The Interview

Mathieu Kassovitz has been a darling of French cinema for 30 years. Now he says, "I'm out of this country" - and it's nothing to do with taxes. Is he frustrated with an industry that was indifferent to his latest movie? Or with the politicians who furnish some of his least-appealing characters? His newest offering, a tale of post-colonial bloodshed on a Pacific island inspired by real events, whic...

Angela Merkel is a politician caught between a rock and a hard place. In Germany, a new party accuses her of doing too much to keep alive the hated Euro currency. Other eurozone members say her government is not doing enough, fearful of those domestic critics ahead of this autumn's federal election. Hardtalk speaks to Germany’s deputy finance minister Steffen Kampeter. Just how big a price is Germ...

Stephen Sackur meets one of Britain's most successful actors, Jeremy Irons. The Oscar winning performer is best known for his portrayal of troubled, brooding upper class men. He has just finished making a documentary about the potentially devastating impact of the mountains of toxic waste polluting our planet. He is an actor with very strong opinions. Could that get him into trouble? (Image: Jerem...

Rarely does the death of a long-retired politician prompt a genuinely worldwide reaction, but Margaret Thatcher was one of a kind. Britain's first female prime minister transformed her own country, and provided the world with a model of market economics and conviction politics, which was inspirational to some, repellent to others. Hardtalk speaks to a man who played a key role in the creation of T...

In the midst of war or natural disaster humanitarian aid can make the difference between life and death. But according to influential critics it can also exacerbate conflict, offer succour to tyrants and foster dangerous dependency. Stephen Sackur talks to Sir John Holmes who was the UN's Emergency Relief Co-ordinator during crises in Sudan, Sri Lanka and Haiti. Today the emergency response is foc...

For more than a decade Kosovo has been struggling to emerge from a political and diplomatic twilight zone. It is a fledgling state lacking universal recognition. At the heart of Kosovo's problem is a still bitter and dysfunctional relationship with Serbia - until their feud ends neither will be welcomed into the European family of nations. Stephen Sackur talks to Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister Mim...

For years, the UK's relationship with Zimbabwe has been characterised by deep mutual suspicion. But things are beginning to change - the Zimbabwean people have just approved a constitution and the EU has eased its sanctions regime. Stephen Sackur talks to Zimbabwe's justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, a close political ally of Robert Mugabe. His very presence in London is a sign of the new dynamic...

Stephen Sackur speaks to Daniel Dennett, a philosopher who applies Darwinian evolutionary theory not just to species, but to ideas and religious beliefs. Dennett believes religion has outlived its usefulness, hampers rational thought and damages our species. Along with Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, Dennett is seen as a founding father of the new atheism. But do humans want to...

What could and should the outside world be doing as Syria sinks ever deeper into civil war? Has inertia and division within the international community condemned Syria to a slow and agonising collapse? Hardtalk speaks to Norwegian general Robert Mood, who led the ill-fated UN supervision mission in Syria last year. What went wrong then, and do the Syrian people deserve better from the world's majo...

Ivory Coast was once one of west Africa's economic powerhouses. Today, the world's biggest cocoa producer is trying to recover from the conflict that tore the country apart. Following elections in late 2010 the incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to admit defeat to his opponent, Alassane Ouattara. After a period of violence in which thousands of Ivorians were killed, Gbagbo is now awaitin...

Are you an optimist or a pessimist when it comes to the future of human civilisation? Your response may be determined by where you live. In the West, beset by economic stagnation, many see reasons to be fearful. In Asia and Africa prosperity and confidence are on the rise. Stephen Sackur speaks to Kishore Mahbubani, former diplomat turned provocative thinker on globalisation. He sees a world incre...

Stephen Sackur speaks to Welsh rugby legend, Gareth Thomas. He confronted one of the last great taboos in professional sport by publically revealing his homosexuality, while still playing at the top level. His honesty won him admiration within and far beyond the world of rugby, but has he changed anything for other gay sportsmen? And what other awkward truths lie behind the public mask donned by s...

At the end of 2013, Romanians will be able to live and work in any EU country they want to. All work restrictions, imposed by some countries when Romania and Bulgaria joined the union six years ago, will be lifted. There were worries then that workers from those two impoverished European states would flock to richer nations, and such concerns have not gone away. Zeinab Badawi speaks to Romania's P...

Stephen Sackur asks veteran Conservative cabinet minister Ken Clarke if prime minster David Cameron is in danger of losing grip of his party. No one ever said it would be easy for the British prime minister - his government is an uneasy coalition, and his economic inheritance was disfigured by debt. But right now his biggest problems are coming from within. The Conservative Party is fractious; his...

Two decades ago the world's killing fields were in the Balkans and Rwanda but right now, they're in Syria. Can we be any more confident today, than we were back then, that the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity will be brought to justice? Stephen Sackur speaks to Theodor Meron, currently serving a second term as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yu...

Stephen Sackur visits the grand presidential palace in Tunis to speak to the Tunisian president and former human rights campaigner Moncef Marzouki. During his presidency, Tunisia's status as the success story of the Arab uprising has been threatened by growing internal tensions. What has happened to Tunisia's revolution? (Image: Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki. Credit: FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Im...

Britain and India are two countries united by 200 years of shared history but now with an ever growing distance in ties. India is a rising global economic powerhouse: Britain a former imperial power in search of a global boost to its ailing economy. When the British prime-minister David Cameron visited India in February, he took a 100 strong trade delegation with him. Amongst them was the Indian b...

Europe's prolonged economic crisis has prompted a populist backlash against the powers that be. In Finland, the EU's prosperous northern outpost, the big beneficiary has been Timo Soini, leader of the Eurosceptic, nationalist party long known as the True Finns. He wants to see the Eurozone dismantled, immigration curbed, traditional values restored. Critics have labelled the party xenophobic - is...

Henry Winkler's long career will always be defined by one role. He was the Fonz, the cool dude at the centre of the US TV show Happy Days which was a worldwide hit in the '70s and '80s. The show portrayed an innocent, untroubled 1950s America. It was a far cry from Winkler's own childhood which was clouded by undiagnosed dyslexia. How did a troubled kid come to be a symbol of sunny optimism, and w...

The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians arouses passions like few others. But on one thing most people can agree: that there's no prospect of the struggle ending anytime soon. So given the failure of the politicians and the diplomats, the militants and the liberals – what should we take from the words of the writer? AB Yehoshua is known as one of Israel's great men of letters. His latest bo...

The Catholic Church has been rocked by not one but two shock and surprise resignations. First, Pope Benedict steps down after announcing he was too old and infirm for the office. Then Britain's most senior Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, resigned after allegations - which he contests - of inappropriate behaviour towards priests 30 years ago. His departure has once again put the spotlight on the...

Hardtalk speaks to one of the most influential women in the history of the modern feminist movement. Gloria Steinem grew up in an America where women were expected to put husband and children first. But that was never her intention. She forged a successful career as a writer. She co-founded Ms magazine; and she became one of the world’s best known campaigners for gender equality. So how much of wh...

The state of the US Republican Party has been described as a mess. Badly beaten in the race for the White House, it is seemingly out of touch with mainstream opinion on issues from immigration to gun control and is in danger of being outmanoeuvred by President Obama in the continued stand-off over the federal budget. Hardtalk speaks to the former Republican candidate Jon Huntsman - a moderate freq...

Stephen Sackur talks to Mamphela Ramphele, anti-apartheid activist, prominent public figure and former partner of the late Steve Biko, one of the heroes of the liberation struggle. She has launched a new political movement with an outspoken attack on the failings of ANC governance. The political supremacy of the African National Congress in post-apartheid South Africa has never been seriously thre...

This is Latin America’s decade – so says the leader of one of the countries contributing to its impressive economic boom. But as the world slows, can growth be sustained? The region’s politicians are divided – talking about free trade deals for years even as some impose ever more restrictions on competition from the world outside. Enrique Garcia has been juggling the demands of protectionists and...