Politics is now too undignified for clowns

This says a lot about the state of the world.

A professional clown in Brazil who ran for congress and won by a huge margin says he will not stand again in 2018. Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, better known as Tiririca, is coming to the end of his second term in the Chamber of Deputies. He complained that he was one of only eight out of more than 500 lawmakers who regularly turned up to sessions. Tiririca said he was "ashamed" of his colleagues' behaviour and would return to being a full-time clown.

In his first speech since he was elected in 2010, Tiririca, whose stage name means Grumpy, said he was saddened by what he had seen in the lower house of congress. "Everyone knows that we're paid well to work, but not everyone does work. There are 513 deputies, only eight come regularly. And I'm one of those eight, and I'm a circus clown." In his eight-minute speech, he admitted that he had "not done much" during his almost seven years as a lawmaker, but he said: "At least I was here."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-42264157