The Independent, the “independent” newspaper in UK, is launching a subscription/micropayments service, dubbed Independent Portfolio, which will have a collection of opinion articles, columnists, archives and crosswords. Yes, that includes the uber-free Robert Fisk as well.

British newspapers have dabbled with pay services (Telegraph, Times with its foreign visitors) in bit and bobs, and that’s putting it charitably. (And yes, Financial Times is NOT just a British newspaper) [I have not necessarily counted SMS alert services as part of online subscription efforts, in which Europe anyway is way ahead of the U.S.]. This is perhaps the first major effort from a mainstream newspapers here in UK, a move which will be watched by others very closely. The service is being launched with BTClick&Buy, the subscription/micropayments aggregation service launched by BT.