“I knew what I was walking into and I knew what had to be done,” Evening Standard chief executive Charles Yardley tells me when I ask if taking on the job last summer, a few months into a global health crisis, felt like being given command of a sinking ship. The Standard has been among the titles worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Its business model was still heavily print-centric and reliant on commuters picking up copies at London transport hubs, which went quiet as the command to “stay at home” to save lives came down. Advertising, on which the title relied for the majority of its revenue, also slumped as events were cancelled and struggling companies cut their cloth. The Standard was forced to furlough staff and issue pay cuts.