The Independent effectively having to function under siege from sacked print workers picketing outside. "The Independent" attracted some of the staff from the two Murdoch broadsheets who had chosen not to move to his company's new headquarters. Launched with the advertising slogan "It is. Are you?", and challenging both "The Guardian" for centre-left readers and "The Times" as the newspaper of record, "The Independent" reached a circulation of over 400,000 by 1989. Competing in a moribund market, "The Independent" sparked a general freshening of newspaper design as well as, within a few years, a price war in the market sector. When "The
Are you there, Moriarty? Are you there, Moriarty? Are you there Moriarty? is a parlour game in which two players at a time participate in a duel of sorts. Each player is blindfolded and given a rolled up newspaper (or anything that comes handy and is not likely to injure) to use as a weapon. The players then lie on their fronts head to head with about three feet (one metre) of space between them - or in other versions hold outstretched hands, or stand holding hands as in a handshake. The starting player says "Are you there Moriarty?". The other player, when ready,