Spotlight on:

“This Parched Land”

The Commonwealth of Laidlaw Parade is a colossal, socially progressive nation, renowned for its devotion to social welfare. Its compassionate, hard-working, intelligent population of 5.664 billion enjoy some of the most opulent lifestyles in the region, unless they are unemployed or working-class, in which case they are variously starving to death or crippled by easily preventable diseases.

The government -- a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, liberal, pro-business morass -- is mainly concerned with Social Welfare, although Education and the Environment are on the agenda. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 33%. The private sector is almost wholly made up of enterprising fourteen-year-old boys selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out.

The government is avowedly atheist, surveillance cameras are banned, the tenet of free speech is held dear, and voting is voluntary. Crime is moderate. Laidlaw Parade's national animal is the kangaroo, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the australian dollar.

Laidlaw Parade is ranked 64th in the region and 18,276th in the world for Most Politically Free Nations.