With the inevitability of Cheryl Cole's X-Factor tears, the nationals this morning almost universally choose to highlight the 'eye-watering' criticism of GP pay by MPs.
The Guardian even headlines it 'MPs condemn 'eye-watering' pay rises for GPs' and the Daily Telegraph goes for 'GPs given 'eye-watering' pay rises for less work, say MPs'.
In the third paragraph of the press release accompanying the Public Accounts Committee report 'NHS Pay Modernisation: New Contracts for GP services in England', Edward Leigh, its chairman and Conservative MP for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, says: 'Partners in GP practices are now putting in less time and their productivity has decreased. Only their pay is burgeoning, having increased on average by an eye-watering 58 per cent since 2003.'
Of course this is not quite the whole story.
As the GPC correctly points out, this is 'based on an out-of-date understanding of the current situation'.
Practice income did rise sharply in 2003 but for the last three years global sums have actually been frozen. As GPC deputy chairman Dr Richard Vautrey told the RCGP annual conference in Bournemouth last week the credit crunch means pay awards will be 'a challenge for the next few years'.
The full 52-page report reveals that freezing GP pay actually helped the DoH claw back 'overspends' worth hundreds of millions of pounds by March this year. So the good news is that, as the GPC negotiators enter talks over the 2009/10 pay award, that perceived deficit has at least been wiped clean.
Although expect the NHS Employers to make great play of the public perception, stoked by today's headlines, that GPs are well and truly aboard the gravy train.
One of the aims of GP's Valuing General Practice campaign was to highlight the fantastic work that practices are doing. Those of you in England are achieving near-maximum quality framework scores, extending hours, becoming involved with practice-based commissioning and taking on work from secondary care.
This comes at a time when the DoH is introducing one GP-led health centre to each PCT which could potentially threaten the future of your business.
It's not just in England where you are excelling. Practices in Scotland and Northern Ireland have also improved quality framework scores while complying with government policies, we await the Welsh results.
A team from GP spent three days last week at the RCGP conference producing daily editions. The only 'eye watering' there were the tears in response to an inspirational speech by Dr Don Berwick about NHS values. GPs clearly believe in the essential good of general practice and the need to continually improve quality of care for all patients.
That is the main reason why practices deserve their income increases, 'eye watering' or not, and why they also should receive an income increase in 2009/10.
It should not also be the potential weakness that the government exploits to weasel out of giving it to you - for the fourth year in a row.
neil.durham@haymarket.com