Being an MP is a good job, the sort of job all working-class parents want for their children -- clean, indoors and no heavy lifting. What could be nicer?

I'm not thick-skinned at all, and of course I'm hurt by people attacking me as a person.

Mental health is often missing from public health debates even though it's critical to wellbeing.

When fast food is not a treat but a dietary staple, the children surf the internet all day in dark corners of the room and are bombarded with latest gadgets. Things replace parental standards.

There are 101 websites out there for debate - this was a blatant last attempt to get someone to stand against Gordon Brown.

Finally, there's a sense in which I look at this Westminster village and London intelligentsia as an outsider.

I wanted my marriage to work, but it didn't.