What the papers say: Sunday's front pages

Sun, 09 Feb, 2025 - 08:28

By Rachel Vickers-Price, PA

Here are the stories making headlines this Sunday.

The Sunday Independent leads with a Fine Gael party member being arrested after being found drunk on a city street.

A gang rapist convicted of a sex attack on a woman this week was a male stripper, the Sunday World reports.

The Irish Mail on Sunday reports on the OPW spending €50 million on building contracts that broke state rules.

A Swiss man was stabbed to death in the front garden of a Dublin home just a day after arriving in Ireland to visit relatives, the Irish Sunday Mirror reports.

Builders have told the government that 40,000 new homes was "never possible" while officials call developers to crisis talks after the housing target collapsed, the Business Post reports.

Sunday Life features CCTV images that show Ian Ogle's killers before they killed the father-of-two.

In the UK...

A slew of Sunday papers look at the Southport stabbings and the sacking of a minister, who said a pensioner should die in a leaked WhatsApp chat.

The Sunday Times, Sunday People, the Sunday Mirror and the Sun on Sunday all splash on the Southport murders as the parents of the girls who were killed make their first public comments.

#TomorrowsPapersToday - Sunday Times

We are consisting looking for light in the darnessness

press freedom, journalism, media, current events: Support quality journalism - #buyapaper

Full coverage: https://t.co/vX9dQF0H0Y pic.twitter.com/EihVYLF9z4

— The Sentinel Current (@sentinelcurrent) February 8, 2025

PEOPLE: Angels #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/gDd1xfIQ35

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 8, 2025

SUNDAY MIRROR: They are our angels #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/JkYS29bB6h

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 8, 2025

SUN ON SUNDAY: Horror will live with me forever #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Wei0bD6mq8

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 8, 2025

The Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Telegraph report on former health minister Andrew Gwynne who was “sacked for saying a pensioner should die”.

MAIL ON SUNDAY: Minister sacked for ‘hope you die’ jibe about pensioners #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/S9Ga0xztYM

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 8, 2025

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Minister sacked for saying pensioner should die #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/yX4S2mNGnv

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 8, 2025

Sunday Express leads on a call to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, with Tory leaders urging her to “save” the UK with an “election pact” with Reform.

SUNDAY EXPRESS: Tories call for Reform pact to save UK #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/dRHOhh7tRt

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 8, 2025

The Observer reports that rules for benefits are to be “redrawn” in a “radical overhaul to cut the cost of welfare”.

OBSERVER: Labour to ‘fix benefit system to get people back into work’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/ScbP6J2j8B

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 8, 2025

The Independent splashes with a piece on United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture Alice Jill Edwards, who says inmates in prison for public protection sentences are being detained arbitrarily.

INDEPENDENT DIGITAL: UN torture tsar hits out at ‘inhumane’ indefinite jail terms #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Mt4lBHOsfD

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) February 8, 2025

Lastly, Daily Star Sunday writes that the UK could be in for the coldest February in six years.