Ashley Highfield knows what it is to manage decline. In five years at the helm of Johnston Press, the print circulation of his 220 regional and local titles has headed one way only — down. However, the chief executive of Britain’s fourth-biggest publisher believes that he has a one-off opportunity to do the unthinkable and boost the circulation of the i, his new national newspaper. “I think we can grow it,” he says. “We genuinely believe we have a pretty good fist of a chance to get the circulation up.”