Most of the speeches may have been boring almost beyond belief. But the Policy Address debate was still full of little surprises yesterday.
For instance, was that really Emily Lau admitting Hong Kong still enjoys at least one freedom which London now seems to lack? 'Maybe we are a little bit better than the United Kingdom,' she conceded.
This was in reference to British police's suppression of protests during President Jiang Zemin's visit, to a far greater extent than anything so far attempted in Hong Kong.
Ms Lau also offered rare praise to the Beijing-friendly Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, for backing a debate on a faster pace of democratisation.
But any illusion that the radical firebrand might be going soft was swiftly dispelled. Instead, she told Tung Chee-hwa to stop treating people like pigs and suggested his policy secretaries seek treatment for lack of intelligence.
Ms Lau even tried to blame Mr Tung for ATV's switch to using entertainment stars as newsreaders. Apparently this was in line with his plot to depoliticise Hong Kong.
As for protesters, police were already drowning them out with music. And she was sure it wouldn't be long before they adopted the same tactics as their British counterparts.