HARDtalk

Another chance to listen to Stephen Sackur?s 2013 interview with American philosopher Daniel Dennett, who has died aged 82. Described as one of the Four Horsemen of New Atheism, Dennett wrote powerfully against religion. But do humans really want to live in a world where atheism rules and religion is dead?

Stephen Sackur speaks to veteran US diplomat Richard Haass. Levels of geopolitical risk are sky-high; from the direct hostilities between Israel and Iran, to the continued conflict and suffering in Gaza, to the ramping up of Russia?s assault on Ukraine. How should America respond?

If the West doesn't step up assistance for Ukraine, will the war be lost? Stephen Sackur speaks to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Danny Danon, Israeli MP and former ambassador at the United Nations. Israel and Iran are on the brink of a war which could ignite the entire Middle East. Having neutralised an Iranian missile barrage, will the Israeli government listen to its allies and step back, or seek a new level of retribution and deterrence?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the actor Eddie Marsan, whose ability to play troubled, sometimes violent characters has made him a staple on stage and screen. He?s a relative rarity, an actor with genuine working class roots. Is there a diversity problem in the performing arts when it comes to class?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Paul Caruana Galizia, whose mother, Daphne, was a Maltese journalist who was assassinated for exposing endemic corruption and sleaze. Six years on, have her family won their fight for accountability and justice?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Zimbabwean opposition politician Job Sikhala. He was recently released after almost two years in jail. Now he?s promising to build a grassroots movement to challenge the ruling Zanu-PF party. But amid economic crisis and political repression, is change possible?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Scotland?s First Minister Humza Yousaf. His first year in the top job has been tough. Is the Scottish National Party's supremacy in peril?

Another opportunity to hear Stephen Sackur's interview with the writer and computer game creator Naomi Alderman. Her most recent novel - The Future - is a techno thriller set at the end of days. Is the apocalypse she imagines all too possible?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the bioethicist, disability rights campaigner and writer Tom Shakespeare. Should we embrace difference, rather than use science to root it out?

Stephen Sackur speaks to one of America?s fiercest opponents of abortion rights, Lila Rose. The US Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade, but she wants to go much further - to a total nationwide abortion ban. Is that a step too far for the American public?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Guyana?s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali. Vast offshore oil and gas reserves are transforming the Guyanese economy. But amid territorial tension with neighbouring Venezuela and environmental concerns, will oil prove to be a blessing or a curse?

Stephen Sackur is on the road in Guyana, South America, home to globally significant ecosystems and now one of the world's biggest offshore oil and gas reserves. As Guyana experiences record economic growth, will its people feel the benefit?

Stephen Sackur speaks to philosopher Judith Butler, who has been at the centre of the fierce debate about sex, gender and self-identity for three decades. Their new book suggests those sceptical of gender fluidity and self-identity are part of a global authoritarian trend. Is that fair?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader. His country?s economy is growing fast, as neighbouring Haiti sinks deeper into an economic and security crisis. Will the Dominican Republic help a neighbour in need, or put self-interest first?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the former politician and justice campaigner Chris Mullin. He did much to expose the miscarriage of justice which saw six men wrongly convicted of IRA bombings in Birmingham 50 years ago. Were the right lessons learned from that grave injustice?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. He?s just back from Gaza; before that, he was on the Chad/Sudan border. Hundreds of thousands of people are in life threatening danger. Is the international community failing to protect the most vulnerable?

Haiti is on the brink; armed gangs are rampant, basic services are broken, millions of people are at risk. The prime minister is stepping down, and there are calls for armed international intervention. Can it be saved? Stephen Sackur speaks to Claude Joseph, the country?s former acting prime minister.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Leonid Volkov, long-time ally and adviser to Russia?s late opposition leader Alexey Navalny. President Vladimir Putin is almost certain to be resoundingly re-elected in upcoming elections. His most dangerous political opponent is dead. Is it game over for the anti-Putin movement?

Stephen Sackur is in Oakland, California, to speak to Ericka Huggins, an original member of the 1960s Black Panther Party. She experienced violence, imprisonment and vilification in the controversial campaign for black power. Do the Panthers have lessons for the Black Lives Matter movement?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN. Talks to end, or at least suspend, the war in Gaza haven?t worked. The humanitarian situation for two million Palestinians and the 100-plus Israeli hostages is desperate. Why are the diplomats failing?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the writer Sathnam Sanghera, whose own identity as the British son of Indian immigrants led him to look afresh at the legacy of the British Empire.

Russia?s neighbour Georgia is closely watching what happens in Ukraine. It shares a 900km border with Russia, who invaded in 2008. Russian troops are stationed in two separatist regions. Georgia has just been granted EU candidate status and talks of joining NATO, yet its government is seen by some as sympathetic to Russia. Sarah Montague talks to the Georgian President, Salome Zourabichvili. Where does Georgia's destiny lie - with Russia or the West?

Stephen Sackur interviews Northern Irish actor Ciarán Hinds, whose career took him from the troubled streets of Belfast to an Oscar nomination. Right now, Northern Ireland is a creative powerhouse; why, and will it last?

Sarah Montague is at Nato?s headquarters in Brussels to speak to its outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Two years after Russia?s full scale invasion of Ukraine, is Vladimir Putin now preparing for a war with Nato?

In a special programme in the run up to Russia?s presidential election in March, HARDtalk looks back on interviews with those few Russians who have been ready to stand up to Vladimir Putin. From the late Boris Nemtsov to Alexei Navalny whose death was announced recently, what motivates those ready to risk everything to challenge Putin?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Bulgaria?s Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov. His country is trying to wean itself off Russian energy, and sends weapons to Ukraine, but many Bulgarians are still pro-Russian. As Europe tries to beef up its own security, is Bulgaria a weak link?

Russian authorities have announced the death of one of the country?s most significant opposition leaders Alexey Navalny in a remote penal colony in the Arctic Circle. Stephen Sackur spoke to him in Moscow in 2017 about the risks involved in being a prominent critic of President Putin.

(Photo: Alexey Navalny. Still from his 2017 interview with Stephen Sackur)

Stephen Sackur is in New York for a special edition of the programme with Egyptian American satirist Bassem Youssef. During the Arab Spring, his mockery of Egypt?s leaders won him millions of fans, but after the military took over he fled to the US where he has reinvented his comedy career. Can laughter ever provoke political change?

(Photo: Bassem Youssef, comedian and political satirist)

Stephen Sackur is in New York City for an exclusive interview with Ukraine?s top diplomat at the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya. With partisan warfare in Washington DC blocking crucial military assistance to Kyiv, does Ukraine feel betrayed?

(Photo: Still taken from the Hardtalk interview with Sergiy Kyslytsya)

Stephen Sackur is in New York City to speak to Cornel West, the high-profile philosopher, writer and activist who has launched his own bid for the White House. Running as independent, he looks unlikely to win but could this anti-war socialist take enough votes from Joe Biden to help Donald Trump get elected a second time?

Stephen Sackur is in New York City, home of the United Nations, to speak to Vassily Nebenzia, Russia?s permanent representative to the UN. Ambassador Nebenzia is a key player in Vladimir Putin?s combative diplomatic strategy to accuse the West of seeking to impose its will on the world, from Ukraine to the Middle East. How effective is Moscow in the battle for world opinion?

Stephen Sackur speaks to José Ramos Horta, President of Timor-Leste. Are there lessons for the world to learn from his extraordinary life?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to the former prime minister of Sudan, Abdalla Hamdok. He is at the heart of negotiations to bring peace to the country after ten months of conflict, in which thousands have died and millions have been displaced. Can his efforts succeed?

Stephen Sackur speaks to South African justice minister Ronald Lamola, a key player in the country?s genocide case against Israel presented to the International Court of Justice. The court?s preliminary ruling has made little immediate difference to the war in Gaza, but longer term could it be a geo-political game changer?

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 Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski. Poland has been a key pillar of the Western alliance supporting Ukraine against Putin?s invasion, but is war fatigue undermining that bond? And is Poland's new government going to unite the country or divide it?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the writer and computer game creator Naomi Alderman. Her latest novel - The Future - is a techno thriller set at the end of days. Is the apocalypse she imagines all too possible?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Regina Ip, an influential pro-Beijing lawmaker in Hong Kong. For years China has been tightening its grip on the territory it took back from Britain. Pro-democracy activism, political opposition and press freedom have all been curtailed. So what is Hong Kong?s future?

Stephen Sackur talks to Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel?s prime minister. Israel?s relentless military response to Hamas?s assault on 7 October has unleashed a humanitarian nightmare in Gaza. Is Israel?s strategy serving its own best interests?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian academic who has advised his government during nuclear negotiations. Iran actively backs Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, but as the flashpoints in the Middle East multiply, is a regional war - with the US inevitably engaged - what Tehran really wants?

Another chance to listen to Stephen Sackur's 2014 interview with the late Sir Nicholas Winton, the man who saved more than 600 mostly Jewish children from Nazi persecution. Nine years after his death, a major film has been released about his remarkable story. What motivated him?

Image: Sir Nicholas Winton, pictured in 2015 (Credit: Jeremy Selwyn/Evening Standard via Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur talks to Alicia Kearns, Conservative MP and chair of the UK?s House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. She has long warned of the threat to democracies posed by authoritarian regimes, led by China. With a host of elections looming, is 2024 going to severely test the West?

Stephen Sackur speaks to philosopher Stephen Cave, director of the University of Cambridge Institute for Technology and Humanity. He is at the centre of a growing debate about the merits of extending human longevity. Is it wise to seek to live forever?

What does the Gaza war mean for Israel?s Arab population? Stephen Sackur speaks to Israeli politician Aida Touma-Sliman, a Palestinian Arab member of Israel's parliament.

A special programme remembering past HARDtalk guests who died in 2023. All of them left an indelible mark on public life and all, in their different ways, relished the opportunity we gave them to discuss their decision-making and motivation.

Stephen Sackur looks back at some of HARDtalk?s most impactful and thought-provoking interviews of 2023.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Israel?s former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. He is a staunch supporter of Israel?s military assault in Gaza. But in responding to Hamas?s murderous October 7th attack, has Israel deployed wisdom as well as military might?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to the Palestinian doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish, whose three daughters and niece were killed in an Israeli tank strike on his home in the Gaza Strip in 2009. At the time, he said he felt no bitterness, and soon after he published his award-winning autobiography, I Shall not Hate. Now he has lost 22 more family members in the current bombardment. Is he still preaching his message of forgiveness and peace?

The framers of the American Constitution harboured few illusions about human nature, and that?s why they invested so much significance in the US Supreme Court, the ultimate check on executive and legislative power. Sandra Day O?Connor, who died days ago at the age of 93, was the first woman to be appointed as a justice in this court. For 25 years, she was one of its most influential voices. HARDtalk travelled to Washington DC in 2006 to speak to her.

Image: Sandra Day O'Connor, pictured in 2003 (Credit: Tom Mihalek/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)