What’s The Early Line all about, then?

the tl;dr version: The Early Line distils essential news and analysis from Scotland, the UK, and the world into a five-minute read every weekday morning, bridging the gaps left by a fragmented media.

Designed for Scotland's business, political, and civic leaders, it offers bite-sized updates on major events and big ideas, with links to the best journalism and primary research for deeper insight.

Written fresh each morning by an editor with 25 years of experience, it’s a quick, reliable way to stay informed in a busy world.

The longer version:

Hello, I’m Neil McIntosh, and I’m the founder of The Early Line.

I used to edit The Scotsman, with further previous at BBC Online (where I was managing editor of BBC Online), The Wall Street Journal (Deputy Editor of its European editions) and the Guardian (various roles, although I’m perhaps proudest of launching blog, audio and video services there). I live in Edinburgh, with my family.

The Early Line has grown out of conversations with dozens of Scotland's business, political and civic leaders.

They are people who run things. They desperately want to be in touch. They need an understanding of the world to succeed.

But their world has multiple layers - Scotland, UK, world - and a common refrain is that our fragmented media landscape makes it difficult to keep up.

A Scottish newspaper or news bulletin might do a great job of telling you what's going on in Scotland, but is inevitably less focussed on international coverage, or - for instance - the latest developments in global business, or AI.

Meanwhile a London title might be the opposite: stronger at the global, but glib or silent on issues that affect our daily lives here.

And, these days, much of the best coverage and discussion happens away from traditional brands - on Substacks, podcasts and social media. Consuming all those multiple sources to put together a full picture takes time those readers don't have.

The Early Line bridges the gap, and does it in five minutes every morning: bite-size news and analysis of the major events in Scotland, the UK and abroad, along with coverage of the big ideas shaping our world.

Every story has links that allow the interested to pursue deeper insight, drawn from the best journalism and commentary out there, wherever it is.

It's put together by me, drawing on my 25 years as an editor on some of the world's best known media brands, largely written fresh between 5am and 7am every weekday morning (luckily, I love early starts).

I hope people find it useful and, if they do, that they become a paid member. As a thankyou, I'll send them The Party Line - the newsletter that gives you something to say at parties, and tips you off on the best TV, cinema and sport every weekend. You'll also be helping ensure The Early Line's future.

The Party Line is perhaps the most fun I have each week: much more like the old days of blogging, and a chance to range more widely. But it’s also born of similar frustrations: as someone who in the past wasn’t especially focussed on keeping up with entertainment, I found it hard to find out what’s on, when, without devoting quite a lot of attention to it.

The trade, with both The Early Line and The Party Line, is simple: I’ll pay attention to all that, and point you to the most informative, illuminating and entertaining stuff in digest form. You can get on with your life.

I hope you find it useful, and fun.

Neil McIntosh, January 2025