> > You'd like it there. It's weird. They have grasshoppers the size of housecats, the aforementioned guys in skirts and suit coats, Kinder Eggs, and a politician named Dalvanius Prime. I'm totally serious. With a name like Dalvanius Prime you'd think that guy could be Mayor of Earth if not an evil galactic overlord, but, no, he's just what passes for a Maori senator, if I recall.
>
> WHOA! The real question is: if he fought Optimus Prime, who would win?

Sadly, Dalvanius Prime passed away a couple of months ago. He was involved in politics (I'm not entirely sure how) for the last few years, but his main claim to fame was as a musician. I always think people who enter politics from the entertainment industry are so great. In the USA you have that guy who used to be a pro wrestler, right? I think an all-ex-pro-wrestler government would be a wonderful idea.

> I dunno. BG was telling me about another guy down there who was mayor of a town, then lost. Then he went to some town on the other side of the country and ran there. His slogan? I think it was "I don't care where, just so long as I'm mayor." With that sort of honesty in politics, I think he'd make a great Mayor of Earth.

Tim Shadbolt, the man of whom we spoke, is one of the most insane political figures I know of. I have no clue what he is like as a leader -- probably awful -- but given his entertainment value, I think it barely matters. You don't really want politicians who will try to run the country -- you want politicians who will just get on with doing amusing things to fill up the newspapers, so the rest of us can get on with our lives with as little interference as possible.