POLITICIANS never quite know what questions they'll have to field on the campaign trail - just ask the First Minister.

Nicola Sturgeon spent yesterday morning opening the Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations conference on tenements.

After her speech, she predictably faced a series of technical questions on, you guessed it, housing. That was before it was John Fury, chair of ng homes, got his chance to interrogate the FM.

"A friend insists I ask, where do you get your shoes?" To much hilarity, others immediately started guessing who the friend was. "Robert Tamburrini" was the popular choice. He's the high profile, Digger-suing chief executive of said ng homes.

The FM said she got her shoes in lots of places, but John, or Robert, were welcome to borrow them, adding that she deserved extra votes for doing the whole campaign in such high heels.

IF you're struggling to make an impact, who better than Grant Mitchell himself to provide back-up?

Eastenders actor Ross Kemp arrived in Thanet South yesterday, hoping to bolster support for Labour candidate Will Scobie.

Polling suggests that Labour is trailing well behind UKIP leader Nigel Farage in the battle for the Kent seat.

It will come as no surprise that little love is lost between the former First Minister and the Daily Mail. But it seems Alex Salmond was more than happy to lose sleep over one of the tabloid's stories this week.

The Gordon candidate spotted a story tweeted by the paper late on Tuesday evening as he returned home from receiving an honorary degree at Glasgow University. It suggested the politician was snubbing oil workers by pulling out of a hustings event the following day in Aberdeen because he had been more intent on picking his award at the other end of the country the night before.

Apparently, Mr Salmond took great delight in doing all he could to spike the Mail's guns by getting to the event despite only two hours sleep.

His breezy appearance at the event apparently prompted the newspaper to take down its story the next day.

Of all the millions of votes Ed Miliband is seeking, among the most cherished will be the one he was publicly promised - by his brother.

David Miliband - with whom the Labour leader concedes relations are still to heal after their bruising tussle to succeed Gordon Brown - shared a picture of his postal ballot envelope on Twitter.

And the former foreign secretary - who quit the Commons for a role with an international aid organisation in New York - added: "Proud to have voted #Labour. #Ed4PM."

Ed may want to ask for a look at the actual ballot paper just to make sure.