“The global economy is full of uncertainty… business doesn't do that well with uncertainty. So with respect to trade… what is going on in the Middle East will have a significant impact on trade” Ben Thompson speaks to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Director General of the World Trade Organisation. The global trade system - embodied by the WTO - is supposed to bring countries together by setting and enforcing the rules for them to sell goods and services to each other as well as resolve trade disputes. T...
Mar 27, 2026•23 min
“Malaria is an all of society challenge. When you look at the environmental issues, addressing the breeding sites for mosquitoes, it’s an all of society issue…it is not just the responsibility of the heads of state.” Daniel Dadzie hears from Joy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, or ALMA. ALMA was founded with the goal of eradicating malaria in Africa by 2030. Now, Joy Phumaphi concedes this is not going to happen. In fact, she says only a few countries across...
Mar 25, 2026•23 min
“We put the money where Europe's priorities are. Many people may think defence is about tanks. No, defence is also about energy security. It is about social cohesion and territorial cohesion. That's the European brand. So we need to act in all these areas in order to ensure peace, security, stability on our continent.” Peter Macjob speaks to Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank, about Europe’s shifting priorities, and the growing urgency around defence and security. With wars...
Mar 23, 2026•23 min
“Donald Trump was indicating that they will attack Iran for a few days and then the system will collapse, and then they will repeat what they have done in Venezuela. And everything went into a different direction. The Iranian nation is not a nation to surrender.” Evan Davis speaks to Ali Bahreini, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, about the ongoing war. He talks about Iran’s nuclear negotiations, how it says the war is unfolding, and why it believes their strikes on neighbouring countries...
Mar 20, 2026•23 min
“The changing date was the war in Ukraine in February 2022, and then probably the new American administration. So we don't know where the world is going to land. We live a little bit in a world of disorder right now.” Matt Chorley speaks to Alexander Stubb, President of Finland about shifting global priorities and allegiances. President Stubb is known for his good relationship with his American counterpart Donald Trump, forged in part over their shared love of golf. But in spite of this he belie...
Mar 18, 2026•23 min
“When you've been really nihilistic in your life when you're younger, and then you feel you've been given a second chance.” Emma Barnett speaks to artist Dame Tracey Emin about her life and career. Emin rose to fame in the 1990s as a disruptor of the art world, with her works, such as the sculpture ‘My Bed’, gaining widespread media attention. Having been at the forefront of the modern art scene for over three decades, a solo exhibition has now opened at the Tate Modern in London showcasing 40 y...
Mar 16, 2026•23 min
“We need to get back to something where freedom of navigation and peaceful navigation is restored, and that will depend on some kind of deal between the two sides in that war.” Jonathan Josephs speaks to Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk the world’s second largest shipping company. The conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States has led to the closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz. It’s one of the world’s most important shipping routes which before this war, carried about a fifth of global oi...
Mar 13, 2026•23 min
“People are too gloomy about AI, particularly in the developing world it is seen as a threat, that people are going to be using AI systems, rather than offshoring jobs and the like. That's true, but you could use AI yourself and develop solutions to the challenges you have in your community, in your country, and create unprecedented wealth.” BBC presenter Ed Butler speaks to Karim Beguir, co-founder and boss of InstaDeep, Africa’s biggest AI firm. InstaDeep’s technology played a key role during ...
Mar 11, 2026•23 min
“The destruction of USAID is not only one of the cruellest acts that I've seen in my career, but of course also one of the dumbest.” Caitriona Perry speaks to Samantha Power, the former American ambassador to the United Nations. She went on to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development until January 2025 when Donald Trump came to power. President Trump later closed USAID down. She is scathing about his decision, describing it as a “soft power suicide” which will lead to the avoidable dea...
Mar 09, 2026•23 min
“One of the things that was going to combat gender inequality in our world was that sense of progress and then to see in the research that actually the younger generation is more conservative on these questions than people my age, that deeply troubled me.” Lucy Hockings speaks to Julia Gillard former Australian PM and chair at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, King’s College London about new research on equality. Having worked her way to the top in the male dominated world of Australi...
Mar 06, 2026•28 min
“I have never made a movie I didn't believe was necessary for me or for someone in the world, whether to entertain or to connect at a spiritual level or something. It's been only done for the art.” John Wilson speaks to Oscar-winning Mexican director, screenwriter, and producer, Guillermo del Toro about his life and career. Born in Guadalajara in 1964, his life suddenly changed at the age of five after his father, then a motorcycle racer, won the lottery. While his parents travelled the world wi...
Mar 04, 2026•27 min
“Africa is flowing with resources from oil, diamonds, critical minerals. But at times we find that in our cities, at the bus stations, there's no toilets with running water in a continent which is rich with possibilities. So it's how that intentionality, that political will, to put resources to what matters most.” Daniel Dadzie speaks to Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN deputy director for women, about the need for Africa to focus on the priorities of its people,...
Mar 02, 2026•23 min
“We stand and fight for survival. We are an independent state. We will definitely not lose this war” Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s International Editor, speaks to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview marking the fourth anniversary of the Ukraine war. Official figures put the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at 55,000 since the full-scale Russian invasion began, but that is believed to be an underestimate, with many more missing. The number of Russian soldiers killed is believe...
Feb 27, 2026•23 min
Laura Kuenssberg speaks to former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and former head of the British Armed Forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, about the war in Ukraine. Johnson was in Downing Street four years ago, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. As one of the driving forces behind the West’s initial response, he has been critical of the slowness of allies in providing support to President Zelensky, which Johnson says has cost lives. The two men believe the conflict could have been ...
Feb 25, 2026•23 min
“Food is a human right that should be supported by everybody, no children should go to bed hungry, even less in a conflict." Caitriona Perry speaks to José Andrés world-renowned chef and humanitarian. Andrés was born in Spain and trained as a chef before moving to the United States, where he helped popularise Spanish cuisine and built a global restaurant empire. He later founded World Central Kitchen, an organisation that has transformed the way humanitarian aid responds to crisis, delivering me...
Feb 23, 2026•23 min
“They have said in private conversation through Oman that they're interested to have this matter being resolved through peaceful means. But at the same time, one can question why the American forces are building up around Iran, why they are using threats, why they resorting to intimidation.” Lyse Doucet speaks to Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, in an interview recorded before the second round of talks with the US. The talks are aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear programme in r...
Feb 18, 2026•23 min
**This episode contains distressing details of rape and sexual assault** Gisèle Pelicot: “I wanted the shame to shift to the other side…Shame must be carried by the accused, not the victims.” Victoria Derbyshire speaks to Gisèle Pelicot, the woman at the centre of France's largest ever rape trial. In 2024 her husband and 50 other men were convicted of raping and assaulting her. For years, Mr Pelicot had repeatedly drugged her unconscious and invited dozens of men into their home to rape her. In ...
Feb 17, 2026•23 min
"There is a public health disaster. There is an education disaster. It all can be traced to the same cause, which is the change technology has made in our kids' childhood." Amol Rajan speaks to the American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. In 2024 his book The Anxious Generation sparked a fierce debate about the impact of social media and technology on young people. Haidt believes it's behind the soaring number of mental health problems but social media companies claim this oversimplifies a d...
Feb 16, 2026•23 min
Aleem Maqbool speaks to Dame Sarah Mullally, shortly before being confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury. She's the first woman ever to lead the Church of England. It is a tough time for the Church and its leader who has to hold together people with a broad range of opinions across the Anglican Communion, one of the largest Christian communities in the world. Dame Sarah's election has upset some traditionalists who have threatened to leave the church because they are against the role of women in ...
Feb 13, 2026•23 min
'What the regime does to women is even if they don't kill us, when you stop a woman from being herself, stop her from speaking the way she wants to or stop her from connecting, it’s a kind of murder. And so we're fighting for our existence. We're fighting our survival.’ Svetlana Reiter speaks to the Iranian-American writer, Azar Nafisi, about the current instability in the country of her birth as Iranians continue to seek regime change in Tehran. Born in Tehran in 1956, the story of her life has...
Feb 11, 2026•23 min
“Even though we say we want to be self-sufficient, we don't think global solidarity must be dropped. Because if it gets dropped, the world will be in trouble.” Mayeni Jones the BBC’s Africa correspondent speaks to Dr Aaron Motsoaledi South Africa’s health minister a year on since the US announced foreign aid cuts. At the time he called the USAID freeze a wake up call for Africa. Dr Motsoaledi, has been at the centre of South Africa’s public health response for more than a decade. A medical docto...
Feb 09, 2026•23 min
“Most Venezuelans are thinking about the future: Will things improve? Will deep changes come? Will we reunite as a people with our history, dreams, and hopes?” BBC correspondent Norberto Paredes speaks to Henrique Capriles, a Venezuelan opposition leader, about his vision for a new Venezuela. In the aftermath of President Maduro’s capture by the United States, Henrique Capriles is one of the key political voices emerging - an alternative to the high-profile Maria Corina Machado, Nobel-prize winn...
Feb 06, 2026•23 min
Katy Watson speaks to Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner about the country’s social media ban for under 16s: “To keep kids away until they're ready, I think that is the monumental circuit breaker move that we need to move to,” she says. Brought up in Seattle, North America Julie has spent her career in the technology sector working for Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe in public policy and safety before moving into government. She moved to Australia more than 25 years ago and from 20...
Feb 04, 2026•23 min
'It's hard to be the only woman, I feel lonely sometimes because I’d like to have another woman colleague to talk to.’ The BBC’s Chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet speaks to Hind Kabawat, Syria’s Minister for Social Affairs and Labour. and the only female minister in the transitional government. She was born in India and grew up across the Middle East and Europe. Her life has been shaped by movement, exile and conflict. She studied economics in Damascus, law in Beirut, and later cont...
Feb 02, 2026•24 min
‘We're fighting to survive in our home town, in our country, and at the same time we're fighting for our future, for our independence’ Nick Robinson speaks to Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kyiv, about Ukraine’s war with Russia as it approaches its fourth year. Born behind the Iron Curtain in 1971, he’s arguably best-known as a former heavyweight boxing world champion who made his name in the ring during the 1990s and 2000s. Having hung up his gloves following a series of injuries, when his native U...
Jan 30, 2026•23 min
“Regardless of whether it's Trump or anybody else in the White House, we should expect something quite significant to be going on in terms of the United States’ relationship with the rest of the world.” Amol Rajan speaks to Helen Thompson, professor of political economy at Cambridge University, about a new era of global power play. In this conversation, she traces the roots of the re-birth of US expansionism back to the 19th century, and America’s early presidents. She also explains how the dyna...
Jan 28, 2026•23 min
‘All they have seen is a 40-year rule that has resulted in high unemployment rates, poor services, and an increased violation of human rights. This young population is yearning to see a different president, a different kind of Uganda.’ Catherine Byaruhanga speaks to human rights lawyer and activist Nicholas Opiyo about Ugandan politics, the rule of law, and the impact of 40 years of one leader on the nation. He’s taken on multiple cases of national significance, including successfully overturnin...
Jan 26, 2026•23 min
‘It's so far from your reality because I didn't know anybody and I was an immigrant’ Anita Rani speaks to the Beijing-born director Chloé Zhao about her career and her latest film, Hamnet. Zhao made history in 2021 when, at the age of just 39, she became the first woman of colour - and, at the time, only the second woman ever - to win the best director award at the Oscars. Now, just five years after her Oscars triumph for Nomadland, Zhao is making headlines once again as the director of the crit...
Jan 23, 2026•23 min
“There are those that believe the power of law should be replaced by the law of power” Anna Foster speaks to Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, about the threat to international law from states acting through power and influence instead, in particular America. Defending the rule of law is necessary, he says, if we are to have a better world. He also sets out the case for reform of the UN Security Council to allow it to remain effective and relevant in the face of increasi...
Jan 21, 2026•23 min
Nick Robinson speaks to Polish President Karol Nawrocki about Trump, Russia and the future of Europe. A historian and a boxer by background, he was elected in June 2025 with the support of Poland’s conservative opposition Law and Justice Party. A social conservative and devout Catholic, he is also an outspoken critic of the European Union and staunch supporter of Donald Trump, believing that the US President is the only person who can stop the threat to Europe from Vladimir Putin’s Russia: "Euro...
Jan 19, 2026•23 min
