How can it be possible to upset both sides in an issue like fox hunting? That, however, is what Prime Minister Tony Blair has managed to do with the announcement that the Government does not intend to challenge an injunction aimed at postponing the implementation of the Hunting Act.

Mr Blair is not going to challenge the Countryside Alliance court bid because he is playing for time.

By not countering the move, he puts back the implementation of this bill - and the promised protests - until after the election which is expected in May or perhaps even as early as February.

He does not want one of his Government's laws being so publicly ignored in the run-up to an election.

Hunt supporters see the strategy and will demonstrate anyway during the election campaign.

Those opposed to hunting are stunned by the fact that he will not fight for an Act which now has Royal Assent.

To unite two such disparate groups would, in some circumstances, be seen as a triumph.

Mr Blair has simply shown that he puts political expediency above all else - however deeply held the beliefs are of those on either side of the hunting debate.

The Journal predicted that Mr Blair would come a cropper by throwing the whole hunting issue to his back-benchers like a political bone to chew on while he pursued other controversial paths.

Mr Blair, personally, is said to have no strong feelings either way about hunting, but the people who do get angry are those who see something they care passionately about simply being used as a political plaything.

Mr Blair has often talked of the need for strong leadership and his willingness to take unpopular decisions.

Time to put up Mr Blair.

Time to spread a little goodwill

If you are attending a church service tonight, have a close look at the Nativity Scene. In a Bethlehem stable we see depicted Mary, Joseph, and the babe Jesus in the manger. There are also three Wise Men.

Not such a bad scene, is it? Close your eyes.

Picture not three kings from the Orient in opulent robes but instead three Durham Light Infantry non-commissioned officers in drab khaki who, despite volunteering to fight in the war to end all wars, were court martialled on one of the holiest nights of the Christian calendar and sentenced to die in front of a firing squad, the only triple execution of the war. Ironically their last night on earth will be spent in a stable - albeit in France.

Their crime was said to be deserting their posts and casting away arms - putting a rifle across a trench in a vain attempt to prevent a German advance. In reality their crime was to be a Bantam - slight in stature but great in courage - and in the eyes of their officers degenerate both in body and mind.

The pop anthem asks if we know it's Christmas. We do. It is time the Government remembered. These DLI men were judicially murdered, their deaths sanctioned by the Church that tonight will preach peace on Earth and goodwill to all men. It is time to grant posthumous pardons not only to these three but also to the 303 other British, Irish and Commonwealth soldiers executed for battlefield offences in the so-called Great War.