Hardtalk interviews the world's leading politicians, thinkers and cultural figures. In an in-depth, hard-hitting, half-hour discussion, Stephen Sackur talks to some of the most prominent people from around the world. Broadcast on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Episodes available:
Indefinitely 
Wed, 22 May 13
Duration:
24 mins
On HARDtalk, Stephen Sackur talks to Sir Alan Parker, one of Britain's most experienced and successful film directors. His work ranges from the stomach churning realism of Midnight Express to the feel good entertainment of Bugsy Malone and Fame. He has never cared much for film critics and has always held strong views on the future of the film industry - in this digital age, are movies as central to our culture as they used to be?
Fri, 17 May 13
Duration:
24 mins
On Hardtalk, Stephen Sackur talks to Alan Johnson MP – UK Home Secretary 2009 – 2010. The British public appears increasingly alienated from mainstream politics and politicians - a phenomenon which can also be seen in other mature democracies. Stephen Sackur speaks to Alan Johnson, who held a series of cabinet posts in the last Labour Government. He's that rare breed, a politician who grew up in poverty and worked his way up from the bottom. Has today’s professionalised class of politicians lost touch with real life?
Wed, 15 May 13
Duration:
24 mins
Stephen Sackur talks to Thomas Drake, a former senior executive at the highly-secretive National Security Agency in the US. His life changed when he decided to become a whistle-blower and leak to the media his concerns about the way in which the NSA was developing its surveillance strategy inside the United States. He became the subject of a long-running investigation which threatened to see him locked up for much of the rest of his life. His home was raided, his computers analysed, and he became a key figure in a wider Obama Administration drive to crackdown on leakers within the national security system. For Thomas Drake that meant years of anguish and uncertainty; but did he deserve it?
Fri, 10 May 13
Duration:
24 mins
Stephen Sackur talks to Zainab Bangura, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict who says that for too long wars have been waged on the bodies of women. Over the past two decades the list of war torn countries where women and children have been subjected to systematic rape and sexual abuse has grown shamefully long, from Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Syria. HARDtalk asks - how can the most vulnerable be protected?
Wed, 8 May 13
Duration:
24 mins
Shaun Ley speaks to Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s finance minister. His national development plan seeks to raise more people out of poverty through economic growth. But his party, the ruling ANC, is facing an election, its union comrades are no longer playing ball, and growth has slowed. In reality, has the country Britain describes as Africa's economic powerhouse stalled?
Fri, 3 May 13
Duration:
24 mins
On HARDtalk, Stephen Sackur talks to the Chairman of the BBC Trust, Chris Patten. Almost three hundred million people across the world consume BBC content every week. But does the corporation deserve your trust? After going through a prolonged internal crisis marked by serious internal failings, HARDtalk speaks to the ultimate overseer of the BBC. Lord Patten insists it's the best broadcaster in the world. Stephen Sackur asks if you should believe him.
Wed, 1 May 13
Duration:
24 mins
On HARDtalk, Stephen Sackur talks to Lord Browne, who made his name and fortune in the oil industry, and in the process became one of Britain's best known business leaders. He was BP's boss for 12 years, where he expanded and diversified one of the worldâs fossil fuel giants. He's still in the thick of the energy debate, backing a company eager to develop shale gas production in the UK. His career has been defined by the search for fossil fuel and economic sustainability. Can we have both?
Mon, 29 Apr 13
Duration:
24 mins
On HARDtalk, Stephen Sackur talks to Jonathan Miller. He has had a career of mind-boggling diversity and creativity that defies an easy label. He is best known as a director and producer of opera and theatre, but he is also a writer, performer, sculptor and photographer. He trained in medicine and sometimes seems more fulfilled by science than his life in the arts. Stephen Sackur asks why, after five decades as a dominant figure in British cultural life, he’s never seemed entirely at ease with his country or its culture.
Fri, 26 Apr 13
Duration:
24 mins
On Hardtalk, Stephen Sackur talks to Ioannis Kasoulides, the Foreign Minister of Cyprus. Cyprus is enduring the agonies of a financial and economic meltdown. But here's the really bad news for the Cypriot people - according to international economists their darkest days have yet to come. The island's economy is about to shrink dramatically, overseas investors are fleeing and the current Government is struggling to come up with a survival strategy. Who and what will save Cyprus?
Wed, 24 Apr 13
Duration:
24 mins
On HARDtalk, Stephen Sackur talks to Carlos Gutierrez - US Secretary of Commerce 2005 – 2009. The United States is a nation built by immigrants, but immigration is also an issue which has created deep divisions. As the United States Congress prepares to debate a plan that would offer a pathway to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants, America’s conservatives face a question – are they ready to embrace their country’s new demographic reality?
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