Here’s one to add to your Weird Word collection: ‘empleomania’. This is a mania for holding public office. and there is, after all, an endless parade of people who want to run for local council, or parliamentary pre-selection, or who just lobby people in power to appoint them to this or that. What drives them? I suppose if you asked they’d all reply, ‘I want to serve the community.’ Yes. Of course. Why didn’t I think of that? It’s just a matter of community service. It has nothing to do with being in a prominent position (with all its lurks and perks). And it has nothing to do with well-paid public offices. Never! How could you even think such a thing? Shame on you. The word ‘empleomania’ came into English around 1845 from a Spanish source word. It’s interesting that the Spanish first noticed this mania for public employment –  perhaps Spaniards have it worse than the rest of us. And there is (I suspect) a problem these days with the ‘professional politician’ –  the university student who joins the committee of their local ‘Young Labor’ or ‘Young Liberal’ bunch, uses this to make contacts, and on graduation becomes a staff member to a politician (or in the case of Labor, a union official). When they’ve made a lot of contacts (and have networked all over the place) they seek pre-selection. Once in parliament they play the same games in the party room to get a ministerial position. And all the time they’ve had almost no contact with the world of ordinary work –  generating the wealth that actually keeps the place going. Perhaps they are the real offenders when it comes to ‘empleomania’. The days of prime ministers being former train drivers seem to be long gone.