1. Just to make ends meet now requires around £18k a year

Over at Liberal Conspiracy, Chris Goulden reports that a family of four now needs £18,400 a year to maintain an acceptable standard of living.

2. Osborne tops Cabinet league table but Tory members prefer Boris

57 per cent of Tory members would like to see Boris Johnson become the next Tory leader, compared to 43 per cent for George Osborne, reports Tim Montgomerie at ConservativeHome.

3. Balls calls for new bank bonus tax

Left Foot Forward's Will Straw looks at Ed Balls's call for a new bonus tax to fund the creation of a 100,000 new jobs.

4. Smear and innuendo: what newspapers said about Chris Jefferies

As the Sun and the Daily Mirror go on trial for contempt of court, Political Scrapbook revisits the smears levelled at Bristol schoolteacher Chris Jefferies.

5. LabourList readers need to buck their ideas up

Luke Akehurst argues that LabourList readers were wrong not to support Miliband's criticism of the strikes.