Over the past few years we’ve seen the rise and rise of the email newsletter. Personally I’d prefer that more of these were blogs that had RSS feeds but I understand the economics. They’ve become a way of talented people earning some income through people paying for a subscription for their work. I have a mix of free & paid newsletters that I subscribe to that provides me with a steady flow of thought provoking comment, expertise, wisdom & insights into a whole host of topics.

I regularly subscribe and unsubscribe. If I find myself not really reading a particular newsletter on a regular basis I’ll unsubscribe, if I find there are things worth saving or I want to come back I’ll keep it going. I’m always interesting in hearing about well-written newsletters that offer value to the reader, so if you have any suggestions let me know.

So I thought I’d take the time to introduce them, why I subscribe, what value there is and who knows maybe you’ll find something there for you too.

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The first set of newsletters deals with, well, news and current affairs. 24 hour news cycles mean the flood of news can be overwhelming so I prefer news digests that give me the top stories. News has also become increasingly partisan & I prefer news sources that seek to give balanced viewpoints and are up front about where news ends and opinion or comment begins.

The first is The Economist which offers a range of newsletters on a whole host of topics, but their daily digest gives me a quick overview of all the key stories with links to more insight if I want them. I find their reporting, depth, breadth & cogency to be more or less unmatched by any other publication and I appreciate the global approach. I also really enjoy their what to read newsletter where one of their editors gives you 5 books to read to really get to know a subject or place. Excellent.

The second ‘news’ newsletter is News Items by John Ellis which you can read about here. The tagline is ‘Important, Interesting or both’ which sums it up nicely. You get the top stories with links to a variety of publications covering the story and then a whole range of insights from publications that you don’t have the time to check. There’s a free 7 day trial, and then a free and paid version. I’m currently on the free version which gives me a random item from the days selection. But I usually get something unexpected here to compliment the news round-up I get from The Economist.

And that’s it – for daily news. I feel informed, I have access and links to more if I want – I browse the BBC News (or SVT for Swedish news) on occasion but I no longer feel overwhelmed by a flood of news or constantly distracted by a time sink visit to a news website.