attached, and we will invite them to decide." You cannot get fairer than that. In one significant respect, the Liberal Democrats are at an advantage in the coming campaign. Unlike the Labour Party or the Conservatives, they have long been accustomed to fighting on both flanks. They know how to push forward while protecting their backs. For both Labour and Tory leaders, this is new and dangerous territory. The result is a confusion of political gymnastics: both try to lean simultaneously to the right on crime and immigration and to the left on social issues, while stressing their intentions to maintain fiscal discipline. And these contortions must be performed while ducking to limit damage from their support for a grievously ill-advised war. This gives Charles Kennedy his chance. As John Curtice argues today, the continuing weakness of the Conservatives may not necessarily translate into another walkover for Labour. The mathematics may turn out to be more complicated than that. This election will, to quote Mr Kennedy, "be real three-party politics". It will be all the better for that. Game on: Oliver Thring joins a partridge shoot Everything but the turkey: Best Christmas trimmings What makes a cracking Christmas meal? It's all in the details, says Christopher Hirst, who has chomped his way through a mountain of supermarket and specialist food Bangkok reigns supreme for street food Every city in the world is now getting in on the street-food act, but Bangkok is still the best, says John Brunton Can you