Jacqueline Wilson - Children's author
Over the past ten years Jacqueline Wilson has been the most borrowed author from British libraries. She's sold 30 million of her books just in the UK - and written nearly a hundred of them over the years - girls love them. They almost always focus on a young girl in a difficult family usually being brought up single-handedly by her mother, sometimes with an abusive stepfather. And often featuring drink or drugs. So why does she draw on such bleak territory?Jacqueline Wilson talks to Sarah Montague
7 Mar 201223min
Nana Akufo-Addo - Ghanaian presidential candidate
Ghana has been hailed as a shining example to all of Africa - a model of democracy, decent governance and responsible economic management in a continent struggling to fulfil its potential. But if Ghana looks like a success story to outsiders, how does it look to Ghanaians themselves?Nana Akufo-Addo is the leader of the main opposition party and candidate for president. Stephen Sackur asks him if Ghana can use its resource wealth and inward investment to benefit the many, not just a few.
5 Mar 201223min
Egemen Bagis - Turkey's Chief EU Negotiator
Turkey is a rising power in a strategically vital region, but does it have the ability to shape events beyond its borders? Officials in Ankara would like to see Turkey inside the EU and providing leadership in the Middle East, but both goals remain elusive.Stephen Sackur talks to Egemen Bagis, Turkey's minister for Europe. His country is flexing some diplomatic muscle, but is it having the desired effect.
2 Mar 201223min
David Miliband - UK Foreign Secretary 2007-2010
Politics can be a cruel business. No one knows that better than Britain's former foreign secretary David Miliband. He was hot favourite to lead the UK's Labour party after its dismal 2010 election defeat, but he lost out to his younger brother Ed. His steady rise to the political summit was halted, but he remains a Labour MP, and he still makes carefully timed interventions in foreign policy and national politics. Without the trappings of power, how does David Miliband maximise his influence?
29 Feb 201223min
Georges Chikoti - Angolan Foreign Minister
The 10th anniversary of the end of Angola's devastating post-independence civil war is being marked in 2012. What a difference a decade makes. Angola is now one of Africa's powerhouse economies, enjoying growth that puts the West to shame, and exploiting China's insatiable demand for commodities, especially oil.Stephen Sackur speaks to Angola's foreign minister, Georges Chikoti. For Angola and Africa, this is an era of opportunity; will it be seized or squandered?
27 Feb 201223min
Yoweri Museveni - President of Uganda
Stephen Sackur speaks to the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, currently on a visit to London. He took power in Kampala at the head of a rebel army in 1986 and has delivered stability and economic progress in a country previously laid low by brutal dictatorship. But in recent years, he has faced questions about his commitment to democracy and human rights. When he took power, he said Uganda's - and Africa's - problem was leaders overstaying their time in power. Has he fallen into the same old trap?(Image: President of Uganda Yoweri K Museveni. Credit: Associated Press)
24 Feb 201223min
Eugenia Tymoshenko - Daughter of Yulia Tymoshenko
This summer Ukraine is co-hosting the European football championships, but don't be deceived by the sporting camaraderie - Ukraine's political relationship with the EU is in crisis. The most pressing dispute concerns Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister imprisoned for seven years after a trial dismissed as a political charade by many in the West. Stephen Sackur speaks to Yulia Tymoshenko's daughter, Eugenia. What does the Tymoshenko story say about Ukraine?
22 Feb 201223min
Fawzia Koofi
Some politicians claim that they would be willing to die for their beliefs. Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan politician who says that she expects to be killed."I am resigned to this fate", she says.She is currently an MP in the Afghan parliament and has been a prominent national figure since she was first elected in 2005. She has already survived several assassination attempts. So what, in that case, does she believe she can achieve in running for the presidency of her country in 2014? She talks to Tim Franks.
20 Feb 201223min
