Hardtalk

The Egyptian authorities are drafting a new constitution that would ban religious-based political parties. It's prompted a furious reaction from those who support the deposed President, Mohamed Morsi. They say it will incite "chaos" within Egypt and opens the door to "the system which produced pharaohs". Hardtalk speaks to the country's former foreign minister and former head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. He supports the new military-backed government but does he trust it to bring true democracy to Egypt?Picture: Amr Moussa, Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty

Hardtalk speaks to the former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway. He entered a seminary at the age of 14, intent on becoming a monk and rose to be the leader of the Anglican Church in Scotland. But he gradually lost faith in many of the certainties of Christianity, including the existence of God. He finally resigned from the church, accusing it of cruelly persecuting gay people. So did his own loss of faith betray those he once preached to?Picture: Richard Holloway pictured in 1999

Hardtalk speaks to Greece's former finance minister, George Papaconstantinou – the man who was negotiating Greece's bail out until 2011 and, with it, imposing massive cut-backs in his country. Last month, the Greek parliament voted for him to face criminal charges for allegedly tampering with a list of suspected tax evaders.The ex-finance minister denies the allegations, and speaking in his first media interview since then, he said he as a “clear conscience”.Presented by Sarah Montague.Picture: George Papaconstantinou, Credit: Louisa Couliamaki/AFP/Getty

A senior US intelligence official has warned that Syria has become the "predominant jihadist battlefield in the world". As many as 10,000 foreigners could now be fighting there and the US fears they could return as part of a global jihadist movement that threatens Europe and the United States. There appears to be stalemate on the ground: the United Nations says Syria is "in freefall". Hardtalk speaks to Najib Ghadbian, the UN and US representative of the opposition Syrian coalition. What should he and others do to end the crisis?Picture: Syrian refugees cross the border into Iraq, Credit: Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images

After almost three years of scraping along the bottom, the United Kingdom seems to be showing signs of an economic recovery from the deep recession that followed the financial crisis in 2008-09. Hardtalk is in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, to talk to Britain’s former Chancellor Alistair Darling. His Labour Party was in charge when the crisis hit. Can he admit that the government’s economic plans might be working? And can he stop Scotland voting to leave the United Kingdom next year, as he takes charge of the No To Independence campaign?Picture: Alistair Darling, Credit: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

In what has been billed as a ‘world first', fast food grown in a laboratory was served up in London recently. Hardtalk speaks to professor Mark Post who says his `in vitro burger' could be the answer to our unsustainable appetite for meat and help ease the burden on the environment. There's clearly a need for more meat - the World Health Organisation estimates annual global production will have to double by 2050. So will meat grown from stem cells in a science lab ever make it to our dinner plates?Picture: Mark Post holds an 'in vitro' burger, Credit: Reuters/David Parry

Genocide is often called the ultimate crime and after every tragedy, the world says 'it must never happen again'. And yet it does. Hardtalk speaks to leading international human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan, who made his name trying to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. He believes that the international community has a duty to challenge human rights abuses wherever they occur. But is true justice ever really possible - or is it compromised by the political constraints and realities of the day?

South Africa is holding general elections next year and for the first time, a whole new generation will cast their vote. The 'born free generation' has no direct memory of the struggle against apartheid - and they have grown up with the powerful African National Congress as their country's government, rather than as its liberators. In a South Africa still struggling to overcome inequality, corruption and youth unemployment, what hopes can the party offer to the younger generation? Hardtalk speaks to Mzwandile Masina, the interim president of the ANC Youth League. Have they still got anything to offer to the younger generation?

The political standoff in Egypt remains in the balance. Thousands of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, remain camped-out in Cairo. The interim government wants them removed but more bloodshed could follow if the troops move in. Hardtalk speaks to Egypt's new Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy. He is part of a government which many of his compatriots view as illegitimate. So will they bring democracy to Egypt as promised or will the streets of Cairo once again become a battlefield?(Image: Egypt's newly appointed Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Sarah Montague speaks to Sir John Tavener, one of Britain's most celebrated composers. He says his music is for God - even referring to it as a form of divine dictation. Forty years ago, his work was sometimes dismissed as bland, populist, new age. But over time he has defied the critics - the Protecting Veil was one of the biggest selling classical albums ever, and his Song for Athene was played at the funeral of Princess Diana. Having been ill for much of his life, he says that everything changed after he nearly died from a heart attack six years ago. How did this experience affect his view of life, his music, and his faith?(Image:Sir John Tavener (left) and Simon Russell Beale. Credit: BBC)

Alaska, a land of pristine wilderness, sparse population and unimaginable resource riches. It is also the corner of our planet which is experiencing the most dramatic effects of climate change. The carbon economy which made Alaska rich now threatens its delicate ecosystem, presenting the US with a challenge. In the second of two programmes, Stephen Sackur explores whether the world’s second largest carbon emitter is getting serious about climate change.(Image: A sea otter sits on a chunk of ice near Whittier, Alaska. Credit: AFP)

Hardtalk is on the road in Alaska. In the first of two programmes, Stephen Sackur visits the Bristol Bay region of south-west Alaska where the fishing industry, the mining industry and the federal government are locked in a bitter argument over environmental sustainability and resource exploitation. Every year 40 million salmon swim into Bristol Bay before beginning their journey up the rivers and streams of the region. It is one of the world’s great fisheries. However 120 miles inland there is a plan to build North American’s largest copper mine. Can the two forms of resource exploitation co-exist?

Opera is one of the least watched art forms in the world, and possibly the most expensive. Hardtalk speaks to opera superstar Thomas Hampson. He says the way to get people to love opera is to get them to understand it, and then it has the power to transform. If he is right, could one of the most elite and expensive art forms have worldwide appeal?

Rivers State is at the heart of Nigeria’s oil industry, which produces 20% of the country's wealth. Yet more than one billion dollars a month is being lost to thieves who syphon it off from remote pipelines. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi is Governor of Rivers State, a key figure in addressing the problem. But he's locked in a highly public dispute with the president, Goodluck Jonathan. Their supporters have had to be separated by the police, and the power struggle has prevented the state assembly from meeting since May. Isn't it time he focused on the day job?Picture: Children sail past an oil pipeline in Rivers State, Nigeria, Credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei, AFP/Getty Images

Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said he wanted to rehabilitate Iraq’s image after the fall of Saddam Hussein. But now sectarian violence in Iraq is arguably worse than ever and is overlapping with sectarianism in neighbouring Syria. The Shia-led government in Baghdad is accused of discriminating against the Sunni minority and of being too close to Iran. How can Hoshyar Zebari, himself an Iraqi Kurd, hope to have any coherent foreign policy, when his own country is in danger of slipping into civil war?

Britain's Labour Party was created from the trade unions and it still gets most of its money from them. But Labour’s leader Ed Miliband - a man who owes his job to the union vote - now wants to loosen those ties. Hardtalk speaks to Paul Kenny, the leader of one of the UK's biggest unions, the GMB. He says Labour is in danger of losing 90% of his union's funding. So what would a change mean for the Labour Party, the unions and working class representation in Britain?Photo: Paul Kenny (right) Credit: Getty Images

Albania is the single most corrupt country in Europe according to Transparency International. Hardtalk speaks to Edi Rama, who will become Albania's prime minister in September. A modern artist, he won international plaudits for transforming the capital Tirana when he was its mayor - not least by painting its grey buildings in bright colours. He's now promised a renaissance for the whole country. So can he succeed where previous politicians have failed?(Photo: Edi Rama. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

David Davis has been a candidate for the leadership of the British Conservative party but he has also made a name for himself as a civil liberties campaigner - arguing against what is sometimes called the 'surveillance state'. So what does he make of the massive collection of data by the US National Security Agency and Britain’s GCHQ revealed by the American whistle-blower, Edward Snowden? In the years since the 9/11 attacks - have we got the balance wrong between liberty and security?(Image: David Davis, Conservative MP at the 2005 Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool. Credit: Associated Press)

Zhang Xin is one of only 24 self-made female billionaires in the world. Her story is a true rags-to-riches tale. As a teenager she worked in a sweat-shop in her native China, by her twenties she worked for Goldman Sachs. Disillusioned by Wall Street, she returned to China to make her fortune in property development. But what kind of China did she return to - a country heading for economic problems or possibly an emerging democracy as well as an emerging super-power?(Image: Pan Shiyi (L), chairman of Soho China, and Zhang Xin, chief executive officer of Soho China. Credit: Getty Images)

A year ago the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's creed looked like a winning political formula. Now the Islamists have been removed from power by the army and millions of Egyptians see that as a cause for celebration. Meanwhile, Turkey's moderate Islamist rulers have faced unprecedented mass protests - and in Tunisia political Islam is on the defensive. Stephen Sackur speaks to Turkish writer Mustafa Akyol and Egyptian feminist and political activist Dina Wahba. Is political Islam failing, if so why?