Balancing the common good with the freedom and liberty to exercise that individuality has been and remains a challenge for those committed to democracy while understanding that the polis ensures our participation and therefore our citizenship.

What is it that unites, on the left of British politics, George Orwell, Billy Bragg, Gordon Brown and myself? An understanding that identity and a sense of belonging need to be linked to our commitment to nationhood and a modern form of patriotism.

It is a mistake to separate learning for work and for community and personal development.

Children whose parents return to study do much better at school. Offenders who persist with studies are much less likely to reoffend. The national mental health strategy recognises the important role adult learning can play for people recovering from mental illness.

I still have a lot to learn about what the love of Christ is like - that it's not just knowledge... but it's allowing the truth to change you - allowing Christ's message of grace and hope and love through the cross, that that message is the message that changes the way we look at everything in our lives.

Each step of the way I'm learning. When I leave an interview, I learn whether I feel, 'Oh, that was nice,' or that made me feel like a little piece of me was taken. It's a line that is always on the edge of being crossed, and once you cross it, what's next?

My new passion is to get Internet education mandated in all schools. We've got to start teaching our kids how to be safe in the 40,000 plus chat rooms that are out there. Because they're being had. These sexual predators groom the kids. I know, I've arrested enough of them.

I'm a goody-goody. I'm the person who sits in the back row, makes fun of the teacher, and secretly does the extra-credit work.