The Interview

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)

Who or what can deliver South Sudan's people from despair? Its first six and half years as an independent country have been an unmitigated disaster. A brutal civil conflict, a broken economy, famine and epic levels of corruption - on any and every measure the world’s newest country is failing. This comes despite some of the largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa. HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to South Sudan's Minister of Petroleum, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.Image: Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth (Credit: BBC)

Gross misconduct and sexual exploitation in the humanitarian aid industry - what's gone wrong and why? Oxfam is at the centre of a storm of allegations of abusive behaviour, shoddy recruitment and management cover up. Now the entire aid sector is under scrutiny for safeguarding failures which appear to go back decades. Stephen Sackur speaks to Amira Malik Miller, an experienced aid worker who has witnessed misconduct and is prepared to speak out.Image: Amira Malik Miller (Credit: BBC)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition deal with the Social Democrats looks fragile, with Germany's biggest opposition party now the right wing Alternative for Germany Party. Peter Boehringer is an AfD MP and newly elected chairman of the influential Parliamentary Budget Committee. How will the AfD seek to use its expanded influence?(Photo: Peter Boehringer, member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, poses for a portrait in Berlin. Credit: Reuters)

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to David Smolansky, anti-regime activist who was the mayor of a district in Caracas until he fled the country to escape a jail term for aiding last year’s street protests. There was a time last year when it seemed President Maduro's grip on power in Venezuela was loosening. Yet here we are two months away from a presidential election with Maduro oozing confidence and his opponents seemingly in disarray. Why does Venezuela's opposition so consistently promise more than it delivers?

The Israeli Defence Force sees itself as an institution that binds the nation together. Most young Israelis serve in its ranks after leaving school. It claims to combine defence of the state with a sense of moral purpose. Avner Gvaryahu served in the IDF but he sees an institution in denial – corroded and corrupted by the military occupation of Palestinian communities over a fifty year span. Avner Gvaryahu and like-minded soldiers turned dissidents say they are breaking the silence. Are they patriots or traitors?Image: Avner Gvaryahu (Credit: BBC)

Is the long-time friend and sometimes adviser to President Trump a symbol of all that is currently wrong in US politics? They say you can judge a man by the company he keeps. If that is true, Roger Stone - a hugely controversial and divisive figure in American conservatism - should provide telling insights into the character of the president.(Photo: Roger Stone at Politicon at Pasadena Convention Center. Credit: Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images)

The Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Mehmet Simsek, talks about Turkey's recent military operation in the north western Syria enclave of Afrin. How long will the operation last and does it risk increasing tensions with the United States who are helping Kurdish fighters in Syria?(Photo: Mehmet Simsek on Hardtalk)

HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to Raphael Tuju, Secretary General of Kenya’s ruling Jubilee Party. Has the Kenyan government over-reacted to the self-inauguration of the opposition leader Raila Odinga as the so-called “People’s President”?Image: Raphael Tuju (Credit: BBC)

When it comes to politics, Kenya has a history of disputed and often violent elections. In this exclusive interview, Zeinab Badawi speaks to the opposition leader Raila Odinga: he claims he and not Uhuru Kenyatta is President and he's had himself self-inaugurated as the people's president at the end of January. It's been slammed as a treasonous act by the Kenyan authorities and rejected by the world. Given Kenya's volatile electoral history, is Raila Odinga not acting illegally, irresponsibly and trying to stir up violence?Image: Raila Odinga (Credit: European Photopress Agency)

Argentina is stepping up efforts to re-engage with the world, especially through its presidency of the G20. It says wants better relations with the United States after years of poor relations. Zeinab Badawi speaks to the Argentine Foreign Minister at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Just six months into the job, what is his assessment of ties with the Trump administration which has been unsettling its neighbours in Latin America.Image: Jorge Faurie (Credit: Reuters)

Stephen Sackur speaks to Lord Neuberger who was until last year President of the UK Supreme Court. Britain prides itself on its system of justice. Centuries of common law, a proudly independent judiciary and a reputation for fair dealing has made it an international centre for dispute arbitration. But are the cracks starting to show in a system steeped in tradition ? Does the British judicial system need a 21st century reboot?(Photo: Lord Neuberger on Hardtalk)

Zeinab Badawi speaks to the actor Shah Rukh Khan. He has been given an award for his philanthropic work advancing women’s rights. How far is he using his voice to do that ?(Photo: Indian Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan poses during a press interaction, 2015. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Currently deputy president of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa could become president very soon if Jacob Zuma heeds calls to step down. But is this ANC stalwart and wealthy businessman the right person to create a new South Africa from a country mired in cronyism and corruption allegations? In his first interview with the BBC since he became leader of South Africa’s ruling ANC in December, Cyril Ramaphosa talks to Zeinab Badawi for Hardtalk. (Photo: Deputy President of South Africa, and newly elected African National Congress (ANC) President, Cyril Ramaphosa at Pre-World Economic Forum (WEF) Breakfast, 2018. Credit: Gulshan Khan/Getty Images)

Is it futile to try and resist Brexit? Hardtalk's Sarah Montague speaks to one of the big beasts of British politics. Known as the Father of the House because he is the longest serving member of the UK’s House of Commons, he has also held more cabinet posts than any other living British politician. And yet Ken Clarke says we are now in "the maddest situation" of his lifetime and talks of the political system being "broken". It's one of the reasons he couldn't quite bring himself to retire at the last election, staying on to fight against Brexit and for the Conservative Party. Is it a fight he can win?Image: Ken Clarke, Credit: Getty Images

Living with death threats for daring to speak out against Islamist jihadist violence. The former Charlie Hebdo journalist and French-Moroccan writer Zineb El Rhazoui knows the risks can be a matter of life and death. She was working for the satirical magazine when 12 people were murdered in the Paris office in 2015. She happened to be on holiday. Subjected to a multitude of death threats because of her determination to speak out against what she sees as the malign and dangerous influence of Islam, she now lives life under police protection. El Rhazoui has since written a book on what she calls Islamic fascism. She tells Hardtalk's Stephen Sackur that she feels like she's fighting a war.(Photo: French-Maroccan journalist Zineb El Rhazoui, a former columnist at French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Credit: Joel Saget/AFP)

Russia is calling on the EU to stump up billions of dollars to help rebuild Syria. Russia’s representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, says if they don’t they will “bear the responsibility for that”. But Russian planes are still destroying parts of the country and rather than support the peace process at the UN, they have set up their own parallel talks. Sarah Montague asks Ambassador Chizhov - what responsibility do the Russians themselves have for ending the war in Syria?(Photo: Vladimir Chizhov on Hardtalk)

The White House has never before seen a president like Donald Trump. He does not play by any conventional political rules – that much is obvious from his Twitter feed, his hiring and firing of staff and his apparent relish for outrage. Stephen Sackur speaks to Anthony Scaramucci, the White House Director of Communications for all of 11 days before he was fired in a media firestorm in 2017. He has stayed loyal to his former boss – why?(Photo: Anthony Scarmuccin on Hardtalk)

A year after President Trump’s inauguration and not a day goes by without a new media storm over a presidential comment, tweet or announcement that has Democrats decrying him as unfit for office. What do Republicans feel and do about their de facto party leader? Stephen Sackur speaks to Michael Steele, a former Chairman of the Republican National Committee.(Photo: Michael Steele on Hardtalk)

Stephen Sackur is in New York to speak to the actor and activist Ashley Judd. The movie and entertainment industries have been rocked by allegations of systemic sexism, misogyny and abusive behaviour. Ms Judd was one of the first women to go public with her accusations about the producer Harvey Weinstein. What began with voices of anger and pain has become a movement demanding radical change. How far can it go?(Photo: Ashley Judd accepts the WMC Speaking Truth To Power Award, Oct 2017, New York. Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images)