Negotiating the plan has involved hectic late-night sessions in which outside officials have given locals copious instructions on the details of reform measures and the lobbying needed to gain support for them.

ECONOMIST: Latvia has chosen economic torture over complete collapse

As the team's most expensive employees, they also have to follow instructions, which will include going all out to win the constructors' championship for McLaren.

BBC: Martin Brundle on the big rivalries in F1 2010

In some rural areas, residents also have radios distributed by the local government over which instructions to evacuate can be broadcast.

BBC: How Japan tackles its quake challenge

Some supermarkets for example have computers with millions of lines of computer instructions each of which has to be checked for date references.

BBC: Millennium bug to hit more than computers

So they must have been discombobulated by instructions to do just the opposite at this year's gathering, which took place in Birmingham from September 28th.

ECONOMIST: The Conservative Party