Yeah, I certainly would like to come along to some of these dinners - perhaps I could wait on the table? Mind you there are one or two laps I would be very tempted to drop the soup into!. And the dinner party to which I am invited would be great too...I love the idea of being incognito initially: wonder whose would be the first identity that everyone guessed?

My own dinner party includes some
people who might already be engaged for the night judging by others' guest lists:

Margaret Cavendish aka Mad Madge
Sir Thomas More
Whoopi Goldberg,
Noel Coward
Nell Gwynn
Billy Connolly
Aphra Behn
Oscar Wilde

It's ironic that the fundamentalists all include Jesus Christ. Nothing would disillusion them more than having this little brown Jewish pacifist at the table, eating with his hands and gasping in horror at their beliefs about him.

That said, my list includes:

William F. Buckley
Philip Adams
Kathy Lette
John Clarke
Caligula
Christopher Hitchens
William Kristol
Naomi Klein
Harry Flashman
Emma Tom

Sancho,

You're probably right. If Jesus was at my table, I would allow him to do the talking and I would do the listening, or ask him questions and listen to his answers.

Most Christian fundamentalists (or Pharasee Christians) would be too busy trying to correct Jesus and tell him where he is wrong.

Foxy

I'm also honoured to be on your list. I love the idea of working out who's who and have often toyed with similar scenarios myself. Unless people deliberately muddied the waters, I'd say, with an opinionated buch like that who couldn't help but air their views on any topic broached, it would take all of five minutes to determine who was who!

The trouble with any list is that there are always more names than can be included. Some more for me would be Dickie, Nicky, Yabby (and I think we'd definitely need non-breakable dinnerware with that lot together!), Ludwig, Forrest, Yvonne, davidf, and I know I'll think of many more. We would also have to track down Vanilla and GINX, don't you think?

Usual Suspect

"And those of you who invited a long list of lefties will have one boring night."

I guess it just depends on whether or not your idea of a great dinner party swings towards the ideal of an intelligent and meaningful exchange of ideas or more towards a boozy romp. I think most lefties know how to achieve the right mix of both. Somehow I doubt there'd be much intelligible conversation happening with your group by the end of the evening, especially once your later guests had settled in! But from what I've gleaned of you through your posting, I'd say you'd be fitting right in and having one hell of a time.

Dear Bronwyn,

Yes, I'd love to include:

Vanilla
Ginxy
Davidf
Forrest
Yabby
Nicky
David Nichols
Yvonne
Steven L. Meyer
Oly (of course)...

And many more ... but I'd better stop here for now.

Foxy,

You would be excellent in a group. You're a regular poster and I've never heard you say a bad word to anyone. You've been given a very special gift and you use it well.