Editorial: Today's fish and chip paper?

The danger that the newspaper will be out of date before it hits the nation's doormats is, of course, a perennial problem for the press.

A risk that started with radio has, thanks to the internet, now gone into overdrive. But even the "24-hour news cycle" is as nothing compared with the difficulties we face today. After all, 21 December marks the end of the Mayan "Long Count" calendar and, therefore, of the world.

If ancient Mesoamerican myth proves to be more reliable than Nasa science, and the doomsdayers across the globe now readying themselves for Armageddon turn out to be astute rather than simply anxious, The Independent can only apologise for today's entire edition being overtaken by events. There is no denying that we will have missed not just the story of our own lifetimes, but that of our entire species. The only possible upside is that there will be no one around to notice.