QUESTIONS

ACT  - Heather who?
Maori Party - What do you stand for again?
National Party  - Will you lose your bottle?
Labour - When will you show us an alternative?
Greens - Why?
United ? Who cares?

EXCELLENT NEWS

Heatley is back.  Good - the seafood industry will be rapt.  However message to Phil.  Love yer work but ya need to harden up - even Him upstairs aint keen on wimps.

PROUD MUM

Son and pilot has just clocked up 1000 hours as a helicopter pilot!  This shot is of him taking his grandfather up for a trial flight..

MINISTRY BACKS INDUSTRY

Today we read with dismay a press release from Green Peace gloating over the fact that some international retailers have stopped stocking Orange Roughy. 

Retailers pull orange roughy

Greenpeace says the Government must stop fishing orange roughy, after two more major international retailers confirmed they have dropped the fish from sale due to sustainability concerns.

“The rest of the world is saying “no thanks” to our unsustainable seafood, but our Government insists on continuing to exploit it,” said Karli Thomas, Greenpeace New Zealand oceans campaigner.

Last week Trader Joes, a USA chain with over 300 supermarkets, confirmed it had discontinued sales of orange roughy "based on customer feedback and in support of work to source sustainable seafood."(1)

Last month Canada’s largest retail chain, Loblaw, confirmed it had stopped stocking orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish for similar reasons. Since the start of 2009 four Canadian supermarket chains have stopped selling orange roughy and one has removed hoki from sale.

This is a growing trend and one that the Seafood industry needs to counter. A PR offensive to counter this disinformation is critical before its too late. 

However we were delighted that  the Ministry of Fisheries defended the nations management of fish stocks. This is a new and welcome phenomemon. The Ministry is responsible for the integrity of the fisheries management system but has been slow to defend it in the past leaving that to the Seafood Industry. We  have never heard of Mr Lockwood before  but sounds like he has the sort of integrity and balls the Ministry has needed for a long long time. 

 The ministry today said fish stocks were carefully managed to ensure sustainability, using a world leading quota management system.
"Bottom trawling is the main fishing method for catching orange roughy. It takes place within New Zealand's comprehensive fisheries management system," ministry deputy chief executive Gavin Lockwood said.
"New Zealand bottom trawling is very closely managed, we know which fishing vessels are bottom trawling, we use satellite monitoring so we know exactly where they are fishing and we require detailed catch reports so we know how much is being caught."
Seventeen areas have been closed to bottom trawling, providing protection to an area of seafloor equal to 1.2 million square kilometres, or an area four times the landmass of New Zealand, Mr Lockwood said. These were the largest closures of their type anywhere in the world, he said.
"One point two million square kilometres of pristine, un-fished seafloor is protected to ensure that the natural bio-diversity and eco-systems are preserved," Mr Lockwood said.
New Zealand's Quota Management System was internationally regarded as one of the world's best fisheries management systems, he said.

Love that man!  Give him a long free lunch at Shed 5.

VROOM VROOM

Many in the Terrace public servant community have been all a twitter in the last week or so - It seems that Mrs Barry Soper, the lovely Heather du Plessis Allan has been driving a very nice big and very new silver BMW everywhere. So people were asking  - had Barry or his effervescent missus won Lotto. Had Barry bought his missus the car? 

We put that question to Barry today and he  informed  Roarprawn that  he's a Jag man thru and thru  (he has a spanky new S type one)  and the Beemer is a loan car.

Apparently Mrs Soper has her oldish VW Golf on Trademe. And by Mr Sopers reckoning it might fetch as much as a set of tires on the Jag. 

The rumours were much more interesting than the facts.

For the record  - we here at  Roaprawn  - like Mercedes and Volvos. 

YOU DON'T NEED TO BE COY ROY

Saw a whole heap of ACT staffers out for a quiet wine tonight  and among the young throng was Rodney Hide, laidback - just one of the boys.  It was a  leaving bash for one of the young uns heading overseas to see how politics is done in the mother country.   Heather Roy  was no where in sight. Funny thing that.

TWO THOUSAND AND ONE

We have written 2001 posts since August 2008.  Phew.... 

A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK TO A BLIND HORSE

We noticed a bit of traffic today from hitherto unknown quarters. We had a look see and it was coming from Dimpost. We dont read dim that much - we know he has a strong following on both the left and right simply because he understands and uses to great effect satire. However, to us, most of the time his satire seems more like its low brow cousin - sarcasm.

Anyway we think , (we apparently don't have the intellectual capacity for great thought) that Dim has called us a bobblehead. For a nano second we thought he might have meant booby head - but no we put on our nana portholes and read closely to see it was indeed bobble head. Which was a bit better than being called a sucky licky person.

Now we do not mind being called an intellectual pygmy , we have enough big brained mates to do all the grunt work for us , we are waay to busy to analyse everything this world has on offer but we are not nor will ever be an acquiescing bobble head. We might not be a deep thinker but we remain an independent thinker and we think a lot .Maybe its our frequency of thought that dilutes its potency.

n the matter of bobbleheads in fact we were famous for 3 minutes once for publicly giving Sir Tipene O' Regan a tiki bobble head so that he didnt have the worry of shaking his head off saying yes to all the deals the government offered him.

And for the record we supported the notion of Anti Earth Hour. But as we stated in a post linking to their blog site - we would be treating Earth Hour with the contempt it deserves - which for us meant ignoring it.

So Dim. We revel in our small brainedness but we remain staunchly independent in thought and in deed. And for the record Dim. We are cuzzies.

LIGHTS - BLAZING - GLORY- UP EARTH HOUR

MINING BOOM BOOM

We are confident that New Zealand can follow the lead of Australia when it comes to looking at what ancilliary businesses can compliment mining.

Seems as there are some openings in the outbacks

The idea that a mining boom was attracting sex industry entrepreneurs to Alice Springs came as no shock to NT Resources Council chief executive Scott Perkins.


"Well, the mining industry has a long history of supporting local businesses," he said.


"On top of mining, there are many drilling operations."

We think that Great Barrier could see a rise in  a new type of tourism  with the advent of mining there. Maybe the development of a Love Boat business. Staffed with  women who know what men want and are good enough at it to command a high price for their unique services.

And a well appointed Winnebago could provide  love bus services to weary  miners.

Lisa Lewis  heres your chance......

UP IN SMOKE

For Gonzo......

IN DEEP

In about three weeks we are going to be here.

Its Ernest Island which is a  short swim to Stewart Island, one of the southern most and isolated muttonbird  islands and on a good day with the sun shining on the ebb tide and the fish biting, its kinda paradise. When the southerly comes up and your words are thiefed by a gale to disappear forever - its  hells next door neigbour .
And yes, those waters are so clear you hang over the end of the dinghy and watch the blue cod commit suicide on a rusty hook baited up with the arse of a muttonbird.


We have been commissioned to write a story on this years trip , which we will be taking with our 73 year old father, 69 year old mother and 28 year old son.

The story will be in a magazine called New Zealand Today - and the editor is an old work colleague, Allan Dick.
We will be without  a cellphone and there is no internet coverage. We can talk on  a VHF and in the past we have taken down a Satellite Phone, but it costs a bit  - last time it was $600 for 2 weeks.( if anyone wants to sponsor us  - please let us know!)

It will be hard work,  and fun and always brings us closer together as a family. We work and live together in very confined quarters - Our power is a generator, we have a coal range that needs all the love an attention of an expensive mistress to keep us a warm and fed.

We have a long drop  but we have a good shower. Well we did two years ago. The first few days are always spent gerry rigging the things that have broken or deteriorated without constant maintenence. Its one of the joys and challenges of the place. Getting by with what you have got at hand.

We will take our computer  and blog when we can  and then we will put them all up on Roarprawn when we get back about the 14th of May. We will be taking a video as well.

And yep we sell the birds we catch to defray expenses.  It will cost  the four of us over $2500 to get down  by boat and chopper from Bluff  and thats is not taking into account the $1000 dollars for me and the son to fly Air New Zealand. But its worth every godamn hard earned dollar it costs to get there.
The boat we are travelling on is skippered by Jack Topi, he is  the grandson of Peter Topi, my Uncle who along with  a bunch of our cousins was tragically drowned on the Kotuku back in 2006. "Big Teep"  as my Uncle was affectionately known, would be bloody proud of his grandson, in fact his whole family have done him proud. 

We are alos looking for some guest bloggers to keep the Roarprawn feeding the masses while we are out of range.
And if you want to buy some birds then contact us on bustedblonde@gmail.com

EARTH HOUR BOLLOCKS

We remain a fervent skeptic about climate change. So we wont be turning off our lights this weekend but we wont be going nuts and turning everything on either. Why waste money?  We will just treat the big kumbaya of climate change  Earth Hour shit with contempt. We will ignore it. Go about our lives. However we have linked to the Anti Earth Hour blog. Its good and already has 1000 members.

GOOD JOB

This family owes their existence to the State.


We were delighted to see that the missus of the Head of the notorious Harris Gang,Marcia Harris has been done for fraud.

Lets not forget her hubby  Darryl won Lotto .
So why and for how long have they been on welfare? 

We thinkl its superb she has been convicted..  Less money for them means more money for poor people who really need it.

GOFF DIGS A BIG HOLE

NO GOLD JUST SHIT.

Labour’s mining hypocrisy laid bare




Labour’s hypocrisy over mining has been laid bare, says Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee, after new figures released by Crown Minerals today showed Labour approved more than 200 permits for mining on the Conservation Estate.



“This from the party that launched a campaign yesterday saying it was explicitly opposed to mining conservation areas – not just Schedule Four land, but conservation land full stop,” Mr Brownlee said.



“But if that wasn’t enough, we also have the release today of information that Labour approved a mining consent on land considered special enough to warrant Schedule Four status, the very behaviour Phil Goff has been decrying as unthinkable.



“It turns out Labour approved a permit in 2006 for mining gold, garnets and other gemstones on 168.5 hectares of land at Hart Creek, inside Paparoa National Park.



“Labour’s credibility on this issue is now shredded,” Mr Brownlee said.



Figures released by Crown Minerals [attached] show 218 permits were approved under a Labour government for mining inside Department of Conservation land between December 1999 and October 2008.



“The information shows Labour were happy for mining to take place on 21,961 hectares of land, meanwhile the government is seeking approval to release a mere 7,058 hectares of Schedule Four land, of which as little as 500 hectares might be mined,” Mr Brownlee said.



“And now Labour is running a web campaign that says ‘We’re against the idea of mining in our conservation areas.’



“This represents a new standard in hypocrisy,” Mr Brownlee said.

GOFF IS A HYPOCRITE

How long has Phil Goff been the member for Mount Roskill? 

And this is how he treats his own back yard.  The Winstone Quarry above  is only 200 metres from Phil Goff's electorate office.  

If this is what he's prepared to have his own constituents put up with let's hope he never becomes Prime Minister - he'll strip mine the whole country. 

We suspect this is his "secret agenda."

Key on the other hand has ruled out big ugly holes in National Park. 

COPPERHEAD ROAD

WHAT LIES BENEATH

We make not secret of the fact that we support discrete mining in National Parks - if thats where the gold, silver, tin, coal and rare earth minerals lie.

Now there has been a bit on nonsense reported here and there that Maori wont want a bar of the mining proposals. We have said all along that there is much Maori land butting up to National Parks and some of the sites that will be prospected.

One we know very very well is Rakiura, Stewart Island.

Rakiura became a National Park after a deal was done with Rakiura Maori Land Trust in 1999 to forgo the right to log the trees on the Lords River Blocks. The trustees got about $11 million and the land was managed " as if it were a National Park. " It then formed the anchor and the argument for the rest of Stewart Island to become a National Park.

So we are hoping like the trustees of the past deal who made the best of a once in a lifetime opportunity that the new Rakiura Trustees are open minded to the possibility of mining the Lords River and some of the other land parcels under their guardianship.

What needs to happen is that the Trustees need to talk to the government about checking out what lies beneath Trust land. The Waitutu Incorporation and some of the other Maori Trusts in the Catlins and western Southland and Hokonui and Waimumu need to think about the opportunities as well.

The best decisions are made with the most facts at hand.
Piggy backing on the governments prospecting seems a sensible thing to do.

To completely disregard the opportunity would be to disenfranchise future generations of Rakiura beneficiaries.To say no before all the facts are known would be a travesty as the trustees are obliged to ensure that all opportunities are explored, analysed and tested.

And the current trustees need not fear the wrath of the Mayors. They did not like the Lords River deal much either until they were made to understand that what was good for Rakiura Maori was good for all of Southland.

This is an opportunity that must be seized upon. There are risks but the rewards could be great.

FAUX MANA

The apparent troughing by some brown fellas in the name of Maori development has the whanui choking on their kumara.

Phil Kitchin from the Dominion Post has been lifting the potae on the rather overblown ambition and under delivery of the Tekau Plus programme that is aimed at positioning ten Maori businesses to become ten big exporters in ten years. It was big and bodacious - a good vision - but not a bloody goal.
It was overseen by a Government department - never a good start for any business.

$2m of $3m has been spent and so far all that has happened is that there have been no positive outcomes and a handful of big brown swinging dicks have done very well thank you. They have the odd hui here and there, travelled quite a bit , talked shit and written even more shit.

At the centre of the story is a outfit called Fomana Capital It is now known round the traps as Faux Mana.... how funny is that!


We are delighted that there will be an inquiry. However it would behove those who are conducting the inquiry to ensure that there is a ceiling on the fees of those who are investigating the scheme.

We continually see the same bumpf repeated over and over again by these sorts of organisations. Full of a strange language that real businessmen dont use - like this claptrap

ACCORD

The FOMANA Capital Accord is neither a legal commitment nor a prescriptive framework. It is equally about innovation, co-networking, market positioning for the future and working collaboratively.

The bond between FOMANA and reputable organisations is people. People that foster strategic relationships and that are aware of the big picture game-plan.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

Foremost the policy is premised on a strategic relationship. This requires FOMANA Capital and the Accord parties to agree to building relationships based on understanding, accepting and acknowledging each others’ values, principles and strategic intent. The aim is to have congruence or alignment of values/principles and strategic intent.

The Accord relationship can be visualised similar to an iceberg. That is the base and foundations (Values, Principles & Strategic Intent) may not be seen or overtly known. However the base/foundations are what provide the strategic scale and bulk.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

There are four levels associated with the policy of entering an Accord.

Level 1: Is the foundation, an alignment and/or agreement on the principles and values.

Level 2: Is the structural alignment, an agreement on the strategic intent and big picture.

Level 3: Is the form of an agreed business programme – goals, objectives to be worked towards, which illustrate a pattern, theme of results.

Level 4: Is the individual project or events, where the system of agreed programmes (patterns/themes), which is part of structural/strategic intent programme, which is based on the Accord foundations, principles and values.

We work and have worked with CE's from listed companies, exporters, consultants and entrepreneurs.

They dont talk like that - They say things like

• We need to get shit done now
• We cannot lose our competitive edge.
  
• We need to be number one.
  
• We need a game plan.
  
• Whats on the agenda?
  
• What do we need to fix?
  
• Wheres the payback?
• Whats the cost benefit?
• Whats the NPV net present value ?
  
• Fuck thats a bloody good opportunity.
• We need to win.
• We need to work on our relationships
• The customer is king.
• Hire that woman - shes got great tits
• No risk - no reward.
  
• We need to beat the bastards
• We need to work out what the market wants
• get them to sign on the dotted line
• Dont blow the budget
• We only hire the best because we want to be the best.
  
• There has got to be something in it for our partners.
• Wheres the profit?
  
• Wheres lunch?
  

DOWN DEEP

IN OUR BACK YARD - COME ON IN ..

We are heading south in about a month to Stewart Island in particular to a cute littlemuttonbird island at the entrance of Port Pegusus. We are pretty confident that any mining on Stewart Island is going to be In Our Back Yard.

We know one of the key areas on the island that is under consideration is likely to be the Tin Range. An ugly rock scarred ridge that sits atop Port Pegasus.

Mining has been attempted their before but it was too hard. It is also home tosome of what are called the rare earth minerals.

Pegusus on a good day is stunning - on a bad day it is hell.


We are confident and supportive of any attempt to mine in our back yard. Just as long as they sweep up the yard and put out the rubbish when they leave.

A TEASER - THE MEURANT CHRONICLES

Its August 1999 - A bitter winter chills the National Party as they face the prospect of losing the looming election.

Ross Meurant is working for Philip Vela. Vela is one of the great pioneers of the New Zealand Deep Sea Fishery - he is a big man who likes getting his own way fast. He is a heavy weight in the Fishing Industry Association the FIA - the big quota owners of the industry. The FIA was to have been dissolved with the formation of the inclusive Seafood Industry Council ( Seafic.) However they don't and for a while there is an internal war within the Seafood industry for power.

Meurant, employed specifically to get traction on some big ticket policy items for Vela reports on his progress each week. We have copies of those reports and screeds of other correspondence on a number of issues, about fishing, tax, the Rodney district council and other stuff like the insiders guide to NZ First. More on that soon.

The job Meurant was tasked to do for Vela was what became known as the " UN fish issue" a crap piece of legislation that put New Zealand flagged vessels at a disadvantage. Seafic was lobbying on the same issue.

So Meurant lobbied , as he was paid to do for Vela - the Leader of United NZ Peter Dunne to vote against the bill and the contentious UN clause.

Dunne, on the 16th of August 1999 states the Meurant position in a press release and calls on the government to " think again" on the bill.

However, Meurant gets sidetracked and instead of just lobbying politicians on the issue he takes a crack at a couple of the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council senior staff. In an effort to curry favour, he tells his boss he is going to discredit some of the Seafic staff knowing it will be music to Vela's ears.

From the Meurant report dated 22 August 1999

"In respect of my feeding a "scare" into the system i.e making it known that I have material on both ( John) Valentine ( the then CE of Seafic) and (Tony ) Craig (the then head of policy and strategy) relating to their competence and integrity respectively, this is just to remind them they don't have all the muskets. A calculated initiative you might speculate, but I don't have anything to lose. "

His final note at the end of the report is this:

Note: I appreciate it is not my money I am dealing with when I make suggestions such as follows but I do believe that there is much merit in providing Peter Dunne with $5000 towards his election campaign fund. It would be helpful for me on Wednesday if I were in a position to advise him that a donation had been approved.

Who said politician was not a dirty word!

Dunne was paid the $5000 in October 1999. Despite putting out the press release he eventually voted for the bill.

Dunne denied being paid for policy to both to the Dominion and in this curious interview he did with local journalism students on the issue.

For the record we worked with both Valentine and Craig. They are both highly competent and men of integrity.

Is there more? - yes.

ROHAN JAYS

We heard some sad news yesterday - an old mate, Rohan Jays passed away in Maimi.

Rohan was a well known Wellingtonian publican and man about town. We first arrived in Wellington on July 20 1998 . We drove all the way from Invercargill - parked at the Portland Towers and headed to the Old Bailey( Now the Occidental). It was the haunt for public servants, politicians, sportsmen, criminals, rich bastards, poor bastards and bastards of no account at all.

The hallmark of the pub was that everyone mixed and mingled - crims stood elbow to elbow with the rich- the famous and the influential and chewed the fat over a beer at the end of the day.

Rohan ran a good ale house and treated everyone the same. If we had a guest in town he always seemed to find a ticket for them to see the footy game on that weekend.

He wasn't perfect and had a colourful past but we know one thing for certain - he was a great dad to his kids, a loving son to his parents, a great brother and he was a superb friend to those he liked and he always treated Bustedblonde like a lady.

KEY HAS BIG RAHO - BOLD MINING POLICY -

Yee ha! Finally we have some policy with balls. Pragmatism rocks - literally.

We now have some solid policy around the use of some conservation land for mining.

Now we come from the deep south and we have seen many old mining sites that you cannot recognise today. The land often heals quickly. Granted there are some ugly sites as well but technology has vastly improved over the past century.

Now at the end of the day when all the layers are scraped away we are likely to be looking at an area of about 500ha being mined - Our muttonbird island is about 50 ha so its an area 10 times as big. Its not huge.

We expect the Blue Greens, the Red Greens and the Green Greens and any local body politician who is looking for an easy election plank will be jumping all over this. Mining is an emotive issue.

However done properly we are confident that there will be a net conservation gain - just as there was for Pike River.

And on the same day we find that Key does have big balls he lets them blow in the wind with the announcement that he is going to be pragmatic over the whaling issue as well.

We also think that the Mining proposal opens up huge opportunity for Maori, as much Maori land borders on Conservation estate.

A blue ribbon day if ever there was one.

TOO MUCH KORERO NOT ENOUGH MAHI

The front page of the Dominion Post didn't make for nice reading this morning.

A flashy initiative with the lofty goal of developing some Maori business into successful exporters has turned out to be little more than a cash cow for some articulate consultants.

Personally we would love to be paid $30k for reading a few reports.

We love this bit

In another three-month period consultants received $33,000 for analysis and research including "developing a strategy for a clear strategy forward" and "ensuring offshore studies add value".

That bill was also for analysing "establishing soft network clusters" and "bigger picture value proposition", media articles, economic forecasts and working through issues with stakeholders.

It reminds us of the overblown pseudo academic bullshit we got with this

Who wouldn't mind being paid $30k for looking at a few documents?

We just wonder who the consultants are who have been sucking on this $3million dollar tit.

We are pleased that when TPK CE Comer realised that Tekau Plus was a bit ragged round the edges he put the brakes on.

Sometimes when you are CE is hard to keep a handle on whats happening down the trenches. So he deserves some credit for suspending it when he realised all he was getting was a lot of korero but not much mahi.

We still have reservations of the worth of the Maori Economic Development Taskforce as well. We do not need more korero from them - we need some concrete outcomes.

And we understand that if you like the Dominion Posts offering this morning then you will be getting more with your weetbix in the morning.

COMING SOON.... EXCLUSIVE - THE MEURANT CHRONICLES

We have had a pretty laid back weekend. Our knee is buggered. So we have been resting up - hoping that it might get a bit better but an operation is looking increasingly likely.

However we have been busy. We have been reading the Meurant Chronicles.

Late last week - in time honoured form we received a parcel of documents.

Euminedes perhaps?

Essentially they are the reports and emails of Ross Meurant while he was employed by Vela fishing at the same time he was employed by Winston Peters.

They are illuminating , sometimes funny, occasionally revealing and often outrageous.

They also mark what we believe were the last days of the worst years of the seafood industry.

They are the documents that Phil Kitchin used as the basis of his expose on Winston Peters a story that broke in the Dominion a couple of days before the election in 2008 on November 1.

Anyway in the next few weeks we are going to release them. As we should - in the name of transparency and openness and history - they relate to the late 1990's and the 2000's.

So everyone can read them and draw their own conclusions.

They will keep political junkies happy for days.

And don't worry - the documents are safe.. very safe.

HELLO AND GOODBYE

Which "political advisor" used the phrase Ava atque vale on his correspondence?












Ave atque Vale

Through many countries and over many seas
I have come, Brother, to these melancholy rites,
to show this final honour to the dead,
and speak (to what purpose?) to your silent ashes,
since now fate takes you, even you, from me.
Oh, Brother, ripped away from me so cruelly,
now at least take these last offerings, blessed
by the tradition of our parents, gifts to the dead.
Accept, by custom, what a brother’s tears drown,
and, for eternity, Brother, ‘Hail and Farewell’.

Gaius Valerius Catullus

.

MINING IN NATIONAL PARKS - HALF THE COUNTRY SAYS OK

Close Up has just run a poll to gauge the level of support for mining of National parks. 50 percent say yes...

Interestingly this is something that Maori should be watching with a great deal of interest. A hell of a lot of Maori land borders National Parks.

There is very little that has excited us much as the proposal to look at mining opportunities in our National Park.

It could really lead the economic transformation this country needs.

And its very clear thar very high value conservation estate will not be at risk.

$3.4 MILLION ON SHAGGING!

We are speechless. That is very expensive tail.

Versalko was just ahead of us at High School in Invercargill. He came from a really nice family. We were suprised and sad at learning what he had done.

Whale Oil has done some numbers on how much sex you could get for $3.4 million.

Its quite a bit....

And the ASB has moved to reassure people that they have tightened up practices and procedures in the wake of Versalkos offending...

WEEPING SANDS

Red wine, parcels from Eumenides, Beaujolais.

St Paddies day....

Bliss............

STFU - NOISY KIDS ARE NOT OK

We risk being banned forever from the VRWC for this post but someone has to say it.

Boomtown - you might think that your kids are cute when they are a bit " noisy " but us fellow travellers dont.

Charles Chauvel is not our favourite MP ( his partners a good dude though) but we are right behind him.

We just got a call from one of our very right wing mates who questioned if the father of the noisy kids was in fact really a right winger. He is incensed that any decent parent would think that its okay for his spawn to annoy other people and get away with it. We agree.

So often parents of today seem to think that their children are mini - me adults. They aren't - they are kids, - they need boundaries and they guidance. They do not need to be given parental assurances that lead them to think they are superior.

So sorry Boomtown - your kids need some finger wagging and you need to understand that it is not okay for children to think that they are more important than adults. They aren't.

So Charles might have been a bit queenie in showing his displeasure but after many a hard day on a flying bus we know the last thing you need to hear are the mutterings and posturings of some arrogant loud little over indulged know - all.

We suggest a few parenting lessons from Nigel Latta could be called for.