"Go to pot!": the cry of the needy child. Nowadays, however, the expression has taken on a pathetic resonance with the upgrading of �helicopter parenting � (constantly hovering over your child) to �lawnmower parenting � (ensuring your child �s path through life is smooth and obstacle-free).

From the earliest years, the child has learned that, by simply uttering the magic phrase "Johnny go to pot!", mummy will suddenly appear and provide little Johnny with the needful. As the years progress and Johnny has learned to go to the toilet all by himself, he finds that the phrase still produces the desired effect.

Now, as sits in his special chair in the boardroom, he discovers that the shareholders want to cut his bonus this year from �3 million to a measly �2 million. He simply picks up his mobile phone (the �longest umbilical cord in the world�) and screams "Johnny go to pot!", secure in the knowledge that mummy will suddenly appear and make those bad people change their minds.