I've been having many conversations with friends in "Fleet Street" lately about The Times and just had a long one about it; very mixed opinions. I think it's better than it's been in years, in fact, it's now the best daily paper (beating The Guardian which is in awful decline). But many hate the Witherow Editorship. Anyone here with any opinions?

I think it's generally very lively and engaging but it lacks a good range of really impressive current affairs correspondents. It's heavy on the arts and leisure side but a bit light on the news and analysis side. There were times in the past, for example, when I really liked its US politics coverage; it doesn't seem essential to me these days. British politics still has some very readable people like Matthew Parris but I still think it lacks a heavyweight reporter. Turn to leisure and culture, however, and it's a class act. I guess that's a general trend, but The Times should be a bit better than it currently is in this aspect, IMHO.

I'm not related to anything 'media'......I buy it on Saturday for TV guide and sport......tabloid format is handier than broadsheet.......

Guess that's not the analysis of the question you were interested in

Funnily enough my papers of choice for TV guides are the Mail on a Saturday and the Sunday Times Culture section.