Merits of artistic mergers

Guardian Unlimited: "Imagine if you'd been listening to the financial news this morning, but instead of the usual corporate stuff about Virgin Media taking over NTL, which had previously taken over Telewest, the script had gone something like this: 'In a move that has rocked the stock market, the Royal Shakespeare Company has launched an aggressive bid to take over the Blackpool Grand. Meanwhile, share prices in Newcastle's Baltic have risen steeply amid rumours of a merger with Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery.'"