As tabloid terror Col Allan slung his knapsack over his shoulder and slumped into a business-class seat on a flight back to New York, the News Corporation fixer glanced at his Australian checklist …

  • Get rid of the CEO? Check.
  • Get rid of the government? Check.
  • Boost newspaper circulation and build a sustainable business model online? Hmm …

Still, hard to call the secondment anything but a success.