A friend of mine, who is an experienced and well-known (and successful) trial lawyer in New Zealand, once said to me (after a few beers and before quite a few more): "Good lawyers make lousy politicians. Bad lawyers generally make good politicians, because they're dumb and therefore not so dangerous. If I see a lawyer who is any good starting to have political wet dreams I'm always tempted to loosen the wheel nuts on his car."

There are altogether too many lawyers in most western legislatures. Given what my friend said, the only way to distinguish the good lawyer-turned-politician from the bad is to find out how good or bad he or she was at the law.

Now, where's my wheel brace?