It's estimated that by 2030 there will be virtually no unskilled jobs in the British economy.

I'm honoured to have been selected to be the Labour candidate for Manchester Central.

Some argue that now isn't the time to push the green agenda - that all efforts should be on preventing a serious recession. That is a false choice. It fails to recognise that climate change and our carbon reliance is part of problem - high fuel prices and food shortages due to poor crop yields compound today's financial difficulties.

You're wrong if you think young people don't deserve the vote.

The era of industrial Britain, where a large section of our workforce provided cheap labour in factories and processing goods is over.

Team GB's success at the Beijing Olympics can, in part, be said to have been made in Manchester. For example, all the cycling medal winners trained at Manchester's velodrome, the National Cycling Centre.

The cost of motoring is a massive issue at the moment, there's no question. The price of petrol goes up every time you go to the petrol station.