You cannot duck the difficult issues in the middle of an election campaign.
Work is the way we contribute to society, part of a reciprocal social contract - the giving of our effort and our taking when in need - that holds our society together. We work, we build our society, and we share in its prosperity.
We must never forget the value of work because without it people are denied a sense of dignity and of community.
When you lose work, the meaning and purpose of life are taken away from you, and isolation can set in.
The argument in Labour around full membership of the single market is about whether it can be squared with delivering the desire of many of our voters to gain greater control over immigration. This is a proper concern - Labour must stand for those who voted leave every bit as much as we represent those who voted remain.
Being outside the customs union would mean masses of new red tape, a desperate scramble for trade agreements and the re-emergence of a border in Ireland.
I worked in the Square Mile for three and half years at an international City law firm.
Undoubtedly Obama's multi-ethnic heritage is part of his appeal. There is something in his background that we can all relate to and grab hold of.
If the tax loop holes that allow tax avoidance were shut down, it would go some way to sorting out our finances, would it not?
I think the first person to call me 'Britain's Obama' was Martin Bright at the New Statesman. Harriet Harman made the comparison once at a conference; it was very flattering but it made me cringe slightly.
My stock answer when people ask 'Are you Britain's Barack Obama?' is 'I'm quite happy being Streatham's Chuka Umunna,' and I really mean that.
Comparing every black male politician on the scene to Obama is a bit lazy - just because I'm from a similar background and profession, it's such an easy comparison to make. It's also quite annoying being viewed through the prism of someone else's personality and identity, rather than your own.
I've had a lot of good media and the Obama comparison has definitely been part of the reason for some of that.
Despite Labour's achievements in government, we were too often seen as champions for global capital markets, which worked for bankers but did not seem to be delivering for the rest of Britain.
Future prosperity will be built on private sector growth.
Putting in place the building blocks for the future of our economy is common sense.
People may not know what tier of government has competence over which policy area but they do draw a distinction between the local and the national.
Too often, politicians fail to relate what they advocate to the kind of society they want to build, or they dress up policy in rhetoric which belies their actual intention. Meanwhile Joe Public is left wondering what on earth this bunch are all about and how their vision of a good society differs from that of the other lot.
The reason I have been so outspoken on antisemitism is that racism is racism - and my family have been victims of it.
The Labour perspective is often very preoccupied with either the super-rich or those who don't have work - but doesn't have nearly enough to say to those who do have work, on incomes that may not mean they get benefits or tax credits, but are not well off people.
