The Tories can congratulate themselves on a somnolent meeting where backbenchers and rebels were bored into submission. Even away, the waves of tedium were palpable on dead tree and live panel press. No doubt the bubble appeared lively within the conference event horizon, irrelevant outside.
Even the comparison of Tory discipline with Liberal Democrat handwringing was dispersed by the kind of dispute on associates with the yellow flush. Was Ken Clarke swinging his handbag to keep himself awake? Yet this policy-free zone heralds paralysis. Once the honeymoon of coalition was over, implementing agreements only take you so far. Breaking left has only rendered the Liberal Democrats look irresponsible whilst clinging protectively to the deficit reduction renders the Tories impotent as the tsunami breaks about them.
If the question "what can we do?" is posed, the answer appears to be all the wrong things. Further QE, more regulation and the greenest job-destroying policy on the planet. Something will flip and flop and flip again. Politicians always do and for this coalition: the events will keep on coming. A wonderful experiment: change versus the inertia of coalition. Maybe they will call themselves a National government.