Before anything else, I’m going to abuse my editorial privileges on this site to wish my wonderful niece Emma a very happy 18th birthday. Unusually, she has already had her first vote, in the referendum on independence last year. She’s an amazing young woman who organised her mum’s surprise 40th birthday party last month and made sure that we all fulfilled our roles to her satisfaction. That unfortunate incident when she was a week old and I put an outfit on her back to front has led her to develop quite a perfectionist streak. Did I say she was amazing? So, Happy Birthday, Emma.

And now back to more routine matters. The election campaign continues today with Nick Clegg  travelling to Montgomeryshire to focus on mental health with candidate Jane Dodds. They will visit a local mental health charity to promote our plans to provide the extra £8 billion the NHS needs over the next Parliament and our prioritisation of mental health.

In Scotland Sir Malcolm Bruce and Sir Robert Smith will meet apprenticeships at an Aberdeenshire hotel.

Scotland has two leaders’ debates this week. The first one is tomorrow night with Labour’s Jim Murphy, the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon, our Willie Rennie and Conservative Ruth Davidson. All the pressure here is on Jim Murphy. If he can’t be seen to beat Nicola, then Labour will be in even more serious trouble than they are already. Murphy is an experienced operator, but will he be able to offer a more optimistic, positive tone than the First Minister? Willie Rennie’s job will be to ensure that he actually gets in on the action and not completely sidelined. Murphy can be a bit of a marmite character, whereas Willie is always cheerful and reasonable.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings