I don’t come from a deprived background, I didn’t have a difficult childhood, and I’m well aware that I had a comfortable, if not flashy, upbringing while attending my West Midlands state comprehensive school. Both my parents were working professionals, and because they were the first in their respective families to go to university, I […]
Last week I made the tabloid headlines. I was called ‘offensive’ and ‘out of touch’ for claiming there is nothing wrong with a 65-year-old woman taking an apprenticeship. I made the point during a debate called by the SNP about the plight of those 2.6 million women – the Waspi – who are having their […]
The joint BEIS and Work and Pensions Committees’ report into the Taylor Review of the gig economy, which is published today, is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. Too often the gig economy is associated in the public’s mind with the idea of low-paid, insecure work that exploits the vulnerable. This is certainly the caricature that […]
I wasn’t born a Conservative. I come from a long line of staunch Labour voters who formed my early view of the world. At university, I threw myself into a whirlwind of left-wing causes (they had better parties). The first few times I voted it was for the Greens or Labour. If someone had said […]
