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

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.

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.

We too often hear about red tape but what they mean is the vital rights of workers.

I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.

I've never written a quote I feel would be suitable for my gravestone. Wouldn't it be ironic if it were this one? Oh, and could you pull a few weeds while you're here?

If I have learned one thing from experience, it is this: never underestimate how extraordinarily difficult it is to understand a situation from another person's point of view.

I'm thankful I am able to continue to share the joy and the inspiration tap brings.

A bookcase is as good as a view, as much of a panorama as the sight of a city or a river. There are dawns and sunsets in books - storms and zephyrs.

I've been thinking... Maybe you're a mockingbird... Mockingbirds imitate the songs of other birds... No, I've never heard of any copyright problems.

That language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally admitted.

Once you've found something you know how to do, it makes you feel you don't have to be intimidated by someone.

If I didn't do what I do, I wouldn't be as young as I am.

Our country's founders cherished liberty, not democracy.