CIVIL servants are not supposed to say anything politically sensitive in the run-up to polling day.

So a Scottish Government press release entitled 'Good luck to all candidates' raised a few eyebrows when it arrived yesterday. Surely the notoriously impartial inhabitants of St Andrew's House were not backing an SNP victory?

Alas, no. Minister for Learning Dr Alasdair Allan had simply taken the time to wish "all pupils and students well ahead of this year's national exam period."

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LibDem Stephen Gilbert, who is standing for re-election in St Austell and Newquay, came into a bit of bother when delivering leaflets in his constituency. He tweeted a photograph of a rather bloody hand, adding: "guessing this dog had unresolved anger issues".

A party spokesman said: "It is a hazard of the job and all politicians are vulnerable to it."

He was bandaged up at the local minor injuries clinic before returning to the campaign trail.

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Nick Clegg has said he imagines he is beating up Ed Balls during his weekly kickboxing classes.

The Liberal Democrat leader said that he used his training sessions to vent his anger at Labour's shadow chancellor.

"I just sort of wallop these sort of things that you have to hit. I try not to put a face on the things that I'm striking with my feet and my hands," he said in a radio interview.

But pressed on whether there was someone going through his mind, he admitted: "Well, sometimes Ed Balls might flicker through my imagination."

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Ed Miliband has revealed his childhood dream was to become a London bus conductor.

The Labour leader said a fascination with the ticket machines on the old-style vehicles had made him want the job.

Mr Miliband made the admission during a visit to Stockton-on-Tees, where he was asked by a young boy in the audience, Nelson Driscoll, what he wanted to be when he was seven years old.

He replied: "I wanted to be a bus conductor. I tell you why, because on the London buses there used to be these things where you used to turn around the ticket machine. I was particularly fascinated by that."

Mr Miliband is not the only party leader to have dreamed of being on the buses. Conservative former prime minister Sir John Major once failed a test to become a bus conductor.

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A man living abroad is standing in the General Election against Boris Johnson, hoping to poll the lowest votes of any UK candidate in an attempt to cover the cost of his deposit.

James Franklyn Jackson, 71, of Carcassonne, France, has placed a £20 bet at odds of 50/1 with William Hill to poll the fewest votes of any candidate, which could win him £1,000 - enough to pay off his £500 deposit and travelling costs.

Mr Jackson, who is standing in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, which is expected to be won by the mayor of London, is prohibited by law from voting because he has lived abroad for more than 15 years, but is eligible to stand as a parliamentary candidate.

He is standing to highlight the position of thousands of expats who, although they are British citizens, cannot vote in UK elections.