We should not let those with a political agenda use London's growing population to support their anti-immigration rhetoric, and we should challenge those who want to label London's global attraction a flaw rather than a strength.

Unemployed people should be treated as potential to be realised, not a problem to be solved.

To tackle the scourge of young unemployment we need to be ambitious.

As the MP for an area like Tottenham you quickly learn that the factors leading to unemployment are as numerous as they are diverse.

It is hard to speak the truth about valued national institutions. But when they are not fit for purpose, we must speak out.

A university education is a privilege, but we should be proud that in Britain it is also a right, no matter what your income or class or ethnic background.

While at Harvard, I was struck by the palpable sense of noblesse oblige that surrounds their sophisticated outreach and bursary programmes. It is almost as if they view extending opportunity to disadvantaged individuals as their highest mission.

We cannot afford to lose talented young black people, who make it to university, overseas, or worse, to let other talented black people be put off by the notion that university is somehow not for them.

Edgy' music has always formed the cornerstone to any teenage rebellion. Most indulge in it precisely because adults like me don't like them doing so.

People who have no stake in society are the least likely to have respect for it.

Mum worked nonstop, doing two, sometimes three, jobs throughout the 80s.

My father was a taxidermist, not a run-of-the-mill profession for a West Indian immigrant. Having given up on becoming a vet, he settled for working with dead animals rather than live ones. Dad was a true craftsman, an artist.

Many single mothers do a heroic job looking after their children, as mine did with us; but as she found, it becomes twice as hard to set boundaries with half the number of parents.

My biggest fear growing up was that I would end up in prison. That was the fate of growing numbers of my peers.

For even the most seasoned observers of American politics, Barack Obama is a phenomenon.

Cities can be paradoxical places. In the mornings they buzz with commuters, in the evenings they come alive with diners and partygoers, at weekends the streets fill with shoppers and market traders. But amidst the hustle and bustle, even the greatest city can be a lonely place.

Parenting is more than a numbers game: it's a question of whether people are equipped for the toughest job they will ever be asked to do.

Fathers need to be made aware of their responsibilities - and that's up to all of us to communicate, as parents, as politicians and as members of a community.

I know what to say, how to say it, how to bring profile to the issues I care about and people want to listen to me.

I'm a prolific tweeter. It allows me to respond to the news of the day or comment on something Jacob Rees-Mogg has said on behalf of my constituents.

I'm not one of those people for which politics is my sole preoccupation.

I've got a very full life beyond my career.

I'd always been the kind of lawyer that was attracted back to policy.

When I make a contribution in debates and in our public life, the House wants to hear what I say. It goes quiet - it wants to know what my opinion is.