I think being a mother helps keep your feet on the ground. There's very little dignity in parenthood. It's a great leveller.

A business is good if it gives a decent day's reward for a decent day's work, treats people decently, and gives them a voice at the top.

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.

All the evidence shows very clearly that if you are a member of a trade union you are likely to get better pay, more equal pay, better health and safety, more chance to get training, more chance to have conditions of work that help if you have caring responsibilities ... the list goes on!

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.

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

Washing dishes as a 17-year-old in an Oxford college and seeing the privileged lifestyles of the undergraduates there convinced me that a system that allowed luxury for the few at the expense of the many needed to be challenged.