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joined the Scottish National Party at the age of 16, and after training as a lawyer stood unsuccessfully to become an MP in the 1990s. Her political career took off after devolution when she was elected as an additional MSP in 1999. She became a member of the Scottish government and as health minister abolished prescription and hospital car parking charges. Now the Deputy Leader of the SNP, she has a central role in overseeing the referendum for Scottish Independence and has been involved in key negotiations with Westminster. She talks to Jenni about her political career.

Sam Bailey was crowned the winner of this year's X Factor, last Sunday, beating 17-year-old Nicholas McDonald. The 36-year-old had been working as a prison officer before winning the £1m recording contract prize and the opportunity to support Beyonce in Birmingham on her upcoming European tour. She talks to Jane about the experience.

Seventy five years from it's first screening, what is it that makes Gone With the Wind so enduring and what is the film’s feminist appeal? Journalist Hannah Betts and Helen Taylor, author of Scarlett's Women: Gone With the Wind and Its Female Fans and Professor of English, Exeter University, join Jenni.    

Martha Fernback was 15 when she died after taking half a gram of MDMA or ecstasy. That was 5 months ago ans since then her single mum, Anne-Marie Cockburn, buried herself in writing as a way of channelling her immense pain of losing her only child. Her outpourings have now been published, and her book 5,742 Days – the number of days Martha lived - documents her agonising journey. Anne-Marie Cockburn talks to Jenni about her daughter and the positivity that’s helping her face the future.

It is suggested that complaints of rape and sexual assault increase around Christmas time. We’ll hear from the Sexual Offences Investigation Team in Hertfordshire to see how they deal with allegations of sexual violence. A young woman explains to us why she immediately reported being raped to the Police, and Deputy Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police Martin Hewitt talks about his concerns as national policing lead for sexual offences at ACPO.

In 2011 Jack Monroe found herself ‘unemployed, broke and broken’. She started writing a blog about feeding herself and her son on £10 a week and her cheap, delicious recipes attracted a wide following. She now writes a regular column in The Guardian, has a book out next year and has announced she is the new face of Sainsbury’s - following on from Jamie Oliver. Her online petition spurred a Parliamentary debate on the causes of food poverty. Henrietta Harrison went to meet Jack and uncover the secrets of her kitchen.

The Blog:

Music included Home by Kate Rusby, taken from the album While Mortals Sleep and Eric Clapton's Come On In My Kitchin, from the album Me And Mr Johnson.

James Morton was runner-up on The Great British Bake Off 2012.  He learned to bake with his grandmother, growing up in the Shetland Isles.  He is now studying Medicine at the University of Glasgow.  He has also written his first book, Brilliant Bread. With the Christmas season in mind,  James shows Jane how to cook the perfect Stollen.