"When I go campaigning as a member of the Conservative party, most people at the door say to me "ahhh politicians, they're all the same... They don't understand what it is like for the rest of us". It's not that they think all MPs are liars, or cheats or corrupt. It's that they are not able to recognise or associate with the challenges of the majority of the population.

The Green Party have a duty to continue to provide for the nation a fresh, fair and radical alternative to the 'business as usual' establishment, just as media chiefs from the BBC, ITV, SKY et al have a duty to promote and encourage a wide, engaging and relevant debate involving those extended the right to vote and elect.

I'm not claiming other parties to be racist or homophobic... It is pure intellectual dishonesty for members of those parties to claim that Ukip is, because they - like us - have had members who have said and done some unacceptable things.

It is difficult to know whether novelty sock puppet Nigel Farage thinks he and his squinty-eyed troop of yokels have really become a force in UK politics or if he is in fact a fully paid-up stooge of a vast conspiracy of right-wing Tories who communicate via secret messages in the weave of their tweed that only they can understand.

For decades, a company's performance has been measured almost exclusively in economic terms. Social and environmental issues such as health and safety in garment factories in Bangladesh, the use of conflict minerals in our mobiles, the privacy policies of internet service providers or forced labour on our doorstep have been seen as immaterial to how a company should be valued and how investors should assess performance. This is finally - and thankfully - changing.

Salmond it seems, just cannot bear to be out of the political limelight. If I was Nicola Sturgeon, I'd be grinding my teeth in frustration... Poor Sturgeon has barely had a chance to stamp her authority on her massively enlarged and politically raw party before Salmond swung the narrative back onto him.

Michael Dugher MP has announced that he has decided to "stop demonising motorists and start championing them", going on to say that governments have seen motorists as a "cash cow" and have been creaming cash off them with fuel taxes and penalties". The reality is of course very far from this.

Over the past two years I have had the pleasure of working in politics, many people I have met and told about my struggle with mental illness within the political bubble have been understanding and compassionate, but others not so friendly towards the a young adult with mental health problems working in or around Westminster.

As Brian Paddick put it on Twitter; if you hate what Ukip and now Labour and the Conservatives stand for, then it's time to reconsider voting Liberal Democrat.

Ukip is a threat to the two established parties. It might not win many seats in the 2015 general election but on its current national polling it could have significant impact on the final result. And as a consequence, both the Conservatives and Labour need to find answers to re-engage their disaffected traditional voters if they are to stem the Ukip tide.

The admission by former Liberal Democrat Party Treasurer Lord Razzall, that he was offered cash for peerages "several times a year" over a period of twelve years but failed to report any of these criminal offences threatens to take the lid back off one Westminster's most unseemly and nocuous can of worms of recent decades: cash for honours.

Today's announcement on new road building from the Prime Minister is further confirmation that this government is driving us into an economic, social and environmental cul-de-sac.

Being a Christian doesn't dictate my political position in the way that you might stereotypically think. I don't believe in a theocracy! I am a liberal in my politics so naturally I'll vote differently from my colleagues in other parties. But it does shape what I get passionate about - housing for those in need, compassion and dignity for those claiming asylum, tackling poverty. What is more, realising that you are part of a religious (and political!) minority tends to heighten my liberal instincts to protect freedom of speech and association, and to defend those on the margins whose worth is undermined, ignored or misunderstood in a rush to appeal to the majority.

Climate change demands a collective response. We can't expect other countries to act if we don't. And as UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said: "Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act; time is not on our side."

I am delighted to say we have committed to keeping mental health at the centre of the political debate - now let's hear everyone talking about it.

Unlike Ed Miliband, I won't sit around deriding improved employment figures. There are problems we must fix instead of running negative campaigns - for instance, ONS estimates suggest that the average (median) income of the self-employed has fallen by around 22% since 2008, at least in part because many of the self-employed are working fewer hours than they would like. As the economy improves in the years ahead, some may prefer to move back for the security of full-time employment - if so, they will take with them valuable experience of huge benefit to the organisations they join.