Particularly in Labour's unmodernised Northern fastnesses, this gives the Lib Dems the chance of spectacular gains.

ECONOMIST: How to see through the spin

Once holed up in their mountain fastnesses, they can be dislodged only by a full-scale military assault and aerial bombardment.

ECONOMIST: Yemen

In the cool air of their hilltop fastnesses, the toings and froings on the Mesopotamian plain are distractions from the serious business of building a viable Kurdish entity.

ECONOMIST: Saddam��s sleep of the unjust

Something other than a Welsh appetite for a seat in the United Nations must explain Labour's defeats in hitherto loyal party fastnesses such as Llanelli, Islwyn and Rhondda.

ECONOMIST: The road forks