Quotes from Dawn Foster

Council housing works because it pays for itself relatively quickly: the rent paid by tenants covers the building costs in the long term, and eventually makes a profit for the local authority, which continues to invest in the local area. The money continues to circulate within the community rather than simply boosting the profits of landlords.

For years I avoided loose fruit and veg - an absolute minefield - simply because it was impossible to tell how much they would come to at the till.

Exceptional teaching requires more time and space for teachers to address the differing needs of a classroom, with assistance in staffing and funding.

If the Government put people before markets, it would build more council housing - a form of public investment in housing that pays for itself while offering refuge to those who most need it.

Homelessness can be complex, and some rough sleepers will refuse help when living on the street becomes entrenched. But fining people, confiscating tents, and forcing people to move on from certain areas will do nothing to combat the core issues that cause homelessness.

Tory housing policy is the epitome of tinkering with the deckchairs while the ship is listing.

Christopher Isherwood's eponymous character in 'Mr Norris Takes the Train' reminds me of Boris Johnson, who seems to have stumbled and bumbled into power.

That 'woman becomes a mother' still makes a headline in 2015 reminds women that, for all their personal and collective achievements, society is still more interested in the limitations of biology, and rapt at the fact that women can - and do - make a wealth of choices about if and how they become a parent.

Whenever rent controls or increased tenants' rights are raised, naysayers wail that doing so will cause landlords to flee the rental market. Firstly, that is a canard: if a landlord charges £1000 for a room, and you tell him from now on he can only charge £900, he won't decide to instead earn nothing.

For homeless and formerly homeless people, losing their ID and then having to apply for and afford new ID is insurmountably difficult.

The luxury of time to write, and the confidence to do so, make it easier for the more affluent and when the most decorated novels all begin to resemble each other the tacitly accepted view of what a good novel must be (and must be about) shifts imperceptibly.

The impact of punitive government measures is long-lasting and widens inequality and social discord.

I'm learning to believe that my epilepsy doesn't disbar me from being considered attractive, so if I think I look palatable in A&E I'll damn well Instagram it.

None of us are as insulated from poverty as we think.

Equality legislation, and audits on gender pay gaps, ethnicity and disability, - within companies and public authorities - all aim to stamp out the informal transfer of power through social networks, in favour of appointment through genuine merit.

Housing, not buying, should be a right - and available and affordable for all. Right to buy is devastating our housing system, just as rail privatisation has devastated our transport infrastructure.

Sitting on public transport is an occasionally exasperating experience if you have the temerity to attempt travelling while female.

We can find any number of ways to criminalise begging, but when we do so, aren't we attacking the problem from entirely the wrong angle? Banning begging or rough sleeping treats street homelessness as a lifestyle choice that can be discouraged through threats of legal action and heavy-handed policing.

It should be obvious that banning begging or criminalising rough sleeping will do little to combat homelessness.

Social mobility has always been a slippery term, with nebulous markers of success: how many state school children have to achieve postgraduate degrees, or fill higher professional jobs, before society is deemed to have achieved the requisite degree of mobility to consider prejudice or injustice a thing of the past?

I was one of the few journalists who was quite pro-Corbyn from the beginning.

The academisation of schools under New Labour helped the Conservatives bring free schools into being. They said the new model would allow enthused parents to open schools. Instead, most free schools and academies are run by large chains that can outsource their IT facilities, cleaning services and other non-teaching jobs.

A smart society recognises the benefits of treating problems before they escalate, either through helping people quit smoking or moving them out of mould-blighted bedsits. A compassionate society also tries to limit human misery and suffering wherever possible.

Throughout the west, the rise of populism has shaken establishments, with politicians and commentators asking why there has been a resurgent interest in socialism, and a growth of the far right on the opposite side.