Shaggy Dog Comments...

2LM breakfast presenter Neil Marks interviewed opposition leader Mark Latham on Friday morning and told him he was miffed about Latham's tilt for the top job. Why? It's the first time Neil's going to vote when the potential PM is younger than him.

Mind you, Neil is showing increasing interest in the democratic process - Shaggy understands that Lismore voters will get the chance to rename him Cr Marks come the March 27 elections.

Speaking of the election, you have just a few days left to enrol to vote. The rolls close on Monday, February 16. For info on enrolling and an application form, see your post office, phone the Electoral Commission on 132 326, or visit www.aec.gov.au

Marky Mark had a sleepover in Lismore on Thursday night and was on his way out to dinner in Woodlark Street when he was spotted by troubadour Jimmy Willing, who ran up to say hello wearing a cowboy suit. Willing, who was playing at the Gollan Hotel that night with his band the Real Gone Hick-Ups, told Latham he'd written a song called "Dear John Letter", a less-than-complementary ode to the PM, and invited the leadership aspirant to drop by for a beer later on.

Willing added that he'd written songs for best-selling Sydney band The Whitlams.

"He laughed and said 'I used to write for a Whitlam too'," Jimmy said.

To the surprise of a packed pub, Latham turned up around 11pm, and spent around 20 minutes chatting to drinkers, while Jimmy serenaded him with the old Leadbelly song 'Poor Howard's Dead and Gone'.

Sydney's Daily Telegraph found out about the incident too, but we suspect it was reported by a Lord of the Rings fan, who told readers Latham visited the "Gollum" Hotel.

When Virgin announced it was flying into Ballina, it was a surprise to a lot of people, including Virgin chairman Sir Richard Branson, who'd just enjoyed a surfing holiday in Byron Bay. He said people had been asking him why they had to go to Coolangatta to fly Virgin, but it seems his staff didn't trust him to keep his enthusiasm in check.

"Our team didn't even tell me about this planned announcement until after I left as they weren't sure I would be able to keep such great news a secret," he said.

If someone's been getting on your goat, you might be interested in a study by the Australian Institute of Criminology and South Australia's major crime investigation branch, which looked at 163 attempted and actual killings between 1989 and 2002. The average price for a "hit" was $16,500. Someone scored a bargain at $500, but the highest price was $100,000. The study found that it wasn't feuding Mafia types paying to bump someone off, but angry spouses and jilted lovers.

"The most common motive or reason for hiring the services of a hit man was in relation to the dissolution of an intimate relationship," the Institute's acting director, Toni Makkai, said. The most common motives ranged from preventing someone from having another relationship, to revenge for an affair, knocking off a partner to be with a lover and to gain custody of children.

At the 'professional' end of the market - pro crims scored the most successful hits - the motives were money, silencing a witness, revenge, drugs and organised crime rivalry.

While "hits" make up just two per cent of murders, their popularity is rising, with the average now seven attempted and five completed killings a year.

Lismore Council was debating airport services last night when things got a little surreal. Following comparisons with Moree, Cr Frank Swientek declared that the inland city had more per capita millionaires than Lismore. In response, airport fan Cr John Crowther said Moree only had two Rex flights a day, compared with Lismore's four.

"That's because they [Moree's millionaires] all fly their own planes," Cr Diana Roberts quipped.

Following in the footsteps, or should that be the bus route, of Labor feather duster Kim Beazley, this week's opposition leader, Mark Latham, repeated Big Kim's efforts of four years earlier by hopping on a bus for a North Coast tour to listen to the punters and sprinkle the media with policy ideas. And while Latham's leftie critics think he's more of a Liberal than John Howard, we'd suggest that next time he charters a couple of buses, getting ones with 'Blue Ribbon' written on the side probably isn't quite sending the battlers the right message.

While Monday marked the 50th anniversary of HM Queen Lizzie's visit to Lismore, this picture, courtesy of the Richmond River Historical Society, looking down a waterlogged Molesworth Street from the old post office (now a toy store), is a reminder of this week's other great anniversary - Lismore's worst flood in 1954. Her Majesty left town just in time - and it may explain why she hasn't dropped by for a beer at the Gollan since then.

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