It is never a good moment at a party when, after one and a half drinks, the person you’re talking to pronounces herself ‘a little bit crazy’. You haven’t, as a rule, stumbled into the company of a psychopath; more probably, the opposite. The person who feels the need to claim craziness is nearly always the dullest, most conformist person in the room, and now you need to find a civil way of escaping her. Something similar obtains with self-­attributions of a good sense of humour.

Australians are the funniest people on earth. Just ask any of us. Our wonderful sense of humour is what defines us as a nation, especially against the former or current imperial powers (‘great and powerful friends’, as we like to call them). We are a larrikin race, unencumbered by old-­world pomposities. The worst mistake any Australian can make is to be seen to take herself too seriously. Laughter frees us to be authentically ourselves.