all chuffed," said the couple's son-in-law James Bates.

Meanwhile, a number of papers report that a young couple - who were overheard discussing money worries - were given £50 by a stranger to go on a date

Alex Doyle, 23, and Zoe Paton, 21, were in Launceston in Cornwall when a middle-aged woman gave them the gift.

"I really hope we can find her so we can say thank you properly," Miss Paton said.

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