It's been a summer of discontent – and riots, European economic meltdown and rising unemployment are vying for attention as the party conference season rolls round again this weekend.
But perhaps MPs are more besotted with the proposed changes to their constituency boundaries. In this week's podcast, Tom Clark asks whether 650 MP's are really needed in parliament.
Our panel – Michael White, Nick Cohen and Julian Glover – also discusses which issues will become the major themes in the leader's speeches at their respective party conferences, as well as what each leader stands to gain (and lose) over the next three weeks.
And how much will the economy dominate the agenda? Growth continues to stagnate at 1%, and unemployment rose a further 80,000 this week.
In the light of these events, George Osborne will be under the spotlight, and Labour will be expected to have fresh ideas on economic renewal. Vince Cable's aura has weakened somewhat since this time last year – will the Lib Dems keep their head after a difficult year?
Leave your thoughts below.
