Re: News App
"You'd still need a mail client if you are going thick, but most web mail interfaces get the job done these days."
Web mail just doesn't work well, from my point of view. Generally too inflexible, and no access to mail without a network connection, and no support for encryption - which really has to be end to end - so you need a client.
On the other hand, there are a number of good free mail clients. I've been using Thunderbird on Windows and Linux for a decade now, and it works very well.