Has the government run out of steam already?

The political party conference season is loooming and if I were a government minister I would be increasingly worried that my policy cupboard was looking bare after hardly 18 months in power. The question now is what does the Coalition stand for? What does David Cameron stand for? What is the direction of travel?
Absolute core to the government's economic policy is reducing the deficit but this is increasingly suspect due to the feeble state of the economy and rising inflation. George Osborne's gamble was to hope the private sector would pick up in time to offset early public spending cuts. This looks unlikely and in UK cities and regions where public spending is already a large part of the local economy, spending cuts are tipping them back into recession.
The Prime Minister's White Paper on public sector reform early in the summer was a disappointing mish-mash of existing policies and vague expressions of intent. Big Society, which once defined Cameron's political philosopy, was hardly mentioned. The recent riots have placed a question mark over cuts to police budgets. The health reform plans have had to be revised. Housing is rapidly moving up the political agenda with no apparent strategy to tackle shortages. The welfare reform plans are still in their infancy. Only in education has Michael Gove's academies and free schools moved inexorably forward.
The paucity of policy contrasts with the deep-seated fundamental challenges faced in UK society. They range from inner city youth crime to long-term pension provision, elderly care, the impossibility of finding mortgages for young housebuyers, the decline in the average standard of living, the long-term position of financial services as engine of the UK's economy. Let;s have some serious policy papers on these.