The Interview

Stephen Sackur speaks to the former punk rock star turned environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey. He is leading the campaign to clean up Britain’s waterways with fishermen and conservationists pitted against the privatised water industry and state regulators. Can he reverse the tide of environmental degradation?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the Hong Kong lawmaker Dominic Lee. He is a staunch defender of the Beijing-inspired national security crackdown, which has all but eliminated Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. But is China undermining Hong Kong’s desirability to traders and investors?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Jasvinder Sanghera, who as a child escaped a forced marriage and has been a lifelong advocate for survivors of abuse. She was hired by the Church of England to help them confront abuse allegations. But she and they are now at odds. What went wrong?

Stephen Sackur speaks to exiled Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy. He has tried and failed to engineer the downfall of the country's ruler, Hun Sen, for decades. Now Hun Sen’s son is taking over. Few in Cambodia expect anything significant to change, including the relative impotence of the opposition. Has Sam Rainsy been comprehensively outmanoeuvred?(Photo: Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy speaks during a press freedom event at the Gran Melia Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia, 19 May, 2023. Credit: Ajeng Credit: Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters)

Stephen Sackur speaks to the leading British playwright and screenwriter Lucy Prebble. Her credits include Enron and The Effect in the theatre, and Succession and I Hate Suzie on television. In an era of polarising culture wars and with perceived threats from AI, are writers feeling a deep sense of unease?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the pioneering performance poet John Cooper Clarke. He was once dubbed the bard of punk and all his life he’s used words, rhythm and rhyme to find humour and truth in the chaos of everyday life. Where does his word magic come from?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the UK’s former environment minister Lord Goldsmith. He resigned from Rishi Sunak’s government, accusing the prime minister of being uninterested in the environment. Since then, the government has approved new oil exploration. Is a green backlash reshaping politics?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Nathan Law, the exiled Hong Kong democracy activist who’s now a wanted man with a million-dollar bounty on his head from the territory’s Beijing-backed authorities. Has China’s systematic repression effectively eradicated dissent in Hong Kong?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Ukrainian rockstar Andriy Khlyvnyuk. After the all-out Russian invasion, he swapped his guitar for a gun. When he does sing now, it’s always for his country’s cause. What is this war doing to Ukraine’s culture and spirit?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. He was ousted from power last year but thinks he can stage a comeback in elections scheduled for the autumn. Is Pakistan facing a period of political chaos?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic theatre in London. His work poses questions about race, identity, equality and justice. In an era of political polarisation, are audiences prepared to engage?

Stephen Sackur is at the Knepp Estate in the south of England to speak to conservationist Isabella Tree. Her estate is a world-renowned example of rewilding but is she building a pathway to a healthier planet or putting eco-principles above the needs of people?(Photo: Isabella Tree in her office)

Holding governments to account for their abuses of human rights is hard. It requires focused forensic investigation, impartiality and no little courage. For six decades, Amnesty International has been advocating for prisoners of conscience in the face of state repression. But in recent times it’s both broadened its focus and faced unprecedented criticism. Stephen Sackur speaks to Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general. Is her organisation facing a credibility crisis?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the master of extreme swimming Lewis Pugh. From the North Pole to Antarctica, his death-defying swims are designed to focus attention on the damaging impact of climate change on our blue planet. Is this a form of activism that works?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric. Still just 37, he was elected amid excited talk of a new brand of progressive left politics in Latin America - but his ratings have plummeted. What's gone wrong for the young leader with big reformist ambition?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to dissident Russian journalist and writer Mikhail Zygar, who has rare insights into the inner workings of the Kremlin. After the challenge to Vladimir Putin’s power and an aborted mutiny last month, how weak is the Russian president?

Stephen Sackur interviews one of the world’s most innovative contemporary artists, Tomás Saraceno. His work involves spiders, balloons, dust and air. At its heart is a challenge to us all: Are we ready to reinvent what it means to be a human in a complex ecosystem on a small planet?

Does France’s government have a clear strategy to deal with the deep social and economic divisions that led to the worst outbreak of violence and rioting for years, following the killing of a French youth by police? Zeinab Badawi speaks to France’s Europe minister Laurence Boone.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Venezuelan opposition politician Maria Corina Machado, currently seen as the most likely challenger to socialist authoritarian president Nicolas Maduro in elections due next year. Maduro has survived the collapse of his economy and international sanctions. Has Venezuela’s opposition been outmanoeuvred?

Another chance to hear Stephen Sackur’s 2008 interview with the acclaimed writer and journalist Dame Ann Leslie, who has passed away at the age of 82. She is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest British reporters of the last 50 years, but is the golden age of the intrepid foreign correspondent now gone for good?

Stephen Sackur speaks to controversial philosopher Peter Boghossian, who spoofed a host of US academic journals to expose what he claims is the corruption of academia by politically fashionable ‘woke’ ideology. Is he stoking the fires of a dangerous culture war?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Jennifer Morgan, Germany's special envoy on international climate action. How is she trying to build partnerships to reduce greenhouse gas emissions amid accusations that the rich world is not doing enough?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Anielle Franco, Brazil’s minister of racial equality. She was appointed by President Lula de Silva to tackle entrenched race inequality in everything from policing to schooling and business, just five years after her activist sister, Marielle Franco, was assassinated in Rio de Janeiro. Anielle Franco has vowed to fight racism and continue her sister’s work for social justice. Is Brazil ready for change?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the Church of England’s first black woman bishop, Rose Hudson-Wilkin. Her home patch, Dover, is at the centre of the political and moral debate about migration; her church is beset by arguments over gender, sex and safeguarding. Can the Anglican church hold together?

Stephen Sackur interviews Patrick Verkooijen, the CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation. Back in 2015, world leaders pledged to speed up cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to stop our planet warming by more than 1.5°C. Most climate scientists now believe that threshold will be crossed, and soon. Is Patrick Verkooijen's focus on making the world climate change resilient an admission that the battle to cut emissions has already been lost?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in London for a Ukraine Economic Recovery Conference. Will Ukraine get the help it needs?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the Indian opposition politician and writer Shashi Tharoor. On the face of it, India’s a rising superpower, the world’s most populous nation, with a growing economy and a popular leader. How strong is the argument that India is heading in the wrong direction?

Another chance to listen to Stephen Sackur's 2022 interview with the Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, who has died aged 92. He exposed US government lies about Vietnam, and helped hasten President Nixon’s downfall. He dedicated his life to warning Americans about the dangers of unchecked military power. Was it a message they wanted to hear?

Stephen Sackur is in Manchester to talk to the city’s mayor, Andy Burnham. Six years after he quit the UK parliament with the hope of seeing power decentralised and the north of England revitalised, how is his radical agenda going, and is he a threat to his own Labour Party’s leader, Sir Keir Starmer?

Philosopher Peter Singer has spent decades arguing for animal rights; his arguments have persuaded millions to give up meat. Has the movement he inspired become unstoppable?

Stephen Sackur is in Cape Town to speak to political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro). Can satire work in a country still recovering from the prolonged trauma of apartheid?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Abdullah Mohtadi, the leader of the Iranian Kurdish political movement Komala. From his exile in Iraq, he’s one of many voices calling for freedom and democracy in Iran. But what do Iran’s Kurds really want - more rights or independence?

The acclaimed Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo has died aged 81. A former education minister for a brief period in Ghana, she arguably did more than any other writer to depict and celebrate the condition of women in Africa. Zeinab Badawi spoke with her in 2014. How much is there really to celebrate about being female in Africa?Image: Ama Ata Aidoo, pictured in 2017 (Credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images)

The African National Congress has dominated South African politics for the last 29 years, but the party of Nelson Mandela is in trouble. A power crisis is doing new damage to an economy already hit by shocking levels of poverty, inequality and corruption. If the ANC is faltering, who stands best placed to offer an alternative? Stephen Sackur speaks to the leader of the radical populist Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema. What will happen to South Africa if he gets even a share of power?

Stephen Sackur speaks to American writer, academic and cultural commentator Roxane Gay. Her unflinching, extraordinary memoir Hunger deals with her experience of rape and obesity. How scary is the level of self-exposure in much of her writing?(Photo: Roxane Gay in the Hardtalk studio)

Coming up after the news from the BBC World Service, it’s HARDtalk with me Stephen Sackur. The influential British author Martin Amis has died at his home in Florida aged 73. Stephen Sackur interviewed him in 2013 after the release of his novel Lionel Asbo: State of England. He was pigeon-holed early in his career as the ‘enfant terrible’ of the British literary world and throughout his career he remained one of the most closely scrutinised novelists of his generation. His books were filled with greed, lust, addiction and ignorance, and yet he suggested he wrote in a celebratory spirit. So, what exactly was he celebrating?

Stephen Sackur speaks to John Steenhuisen, the leader of South Africa’s biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. He thinks South Africans are ready to throw out the ANC thanks to their failure to fix the economy, the energy sector and corruption, but is he a credible alternative?

The ANC has ruled in South Africa since the racist apartheid system was overthrown. But right now the country is in a big mess, with a protracted energy crisis, unemployment, inequality and systemic corruption. Stephen Sackur is in Johannesburg to speak to Fikile Mbalula, secretary general of the ANC. Many South Africans feel their country is failing. With elections looming, will the ANC pay the price?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to the British artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien, whose forty year career is steeped in powerful cultural and political messages. What is more important to him: Art or activism?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the actor Jane Horrocks, whose extraordinary range has seen her star in musicals, comedies and gritty dramas. In a capricious, sometimes cruel industry, she embraced writing as well as performing. Was that her pathway to empowerment?

The Humboldt Forum is one of Germany’s great cultural institutions, housing a collection of thousands of works of non-European art. Germany, like many former imperial powers, is now asking itself whether treasures grabbed by European colonisers should be returned to their countries of origin. Stephen Sackur interviews the director of the Humboldt, Hartmut Dorgerloh. Is Germany taking the lead in the restoration movement?

Stephen Sackur talks to Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan. His tiny nation is a tourist magnet, but there are huge challenges: climate change, a shocking rate of heroin addiction and a political culture tainted by corruption allegations. Is this a case of paradise lost?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Austria’s former foreign minister, Karin Kneissl. Her ties to Moscow are close - Vladimir Putin attended her wedding, she sat on the board of a Russian energy company, and condemns Europe's arming of Ukraine on Russian TV. What does her story say about Vienna’s close ties to Moscow and the impact of Austria’s neutrality?

It is more than 60 years since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and set up a government-in-exile, hopeful of one day going back. Since then, China has banned any mention of the spiritual leader in his homeland, and there are reports of widespread human rights abuses. Sarah Montague speaks to the president of that self-declared government-in-exile, Penpa Tsering. Will he ever get to see his ancestral homeland, let alone govern it?

Stephen Sackur is in Berlin to talk to the influential chair of the German parliament's defence committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann. Has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine really led to a fundamental strategic rethink in Berlin?

Stephen Sackur is in Berlin for a special interview with Niels Annen, Germany’s State Secretary for Economic Co-operation. For decades Germany built its economic power on Russian energy and trade with China – that has left Germany looking vulnerable. So what is the new strategy?(Photo: Niels Annen, State Secretary for Economic Co-operation)

Stephen Sackur speaks to the acclaimed Senegalese musician Baaba Maal. His records and musical collaborations have won him millions of fans worldwide, and he’s intent on helping his native Sahel region overcome its many challenges. Can this music icon make a difference?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the pioneering performance poet John Cooper Clarke. From his early days as the bard of punk to a decade lost to heroin and then the worldwide success of his poem I Wanna Be Yours and now a new tour, John Cooper Clarke has used words, rhythm and rhyme to find humour and truth in the chaos of everyday life. Where does his word magic come from?

Earlier this week, Russian political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Russia for charges linked to his criticism of the war in Ukraine. He was found guilty of treason, spreading "false" information about the Russian army and being affiliated with an "undesirable organisation" – charges he denied. In 2017, HARDtalk spoke to him as he recovered in the US from what he said was a poisoning attempt in Moscow. Shortly before, he had been rushed to hospital in the Russian capital when his organs started shutting down. He said he knew immediately what was happening because the same thing had happened to him two years earlier. Both times he claimed he was the victim of deliberate poisoning, and that he was targeted because of his opposition to President Putin and the Russian government. He told the programme that despite the risks, he intended to return to Russia.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister. Budapest is an outlier in both the EU and Nato, unwilling to arm Ukraine, eager to maintain close ties with Moscow, and dismissing demands to respect EU values. Will its defiance come at a price?