The most interesting of times

DON’T we live in amazingly interesting times? Well, we at

The Oban Times certainly do. As a self- confessed old-fashioned Luddite of a journalist who started in this business back in the mists of the 1970s – I know, I look older – I’ve seen some astonishing changes.

My early days were in newspapers that were made using ‘hot metal’, when the production facilities were huge, noisy, labour-intensive factories and when newsrooms were smokefilled, male- dominated areas blighted by the cacophony of countless typewriters being hammered.

Then came the convulsions that heralded the arrival of computers. Industrial disputes wracked newspapers across the whole of Britain as jobs were shed and modern processes were introduced.

And the technology has just gone on developing, bounding ahead in terms of how we gather and present the news today across a number of platforms.

It is only in very recent times that we have seen the advent of the amazing tool that is social media, and how it has come to command people’s lives.

And now – literally today, February 23 – we have our latest development: the new Oban Times website.

Some of you may be a little disappointed that the majority of our content is behind a ‘paywall’ but we believe it represents fantastic value for money as subscriptions are available for as little as 56p per week.

The simple truth is that what we do costs money and we cannot give it away for free.

That bargain price, by the way, includes seven- day access to the latest news via the website, and users also have access to a full digital version of the newspaper every Thursday. The site is also fully mobile responsive.

Take a moment to consider this properly. What else can you buy for 56p a week? A packet of crisps? A small packet of sweets?

Come on, even our critics must admit that 56p is cracking value for money. To make the most of our great new website, just go to www.obantimes.co.uk.