The Guardian’s Martin Kettle thinks that by not running in Newark, Nigel Farage has acted like a conventional politician. Yet in so doing he has paradoxically proved that he is not a conventional politician at all. Newark was a fork-in-the-road moment for Ukip. At Newark, Ukip could have chosen to be a parliamentary political party. Or it could have chosen to remain as an anti-politics party. It chose the latter. It is a far-reaching decision.

In The Times Tim Montgomerie thinks that if we do want to understand the Ukip phenomenon we should identify the errors being made by politicians and journalists that are helping to keep Mr Farage’s face on what seems like every TV broadcast.

In The Daily Express Leo McKinstry says it is impossible to avoid the feeling that Ukip has missed a golden opportunity to press home its advantage. If the Tories had lost Newark in the wake of a humiliation at the European polls rebellion would have spread like wildfire through the Tory backbenches and David Cameron’s position might have become untenable. In politics, like in war and sport, leaders should do what their opponents most fear – and in this case a by-election contest with Farage is what the Conservatives really dreaded.

In The Independent Jenny Pennington, a Researcher at IPPR, argues that accusing UKIP of “Euracism” doesn’t acknowledge the growing support for the policies and solutions that they are proposing. European free movement has been good for the UK, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be better. You can label political tactics as scaremongering all you want, but what we really need are local immigration reforms. Then we can start to think about where we stand nationally.

The Guardian’s Seumas Milne fears the threat of war in Ukraine is growing. As the unelected government in Kiev declares itself unable to control the rebellion in the country’s east, John Kerry brands Russia a rogue state. The US and the European Union step up sanctions against the Kremlin, accusing it of destabilising Ukraine. The White House is reported to be set on a new cold war policy with the aim of turning Russia into a “pariah state”.

In The International New York Times Thomas L Friedman says Russia and its neighbors need a different definition of Russia’s interests. That, however, raises a series of questions: Can Moscow ever define its interests differently under Putin? If not, how do we deter him without also weakening Russia to the point of instability? And if we do induce such instability over time with sanctions, do we know what comes next and will we be better off?

The Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts thinks that when they do a ­celebration tape of his greatest moments, it will catch many startled expressions on the faces of expenses-cheating, ­policy-swapping, voter-dodging ­politicos and the dreadful villains who run our public life’s agencies and outhouses. It will also, no doubt, catch repeatedly that wonderful ‘myerrrs’ he would utter when he was letting us know he thought his interlocutor was speaking total tosh.

The Daily Telegraph’s Dan Hodges says Newsnight has never fully recovered from the fall-out from the Savile and McAlpine scandals. New producer Ian Katz has embarked on a brave – some would say foolhardy – attempt to refresh the brand. But the moment Kirsty Wark closed the program’s Hallowe’en edition by dancing to Thriller, Newsnight officially jumped the shark. Or moon-walked over it, rather.

The Independent says the crimes committed by death-row inmates are uniquely barbaric. But America will become a more civilised country the day it lets go of a punishment that draws barbarism closer, in an attempt to push it away.

The FT says the US is scouring the land for “every Band-Aid, every piece of duct tape” to keep its infrastructure fund afloat, says Anthony Foxx, secretary of transportation. Mr Foxx is hardly exaggerating. As the FT has reported in its US infrastructure series this week, the highway trust fund could run out of cash as soon as August. President Barack Obama has proposed a bill that would keep it going for another four years – albeit at a lower level than needed. Even if Congress enacts it – by no means a certainty – America’s roads, ports, bridges and railways would lack the funds they need to upgrade. Washington should raise its sights.

The Guardian says the Office for National Statistics reported that the UK economy had grown by a solid 3.1% over the previous year. On Wednesday, the same ONS threw frightening light on the nature of this recovery, by publishing new numbers suggesting that the 133% year-on-year increase in zero-hours contracts which it had already reported is not the end of the zero-hours story.

In The Times Jenni Russell says millions of women worldwide are finding themselves victims of revenge porn as spiteful ex-partners post private naked pictures of them on social media or online. We have to change the culture by changing the law. Sexual retaliation must be punished, and fast. We’re in a state of national remorse about our past failure to recognise the damage caused by paedophiles. This is our generation’s equivalent. Our hidden abuse.

The Daily Mail’s David Derbyshire notes that now that the Government has successfully persuaded us to invest in diesel, it has emerged that the fuel is not only less efficient than we were led to believe, but dirtier and more damaging to the environment than petrol. So much so, in fact, that it is killing us in our tens of thousands. In the light of mounting evidence that this supposedly green fuel is not so green after all — in fact, it is quite the opposite — surely the Government should do everything it can to put an end to the folly of the dash for diesel.

In The Daily Telegraph Maurice Saatchi thinks his Medical Innovation Bill has obviously touched a nerve. Why? Because people know that all cancer deaths are wasted lives. Science does not advance by one centimetre as a result of all these deaths, because the deceased receive only the “standard procedure” – the endless repetition of a failed experiment.

@AureliusQuotes