The Interview

HARDtalk goes to the Hay Literary Festival in Wales, where we are joined by an audience to meet a world-renowned specialist in death. For many of us, it is the hardest subject of all to think and talk about - yet for author Sue Black, it is the very business of life. She's a professor of forensic anthropology, whose ability to read the clues and stories in human remains has made her a world renowned investigator. What does she see when she looks death in the face?Image: Sue Black (Credit: BBC)

HARDTalk is in Jerusalem, an ancient city which arguably stirs more passion, argument and hostility than any other. Israel claims all of it as its eternal, undivided capital - a claim at odds with international law and much world opinion, but boosted by President Trump's decision to move the US embassy there. Stephen Sackur talks to Jerusalem's two term mayor Nir Barkat. Can Israel conclusively win the struggle for Jerusalem?Image: Nir Barkat (Credit: Getty Images)

Sarah Montague speaks to Ben Rhodes who was Deputy National Security Adviser for President Barack Obama. During his time at the White House he developed such a close bond with the President that he earned a reputation for being able to anticipate his thinking and administration insiders described him as the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Obama himself. So how does he feel about the new occupant of the White House and what he has done with their legacy?(Photo: Ben Rhodes speaks about the President Obama's upcoming trip to Cuba during a daily press briefing at the White House, 2016. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

The internet is perhaps the defining technological advance of the last fifty years. It has opened up a new world of possibilities, but what if it also represents an existential threat to humanity? That is the alarming possibility raised by computer scientist Jaron Lanier. He is no tech-phobic sensationalist; he is a Silicon Valley insider who was a hugely influential pioneer in Virtual Reality and a consultant to some of the biggest tech giants. In what ways are we sowing the seeds of our own destruction?(Photo: Jaron Lanier in the Hardtalk studio)

Since the beginning of 2018, the Iranian Government has locked up a number of environmental scientists and campaigners. One respected conservationist was found hanged in his cell in what the authorities said was a suicide. What is going on? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Kaveh Madani, a scientist invited back to Iran from an academic post in London to be deputy head of the Environment Department. He got caught up in the crackdown and fled Iran in April. Why has environmental activism become so dangerous in Iran?(Photo: Kaveh Madani)

When historians write their versions of Donald Trump’s extraordinary ascent to the Presidency, prominence will surely be given to the former Director of the FBI James Comey. He was a Republican hired by a Democratic President, whose handling of two key investigations; into Hillary Clinton’s emails and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, polarised America. His recent memoir was a withering condemnation of the man who fired him, President Trump. But has James Comey sullied his own reputation by stepping into America’s political swamp?(Photo: FBI Director James Comey testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. Credit: Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

One issue more than any other that is polarising European politics and dividing the European Union is migration. In Germany, it threatens Angela Merkel’s grip on power, whilst from Italy to Austria and Hungary and Poland, it is driving policies which threaten to smash any continental consensus. Stephen Sackur speaks to Karin Kneissl - the foreign minister in Austria's right wing, nationalist coalition government. Are Europeans finding their authentic voice or is a dangerous brand of populism poisoning politics?(Photo: Austria's Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl arrives for a cabinet meeting in Vienna, Austria, 2018. Credit: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

Can Kazakhstan move beyond one party rule? Stephen Sackur talks to the chairman of the Kazakh Senate, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The country's shiny new capital city, Astana, tells you plenty about the country’s oil wealth and its big ambition to be Central Asia’s regional powerhouse. But all of this cannot mask a nagging question - what happens in this country when the long serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev finally leaves power?(Photo: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (L), chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan's Parliament. Credit: Alexander Shalgin\TASS\Getty Images)

Mary Lou McDonald is the leader of Sinn Féin - the party of Irish Republicans in the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland. Ireland is going through a period of extraordinary change. Social attitudes have shifted profoundly on abortion, gay rights and the role of the Catholic Church. Now Brexit poses a challenge to the island, north and south. Can Sinn Féin take advantage?(Photo: Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald after delivering a keynote speech for the first time during the annual party conference. Credit: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

The new Ethiopian government is making dramatic reforms in the country: the state of emergency had been lifted, the military and intelligence chiefs have been replaced and opposition politicians have been released en masse from prison. One of those released is Andargachew Tsege a prominent opposition leader from the organisation Patriotic Ginbot 7. He had been on death row in an Ethiopian jail for four years. Will his group renounce violence and will he go back to Ethiopia to help build the country's future?(Photo: Andargachew Tsege)

Rodrigo Duterte has been President of the Philippines for two years. His war on drugs has cost thousands of lives, with his human rights record attracting international condemnation, and prompting charges of authoritarianism. Yet he has an approval rating unheard of in most democracies. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to former Chief Justice of the Philippines- Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was removed from the Supreme Court by her fellow justices. Was that a victory against official corruption or a devastating Duterte-inspired blow to democracy?(Photo: Ousted Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno waves to supporters. Credit: Ted Aljibe/AFP)

Stephen Sackur speaks to Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive officer of the Afghan unity Government. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has ordered an unconditional ceasefire in the army's military campaign against the Taliban. But Afghans can be forgiven for being sceptical. The pause is for just two weeks. The Taliban has given no sign it will respond in kind; and the broader security, economic and political condition of the country remains parlous. Does he and President Ghani have a coherent plan for rescuing Afghanistan?

With Brexit the main preoccupation for politicians in Britain, the opposition Labour Party has announced a shift in policy which would see the UK retaining most of the elements of its current relationship with the EU. It wants Britain to have full access to the single market and stay a member of the customs union. But that does not go far enough for some staunchly pro-EU members of the party who want Britain to stay part of the European Economic Area. HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to Labour MP and prominent EU campaigner Chuka Umunna about challenging the Conservative government and his own Labour Party leadership on Brexit.Image: Chuka Umunna (Credit: Press Association)

It's hard to imagine how the US-Russia relationship could be any more dysfunctional. Each accuses the other of consistently malign action and intent. 'Worse than the Cold war' was the way it was described by Russia's foreign minister. And yet, the two presidents, Trump and Putin, appear to have some regard for each other. What does it all mean? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to former US ambassador to Russia, and Obama adviser- Michael McFaul. How deep does the poison in the relationship run?(Photo: Michael McFaul in the Hardtalk studio)

The National Assembly in Pakistan has been dissolved ahead of the general election in late July. Just as eyes were turned on him when he was a top international cricket star, much attention is focussed on Imran Khan who abandoned sport for the far less gentlemanly arena of Pakistani politics. He established his own party- the Movement for Justice Party, more than 20 years ago and says he wants to create a new Pakistan. In the last elections in 2013, his party came third. So can he make it to the position of Prime Minister this time round? And is he the right person to steer Pakistan given criticisms about his performance?(Photo: Imran Khan on Hardtalk)

Sarah Montague speaks to biochemist Jennifer Doudna. Crispr Cas9 has been described as the greatest biological breakthrough in decades. It is a gene editing tool and the hopes that rest on it are immense - that it can be used to cure cancer and other intractable diseases, stop mosquitoes carrying malaria, create drought resistant crops and food that does not rot, even that it can recreate extinct animals. What does she make of the breathtaking pace of innovation since her discovery and does she fear where it may lead?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to the British writer and commentator Ed Husain, who believes the gulf between Islam and the West is widening and that westerners see the religion as something to be feared rather than understood. He spent several years as a radical Islamist and then turned his back on jihadism and has written about his own personal journey as well as trying to explain why people join extremist groups. Now he is calling on moderate Muslims to reclaim their religion from the extremists. But is he oversimplifying a complex issue and playing into the hands of Islamaphobes?(Photo: Ed Husain in the Hardtalk studio)

For more than fifty years Les Hinton was the right hand man of one of the most powerful press barons of modern times - Rupert Murdoch. Hinton was a top executive at News Corp during some of its most tumultuous times. He has just lifted the lid on his time at the corporation in a new memoir. How much personal responsibility does he bear for some of the excesses at News International like the phone hacking scandal in the UK and did he have a career he can be proud of?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Egyptian activist and writer Dr Nawal El Saadawi. She has been described as the Arab world's leading feminist. She is a medical doctor, writer, activist, campaigner and outspoken political critic. She was banned from speaking in the Egyptian media and imprisoned under the government of President Sadat for her outspoken views. How much freedom of expression is there currently under President Sisi? And what about the status of women in Egypt today?(Photo: Dr Nawal El Saadawi)

What does Ireland's abortion referendum say about the country today? On 25 May Irish voters face a choice - by way of a referendum they can either keep a constitutional amendment which outlaws abortion in all but the most exceptional circumstances, or they can change their constitution and pave the way for the legalisation of abortion. Given Ireland's history, culture and religion it is a fierce debate. Hardtalk's Stephen Sackur is joined by two campaigners - Sinead Redmond, an advocate of expanding abortion rights, and Caroline Simons, an opponent.(Photo: Caroline Simons (L) pro-life campaigner and Sinead Redmond (R) abortion rights advocate)

Can anyone clean up Brazilian politics? HARDtalk’s Shaun Ley speaks to former Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff. Brazil was one of the success stories of the early 21st century – under her mentor, President Lula da Silva, rapid economic growth was combined with radical redistribution of money to the poor. Dilma Rousseff, who was tortured under the military dictatorship, succeeded him, but under her presidency the economy faltered. In 2016 she was forced from office accused of fiddling the figures to boost her chances of re-election. She’s in London drumming up support for Lula’s bid to be re-elected President – only he’s currently in a prison cell in Brazil having been convicted of corruption. Can he stage a political comeback?(Photo: Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff speaks to supporters at the Planalto presidential palace, 2016. Credit: Igo Estrela/Getty Images)

In a special edition of the programme, Zeinab Badawi is in the Turkish capital of Ankara to speak to the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He’s busy preparing for elections which he has called a year and a half early. Is he trying to preempt a possible slide in his popularity, or simply trying to tighten his grip on power? And how worried is he about escalating tension in the Middle East? This episode was recorded on Thursday 10th May 2018.

President Donald Trump has blown a superpower sized hole in the international agreement designed to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. The US has given up on carrot and stick diplomacy with Tehran, in favour of just stick. So what now? The other signatories to the nuclear deal are trying to keep it alive, but ominously in the Middle East, tension is rising; most particularly between Israel and Iran. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Tzipi Hotovely - how close are we to a major Middle East conflict?Image: Tzipi Hotovely, Credit: Getty Images

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Ukraine’s Health Minister, Ulana Suprun. Four years after the Maidan revolution, Ukraine is a country of unfulfilled expectations. Huge external pressures remain - not least Moscow's hostility - but many of the problems are internal; stalled reforms, political in-fighting and endemic corruption. Ulana Suprun, a Ukrainian-American doctor, is now the country’s health minister trying to drive through big reform of the healthcare system. It's a hugely symbolic test - can she deliver?

Elections are due in Pakistan in July and running for a seat in the National Assembly is the heir to the country's main political dynasty. HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari - son of Benazir Bhutto, the two time prime minister of Pakistan who was assassinated in 2007. He is Chairman of the Pakistan People's Party - founded by his grandfather 50 years ago. The PPP has seen its popularity plummet in recent years - can Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari restore its fortunes and turn around a political legacy tarnished by allegations of corruption, patronage and incompetence?(Photo: Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari speaks during an interview with AFP, 2017. Credit: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP)

How is the European Commission coping with an increasingly fractious Europe? Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to the EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova at the headquarters of the EU's executive body, the Commission - the engine room of the EU. But how smoothly is that engine running? For all the focus on Brexit, perhaps the bigger challenge to EU unity comes from a growing fault-line between east and west within the European club.(Photo: EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Vera Jourova talks to the media at the EU headquarters in Brussels, 2016. Credit: Getty Images)

The recent US-led missile strikes on several military installations in Syria changed precious little in the country's horrific civil war. On the ground, the bloodshed, displacement and suffering continue. Regional and global divisions over Syria are as deep as ever. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to a Syrian politician close to the Assad regime. Fares Shehabi is a powerful Aleppo business leader and self-styled 'independent' MP. Is Syria as we knew it broken beyond repair?Image: Fares Shehabi, Credit: Reuters

Can President Barrow live up to people’s expectations? HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to President Adama Barrow of The Gambia who has been attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London. He came to office in January 2017 after his electoral victory over the incumbent Yahya Jammeh who ruled over The Gambia with an iron first for more than 20 years. President Barrow found a bankrupt nation, scarred by years of living under fear and intimidation. With nearly half the population living in poverty, things may have improved but not fast enough.

HARDtalk is in Geneva, the headquarters of the Kofi Annan Foundation which marks its tenth anniversary this year. Zeinab Badawi speaks to the former Secretary-General of the United Nations as he reaches his eightieth birthday, in front of an audience. In a career spanning six decades at the United Nations, he has held several senior positions including two terms as Secretary-General until 2006. There were high points such as the award of the Nobel Peace Prize as well as tragic events such as the Rwandan genocide and the Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims. What are his biggest worries today and does he have any regrets?

Stephen Sackur is in Moscow for an exclusive interview with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. In recent days the world has been alarmed by the very real possibility of a direct military confrontation between the United States and Russia. Syria is of course where the current tensions are highest, and where missiles have been fired, but the hostility is deep-seated on a number of fronts. We’ve had diplomatic expulsions, sanctions, there’s talk of a new cold war. What is Russia’s next move?

Twenty years ago the historic Good Friday Agreement was signed in Northern Ireland which put an end to three decades of bloody sectarian conflict. Politicians from Northern Ireland, the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the US who were involved in the marathon negotiations will mark the anniversary this month. Monica McWilliams represented the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition then, and continues to play a significant role in post conflict Northern Ireland. Given the uncertainty that hangs over Northern Ireland today, is there much to celebrate?(Photo: Monica McWilliams)

US military action against President Assad's forces in Syria seems imminent. President Trump told the Russians- Assad's military backers - to "get ready" by way of a tweet. A spiral of events which began with an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian army is heading towards a dangerous confrontation between Washington and Moscow. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Philip Gordon- Barak Obama's senior adviser on the Middle East in 2013 when Assad's use of chemical weapons came close to prompting a US military response. Did hesitation then sow the seeds of today's crisis?

Politicians will always tell us they're tough on crime, but the evidence suggests they find it easier to be tough on murderers, muggers and robbers than they do on corporate white collar criminals engaged in fraud, and money laundering. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to the outgoing head of Britain's Serious Fraud Office, David Green. For six years he has been out to apprehend corporate criminals; but has he ever been given the tools and the backing to do the job properly?

The outside world tends to view Scandinavia as a haven of prosperity, progressive politics and social liberalism, but look closer and you find a powerful strand of right-wing populism fuelled by a suspicion of immigration. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Siv Jensen- Norway’s Finance Minister and the leader of the right-wing Progress Party, a partner in Norway’s Coalition Government for the past five years. How does populism work in a country rated one of the world’s richest and happiest?(Photo: Siv Jensen of Norway attends the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at Oslo City Town Hall 2017. Credit: Nigel Waldron/Getty Images)

The best art helps us to see and feel in new ways - it can challenge and provoke. Michael Rakowitz uses sculpture, installation, and site specific experiences to transmit a vision which reflects his Iraqi Jewish heritage and preoccupations which range from war to family, to food. He has made it his mission to test the boundaries of what we think of as art and has won plaudits around the world. What does his work tell us about the state we are in?(Photo: Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz at the unveiling of his work, the new fourth plinth sculpture titled The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, Trafalgar Square, London, 2018. Credit: Getty Images)

In 2010 Siddhartha Mukherjee wrote a book about the history of cancer which won the Puliter Prize the following year. He's also a practising cancer physician in New York. Hundreds of billions of dollars is poured into cancer treatment and research every year. We understand it better and have more effective tools to combat it than ever before, yet it kills millions of people each year. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Siddhartha Mukherjee. His book, The Emperor of Maladies - a self-styled biography of cancer paints a unique picture of the disease. Eight years on from its publication, is cancer any less of a curse?(Photo: Siddhartha Mukherjee. Credit: Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur talks to America's Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto. Is the US in danger of losing friends and influence in Africa?

Stephen Sackur is in Geneva to talk to the head of the World Trade Organisation Roberto Azevêdo. The WTO is supposed to oversee free and fair global trade but right now, the organisation risks looking impotent and even irrelevant. President Donald Trump is making good on his promises on tariffs and protectionism and the Chinese are threatening to respond in kind. What can the WTO do to avoid a global trade war?(Photo: Roberto Azevedo at the second day of the summit of G7 nations 2015. Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

In culturally conservative, male dominated Pakistan, can an actress be an agent of change? Stephen Sackur speaks to the country's biggest female movie star Mahira Khan. Women in the movie industry have taken the lead in a movement for equality, respect and an end to abusive male behaviour. The mantra #MeToo has become a cultural phenomenon in the United States but how far can it reach?(Photo: Pakistani actress Mahira Khan at the Beirut International Awards Festivals (BIAF), 2017. Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images)

What is Trump’s brand of disruption doing to US foreign policy? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Bill Richardson, former Clinton cabinet secretary and one time US North Korea emissary. The next couple of months will present President Donald Trump with foreign policy choices that could define his presidency. A summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is looming, so too a decision on whether to dump the nuclear deal with Iran. And never far from the surface, how to handle relations with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

In the battle for Turkey’s future and its soul, who is winning? More than 150 journalists are currently in prison in Turkey. President Erdogan’s government stands accused of an all-out assault on freedom of expression. Stephen Sackur talks to Can Dündar, former editor of the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, who has experienced imprisonment, life threatening violence and exile in the last couple of years after publishing material which infuriated the Turkish president.(Photo: Can Duendar, Turkish journalist, during an interview at the 2017 Frankfurt Book Fair. Credit: Hannelore Foerster/Getty Images)

Can the DRC find a path to prosperity? The Democratic Republic of Congo boasts assets that ought to be the envy of Africa – vast productive lands, abundant natural resources and a youthful population. But DRC’s potential remains unfulfilled thanks to political instability, communal violence and corruption. HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to the country’s Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala – a one-time opponent of President Kabila who now serves him.

Are journalists still able to tell the truth to power? On March 16th 1968 US soldiers committed a war crime during the Vietnam war. More than 500 men, women and children were systematically slaughtered in the village of May Lai. The terrible truth was exposed thanks to the work of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to him about a lifetime of reporting that has been punctuated by scoops, prizes and plentiful confrontations with the powers that be.

Can a movement founded on a hashtag really change the world? HARDtalk’s Sarah Montague speaks to Patrisse Khan-Cullors, the woman who first coined the slogan Black Lives Matter. She used it as a hashtag on a friend's Facebook post back in 2013. Since then Black Lives Matter has taken off as a political movement around the world. She’s now written about her own experience growing up in a poor black family in California, and how she’s convinced that if racism and state violence against African Americans can be stopped then other problems in the black community - such as poverty, poor education and crime - would disappear too. Is she right?Image: Patrisse Khan-Cullors (Credit: BBC)

Why does migration frighten so many of us? HARDtalk speaks to writer Mohsin Hamid whose novels have explored cultural, economic and religious tensions between East and West. Globalisation is a trend based on movement - of money goods, ideas and people - across continents and national borders. In a world of glaring inequality, it has stirred a powerful backlash manifested in the rise of nationalism and identity politics. This clash of human impulses is fertile territory for the Pakistani novelist.

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to, Boris Titov, leader of Russia’s Party of Growth. Seven candidates are challenging Vladimir Putin in this month's Russian presidential election; but none of them has much hope of victory. One of the seven 'other' candidates - Boris Titov - is a Putin appointee as government ombudsman for business. Does Russia need reform rather than authoritarianism?Image: Boris Titov (Credit: BBC)

Stephen Sackur speaks to Ahmad Tibi. He is a veteran Arab Israeli MP and one time adviser to Yasser Arafat. President Donald Trump claimed he could broker the deal of the century between Israel and the Palestinian. Instead he seems to have entrenched the hostility after recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Is the Arab-Israeli experience a sign that the status quo is the only viable response to the conflict between Jews and Arabs?(Photo: Ahmad al-Tibi, speaks to the media at a Jerusalem district court in Jerusalem. Credit: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)

In September 1957 nine African American students, including Elizabeth Eckford, entered the all white Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, thereby breaking for the first time the racial segregation barrier in US schools. They became known as the Little Rock Nine. Two years earlier the US Supreme Court had ruled segregation in schools to be unconstitutional. The first time Elizabeth Eckford tried to enter Little Rock Central High she was turned away and the image of her surrounded by a hostile crowd of local white people is one of the most famous photographs of the American civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 60s. Later in September 1957 Elizabeth and her fellow group of African American students were finally able to enter the school. But their troubles didn't stop there. The Little Rock Nine were regularly abused and shunned by white students and for Elizabeth Eckford her time at the school led to suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. HARDtalk is at her familyhome in Little Rock from where she left to attend Central High more than 60 years ago.(Photo: Elizabeth Eckford)

It is ten years since Kosovo became Europe’s newest nation. It has not been an easy decade. Relations with neighbouring Serbia remain hostile and international recognition has been patchy with Kosovo is still struggling to get on top of endemic poverty and corruption. Stephen Sackur speaks to Ramush Haradinaj – Kosovo’s Prime Minister. Can Kosovo escape its troubled history?Image: Ramush Haradinaj (Credit: BBC)

The HARDtalk programme, like so many others in the churn of 24/7 news tends to focus on people and places facing problems and challenges. More often than not we hold the powerful to account for things that went wrong, not right. Are we missing the bigger picture about the world we live in? Stephen Sackur speaks to the psychologist and writer, Steven Pinker. His new book, Enlightenment Now, is a paean to human progress driven by reason and science. How convincing are his reasons to be cheerful?(Photo: Psychologist and writer Steven Pinker)