The Interview

If you are watching cycling's greatest race the Tour de France this year, are you admiring the remarkable strength and stamina of the riders, or privately wondering whether their performance is fuelled by illegal substances? So much elite sport today is tainted by our knowledge of past cheating. Hardtalk's Stephen Sackur talks to David Howman, director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Why is it proving so hard to root drugs out of sport?(Photo: Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) David Howman. Credit: Getty Images)

What does it mean to be black in the United States today? The messages are mixed. An African-American has made it all the way to the White House, but in Barack Obama's America one in three of all young black males is likely to spend time in prison during the course of his life. Stephen Sackur speaks to Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer, rights advocate and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. Why are America's race-based wounds so slow to heal?(Photo: Bryan Stevenson. Credit: Getty Images)

Hardtalk is at Nato headquarters in Brussels to speak to the organisation’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. In some ways it is just like old times – Moscow is once again seen to pose a threat to Europe’s eastern flank. Nato leaders promise a robust, collective response. But a generation on from the Cold War - are they serious? The western world’s military alliance has a proud history, but does it have a future?

Ukraine is grappling with security and economic challenges, which could bring the nation to its knees. The country needs a new generation of strong, reform-minded leaders - but does it need Mikheil Saakashvili? Hardtalk speaks to the former president of neighbouring Georgia, recently appointed governor of Ukraine’s strategically vital Odessa region. He knows all about confrontation with Vladimir Putin - but is he a credible or wise addition to Ukraine’s hard-pressed government?(Photo: Mikheil Saakashvili. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Hardtalk speaks to William Schabas, who chaired the commission of inquiry into the Gaza war until he quit under heavy fire from Israel. What does the Schabas saga say about the effort to apply international justice in the Middle east?

Stephen Sackur speaks to writer and publisher Jürgen Todenhöfer, who embarked on one of the most hazardous journeys imaginable for a western journalist. Last December, the 74-year-old German spent 10 days inside the territory controlled by the so-called Islamic State movement. He was taken to the group's base in Raqqa, Syria, and then to their most highly prized asset in Iraq - the northern city of Mosul. He emerged unscathed with a remarkable story. What motivates the jihadist fighters?(Photo: Jürgen Todenhöfer)

A special edition of Hardtalk from Cannes, which is currently hosting the world’s advertising industry. Thanks to the internet, advertising and marketing now have the ability to reach deep into the fabric of our lives. No one has exploited that better than today’s guest – Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder and CEO of the giant advertising conglomerate, WPP. The ad industry is extraordinary powerful, but is it responsible?(Photo: WPP Group CEO Sir Martin Sorrell at FOX Studios in New York, 2015. Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

Sarah Montague speaks to Bernard Jenkin who has argued for "fundamental change" in Britain's relationship with Europe since he was first elected as a Conservative MP more than 20 years ago. Prime Minister David Cameron is due to meet Europe's 27 other leaders this week but can he secure enough from his negotiations to win over the eurosceptics?(Photo: Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin. Credit: Conservative Party)

Not since Margaret Thatcher vowed to break the power of organised labour has Britain's trade union movement faced a bigger threat. The new government wants to make it harder to take industrial action. Hardtalk speaks to Frances O'Grady, whose organisation - the TUC - is the collective voice of the unions. Across Europe, in most countries, the number of workers joining unions is in decline. For many of those most in need of support in the work place - have the unions become irrelevant?(Photo: Frances O'Grady, the General Secretary of the TUC, delivers a speech at the Policy Network Conference 2014. Credit: Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Zeinab Badawi speaks to the Sudanese politician Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani. For 25 years he stood beside Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir as a key adviser and party leader. Then, less than two years ago, he deserted the government and now heads the opposition Reform Now Movement. As a former insider, does he really believe the opposition stand a chance in Sudan?(Photo: Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani, leader of the opposition Reform Now Movement of Sudan)

Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium is the venue for the Fifa World Cup final in 2018 – at least it is if Russia retains its status as host nation to the World’s biggest sporting event. The decision to award the next two World cups to Russia then Qatar is now being investigated by the authorities in Switzerland and the US. Stephen Sackur asks the chief of Russia’s world cup organising committee, Alexei Sorokin, what are the odds on the World Cup actually making it to Moscow?(Photo: Alexei Sorokin, CEO, Russian world cup organising committee. BBC copyright)

Barack Obama is due to visit Kenya - his father's homeland - next month. When Obama came to power as the first African-American president of the US, hopes were high in Africa that the continent would bask in his reflected glory and enjoy a new focus in US foreign policy. Zeinab Badawi talks to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Assistant-Secretary of State for African Affairs and asks does Obama have a vision for Africa?(Photo: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Assistant-Secretary of State for African Affairs. BBC copyright)

China has been accused by Washington of bullying its neighbours in the South China Sea over disputed territory there. Washington is seeking a new trade pact in Asia that excludes Beijing, whilst China is spending hundreds of billions in investment projects across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, extending its economic power the world over. Hardtalk’s Zeinab Badawi talks to one of China's most senior diplomats Ambassador Wu Jianmin. Is China the world's new superpower?(Photo: Ambassador Wu Jianmin. BBC copyright)

Stephen Sackur speaks to an Irish writer whose intense, lyrical novels have won him awards, acclaim and most importantly millions of readers around the world. Colm Tóibín is not so much a flamboyant storyteller, he is more an acute observer of character and the deepest human feelings. There are recurring themes in his work - loss, mourning, exile, which might suggest a dark, brooding presence - but how close is that to the real Colm Tóibín?

West Africa has perhaps lulled outsiders into a false sense of security. The regional economy has grown fast and key countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal have embraced democratic transitions. But, the appearance of stability may be illusory. Boko Haram's militant insurgency threatens not just Nigeria, but neighbouring states. Poverty, corruption and repression are still endemic. Stephen Sackur speaks to the UN's Special Representative for West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambas. How fragile is West Africa?(Photo: Mohamed Ibn Chambas in conference, in Khartoum, 2014. Credit: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images)

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

When the self-styled Islamic State movement took control of Ramadi, capital of Iraq's Anbar province, it was another humiliation for the Baghdad government. Another discomforting development for the United States which has bombed IS, but failed to neutralise the jihadi threat. Stephen Sackur talks to Emma Sky, a British woman who was a senior adviser to the US military in Iraq until 2010. Where do the roots of the current mess lie and what should America and the West be doing now?(Photo: Emma Sky, former adviser to the US in Iraq)

The ANC has come under fire for its response to the xenophobic violence which left seven people dead. Some critics say the government’s response was too slow and neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi expressed outrage at the treatment of their citizens and were quick to remind South Africa of the outside help that was given to them during the years of the anti-apartheid struggle. Stephen Sackur is in Pretoria to talk to Minister of Traditional Affairs, Pravin Gordhan. In the aftermath of the recent violence what is the ANC doing to ensure the violence doesn’t flare again and is the legacy of Nelson Mandela being betrayed?(Photo: Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Traditional Affairs, South Africa. Credit: Roger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images)

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

The conflict in Colombia between the state and left-wing rebels has been running for more than 50 years. Hundreds of thousands have died and millions more are displaced. Tim Franks speaks to the Colombian government's chief peace negotiator Sergio Jaramillo. Can he make a deal?(Photo: Sergio Jaramillo, Colombian High Commissioner for Peace)

Britain has the same prime minister but a new government. David Cameron's Conservative Party won last week's general election outright - his former coalition allies were reduced to a rump. He now has a mandate to renegotiate the country's membership of the European Union, with the threat that the British people could vote in a referendum to leave altogether. With the forces of independence on the march in Scotland, and evidence that they have been roused in England, too, is the UK being pushed apart? Hardtalk speaks to Sir Malcolm Rifkind, UK Foreign Secretary 1995-1997, Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson 2001-2006 and Pat McFadden, UK Shadow Europe Minister.(Photo: Left to right, Sir Menzies Campbell, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Pat McFadden. Credit: Carl Court, Justin Tallis, Oli Scarf/AFP/Getty Images)

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

Tim Franks speaks to the Portuguese Finance Minister Maria Luis Albuquerque who has one of the most unforgiving jobs in politics. She is committed to reviving her own country’s battered economy, to saving the single currency, and somehow to ensuring that Greece pays its debts and stays inside the Euro.(Photo: Maria Luis Albuquerque. Credit: Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images)

Hardtalk speaks to a man from the highest echelons of the US foreign policy establishment. Dr Richard Haass has worked in the State Department, advised US presidents, and is now president of the influential think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He believes we are witnessing the end of one era of world history and the dawn of another. A new 'era of disorder' - more chaotic and more dangerous than any time in a generation. He says American foreign policy is partly to blame and US authority has been diminished. So how dangerous is the world now? And what could be done about it?(Photo: Dr Richard Haass. Credit: Reuters)

Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to a novelist whose fictional world is filled with drugs, sex, sleaze and alienation. Scottish writer Irvine Welsh draws deeply flawed characters and makes them entertaining and all too human. His first bestseller was Trainspotting, a tale of heroin ravaged youths from the wrong side of Edinburgh’s tracks. His latest book returns to the same turf. He now lives most of his life in the US, so how come his imagination is still so heavily stirred by Scotland and his working-class roots?(Photo: Scottish author Irvine Welsh. Credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Many people are familiar with cases involving terminally ill patients who believe that they should have the right to die. But what about making this a right for everyone - even if they are fit and healthy? Zeinab Badawi speaks to the controversial Australian Dr Philip Nitschke who believes anyone over 50 should be able to plan an end to their own life. But is he not just encouraging acts of suicide?(Photo: Dr Philip Nitschke. Credit: David Mariuz/Getty Images)

Zeinab Badawi talks to the American economist and hi-tech entrepreneur Pippa Malmgren. By 2025 robots and artificial intelligence will be performing a lot more of the jobs that humans do at present. What is not clear is whether as a result of this, prospects will be brighter or bleaker for us. Will technology create more jobs than it destroys? Will only the brightest and most talented survive in jobs - leading to greater inequalities in society and could artificial intelligence even pose an existential threat to humans?(Photo: Economist and hi-tech entrepreneur Pippa Malmgren)

There was a clear winner in last month’s Israeli election but there is not yet a new government. Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is taking his time, talking to smaller right-wing and religious parties, but also according to rumour, toying with the possibility of inviting the centre left Zionist Union into a national unity government. Stephen Sackur speaks to the man Netanyahu defeated in the battle for the premiership, Isaac Herzog. For him the election was a major disappointment, so what does he and the Israeli left, do now?(Photo: Isaac Herzog. Credit: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

The brutal gang rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 provoked widespread shock and outrage and put the spotlight on violence against women in India. A recent documentary about it provoked huge controversy. The film called India's Daughter featured an interview with one of the five convicted rapists, who expressed no remorse and blamed the victim for fighting back. The Delhi government prevented the film being shown in India and there were demands by the Indian government for it not to be aired by the BBC. HARDtalk talks to the documentary's director, Leslee Udwin. Was her film sensationalist and voyeuristic?Image: Lesley Udwin. Credit: Getty Images

Brandon Bryant's story provides a rare glimpse into a secret world and raises questions about the nature of 21st Century warfare. He joined the US Air Force straight out of college. He was picked to join one of the United States' most controversial and important military programmes - the deployment of armed unmanned aerial vehicles, better known as drones - to hunt down and kill some of America's most dangerous enemies. The experience has left him haunted and angry. We find out why.

Two years after the death of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s socialist revolution is in trouble. The country's oil reliant economy is ravaged by inflation, shortages and corruption. Those hit hardest are the poor, Chavez's bedrock supporters. Hardtalk speaks to one of the most prominent and outspoken members of the Venezuelan opposition - Maria Corina Machado. How close is chaos in Venezuela?(Photo: Maria Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader. Credit: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images)

The scale of humanitarian suffering in Syria is impossible to capture in words delivered from the comfort of a radio studio - 12 million people are in dire need of emergency aid. Hardtalk speaks to Valerie Amos, head of the UN's humanitarian affairs operation. Is Syria part of a wider story of international humanitarian failure?(Photo: Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images)

Do the world's richest individuals owe anything to the societies within which they flourish? Is the notion of 'giving back' a choice or a moral obligation? As part of the BBC’s Richer World season Hardtalk speaks to one of Britain's wealthiest men, the billionaire John Caudwell. He made his fortune out of mobile phones and now divides his time between backing new businesses and philanthropy. What are the ingredients for a healthy capitalist society?(Photo: John Caudwell at the Caudwell Children The Legends Ball in Battersea, London. Credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Hardtalk speaks to a legend of the music business, a man who has written and performed some of the most memorable tracks of the last four decades. Nile Rodgers co-founded Chic, the band which defined the late '70s disco generation. From his own band Chic, to his collaborations with everyone from Madonna to Daft Punk, his beat goes on – so what is the secret to his special sound?(Photo: Nile Rodgers at the Spotify seminar, St. James's Church, Piccadilly, 2015. Credit: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images)

Hong Kong's self-styled umbrella revolution blew itself out before it could deliver any long-term change in the former colony's political weather. Hardtalk speaks to one of the pro-democracy movement leaders, Benny Tai. Months of street protests failed to pressure Beijing into concessions on the election of Hong Kong's next chief executive - so where does the campaign for political reform go now?(Photo: Benny Tai, an original founder of the pro-democracy Occupy movement, surrenders to the police in Hong Kong. Credit: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur speaks with US venture capitalist and philanthropist Nick Hanauer, live from the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London. Nick Hanauer is an American dotcom billionaire businessman. He believes that the rich in America should pay more taxes and has warned of revolution if wealth inequality is not addressed. Is American capitalism in danger of collapse?(Photo: Nick Hanauer. BBC copyright)

Stephen Sackur speaks to General Sir Richard Shirreff, recently retired as deputy commander of Nato forces. He has recently described British Prime Minister David Cameron as hesitant and vacillating, and claims Britain and Nato are exhibiting dangerous weakness on conflicts from Ukraine to Syria. But is there a viable strategic alternative?(Photo: General Sir Richard Shirreff. Credit: Nato)

For the past five years Britains Liberal Democrat Party have been the junior partner in a coalition with the Conservatives. They have helped deliver a stable government and have wielded power for the first time in their modern history. Yet the electorate seems ready to condemn them for it in the coming British general election. We speak to Liberal Democrat government minister David Laws. What does his party’s experience say about politics in Britain today?(Photo: David Laws. Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

Lord Levy is a prominent figure in British public life on two counts - as a leading voice in a British Jewish community which is increasingly concerned about rising levels of anti-Semitism, and as a key fund-raiser for the Labour Party in the era of Tony Blair and new Labour. Lord Levy remains an influential businessman, networker and fundraiser, but in terms of both the Jewish community and today's Labour Party are there problems that just can't be fixed?(Photo: Lord Levy, former Labour Party fundraiser. Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The Philippines is Asia’s only predominantly Christian country. The Roman Catholic Church has huge influence - divorce and abortion are illegal for example. The Church is currently engaged in a huge battle with the government over its plans to provide free contraceptives to the poor. Stephen Sackur talks to the Catholic Church’s most senior cleric in the Philippines, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and asks, is the Catholic Church helping or hindering the development of the nation?(Photo: Philippines' Luis Antonio Tagle greets visitors during the courtesy visit after being appointed by the pontif on November 24, 2012. Credit: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images)

Stock markets in New York and London are sitting close to record highs - if the Dow is your guide then we are living in the best of times. But it doesn’t feel like that in the real world, what with the Eurozone crisis, a host of geopolitical uncertainties and frightening levels of global debt. Hardtalk speaks to Neil Woodford, Britain’s most successful investor of recent years. Is this a time for economic confidence, or caution?(Photo: Neil Wooford, head of investment, Woodford Investment Management. BBC copyright)

The Conservative peer, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi is one of the most prominent Muslims in Britain. She was the first Muslim to sit in the cabinet, before she resigned last year over government policy on Gaza. As a former minster for communities and social cohesion why does she believe there is a lack of trust between the government and British Muslims?(Photo: Baroness Sayeeda Warsi arrives for a Cabinet meeting at Number 10 Downing St. Credit: Getty Images)

Aimen Dean was a trusted member of Al Qaeda's inner sanctum in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. With his Quranic learning and fervent commitment to holy war, this young Saudi received a personal audience with Osama Bin Laden and came to know most of Al Qaeda's key leaders. But Aiman Dean did not share the group's enthusiasm for terror attacks inflicting mass civilian casualties. After the bombings of US embassies in Africa in 1998, he left Afghanistan and began working as an informant for the UK security services. What does his extraordinary story tell us about the nature of the jihadist threat?

The UK has become the first country in the world to legalise the creation of what are commonly known as 'three-parent babies' and the first such infants could be born next year. The process allows mothers who carry rare but fatal genetic disorders to have children without passing on the diseases. Opponents say the change has been introduced too soon and marks a slippery slope towards designer babies. Hardtalk speaks to one of the most celebrated doctors in modern history - professor Robert Winston - one of the main pioneers of the IVF technique that revolutionised infertility treatment. But are ‘three-parent babies’ a revolution too far?

Berlin doesn’t house any of the European Union’s key institutions, but there is no doubt this is the power capital of Europe – something Greece’s new left-wing Government now knows all too well. Germany calls the shots when it comes to shaping Europe’s economic policy. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to an influential member of Chancellor Merkel’s CDU party – Vice-Chairman of the parliamentary party Michael Fuchs. In the high stakes showdown over Greece’s debt, has Germany used its power wisely?

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

Hardtalk speaks to the activist and rapper Tef Poe. He's described the fatal shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, of unarmed teenager Michael Brown as a "declaration of war" by the police. Tef Poe has stated that "my grandparents endured this type of treatment so we wouldn't have to". So if you are young, black and poor in America today are you at war with the police? This interview forms part of the BBC’s Richer World Season.(Photo: Tef Poe)

In a special edition of HARDtalk, Zeinab Badawi is in Brussels to speak to Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. He has travelled to the city to tell EU officials that his country has been overwhelmed by Syrian refugees. More than one million Syrians live in Lebanon – many of them have fled the oppression and brutality of the Assad government. So why then does his political party have an alliance with Hezbollah that backs the Syrian President?(Photo: Gebran Bassil. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan's Intelligence Service has long been accused of looking both ways: of tackling terrorists when they target Pakistan but actively supporting them when they target Afghanistan or India. But when 152 people were killed in the school in Peshawar, Pakistan's Prime Minister said it was time to change. That the country would no longer distinguish between "good" and "bad" Taliban. Today's guest is General Asad Durrani, who used to run the intelligence service - Are they really prepared to make enemies of their former friends? And what difference will it make?