In The Times Daniel Finkelstein gives Nigel Farage a few tips on dealing with personality clashes and internal divisions. He believes that Ukip need to show patience because it will probably take several elections to win any seats.

In The Independent Ukip leader Farage says the political commentariat and politicians were quick to say that Nick Clegg had won the first debate last week, no doubt because he appeared as they thought a statesman should appear: polished, shallow, evasive and calm. I, on the other hand, care passionately about liberty and democracy and not so much about whether I might get a bit sweaty on camera, Farage added.

In The Daily Telegraph Malcolm Rifkind, a former Foreign Secretary, thinks Farage may admire Vladimir Putin but they really have very little in common. The Russian leader, for all his faults, is intensely serious and is never a buffoon. Should not Nigel be choosing Mussolini rather than Putin as his role model if he really has a taste for autocrats?

In The FT Anton Muscatelli, professor of economics at the University of Glasgow, argues that a successful currency union would actually be in the interest of both Scotland and England – and especially the rest of the UK. High quality global journalism requires investment. But the most damaging prospect to the rest of the UK from rejecting a sterling currency union is what it will do to its own trade and business activity. Whatever the political tactics involved, it would be tantamount to economic vandalism.

The Daily Mail’s Dominic Sandbrook says now that the gap between Labour and the Conservatives has dwindled to almost nothing, the course of British politics seems more uncertain than it has for years. If you want a disturbing glimpse of what our political future might become, then look across the Channel, where France is reeling from a political earthquake.

The Guardian’s Simon Jenkins believes there must be a better way of selling off the family silver than Vince Cable’s way. Why can the Treasury not find independent advice? Why are the same banks allowed to act, at least in appearance, as sellers and buyers? Why is there no other way of market-testing or auction? Were such a stink to have emerged in local government or the private sector, we can hear the scathing comments from the Treasury bench. When the smell is in their own backyard, they are strangely silent.

The Guardian’s Zoe Williams says that as interesting as it is to pick apart the drivers of ill health, we can ask more searching, immediate questions of, and demand more accountability from, policymakers. Rather than ask why their five-a-day message fails, they simply repeat a more demanding message, at greater volume. It’s a level beyond Einstein’s definition of stupidity, a modern giga-stupid.

The Independent’s Rosie Millard thinks five a day was hard enough. But now it’s been doubled. Ten portions of fruit and vegetables which must be eaten, every day, in order to live longer, be healthy and cost the NHS less. So – very important to adhere to. But is not everyone – apart from the MD at Innocent Smoothies, who must feel he has died and gone to Payola Heaven – greeting this latest diktat with a sinking heart?

The Daily Telegraph’s Victoria Lambert argues that digestion is difficult enough when your body is trying to balance the bloating caused by stress, combined with the corseting effect of a pair of Spanx (or simply your favourite tight jeans). Add in the bacterial effect required to tackle a colander’s worth of cauliflower, green beans and cavolo nero, at just one meal, and we’re talking a knock-on methane-gas climate-change effect which doesn’t bear thinking about.

In The Daily Mirror Zoe Harcombe, a nutritionist and obesity expert, says five-a-day was a marketing gimmick – it was a slogan to increase the profits of fruit and veg companies. Fruit and veg cannot compete with genuine superfoods when we look at nutrients.

The Independent’s Frank Furedi says that whatever the intention of the promoters of the new “Cinderella Law”, its main accomplishment will be to turn the emotional landscape of family life into a dangerous battlefield. The call for the Cinderella Law represents the latest phase of a campaign to continually expand the range of parental behaviour that can be condemned as abusive.

In The Times Alice Thomson says Cinderella had a happy ending, don’t forget. The Brothers Grimm may have had her sweeping floors, sleeping by the hearth and wearing wooden clogs, but she developed an amazing work ethic, acquired a love of shoes, became determined to make something of her life and married a prince. Fictional children often have tough, abusive childhoods and survive – it happens in life too.

The Daily Telegraph thinks the battle to keep the United Kingdom together has reached a critical stage, as we enter the final six months before the referendum on Scottish independence. The past few days have been especially rocky. A combination of a careless briefing from a minister in London about the future of the pound and loose-tongued members of the Unionist triumvirate in Edinburgh has caused unease in the anti-separatist ranks. But while this has generated some adverse headlines, it has also served to underline the paramount importance of a disciplined approach from those who care for the Union.

The FT notes that in 1948 Aneurin Bevan established the NHS with three founding principles: that it meet everyone’s needs; be based on need not ability to pay; and be free at the point of use. This has been an unmitigated success. The challenge now is for a changing service to find ways to allocate needs to limited resources, while protecting the founding principles as far as possible. If Mr Stevens really wants to think like a taxpayer, he should not shirk the challenge.

The Sun thinks some of Britain’s overseas aid is absurd. As we’ve often said, it makes no sense to pump our borrowed money into India, a country rich enough to send rockets into space. But there is a far stronger case in Afghanistan, torn apart by years of war and in dire need of continued funding for schools and hospitals as well as its own security.

In The Daily Express James Delingpole is delighted that at long last the tide has been turned and that calculators are once more to be banished from maths tests. At least they are for 11 and 12-year-olds, according to new plans announced by the Government. From now on kids won’t be allowed near a calculator until they’ve first learned their times tables and mastered such skills as long division and fractions. This new burst of rigour doesn’t end with maths. English lessons too are going to get a massive shakeup.

The Guardian’s Anne Perkins thinks that what makes it hard to admit this eternal truth – as every piece of research on child development emphasises – is that those early months are also extremely important. The listened-to baby whose needs are lovingly met and whose limitless appetite for exploration and experimentation is nurtured is the future happy citizen. Being a good mother is not a scam perpetrated by the patriarchy on women at a vulnerable moment in their lives. It really matters.

In The Times Roger Boyes says history will respect us if we make a clean break with Afghanistan. The country is not an action movie co-scripted by Baron von Clausewitz and Andy McNab, and our soldiers do not have to star in it. We have to say goodbye to the Hindu Kush.

@hughlaurie