My kids live in a different environment than I did as a child. They've got privileges I didn't have as a child, but they have disadvantages. They don't see their mum as much. They see the threats that one gets. They live in a house where they've got panic buttons, and I've had to teach them about safety.
Child poverty is more than an abstract problem to me. It's something I know all too much about.
I understand that every parent wants the best for their child because I want the best for my children too.
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds will have the most debt, and then, being less likely than their affluent peers to go straight into high paying jobs, they will spend most of their working lives trying but failing to pay off that debt.
I've seen at first-hand what Labour Governments can achieve in power.
I was pregnant when I left school, so I needed income support. I didn't even have functional skills, not even GSCEs in English and Maths, so I needed to go back to college.
2018 marks 30 years since Margaret Thatcher's government introduced Section 28, one of its most abominable policies. As a part of the Local Government Act, this Section was designed to prevent local authorities and schools from the so-called promotion of LGBT+ issues.
From 13/14 I was always hanging about with older boys. Boys in school used to call me names. But outside older boys would pay me attention because I looked older for my age. I was going to clubs from 14. I wanted to be loved.
Supporting any team has its ups and downs. But being part of a united team on the brink of victory, is the only way we're going to change the country for the better.
Sometimes you have to invest in people to get the best out of them. To me, that is socialism. That is why I'm a Labour member rather than a Conservative.
My job is making sure that every child gets a good school place. If there is a particular disadvantage to a community, you invest more. Because that's the Labour way.
It took 15 years and a Labour government to finally see Section 28 taken off the statute books. But this victory belongs to the LGBT+ activists who campaigned for so many years, fighting for change from the ground up.