NEWSPAPERS are a funny old business, according to Independent supremo Tony O'Reilly. It would seem so. Did you know that the Evening Herald is operating in a crowded market place? And you thought that, with just one national evening paper in circulation since the demise of the Evening Press and the Evening News, the Herald had the market to itself.

Not so says Dr O'Reilly. There is no true evening market anymore, he feels, as "run of the day tabloids, radio, TV and UK competition make the battle for consumers absorbingly intense".