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

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

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.

As long as the number one worry for people, keeping them up at nights, is whether they're going to have a job in the morning, then they are less likely to resist unfair changes, or unfair treatment, or cuts in real pay at work.

The implication that women work for pin money and can manage on a worse pension, presumably by relying on husbands, riles. But even more galling for women is that few government ministers seem to even appreciate the value of the work they do.

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

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