Among the (many) tensions of day-to-day political reporting is the need to reveal things that may seem inexplicably outrageous to those outside the political process, but also to explain why these inexplicable things have happened.

For example, a party room coup against a prime minister might seem like a cunning stunt to the political apparatchiks in the party, but like a really bad idea to voters who were living under the misapprehension that it was them who got to change the prime minister.