Simon Cheng: 'We need to fight for democracy in Hong Kong and China'

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)

5 Elo 201323min

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)

2 Elo 201323min

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?

31 Heinä 201323min

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?

29 Heinä 201328min

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

26 Heinä 201323min

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?

24 Heinä 201323min

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

22 Heinä 201323min

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)

19 Heinä 201323min