"Instead of printing stories on paper and having further material to view online, my New Metro would actually be the online product slowed down and freeze-framed for print."

In the absense of better metrics, Martin Belam has created an Google Reader readership league table for national newspapers’ RSS feeds. The Guardian’s latest news comes top, with 49,448 subscribers to its ‘UK latest’ feed

"Freesheet Metro racked up losses of more than €8.3m during its first 15 months on Dublin’s streets."

"Associated Newspapers is to increase the distribution of its free newspaper Metro by 250,000 copies from the beginning of October."

Daily Show producer sacked from New York Metro column for writing: “Nobody reads newspapers anymore … As this very copy of Metro shows, the only way to get most people to read a newspaper is to literally force it into their hands.”

"Metro is set to launch in Dundee and Perth in the next few weeks as part of a major expansion around the UK. … [T]otal daily distribution of the free paper is set to rise from 1.1 million to 1.35m copies as every UK edition is beefed up."

"Medialab, the company which publishes the Metro newspaper in Sussex, has gone bust. All 20 staff … have been made redundant after the firm went into voluntary liquidation."

"Metrobloggen [is] a new blog tool where the free daily Metro offers its hosted bloggers 3 öre (about half a US cent) per page view."

Jon Hughes of the Ecologogist estimated that the London freesheets use "a little over 107 tonnes" of newsprint per day = 1,284 trees * 70% recycled paper = 899 dead trees per day.

Peter Preston: [London councils' litter payment demands] could be a £2m-a-year extra burden for two free papers that aren’t making any money now, or for the foreseeable future."