Jackie Long , Social Affairs Editor and Presenter

After a day of commemorations, thousands of survivors, the bereaved and local residents have embarked on a silent march to remember those who were killed by the fire in Grenfell Tower a year ago. Earlier at the base of the tower they read out 72 names, the name of each and every person who lost their life…

Scotland Yard is to investigate the London Fire Brigade over its use of the stay put policy during the Grenfell Tower Fire after claims that it cost lives – and should have been abandoned far earlier. Lawyers for the Fire Brigade told the public inquiry into the fire that a mass evacuation of the building would have been extremely difficult…

They were told to stay inside their flats when the fire broke out. Now the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster has heard that the “stay put” advice substantially failed half an hour after the blaze broke out. Failing to abandon it then, the counsel to the inquiry said, could have made all the difference…

A young Malian man, who climbed up a block of flats in Paris, to save a young child has been hailed as a hero by the French president Emmanuel Macron – who’s offered him citizenship and a new job as a firefighter. Mr Macron handed 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama a medal at the Elysee Palace for…

Ireland votes a resounding ‘Yes’ to liberalising its strict abortion laws. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the country was united – calling it the “culmination of a quiet revolution”.

On Friday, Irish voters will be asked to repeal the part of the constitution which bans abortion. After that the government proposes to legalise abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy and in cases after that where the health of life of the mother is at risk. We’ve been following the campaign.

On Friday Ireland will decide whether to scrap its almost-total ban on abortion. Vocal proponents for and against reforming the constitution have powered a referendum campaign that has become increasingly bitter, but with a significant proportion of the electorate thought to have made up their minds. Our Social Affairs Editor Jackie Long is joined in…

It was a heart-rending and very human start to the official inquiry into the disaster. The family and friends of all 72 of those who lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire have the opportunity to pay tribute to them. The first few were heard today.

Anyone who’d hoped to see an African-American woman walk a royal bride down the aisle of an ancient English church with the world watching was disappointed today. It may have been Meghan Markle’s mother’s own reluctance, or perhaps it was one step too far from protocol and tradition for Palace officials. We’ll probably never know.…

Security has all but collapsed. Millions are in desperate need of aid and there are constant outbreaks of fighting as the President tries to cling to power. This is the Democratic Republic of Congo, where countless children are caught up in this cycle of political turmoil and violence. Jackie Long has travelled across Kasai, from…

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick discusses violent crime.

Violence has continued to grip the capital, with seven more people injured from stabbings since yesterday evening. The Met Police called an emergency meeting of community leaders to discuss a strategy for dealing with the issue, but those directly affected by violent crime in the city continue to be shocked by recent events. Patrick Boyce, whose…

Tonight in East London now we are joined by Elijah Mochia, youth worker Tom Isaac and Rosemary Watt-Wyness Chief Executive of London Youth and MP David Lammy.

When Sadiq Khan was candidate for London Mayor in 2016, he made a promise to get tough on violent crime, particularly knife crime. Jackie Long spoke to the Mayor earlier and started by asking him if he had failed to deliver his promise.

As we come to the end of a terrible week, six people have been killed in the last five days in the capital victims of stabbings and gun attacks we speak to Paul Barnes whose son Quamari was killed in west London last year.