The Interview

The HARDtalk programme, like so many others in the churn of 24/7 news tends to focus on people and places facing problems and challenges. More often than not we hold the powerful to account for things that went wrong, not right. Are we missing the bigger picture about the world we live in? Stephen Sackur speaks to the psychologist and writer, Steven Pinker. His new book, Enlightenment Now, is a paean to human progress driven by reason and science. How convincing are his reasons to be cheerful?(Photo: Psychologist and writer Steven Pinker)

28 Feb 201824min

Who or what can deliver South Sudan's people from despair? Its first six and half years as an independent country have been an unmitigated disaster. A brutal civil conflict, a broken economy, famine and epic levels of corruption - on any and every measure the world’s newest country is failing. This comes despite some of the largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa. HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to South Sudan's Minister of Petroleum, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.Image: Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth (Credit: BBC)

26 Feb 201823min

Gross misconduct and sexual exploitation in the humanitarian aid industry - what's gone wrong and why? Oxfam is at the centre of a storm of allegations of abusive behaviour, shoddy recruitment and management cover up. Now the entire aid sector is under scrutiny for safeguarding failures which appear to go back decades. Stephen Sackur speaks to Amira Malik Miller, an experienced aid worker who has witnessed misconduct and is prepared to speak out.Image: Amira Malik Miller (Credit: BBC)

23 Feb 201823min

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition deal with the Social Democrats looks fragile, with Germany's biggest opposition party now the right wing Alternative for Germany Party. Peter Boehringer is an AfD MP and newly elected chairman of the influential Parliamentary Budget Committee. How will the AfD seek to use its expanded influence?(Photo: Peter Boehringer, member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, poses for a portrait in Berlin. Credit: Reuters)

21 Feb 201823min

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to David Smolansky, anti-regime activist who was the mayor of a district in Caracas until he fled the country to escape a jail term for aiding last year’s street protests. There was a time last year when it seemed President Maduro's grip on power in Venezuela was loosening. Yet here we are two months away from a presidential election with Maduro oozing confidence and his opponents seemingly in disarray. Why does Venezuela's opposition so consistently promise more than it delivers?

19 Feb 201823min

The Israeli Defence Force sees itself as an institution that binds the nation together. Most young Israelis serve in its ranks after leaving school. It claims to combine defence of the state with a sense of moral purpose. Avner Gvaryahu served in the IDF but he sees an institution in denial – corroded and corrupted by the military occupation of Palestinian communities over a fifty year span. Avner Gvaryahu and like-minded soldiers turned dissidents say they are breaking the silence. Are they patriots or traitors?Image: Avner Gvaryahu (Credit: BBC)

16 Feb 201823min

Is the long-time friend and sometimes adviser to President Trump a symbol of all that is currently wrong in US politics? They say you can judge a man by the company he keeps. If that is true, Roger Stone - a hugely controversial and divisive figure in American conservatism - should provide telling insights into the character of the president.(Photo: Roger Stone at Politicon at Pasadena Convention Center. Credit: Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images)

14 Feb 201823min

The Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Mehmet Simsek, talks about Turkey's recent military operation in the north western Syria enclave of Afrin. How long will the operation last and does it risk increasing tensions with the United States who are helping Kurdish fighters in Syria?(Photo: Mehmet Simsek on Hardtalk)

12 Feb 201823min