Jackie Long , Social Affairs Editor and Presenter

Alex Hewson, from the Prison Reform Trust. discusses Rory Stewart’s pledge to resign if violence in jails doesn’t fall.

Prisons Minister Rory Stewart discusses the government’s plans to combat drugs use and violence in jails.

He was a prominent barrister and Christian leader, accused of brutally beating young boys, all in the name of religion. John Smyth is said to have groomed the boys at Christian holiday camps. In an investigation by this programme it was revealed a report had been drawn up into the alleged abuse in 1982, but not passed…

Sky high taxes, plummeting pensions and swingeing austerity cuts – that’s the price Greece is paying as it ends eight years of international bailouts. The strict terms and conditions imposed to deal with the debt crisis have cost the country. Especially those who’ve been made homeless. Now, some of them have set up an alternative…

Anti-abortion campaigners have been celebrating their narrow victory this week in Argentina – after the country’s senate defeated a bill which would have legalised terminations during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. 

Filmmakers Sara Afshar and Nicola Cutcher reveal evidence showing the Head of Military Intelligence asked to be informed about every single death of an individual in his custody.

He’s the figurehead of the new jazz revival in the US. Kamasi Washington was brought up in South Central Los Angeles, a place better known for producing gangster rap than saxophone players.

Lawyers helping sick and disabled people fight benefit claims at tribunal have accused the government of creating a “hostile environment” where claimants are “just not believed.”

The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced it will pay its first dividend in nearly ten years.  The bank is still two-thirds publicly owned after being bailed out at the height of the financial crisis. Earlier this week there was anger from many small businesses after RBS learnt it would face NO action from the financial watchdog…

After eleven weeks the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower Fire is to break now until the beginning of September. Before it closed today, the judge heard from a firefighter who was on the phone for an hour to someone who lost their life in the blaze.   Meanwhile, it’s being reported that the Government was…

More than a quarter of children in England begin primary school unable to speak in full sentences or read simple words. The Education Secretary pledged to cut that number in half over the next ten years. Damian Hinds said if children were “behind from the start” they were rarely able to catch up.

“No-one should ever have to hide who they are or who they love,” said Theresa May today, as the government announced the results of the largest ever survey of LGBT people, along with a 75-point action plan. Ministers also unveiled a long-awaited consultation on changes to the Gender Recognition Act, which determines how a trans…

He’s best know as Loki, the Scottish rapper famed for his talent with the spoken word. But now Loki, real name Darren McGarvey, has just won one of the country’s most prestigious prizes for the written word – the Orwell Prize for political books. Judges have called it the book Orwell would have wanted to…

23 year old medical student Leanne Armitage set up an outreach programme to tell pupils in inner city London – whatever their background – they too can become doctors. She joins Jackie Long in the studio to discuss diversity in the medical profession.