I think politicians just need to get out in the real world.

I've always been quite driven so it wasn't like the cancer was my wake-up call.

I was so glad when geek went from being a bad word to a good word.

I believe that investing in welfare is crucial - but I also believe that it only works if you're getting help to those who need it. If you're doing it with no results, it's disastrous.

We need to make sure that people are progressively better off in work than they would be on welfare.

Labour have long since forgotten that people work hard to pay their taxes and support our welfare system.

Business can be hard. But we need more of it.

Businesses create every penny of the wealth we need to pay for our nation's schools, our NHS and our pensions. They are our only path to prosperity.

When I was starting a small printing shop in Wembley, I vividly remember coming out of the cinema, realising I had spent the two hours worrying about that month's payroll, rather than focusing on the film.

None of us want to live in a society where people are forced to sleep in shop doorways, on park benches or in dangerous, run-down buildings.

Our reasons for criminalising squatting are crystal clear - we want to protect the rights of regular hard-working homeowners against the damage squatters can inflict on their homes, and the distress this causes in their lives.

An astonishing disengagement from reality is necessary to actually believe there is something sinister about protecting people's homes from invasion through squatting.

Representing the people of Welwyn Garden City makes me intensely proud.

While we recognise the challenges councils are facing, we do expect to see them match our commitment to the most vulnerable.

As the people at the sharp end of delivering the government's commitment to tackle climate change we know attaining zero carbon status has always involved a flexible approach.

All too often affordable housing can be a block on mobility and aspiration, so instead Conservatives will ensure that living in social accommodation means that you'll get a 'freedom pass' to get on and do more with your life.

By scrapping the government's centrally dictated density targets we'll ensure that the right type of new homes are built where they're needed, ending the glut of one- and two-bedroom flats.

It's vital that communities actually get something back in return for seeing their area developed.

Extra homes require additional services and councils have to pick up the tab.

There is a dangerous chasm between what those seeking election claim they could do in office and the stark reality that once in power the real decision-making has long since been sub-contracted elsewhere.

For anyone who has found it easy to conceive, it is perhaps hard to imagine how IVF can become all-encompassing in someone's life. The endless check-ups, scans, tests, periods of waiting and finally the day when you learn the result. It's a physically punishing process for the women and an emotionally exhausting process for both partners.

The reality is that it would be wiser and even kinder for politicians to be responsible about what they claim the NHS will do, because the pain of having raised expectations for parents who are desperate to start a family, only to see those hopes crushed, is more cruel than having said nothing at all.

Gordon Brown doesn't often spring surprises. He's usually far too cautious to deliver the unexpected.

My wife and I set up the business, we were always very open about it and had a business author's name as many authors do.