[Septimus can't help but think that his personal experience with imperial politics suggests that effective First Lords ought to have at least some sense of paranoia--and yes, it rankles to admit his father was right, but so it goes. Still, there's paranoia and there's paranoia.]

A sense of humor does matter more than most would imagine.

I've been considering which course of action to take for some time now, but I'm curious about what exactly you had in mind.