In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.
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 ...
Stephen Sackur speaks to Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. The UK government, which has signed a controversial migrant transfer deal with Rwanda, paints President Paul Kagame in positive colours. How does that sit with his opponents? (Photo: Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza appears via videolink on BBC Hardtalk)
Stephen Sackur speaks to the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol. As oil and gas-rich UAE hosts the latest climate change summit, is it time to admit the much-vaunted global energy transition is veering off course?
Stephen Sackur speaks to the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Jasem Albudaiwi. The Israel-Hamas war has sent shockwaves through a region that’s been ‘normalising’ relations with Israel. Could the Gulf states be destabilised by the conflict in Gaza?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the UN’s refugee agency for Palestinians. He is just back from Gaza where the temporary truce gave him a chance to assess the scale of the humanitarian crisis. With Israel vowing to resume its war on Hamas, could Gaza soon be unliveable?
Stephen Sackur speaks to far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, whose Religious Zionism party is in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ruling coalition. He and his party colleagues seem ready for a new era of long-term violent confrontation, not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank too. Is his mindset and strategic vision in the best interests of Israel’s future?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Cardinal Peter Turkson, a Vatican insider widely seen as a possible contender to be Africa’s first pope. The number of observant Catholics is down in the west, rising fast in Africa and Asia. Is the Catholic Church at a crossroads?
Stephen Sackur speaks to former US spy Jonna Mendez, who was the CIA’s chief of disguise running Cold War operations in Moscow, Havana and beyond.
Stephen Sackur speaks to the master chef and restaurateur Michel Roux. After 56 years of fine food and Michelin stars, his family restaurant Le Gavroche is closing its doors. He was a torch bearer for a British culinary revolution, but is the business of fine food turning sour? (Photo: Chef Michel Roux Jr in the Chez Roux restaurant at Cheltenham Racecourse. Credit: Steven Paston/PA)
Stephen Sackur is in Washington DC to speak to one of President Biden’s closest allies in the US Congress, Democrat Senator Chris Coons. The president’s staunch support for Israel is dividing his party at a time when some question whether he should run for a second term. Is team Biden in trouble?
Stephen Sackur is in Washington DC to speak to Republican Congressman Mark Alford, one of Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters on Capitol Hill. With a presidential election less than a year away, does the Republican Party have a winning formula?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England. The international economic outlook is troubled, with geopolitical tensions and climate change heightening uncertainty about inflation, trade and low growth. Are economic policymakers making things worse?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Fiona Hill, formerly a Russia expert inside the White House, now an influential analyst of US foreign policy. Joe Biden says US backing for Ukraine and Israel is a vital defence of the rules based order, but are these wars exposing American weakness?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian doctor and co-founder of the Palestinian National Initiative. When this terrible round of violence does eventually end, what then for the Palestinian people?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Carlo Rovelli, one of the world's best known physicists. How much do his remarkable ideas matter outside the scientific community?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. The terrible cost of the conflict between Hamas and Israel could go much higher if a second front opens on Israel’s northern border. If Hezbollah and its Iranian backers opt for all-out war, what then for Lebanon? (Photo: Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib attends a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian (not pictured) in Beirut, 1 Sept, 2023. Emilie Madi/Reuters)...
Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who has one of the most important and toughest jobs in UK politics as Speaker of the House of Commons. Public trust in politicians, never high, has hit new lows. What can the Speaker do to ensure Parliament better serves the people? (Photo: Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, speaks during Prime Minister's Questions, 25 October, 2023. UK Parliament/Maria Unger/Reuters)
Stephen Sackur speaks to the president of Montenegro Jakov Milatovic. His small nation sits in a tense, troubled Balkan neighbourhood which the rest of Europe cannot afford to ignore. The president has promised his people EU membership within five years, but is he heading for disappointment? (Photo: Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic (L) shake hands with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (not seen) before their meeting in Belgrade, Serbia, 10 July 2023. Credit: )
Stephen Sackur speaks to the Turner Prize winning British artist Lubaina Himid. Her work has always put black people and their stories front and centre. Four decades ago she was seen as a radical, now she is embraced by the establishment. What does that say about modern Britain? (Photo: Artist Lubaina Himid is awarded the Robson Orr Ten Ten Award 2021 and unveils the new work at 11 Downing Street, London. Credit: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)
Stephen Sackur speaks to Aiden Aslin, the British man who joined the Ukrainian army and was captured, tortured and sentenced to death by Putin’s forces. He got out in a prisoner swap, traumatised but alive. Why did he risk his life for someone else’s cause? (Photo: Aiden Aslin)
Stephen Sackur speaks to US Democratic Party congressman Adam Smith. The Biden mission to the Middle East at a time of war and spiralling regional tension was always a gamble. How does the US navigate its multiple interests at this time of maximum danger?
Stephen Sackur speaks to the head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK Husam Zomlot. Hamas surely knew its murderous attack on Israel would provoke an overwhelming military response. The jihadists, it seems, wanted a devastating war. But what about Palestinians not with Hamas? As conflict in the Middle East escalates, what are their options? (Photo: Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador to Britain, attends a news conference at the Arab British Chamber of Commerce. Credit: London. Clodagh Kilc...
Stephen Sackur speaks to Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. Just how solid is the West’s support for Kyiv? And what happens to Ukraine if the flow of weapons, money and diplomatic support is called into question from Washington to Warsaw?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Hamas’s murderous attack on Israel from Gaza killed more than 1,200 people and has prompted an Israeli response which has already killed more than a thousand Palestinians. Unimaginable horror has been unleashed; where will it end?
