Hardtalk

What gives each of us our sense of who we are? At the most personal level we all have our own family background. In the most general sense we are, all of us, part of the human species. But it’s the stuff in between that puts us in groups or tribes and often motivates our behaviour. Gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality- these are the persistent fault lines that seem to separate us from them. Stephen Sackur speaks to Kwame Antony Appiah, an academic and public intellectual who says we need to rethink identity to escape the myths of the past. But how?Image: Kwame Anthony Appiah (Credit: Getty Images)

HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to Vice President of the small southern African state of Malawi, Saulos Chilima- a former business executive turned politician. Mr. Chilima was President Mutharika’s running mate in elections in 2014. Now he has left the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and says he will run against him in presidential elections next year to - as he put it - ‘save the country from destruction and corruption’. Why is he criticising a government of which he still is a member? And if corruption is really as bad as he describes, why didn’t the Vice-President use his influence to stop the rot?Image: Saulos Chilima (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The Brexit endgame is underway. This is the week the UK Government and the European Union earmarked for agreeing a deal on the divorce and outlining a future relations. But on the eve of another EU summit, there is still talk of an impasse- focusing on the Irish border and Northern Ireland’s status after Brexit. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Mairead McGuinness, an Irish MEP and vice president of the European parliament. Is Brexit about to get very messy and very costly?Image: Mairead McGuinness (Credit: Getty Images)

The United States of America is a republic divided. The Trump presidency has exposed fissures that run along lines of race, gender, education, and culture. In next month’s mid-term elections the fight for political power will be between the two traditional parties, Republican and Democrat, but perhaps a different sort of activism is needed to deliver real change? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Kimberlé Crenshaw - a professor of law, a social activist and influential advocate of the idea of intersectionality. Is it the group, not the individual that matters most in today’s America?Image: Kimberlé Crenshaw (Credit: Getty Images)

The Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Amid a welter of speculation and lurid allegations, a cloud of suspicion now hangs over the Saudi Government. The record of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the Kingdom’s de facto ruler, suggests a determination to silence all criticism. Stephen Sackur speaks to Saudi academic Madawi al-Rasheed and former senior US diplomat, Nicholas Burns. Is ‘MBS’ taking his kingdom down a dangerous path?(Photo: Saudi academic Madawi al-Rasheed)

Almost two billion of the world’s people are Muslim, and yet half of them, the female half, have traditionally played little or no role in the institutions of their faith. That is changing, albeit very slowly. Stephen Sackur speaks to Sherin Khankan who became Scandinavia’s first female Imam when she opened the Mariam mosque in Copenhagen. Her focus on women’s rights in a 21st Century brand of Islamic practice has stirred controversy and debate far beyond Denmark’s borders. Is Islam ready to empower women?(Photo: Sherin Khankan. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Tania Bruguera's pieces and immersive performances have attracted international acclaim but prolonged harassment from the Cuban authorities. Is she artist, activist or both?

Tania Bruguera's pieces and immersive performances have attracted international acclaim but prolonged harassment from the Cuban authorities. Is she an artist, activist or both?(Photo: Cuban artist Tania Bruguera poses in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern. Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP)

HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to the world’s oldest head of government, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad. He came back to office in May after election victory against his own former ruling coalition. The country has been mired in allegations of corruption swirling around the previous government, which have dented confidence at home and abroad. First time round, he was Prime Minister for more than 20 consecutive years until 2003. Can Mahathir Mohamad leave his own chequered past behind and lead Malaysia to a brighter future? Some people might find opinions expressed toward the end of the interview offensive.Image: Mahathir Mohamad (Credit: Reuters)

Is the left losing the political argument in Europe? Stephen Sackur speaks to Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s radical leftist finance minister at the height of the economic crisis, and an advocate of a new global progressive politics. The old certainties in European politics are crumbling. Voters seem fed up with the long established supremacy of the parties of centre right and centre left. The politics of identity and raw emotion have fuelled populist insurgencies from Italy to Sweden to eastern Europe. Mostly it’s the right, not the left in the ascendant.(Photo: Yanis Varoufakis. Credit: AFP/Getty)

Is Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit strategy in deep trouble? Stephen Sackur speaks to Lord Howard, former Conservative leader. Britain's Conservative party is about to hold its annual conference; it promises to be a fascination spectacle, with the party riven by deep divisions over Brexit; divisions which threaten to derail Theresa May's Brexit strategy and perhaps her premiership as well. At stake is not just the future of a venerable political party, but the future of Britain.(Photo: Lord Howard in the Hardtalk studio)

What is journalism for? To inform and bear witness, uncover inconvenient truths and hold power to account? Those are surely values most of us share, but have we collectively lost faith and trust in the news and those who report it? Stephen Sackur speaks to Alan Rusbridger- who edited the UK’s Guardian newspaper for 20 years in the midst of a digital revolution, which transformed the news business forever. If the established media is no longer trusted, who is to blame?(Photo: Alan Rusbridger in the Hardtalk studio)

Will post Brexit Britain be left behind in the race to reach new scientific frontiers? Stephen Sackur speaks to Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK space agency. Britain’s exit from the European Union has generated intense scrutiny of borders, tariffs and trade. But the shock waves will spread much further. A complex web of scientific collaboration and partnership is in jeopardy – most obviously in the field of space and satellite technology. The UK stands to be frozen out of the Galileo project which will deliver a European rival to the American GPS system.

Deploying troops overseas, whether to fight or protect, is a costly business. It is one of the reasons why throughout history, wars and long term military commitments have often been contracted out to private operators – mercenaries – whose methods, personnel and costs can be very different. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Erik Prince, the founder of the Blackwater security contractor used by the US Government in Iraq until things went badly wrong. A decade on, he is pitching to replace the US military in Afghanistan – is it an idea President Trump might just buy?

'Sense the party's thought, obey the party's words, follow the party's lead' are the words printed in red on a building at an internment camp in Xinjiang, China. It is one of the country's wealthiest provinces, and also one of its most restive. It has one and a half per cent of China's population, yet over 20 per cent of its arrests. Meanwhile, there are reports of over a million people currently in detention. The Government says the camps are needed to "re-educate" the people. Nury Turkel, chairman of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, disagrees. Uyghurs, an ethnic group who practice Islam, say Xinjiang has become a giant prison. Yet armed groups have killed hundreds in recent years, and the US and UK among others have placed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, based in the region, among those they call terrorists. Is he being duped, or is China duping the rest of the world?

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur is in Italy to speak to Matteo Salvini, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and arguably the most important populist politician in Europe today. He has risen to power with strident denunciations of immigration and the European Union. What does his success mean for Italy and Europe?Image: Matteo Salvini (Credit: Reuters)

Does Spain's new government have any fresh solutions for the country's problems? HARDtalk speaks to Spain’s Foreign Minister Josep Borrell about a tumultuous year for the country, dominated by the prolonged political stand-off in Catalonia and a series of scandals in Madrid which eventually saw the centre-right government fall and the socialists take over.Image: Josep Borrell (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur is in northern Italy for the annual discussion of global politics known as the Ambrosetti Forum. High on the agenda for many European politicians are the challenges posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia. Arkady Dvorkovich was until this spring Russia's Deputy Prime Minister. Amid the mutual suspicion and the sanctions, is there any way to avert deepening hostility between Russia and the West?Image: Arkady Dvorkovich (Credit: Reuters)

Has the internet left every one of us dangerously exposed? HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to Michael Chertoff, former US Secretary of Homeland Security during the Bush Administration and now a leading thinker on cyber-security. Most of us have embedded the internet and smart technology in our lives. We might like to believe we’re autonomous digital citizens, but what if our behaviours are now being monitored, and modified by private and state actors over which we have no control?Image: Michael Chertoff (Credit: Getty Images)

In the turbulent recent history of the Middle East, has there ever been a time when Israel has seemed more powerful – militarily, diplomatically and economically? Israel has the fulsome support of the Trump Administration and also has common strategic interests with Saudi Arabia and Arab nations preoccupied with perceived threats from Iran. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon. Is Israel making wise choices from its position of strength?Image: Danny Danon (Credit: European Photopress Agency)