The Interview

Is there still public appetite for Dan Brown’s high fibre blockbuster novels? He’s one of the biggest selling authors of all time. His 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code challenged the story of Christianity and sparked outrage in the Vatican. Now he’s back with another epic tale, this time about man’s quest to understand the beginnings of life on earth. Stephen Sackur speaks to Dan Brown about his new b...

Oscar winning actor, activist and fitness guru Jane Fonda is a special guest on Hardtalk as it celebrates 20 years of being on air. In a career spanning six decades she has never shied away from speaking her mind. This is a trait that has not always been welcome in the movie business, where sexism and abusive behaviour are currently in the spotlight as never before. How dark is the reality behind...

Seventy years ago, the leader Mustafa Barzani made a declaration of Kurdish independence which was ignored. Last month, his son -Masoud, won a referendum in Iraq intended to achieve it. However, Baghdad says it will impose its rule instead. If the Kurds are to succeed, Masrour, grandson of one Barzani, son of the other, will need all the clout he's acquired waging war on the group that calls itsel...

We're all familiar with rock music's living legends, but perhaps more intriguing are rock and roll’s cult heros - the artists who've inspired other artists without getting massive rewards. Wilko Johnson fits that bill. His raw guitar sound in the band Dr Feelgood paved the way for punk, and he kept on rocking through cancer, depression and changing musical tastes. In 2017, he spoke to Stephen Sack...

What difference will the Alternative for Germany party make to the country? Nearly six million people voted for AfD in last week's election, making it the third biggest party in the Bundestag. But within days of its stunning electoral success, its co-leader declared she was out. She said that the party was too anarchic, too focused on Russia, discrediting its moderate members and would be ineffect...

Can President Macron fix awkward realities in France and elsewhere in Europe? Stephen Sackur speaks to France’s Minister for European Affairs, Nathalie Loiseau, about the young president's vision for a reformed France, leading Europe on a march to deeper integration and greater global influence. (Photo: Foreign Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau leaves a cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace, Paris,...

Is Pakistan at risk of losing allies over its inability or unwillingness to control militants? Sarah Montague speaks to Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Khawaja Asif. President Trump has accused his country of "housing the very terrorists" that the United States is fighting. He says that will have to change "immediately". He has also questioned why the United States is giving Pakistan billions in aid...

Relations between the US and Russia are at a post-Cold War low point, filled with mistrust, unpredictability and potential danger. In Washington, there's a President whose mixed messages tie his own staff in knots. Meanwhile, in Moscow is a President who seems intent on exploiting Western division. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the Russian Senate's Foreign Af...

Are reports of the EU’s resurgence premature? After a bleak decade of economic stagnation, internal dysfunction and public disaffection in the EU, officials in Brussels claim the tide has turned. But is there really a renewed appetite for deeper European integration, while Britain is still searching for an exit strategy? Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to former Italian Prime Minister, EU Commiss...

In this age of the internet, the world has come to expect instant access to knowledge. But real, deep understanding takes longer to acquire and to share. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to one of the world’s most acclaimed novelists- Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk. He has lived almost all of his life in Istanbul, writing stories about Turkey which have over decades painted a vivid picture of a co...

As demands to relocate migrants across Europe continue to grow, Hungary seems more and more at odds with the EU's policy on migration. After losing a legal challenge at the European Court of Justice which overruled its objections to the compulsory fixed-quota scheme, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has accused the court of playing politics. He tells Zeinab Badawi that the EU's migration...

Does the UN have the moral clout and authority to handle pressing world crises? Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is presiding over his first UN General Assembly since he took up the post in January this year. Hardtalk speaks to him at the UN headquarters in New York. (Photo: António Guterres, UN Secretary General, attends the London Conference on Somalia, 2017, London. Credit: Jack Hill/WPA Pool...

Is the African National Congress- the iconic movement of South Africa's liberation struggle, close to the end of its productive life? If so, will its demise be quick, or slow and painful? At the end of this year, the ANC’s current party leader- Jacob Zuma, will quit as party chief, with a host of candidates including his ex-wife vying to replace him. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to the former...

How will Africa cope with an impending population explosion? Over the next thirty years Africa's population is projected to double, requiring delivery of jobs, housing and infrastructure to enable two billion people to thrive. It is an unprecedented leadership challenge. Does governance in Olusegun Obasanjo's Nigeria inspire confidence or scepticism? (Photo: Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of...

Is social media bad for public discourse? Man Booker prize-winning author Howard Jacobson thinks the internet is changing the way we use words, and not for the better. But is he an artist swimming against an irresistible cultural tide? (Photo: Howard Jacobson author of The Finkler Question, poses after winning the 2010 Man Booker Prize. Credit: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

Donald Trump embraces disruption and unpredictability, but what does that mean for America's national security and foreign policy? At first glance it seems to herald a new era of confrontation, from the Korean peninsula to the Mexican border, but are there limits to the President's break with convention? Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to veteran US diplomat and adviser to a host of Republican pr...

Is it easy to lose sight of what matters most to business success? We speak to one of Asia's best-know businessmen, Tony Fernandes. He is the boss of Air Asia, football club owner, one-time Formula One investor, and dabbler in reality television. But is a flamboyant style and diversification into sports or media necessarily good for the bottom line? (Photo: CEO AirAsia Tony Fernandes at the World...

US Senator Lindsey Graham speaks to Hardtalk about the foreign and domestic impact of President Trump. Senator Graham made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 but remains an influential voice inside the party. He has been openly critical of President Trump but has also praised him on some aspects of foreign policy. Where does America go from here as tensions with...

How do you survive the North Korean labour camp system? Kenneth Bae is an American Christian missionary who was arrested inside North Korea and spent two years in a Pyongyang prison. (Photo: Kenneth Bae speaks at a briefing on North Korea 2016. Credit: Getty Images)

Neo-Nazism, and race hatred are alive and kicking in the United States. The violence in Charlottesville was shocking not just because a life was taken, but also because of the polarising impact of President Trumps response. Stephen Sackur speaks to Richard Cohen, President of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a group devoted to civil rights activism. How fanciful is the notion of a 21st century Ame...

Politicians and civil servants usually abandon their offices in the dog days of August, but not this year in London, where Brexit is now an overwhelming political priority. Theresa May's Government has issued a raft of proposals on what trade, border and legal arrangements might look like post Brexit, with a striking focus on continuity rather than change. Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to one o...

In the age of Donald Trump maybe the world is getting used to international politics delivering the unexpected. Stephen Sackur speaks to Mikheil Saakashvili who served two terms as President of Georgia. He then abandoned his home country to take citizenship in Ukraine, serving as a regional governor until he fell out spectacularly with the Ukrainian President. Now he's been stripped of Ukrainian c...

For more than two decades the ANC has been South Africa's impregnable political structure, but now cracks are appearing. At least 30 ANC MPs defied the party whip and supported a no confidence motion against party leader and national President, Jacob Zuma. Stephen Sackur speaks to Pravin Gordhan, the man President Zuma sacked as Finance Minister in controversial circumstances earlier this year. Do...

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Mostefa Souag, Acting Director General of Al Jazeera. The news network was launched in Qatar in 1996 it had a seismic impact on the media landscape in the Middle East. Here was an Arab broadcaster refusing to play by local rules: ambitious, punchy and provocative in its coverage of the region and the world. Two decades on, it seems that patience is wearing thin...

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Isaias Medina, former Venezuelan diplomat at the UN and now an anti-Maduro dissident. Venezuela's political and economic crisis is precariously poised - the Maduro regime is determined to re-write the constitution to strengthen its grip on power - the opposition is intent on using mass protest to bring the Government down. The current standoff isn’t sustainable,...