Letter from the editor: Concise, selective and interactive

Let’s start the week with a great big thank you.

In fact, 133,472 thank yous. That’s the number of you who, on average, have been buying the paper every day in January, according to our first audited monthly circulation figures, annouced at the weekend. And expect our figure for February to be considerably higher, as sales have been growing day by day since we started our TV advertising campaign in mid-January.

As one of our rivals pointed out yesterday in an article about i’s success, “there’s life in the old print dog yet”. We are, naturally, thrilled with our progress, and we’re very grateful for the role you have played in helping us to shape this newspaper.

Ever since we emerged blinking into the sunlight last October, you’ve been on hand to suggest areas for improvement, and ways we can better serve your interests. You’ve been especially vocal about the inclusion of racecards in our sports pages. We’ve held out against them, believing they occupy too much space relative to the number of people interested in them. But I hope we’ve found a way to keep everyone happy: every day, we’re going to run the cards from the pick of the day’s races, plus there’s a chance for you to be the tipster. Concise, selective and interactive: it fits in perfectly with the ethos of i.

Similarly, we’ve given in to the crossword addicts who want a daily cryptic puzzle. We’re keeping the five-clue cryptic for those who are in a hurry, but we’ve added a full-size puzzle to our compendium of games. As you might say: Finally, a map that ends where Turkey starts (2, 4).

And a big welcome to readers in the parts of Scotland we haven’t been able to reach until now, and cead mile failte to the citizens of Ireland, who have been i-less thus far. From today, you’ll all be able to discover what you’ve been missing. A concise quality paper that satisfies your every need!