大象传媒

The MP for Barking has sat in the House for Commons for nearly two decades and held ministerial jobs in both the Blair and Brown governments. But it is as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee that she now has what many see as her most powerful job. She has investigated the tax arrangements of multinational companies, including Starbucks and Amazon, the funding of Academies and the management of the 2012 Olympic legacy. Jenni talks to her about her power to hold the government and others to account.

The Childcare minister, Elizabeth Truss has said that too many nurseries lack structure and purpose. She thinks they should learn from the teacher-led 茅coles maternelles听in preparing children for school and life beyond. Are children too often being left to their own devices, and is it having a detrimental effect? Jenni talks to Toby Young, co-founder of the West London Free School and to Sue Palmer, a former head teacher and writer on child development.

Jody Williams听received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work to bring about the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty with the听 International Campaign to Ban听Landmines听and in 2004 was named as one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes magazine. As only the 10th woman to win the prize, she is Founding chair of the which campaigns for peace, justice, and equality, and to stop rape and gender violence in conflict.听

My Name Is Jody Williams 鈥� A Vermont Girl鈥檚 Winding Path To The Nobel Peace Prize is published by the University Of California Press.

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Today the women鈥檚 group launches a campaign to reduce the number of women sent to prison. They say there has been an increase in the number of women given custodial sentences over the last 10 years and that over 80% of these women have been convicted for non-violent crimes.听They argue that community sentencing is far more effective in reducing reoffending rates and should be more widely considered.听Jan Hemlin is from the UK Soroptimists.

'Wendy Quill is a Crocodile's Bottom' is the first in a new series of children鈥檚 stories written by and her 11 year old daughter Mina May. The mother and daughter team join Jenni to discuss the book and their unusual working relationship.

听Wendy Quill Is a Crocodile's Bottom听is published by Oxford University Press听in May 2013.听