The Interview

South Africa is now grappling with a highly transmissible new strain of Covid-19 that is causing international concern. Stephen Sackur interviews Professor Barry Schoub, virologist and Chair of the South African Government’s Advisory Committee on Covid-19 vaccines. What does the country’s Covid crisis mean for the worldwide effort to end the pandemic? (Photo: Professor Barry Schoub appears via vid...

Stephen Sackur interviews Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian and now a member of Facebook’s Oversight Board. The Covid-19 pandemic is a test of global public health systems, but it also presents a profound challenge to our media and information networks. How do we ensure that fact prevails over fiction? (Photo: Alan Rusbridger appears via video link on Hardtalk)

The Trump inspired insurrection on Capitol Hill failed. But the wounds to America’s body politic are now raw and deep. The President remains Commander in Chief with his finger on the nuclear button, but is that tenable for the next two weeks? What are the dramatic death throes of the Trump presidency doing to America’s standing in the wider world? Stephen Sackur speaks to retired US admiral and fo...

Stephen Sackur speaks to British epidemiologist Professor Neil Ferguson, whose early modelling of Covid-19 made him an influential advocate of the lockdown strategy. The UK is back in lockdown and infections are surging. What has gone wrong, and why have other countries done better?

The tech sector is fast becoming a battleground where the world’s greatest economic powers, the US and China, are competing for power and influence. Where is Europe in this race to shape the digital future? We speak to Hermann Hauser, a tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist who has profoundly shaped Europe and the UK’s technology sector. Is Europe failing to build its own tech champions?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Christopher Ruddy, CEO of the conservative Newsmax media group and close personal friend of Donald Trump. His network has tried to outfox Fox News by being Trumpier than Trump. The President's unfounded claims of a stolen election might have been great for ratings, but what's it done to America’s body politic?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Bernardine Evaristo, the Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other. In any society, the voices that are listened to, and the stories that are shared, say much about who is deemed to belong and who is excluded. On that basis, Britain is changing, but how deep does the cultural change go?

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the World Food Programme, the UN agency dedicated to feeding the hungry and fending off mass starvation. This week the award was handed to the body's executive director, David Beasley, in recognition of the agency’s worldwide effort to overcome the challenges of conflict and Covid-19. 2020 has been a terrible year for those experiencing extreme hun...

Stephen Sackur speaks to the paediatric neurosurgeon Owase Jeelani. Brain surgery carries with it an awesome burden of responsibility. And within neurosurgery there are particular challenges that take the physical and ethical pressure to an extreme. Imagine doing complex brain surgery on small children; then imagine trying to split conjoined twin babies joined at the head. Mr Jeelani's work has ma...

Imran Khan won power in Pakistan two years ago with a promise to root out corruption and take on the country’s vested interests. So how's it going? Rising food prices and the Covid pandemic have left many Pakistanis feeling worse off, while the anti-corruption drive has become a political battleground. Stephen Sackur speaks to Ishaq Dar, who was Pakistan's finance minister. The country's anti-corr...

With Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the presidential election running out of road, attention is increasingly focused on President Elect Biden’s vision of America’s role in the world. Will he revert back to the policies and assumptions that defined the Obama years? Are there lessons to be learnt from Trump's disruption of foreign policy norms? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Anthony Gardner...

Stephen Sackur speaks to Ethiopia’s Attorney General, Gedion Timothewos. Ethiopia’s federal armed forces have launched the final phase of their assault on Tigrayan rebels in the north of the country. International observers have voiced deep concern about possibly devastating humanitarian consequences. This after many hundreds have already been killed, and tens of thousands have been forced to flee...

The UK has the highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe and one of the steepest declines in economic output. Opinion polls suggest Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claims of a world-beating governmental response cut little ice with the public. Stephen Sackur speaks to Jeremy Hunt, former Health Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Mr Johnson’s rival for leadership of the Conservative party. Has the pandemi...

This is a bittersweet moment in the global fight against the Covid pandemic. Joy that at least two vaccine trials have produced extremely promising results is tempered by the continued spread of the disease across much of the world. To put it bluntly, the global containment effort has had limited success. Stephen Sackur speaks to Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organisation’s special envoy for...

The EU is facing an internal political crisis. Two members, Poland and Hungary, are blocking the passage of a new budget and a post-Covid recovery package, claiming it includes unacceptable conditions. At issue is the EU's ability to tie funds to members' adherence to core EU values, such as the rule of law. Stephen Sackur speaks to Pawel Jablonski, Poland's deputy foreign minister. Can Poland aff...

The EU has long threatened to punish the populist nationalist government in Hungary for a failure to uphold core EU values. So far the threats have been empty, but now there’s a concerted effort to link post-Covid financial aid to compliance with core principles on the rule of law. Stephen Sackur speaks to Hungary’s Justice Minister Judit Varga. How far is Hungary prepared to go in its defiance of...

In the midst of of a pandemic which has inflicted severe damage on the European economy, it is tempting to see the US election victory of Joe Biden as a boost for the EU. After all, Donald Trump seemed to view Europe more as an economic rival than strategic partner. Stephen Sackur speaks to Spain's foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez. What kind of power and influence can the EU wield on the world st...

Donald Trump hasn’t yet accepted it, but he’ll be out of the White House in January next year. Gone but not forgotten. His legacy can be seen in a divided body politic, strained international alliances and deep uncertainty about America’s geopolitical ambition. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Lt. General HR McMaster, who served as Mr Trump’s National Security Adviser until he was fired in 2018...

Donald Trump can't and won't bring himself to concede that he lost the Presidential election. Amid the talk of legal challenges in a slew of states the Republican party is under strain - most senior figures sticking with the President, some very publicly backing away. Stephen Sackur speaks to the former Congressman and loyal Trump backer Jack Kingston. What longer term lessons should his party be...

The socialist government of Venezuela presides over an economy in meltdown and a population desperate for change. Yet the country's opposition has failed to build a movement capable of bringing down President Nicolas Maduro. Why? In an exclusive interview, Stephen Sackur speaks to Leopoldo Lopez, the founder of the opposition Popular Will party. Last month, he escaped from Venezuela and found refu...

Scientists have discovered water on the sunlit surface of the Moon for the first time. Does it matter? Well, maybe it does. The Moon is back in vogue in terms of space exploration – the US says it will put astronauts back on the lunar surface by 2024. It is supposed to be the precursor to a manned mission to Mars. Stephen Sackur speaks to Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist at NASA. In thi...

Gossip, scurrilous rumour, a fascination with the flaws of the rich and famous: these human foibles are as old as the hills, but the age of the internet has amplified their power. Perez Hilton, real name Mario Lavandeira, can lay claim to being the godfather of online gossip and scandal mongering. He created his showbiz gossip blog 16 years ago, and made a pile of money trashing reputations and in...

According to the polls Joe Biden is strong favourite to be the next President of the United States. But the party’s leaders bear deep scars from 2016. Donald Trump overcame the odds and beat Hillary Clinton and he claims he can do it again next week. Even if Biden wins does America really know what his presidency would look like? Stephen Sackur speaks to one of the most senior Democrats in Congres...

The beheading of a teacher by an 18-year-old outside Paris struck a particularly jarring blow to the French psyche. Samuel Paty was murdered for teaching his students, including young Muslims, about freedom of speech, including the freedom to mock religion. His killing was seen by some as an attack on France’s secular values. Stephen Sackur speaks to Dominique Schnapper, president of a council whi...

Stephen Sackur speaks to Peter Frankopan, historian and author of the bestselling book The Silk Roads. There’s plentiful evidence that the coronavirus pandemic has inflicted more serious damage on the US than China. Has the impact of Covid-19 reinforced the notion that global power and influence is shifting to the East?