I don't think so.

The Times has been through a number of incarnations. In the late 19th century it required a reputation as "the thunderer" for pushing popularist opinions that were contrary to political policy. In the mid twentieth it was a prime mover in Fleet Street's retreat to Wapping, leaving the print unions crying into their ink.

Now its greatest and wisest think I might pay a pound to access an occasional article, opinion piece or screen of digital bum paper. (I know how to wipe my physical bum on physical bum paper but I have yet to work out how I would wipe my digital bum on Rupert's digital bum paper and I am not going to pay a pound to find out.)

Perhaps it will work like The Wall Street Journal, where you browse the publication's web site, copy the headline of an article that you want to read into Google News, and it pops up for free.

I suppose it is a way of screening out stupid or lazy people, but does not sound like a way to make money.