GMG chief Carolyn McCall - who among other things is overseeing the Guardian newspaper's efforts to work more closely with sister paper The Observer - might want to pick the brains of new director Neil Berkett , boss of Virgin Media.

The former chief operating officer NTL knows a thing or two about integrating organisations. He oversaw the cable group's merger with Telewest, and then helped merge the combined group with Virgin Mobile. Before moving to the UK, the Kiwi worked in financial services in Australia, leading the merger of St George and Advance Banks.