Hardtalk

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

Lord Levy is a prominent figure in British public life on two counts - as a leading voice in a British Jewish community which is increasingly concerned about rising levels of anti-Semitism, and as a key fund-raiser for the Labour Party in the era of Tony Blair and new Labour. Lord Levy remains an influential businessman, networker and fundraiser, but in terms of both the Jewish community and today's Labour Party are there problems that just can't be fixed?(Photo: Lord Levy, former Labour Party fundraiser. Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The Philippines is Asia’s only predominantly Christian country. The Roman Catholic Church has huge influence - divorce and abortion are illegal for example. The Church is currently engaged in a huge battle with the government over its plans to provide free contraceptives to the poor. Stephen Sackur talks to the Catholic Church’s most senior cleric in the Philippines, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and asks, is the Catholic Church helping or hindering the development of the nation?(Photo: Philippines' Luis Antonio Tagle greets visitors during the courtesy visit after being appointed by the pontif on November 24, 2012. Credit: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images)

Stock markets in New York and London are sitting close to record highs - if the Dow is your guide then we are living in the best of times. But it doesn’t feel like that in the real world, what with the Eurozone crisis, a host of geopolitical uncertainties and frightening levels of global debt. Hardtalk speaks to Neil Woodford, Britain’s most successful investor of recent years. Is this a time for economic confidence, or caution?(Photo: Neil Wooford, head of investment, Woodford Investment Management. BBC copyright)

The Conservative peer, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi is one of the most prominent Muslims in Britain. She was the first Muslim to sit in the cabinet, before she resigned last year over government policy on Gaza. As a former minster for communities and social cohesion why does she believe there is a lack of trust between the government and British Muslims?(Photo: Baroness Sayeeda Warsi arrives for a Cabinet meeting at Number 10 Downing St. Credit: Getty Images)

Aimen Dean was a trusted member of Al Qaeda's inner sanctum in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. With his Quranic learning and fervent commitment to holy war, this young Saudi received a personal audience with Osama Bin Laden and came to know most of Al Qaeda's key leaders. But Aiman Dean did not share the group's enthusiasm for terror attacks inflicting mass civilian casualties. After the bombings of US embassies in Africa in 1998, he left Afghanistan and began working as an informant for the UK security services. What does his extraordinary story tell us about the nature of the jihadist threat?

The UK has become the first country in the world to legalise the creation of what are commonly known as 'three-parent babies' and the first such infants could be born next year. The process allows mothers who carry rare but fatal genetic disorders to have children without passing on the diseases. Opponents say the change has been introduced too soon and marks a slippery slope towards designer babies. Hardtalk speaks to one of the most celebrated doctors in modern history - professor Robert Winston - one of the main pioneers of the IVF technique that revolutionised infertility treatment. But are ‘three-parent babies’ a revolution too far?

Berlin doesn’t house any of the European Union’s key institutions, but there is no doubt this is the power capital of Europe – something Greece’s new left-wing Government now knows all too well. Germany calls the shots when it comes to shaping Europe’s economic policy. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to an influential member of Chancellor Merkel’s CDU party – Vice-Chairman of the parliamentary party Michael Fuchs. In the high stakes showdown over Greece’s debt, has Germany used its power wisely?

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

Hardtalk speaks to the activist and rapper Tef Poe. He's described the fatal shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, of unarmed teenager Michael Brown as a "declaration of war" by the police. Tef Poe has stated that "my grandparents endured this type of treatment so we wouldn't have to". So if you are young, black and poor in America today are you at war with the police? This interview forms part of the BBC’s Richer World Season.(Photo: Tef Poe)

In a special edition of HARDtalk, Zeinab Badawi is in Brussels to speak to Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. He has travelled to the city to tell EU officials that his country has been overwhelmed by Syrian refugees. More than one million Syrians live in Lebanon – many of them have fled the oppression and brutality of the Assad government. So why then does his political party have an alliance with Hezbollah that backs the Syrian President?(Photo: Gebran Bassil. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan's Intelligence Service has long been accused of looking both ways: of tackling terrorists when they target Pakistan but actively supporting them when they target Afghanistan or India. But when 152 people were killed in the school in Peshawar, Pakistan's Prime Minister said it was time to change. That the country would no longer distinguish between "good" and "bad" Taliban. Today's guest is General Asad Durrani, who used to run the intelligence service - Are they really prepared to make enemies of their former friends? And what difference will it make?

It's a year since the protests in Ukraine's Maidan Square - protests that led to the fall of the pro-Russian government. Russian-born Andrey Kurkov has published his diary of the time. He's one of the country's most famous authors and supported the uprising. But, although he lives in Ukraine, he writes in Russian and because of that he's been rejected by some as a Ukrainian writer and accused of being a traitor by Russians. Sarah Montague asks him what role do language and culture play in war? And was the uprising worth it?(Photo: Andrey Kurkov. Credit: Volodymyr Shuvayev/AFP/Getty Images)

Sarah Montague talks to Juan Mendez, the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Torture. He was a human rights lawyer in Argentina in the 70s when he was arrested, imprisoned and tortured. He has said he owes his life to those in America who took a principled stand against torture. But now Juan Mendez says the world has become more accepting of cruelty and America has been compromised by its own brutal treatment of prisoners. So is torture ever morally justifiable?(Photo: Juan Mendez. Credit: Getty Images)

Should scientists working with governments and officials give opinions or just stick to giving scientific facts? Hardtalk speaks to the Scottish microbiologist Professor Anne Glover. She has just left her post as the first chief scientific adviser to the EU Commission President, and this is her first extensive broadcast interview since then. Whilst she was still in the post she said that in-house politics had hampered the efficiency of her role. Was she at loggerheads with the EU Commission?(Image: Science apparatus. Credit: Lixuyao/Thinkstock)

According to Oxfam, South Africa is the most economically unequal country in the World - the wealth of the two richest citizens outstrips that of the poorest 50% of the population. Twenty years after the end of apartheid, why is that so? As part of the BBC’s Richer World season Hardtalk speaks to Jay Naidoo, leader of the South African trade union movement during the liberation struggle and a cabinet minister under President Nelson Mandela. Why hasn’t freedom reduced inequality?(Photo: Members of the Alexandra Trampoline Club in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, South Africa. The township is next to the wealthy suburb of Sandton. Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Hardtalk speaks to the British Muslim campaigner Moazzam Begg. He was detained at Guantanamo Bay between 2003 and 2005, and then last February he was held for seven months in a British prison. In October all terrorism-related charges against him were dropped and he walked free. He believes that current counter-terrorism measures are fuelling the very problems they are trying to tackle and are alienating and radicalising some Muslims. So how should Muslim communities work with the authorities to prevent the extremists carrying out attacks?(Photo: Moazzam Begg. Credit: Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

Professional football has a problem with homophobia. There are gay footballers, but most feel compelled to keep their sexual orientation a secret. Hardtalk speaks to Robbie Rogers, a US international who plays for LA Galaxy. He broke football's great taboo by very publicly coming out after a spell in English football. But why haven't other gay footballers followed his lead?(Photo: Robbie Rogers #14 of Los Angeles Galaxy. Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

American capitalism is in crisis - that's the view of Professor Luigi Zingales. He blames the links between big government and big business. For the man who cites Margaret Thatcher as his hero, his answer is more competition; more free markets; an end to subsidies and lobbying and less privilege for the few. That's the way he says that capitalism can "rediscover and renew its moral foundation". So can it really be the answer to tackling inequality and mending the American dream?(Photo: Wall Street sign near the New York Stock Exchange. Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese dissident Wu’er Kaixi, a student leader during the pro-democracy protests in 1989, takes part in a live debate on democracy with Stephen Sackur. The year 2015 marks 750 years since the first Westminster parliament and 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta. These landmark moments underpinned the establishment of Parliamentary democracy and the legal system in the UK and around the world. The BBC's Democracy Day will look at democracy past and present and encourage a debate about the future of democracy. How democratic are we?(Photo: Chinese dissident Wu'er Kaixi speaks during the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown in Taipei, 2014. Credit: Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)