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.

Governments of all stripes want to deliver growth and rebalance their economies now that they have learned the hard way that, left to their own devices, markets pick expensive banking losers.

In the U.S. the powerful critics of austerity such as Paul Krugman and Robert Reich rightly identify the decline of 'labor' as a problem, and renewing trade unionism part of the solution. Our opportunity is to make the same case in the UK.

The TUC's new slogan 'a future that works' sets a profound challenge. Austerity and rapid deficit reduction is failing in its own terms, but even at its best it is short-sighted, muddle-through politics with no vision of a new economic model.

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

A vision of Europe fit for the 21st century and a practical plan to deliver strong rights, decent jobs and livelihoods, with strong unions at its heart, is one worth fighting for.