Mickey Bergman: What difference do hostage negotiators make?

Stephen Sackur is in New Delhi to speak India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri. India has big ambitions to be a global economic superpower. What does that mean for the country’s geopolitical alliances and commitment to decarbonisation?(Photo: Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas)

7 Feb 202522min

Sarah Montague speaks to Basem Naim, a senior political figure in Hamas. Its violence and hostage-taking on 7 October led to an overwhelming Israeli onslaught in Gaza. A fragile ceasefire is now in place, but how can long-term peace be achieved?

29 Jan 202522min

Stephen Sackur speaks to Mouaz Moustafa, founder of the US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force. He campaigned to bring the Assad regime to justice for its crimes. Now power is in new hands, will Syrians get justice for the dark past and freedom for a better future?

24 Jan 202522min

Stephen Sackur speaks to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He is a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and says only territorial compromise can save Israel from a grim future. But is his simply a voice in the political wilderness?

22 Jan 202522min

Stephen Sackur speaks to Vladimir Kara-Murza, the anti-Putin activist who was twice poisoned, then imprisoned in Russia. He was freed in a prisoner swap last summer, and is now lobbying the West to intensify the pressure on the Kremlin. But is there any reason to believe Putin is vulnerable?

15 Jan 202522min

Sarah Montague speaks to award-winning film-maker Asif Kapadia. His latest film 2073 combines science fiction with documentary to paint a bleak picture of our possible future: a world destroyed by climate change, authoritarian dictators and tech oligarchs. Why produce something so political now?(Photo: Asif Kapadia in the Hardtalk studio)

13 Jan 202522min

Sarah Montague speaks to Alice Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture. It’s been 40 years since the introduction of the UN Convention Against Torture, but she says it’s still happening at unacceptable levels. Is it possible to eradicate something that has been around for as long as humans have existed?

10 Jan 202522min

Stephen Sackur speaks to the British novelist Alan Hollinghurst, author of Our Evenings and the Booker Prize-winning The Line of Beauty. Over four decades, how has his writing and his view of Britain changed?

8 Jan 202522min