The Queen's State of Bailey Lace is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by the Governor with a fair hand, and renowned for its state-planned economy and strictly enforced bedtime. The democratic population of 28.5 billion Bailey Laceans love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Law & Order, and International Aid. The average income tax rate is 32.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The enormous but inefficient Bailey Lacean economy, worth a remarkable 1,087 trillion betales a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient black market in Beef-Based Agriculture, Soda Sales, Information Technology, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 38,161 betales, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Teenagers are sent to jail for being out too late, parents are held criminally responsible for their children's crimes, surveillance cameras are banned, and the Governor has just been declared ruler of Bailey Lace in an international press conference. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Bailey Lace's national animal is the deer, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.