Flat Earth: Solomons wisdom

YOU would have thought, what with the family and Manchester and having to keep an eye on Boris Nikolayevich in case he forgot himself, that the Queen had enough to contend with last week. But a nice constitutional problem has arisen for the monarch, who is also of course head of state of that distant realm, the Solomon Islands. One of our favourite politicians, Francis Billy Hilly, PM of the Solomons, has just been sacked by the Governor-General, Moses Pitakaka, following political brawls and defections from his campaign to save the rain forest which is being furiously logged by Malaysian companies.

The PM refuses to step down. Impasse. But the way ahead is clear. Buckingham Palace should come to the aid of the admirable Billy Hilly. Moses Pitakaka should be recalled and the Prince of Wales sent out to take his place, thus at a stroke giving him a responsible vice-regal role, protecting the remnants of Melanesian rain forest and keeping the heir to the throne out of the way of Murdoch Men and Dimblebys.