Bishop Eric Brown: What really happened when Sajid Javid addressed our Election Assembly

None of the press reports mentioned the standing ovation that the Culture Secretary received when he entered the hall.

More vandalism and dirty tricks targeted at Tory candidates

Many decent people on the left are horrified by such behaviour. But they are far from defeating the many others who think it’s legitimate.

Reasons to be Tory 13) A sovereign wealth fund for the North of England

People and communities won’t support the extraction of shale unless they believe they will gain a share in the proceeds.

Dominic Raab: Let’s not throw away this chance to build an Opportunity Society

The only vision of the fair society that strengthens, rather than saps, our economic competitiveness is the meritocratic kind that boosts social mobility.

Ryan Bourne: When Clegg claimed over two in five families are vulnerable. And other thoughts on this election campaign

Plus: The OBR isn’t needed to audit manifestos. The SNP’s sleight-of-hand on austerity. A lack of debate on healthcare. And: don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Henry Hill: Welsh Labour coy on pact with Plaid

Also: Northern Irish Labour denounce bar on contesting elections; SNP suspend members who harassed Murphy; Robinson calls for pan-UK unionist fightback.

The battle for Dudley

Labour took over Dudley Council – due to UKIP taking votes from the Conservatives.

Lord Ashcroft: The Conservatives lead by two points in this week’s Ashcroft National Poll

Plus: This week’s focus groups in Pudsey, Hazel Grove, and Rossendale & Darwen; and how much do we really know about the party leaders?

The rise of postal voting (and what it means)

Could the system be creating new imbalances in our politics?

From 2020, a historian writes: How they missed Cameron once he was gone!

He adds: “There was no inevitability to the 2015 result. Had voters grasped what they had in their hands, they might not so carelessly have thrown it away.”

Reasons to be Tory 12) An end to buying annuities on compulsion

The Chancellor’s instincts on pensions are right. He favours more freedom and responsibility, and has acted accordingly.

Election Sketch: Mundell has a better chance than most of surviving the SNP tsunami

The threat posed by Scottish Nationalists to the Union has had the beneficial consequence of reinvigorating the Scottish Conservatives.

Rebecca Coulson: Two million jobs – two million real lives improving – versus the easy words of anti-austerity

The people slinging unsubstantiated words at us are the comfortably guilty, not the beneficiaries of the jobs miracle.

The battle for Telford and Wrekin

The Labour council has presided over a huge increase in borrowing.

The 1922 Committee will hold a secret ballot on any proposed Coalition deal

The smoother the co-operation between Number 10 and the ’22 is if such a plan is put, the more likely it is to pass.