John Curtice, writing at the IPPR’s Juncture, looks at UKIP’s successes in this year’s local elections, where it received an average of 25 per cent of the vote in the wards that it contested. He says that while the strong results for the party will hold it in good stead for the 2014 European Parliament elections, it remains to be seen if the party will take the opportunity to develop its organisational roots and gain the political credibility required for it to become a major party.

At Political Insight, regular British Politics and Policy at LSE blogger, Tim Bale, has a dozen expert lessons on policy-making in and out of power. One of his major points is that policy making is made both hard and easy by being in government.

At Coppola Coment, Frances Coppola looks at what derailed the UK’s recovery towards the end of 2010. The culprit? A massive rise in energy prices, which wasn’t helped by the government’s austerity drive.

At Stumbling and Mumbling, Chris Dillow looks at the case for a basic rate of income. While he finds the arguments in favour  very convincing,  he says that the policy is not in capitalists’ interests, as they are generally in favour of a large supply of labour, which would be reduced as people may choose not to work at all if given a basic income by the state.

This week sees a major crisis in the Labour party over links with the Unite union in the selection of candidates for Falkirk at the next election. Hopi Sen says that the issue is exacerbated by the fact that Labour’s selection system is a mess.