British intelligence whistleblower - Katharine Gun
What makes a whistleblower? What prompts someone to break ranks, maybe break the law, in order to expose a secret, often at great cost? Stephen Sackur interviews Katharine Gun. In 2003, she worked at the UK’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ. She leaked potentially explosive information about America’s covert effort to sway UN diplomats to support the Iraq war. She risked everything, including prison, in an act that changed her life. Now her story has been made into a movie; but, 16 years on, has her perspective changed?Image: Katharine Gun (Credit: Lia Toby/Getty Images for BFI)
16 Loka 201924min
Professor of Computer Science at University of California, Berkeley - Stuart Russell
What is the most serious existential threat facing humanity? Artificial Intelligence, warned the physicist Stephen Hawking, could spell the end of the human race. Stephen Sackur interviews Stuart Russell, a globally-renowned computer scientist and sometime adviser to the UK Government and the UN. Right now, AI is being developed as a tool to enhance human capability; is it fanciful to imagine the machines taking over?
14 Loka 201924min
Financier and Brexit backer Stuart Wheeler
Brexit represents a political gamble played for the highest of stakes. If Britain leaves the EU without a deal there will be significant economic disruption, even the most ardent Brexiteers acknowledge that. But they believe the potential rewards justify the risk. Stephen Sackur speaks to Stuart Wheeler, a successful businessman and lifelong gambler who backed his commitment to Brexit with plenty of his own cash. Has his money given him undue influence over Britain’s future?Image: Stuart Wheeler (Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
11 Loka 201924min
Suede singer-songwriter Brett Anderson
Rock music inhabits a world of permanent revolution. Today’s biggest bands will most likely be tomorrow’s tired old has-beens. But just occasionally artists and groups find a way of reinventing themselves and outlasting the constant fluctuations in fashion and taste. Stephen Sackur speaks to the singer-songwriter Brett Anderson. His band Suede was hailed as the future of Rock'n'Roll back in the early 1990s. Today they are still making music a generation after Britpop ceased to be a thing. So what keeps him going?
9 Loka 201923min
Brazil's Environment Minister - Ricardo Salles
The number of forest fires burning in the Amazon rainforest may have dropped since the global alarm was raised in August, but Brazil’s Government is still feeling intense political heat. Stephen Sackur interviews Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, who is in Europe trying to convince sceptics that President Bolsonaro’s government is not prioritising economic exploitation at the expense of environmental protection. How credible are the Brazilian Government’s soothing words?Image: Ricardo Salles (Credit: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)
7 Loka 201923min
Actor and activist - Jameela Jamil
Zeinab Badawi interviews British actress, activist and model Jameela Jamil. After breaking into the US with the critically-acclaimed comedy series ‘The Good Place’, she’s been getting attention for her criticism of celebrities like the Kardashians for their promotion of diet products to millions of young women on social media. Is her campaign to make us feel better about our bodies working?
4 Loka 201924min
Daughter of former Chief Minister of Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti - Iltija Mufti
It has been two months since India revoked the special autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, and Delhi still has the territory in a form of lockdown. Political leaders are detained, troops are on the streets and communication links are disrupted. The Modi Government seems confident its dramatic cancellation of a 70-year-old dispensation has worked; but what of Kashmiri feeling? Stephen Sackur speaks to Iltija Mufti, the daughter of former Chief Minister of Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti, who is currently in detention. Do Kashmiris have any choice but to accept their new reality?
2 Loka 201924min
Lawyer - Kimberley Motley
What have almost two decades of American intervention in Afghanistan achieved? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Kimberley Motley - an American lawyer who went to Kabul in a training capacity and stayed to become a respected litigator fighting for the rights of the abused and the powerless. The death toll in the Afghan conflict far outstrips the losses in Syria and Yemen. But the grim statistics tell only a part of Afghanistan’s story. Does her experience give grounds for hope or despair?
30 Syys 201924min
