13 January 2012 Last updated at 01:16 ET

Newspaper review: Papers mull Tesco share price drop

A look at the first editions of the UK papers

What the Guardian describes as the "humbling" of Tesco is the main news for many.

The Independent says Thursday was the company's "worst day on the stock market since the late 1980s", as its share price plunged in the wake of a fall in sales over the Christmas period. For the Mirror, it was Tesco's "darkest hour".

Shock at Tesco's fall from grace is mixed with analysis of what went wrong. The Guardian says its rivals have learned Tesco's best tricks - such as how to use data from loyalty cards - "and added a few of their own".

The Sun thinks "Waitrose will always win on quality, and Asda will always win on price" - so Tesco has to find a new way of winning hearts and wallets.

But The Times says Tesco's "bloody nose" is also an inconvenient truth for those who complain about a lack of competition between Britain's biggest supermarkets.

David Cameron's suggestion that the government may rethink its planned changes to child benefit receive a cautious welcome in the Daily Mail.

"As ever the devil will be in the detail", the paper says, "but at least the PM is listening".

The Daily Telegraph, too, hopes the prime minister will re-examine the proposal to stop child benefit going to any home where there's a higher rate taxpayer. But the paper thinks it would be simpler for the government to scrap the measure altogether.

There are a few raised eyebrows at the appearance by the owner of Express Newspapers, Richard Desmond, at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards on Thursday.

The Independent says his performance was "eccentric but mesmeric", while the Guardian believes his peerage "looked further away than ever".

During his testimony, Mr Desmond expressed a less than flattering opinion of the Daily Mail and its editor. If the Mail felt any annoyance, it's keeping its own counsel for now.

Finally, at a time when we're all feeling the pinch, the Independent says Europe's biggest holiday company is offering an "austerity cruise".

Tickets cost only £100 - a price that includes all meals on board the Thomson Spirit.

The catch is that the voyage starts at South Shields and ends - 16 hours later - at the Essex port of Harwich.