If we are to create an alternative to dog-eat-dog capitalism then we can only do so collectively through socialism.  I have written for the Guardian and other media on the need for comprehensive, non-selective, free education for everyone, at whatever stage of their lives.

I am also a feminist who believes that sex and gender are different. I believe that boys and girls should be able to do exactly what they want to do and do not have an innate gendered identity, based on my historical research which shows that as expectations of boys’ and girls’ behaviours change, so do their actions and ambitions. There is no innate ‘feeling’ that defines womanhood, as some organisations such as Stonewall suggest. My research leads me to believe that women are and have been treated as different and inferior to men on the basis of our biological sex and our potential and actual role as mothers. As such, sex needs to be taken very seriously in understanding the discrimination women face.  I also believe in the right to evidence-based debate about women’s rights. As such I am proud to be involved in the women’s rights group Woman’s Place UK.

I strongly support the right to freedom of speech and academic freedom to debate. It’s important that those who disagree are able to do so and, through debating, to hone their own arguments. I’ve learned a lot from those I disagree with.

Some of my Guardian pieces on education, feminism and the historical and current arguments for socialism are here. A Labour List blog I did at the invitation of Jon Trickett is here. A speech about feminism I gave at a meeting held by A Woman’s Place UK is here