They are a great shield from the rest of the people on the Tube. I think of them as portable private spaces for crowded environments. Oh, and you can read them. Also great for wrapping fish and chips in.

> I think of them as portable private spaces for crowded environments.

I used to enjoy opening a broadsheet newspaper while standing on a crowded tube. Nearly as much fun as stabbing fellow commuters with a brolly.

> Also great for wrapping fish and chips in.

Didn't they regulate-away the heavy metals in printer's ink, at around the same time they regulated-away selling fish 'n chips in newspaper?

That regulation was clearly wasted effort--newspapers disappeared once we got decent mobile internet and the fish now come stuffed with micro plastics. I long for the days when you could get some heavy metal with your chips.

> I never understood the newspaper format. Seems like a paperback would be a better format though I guess that would be a magazine.

Define "better." Newspapers don't need staples, and (at least historically) they could be very large and thick. The non-bound aspect allowed them to be easily split and shared between multiple people.

The folding paper format itself is a little annoying, especially if it’s windy. I probably wouldn’t mind if they used the same paper but had it folded magazine-style, but I suppose there is some historical tradition in not doing so.