One of the more regrettable impacts of the 24-hour news cycle over the past 20 years has been on the UK’s electoral cycle. It’s easy to feel as if you are living in a permanent election campaign. The electoral/ political curve has been rather different since May 2010, however, because of the ripple effect of coalition government. It was foreseeable from the start that the two coalition parties would, as time went by, emphasise more what divides them, rather than unites them. The autumn’s party conference season has shown just that.“Differentiation” is going to be the master noun of intra-coalition politics between now and May 2015 – or sooner if the two parties decided to take separate paths a year or so ahead of the election with the Conservatives carr