The new web-first newspaper being launched by a former Scotsman website editor has gone live – on the birthday of poet Robert Burns.

Stewart Kirkpatrick has recruited a host of former Scotsman colleagues to provide content for his new Caledonian Mercury, whose companion website is now up-and-running at caledonianmercury.com.

The new title will also have a print version but it is unclear how often it will come out.

In an interview with HTFP earlier this month, Stewart said the title would not have a regular printing schedule, but would instead be used in what he called “innovative, unexpected ways.”

Among former Scotsman staffers who will be contributing to the project are Hamish Macdonnell, who took redundancy from his role as Scottish political editor last year when it was decided to bring the Edinburgh and Westminster political desks under a single person.

Hamish will be covering the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood – the same beat as he previously covered for The Scotsman – while sketchwriter Rab McNeil will also be contributing to political coverage.

Also on board are former Scotsman health correspondent Jennifer Trueland, who now freelances for The Guardian, and former business editor of Scotland on Sunday Nick Clayton.

With the tag-line “news, stories and intelligent analysis,” the site is targeting middle-class readers who its backers believe have drifted away from established Scottish titles over recent years.

The site’s choice of name – as well as the launch date – is a deliberate nod to Scottish history and heritage.

The original Caledonian Mercury, one of Scotland’s earliest news journals, began publication in 1720 and lasted until 1860.