My first hero, as a teenager, was James Connolly. I remember discovering that he was a feminist, and that was an eye-opener, coming from a man of such poverty.

Each day more coalition MPs in seats outside the South East come out against George Osborne's regional pay cut plans, and Vince Cable now claims they are dead.

I cherish the creation of public space and services, especially health, housing and the comprehensive education system which dared to give so many of us ideas 'above our station.'

I am a feminist and I have no problems being called that.

I suspect there are people in all walks of life who need to be dragged into the 21st century in terms of attitudes towards women.

The UK has a poor investment record. According to IMF data, we have come seventh out of the top seven industrialised countries since 1999.

I'd be happy to have regular face-to-face meetings at Downing Street with David Cameron to argue the case for alternative economic policies.

When I look at my daughter, who's 24, she is much more confident than I ever was and her expectations are higher. But I worry that there is a backlash brewing against progress on equality.

Ordinary people who have lots of good ideas want more than a suggestion box, and they need a union to represent that thinking.

I came from a family where joining a union was the expected thing to do. I've always believed that the relationship between an employer and an individual worker is fundamentally unequal.

I want a society that provides decent jobs for those who can work and decent security for those can't.

Wise men speak because they have something to say

The only valid faith today is disbelief.

Incident piled on incident no more makes life than brick piled on brick makes a house.

I knew I was strong, and maybe like they said, "crazy." But I had this feeling inside of me that something real was there.

Oh - oh, why is it that the members of a family feel privileged to treat one another with a cruelty they would not exhibit to the merest stranger?

I don't think politics is any longer about a conversation with the country.

Blues are the songs of despair.

Teacher: "If your daughter knew her spelling words as well as her Bible stories she'd get into Harvard." Me: "I'll settle for Heaven."

I don't know many artists who are happy with themselves all of the time.

Bernard [Leach] was making pots which were duplicates of his drawing, and that was a difference of approach, which I think is quite critical to these two men [Leach and Shoji Hamada].