I've now been to six newsagents in Darlington in search of 24 - "the new national newspaper for the north". None of them have even heard of it.

I've also spoken to one of the North-East's main wholesalers and they know nothing either.

There's more chance of spotting Lord Lucan sitting on a County Durham park bench, thumbing through a copy of Hello magazine.

So let's be honest about this. This isn't a grand launch of a new "national newspaper for the north". It's a ridiculous claim. It's a paper for bits of the north west with a 15,000 print run, relying almost entirely on the Press Association, which, like everyone else, has had its editorial resources cut.

In the end, newspapers past, present and future, live or die on the foundation of editorial quality.

People aren't mugs.