
US Politician - Bernie Sanders
Stephen Sackur is at the 2017 Hay Literary Festival to speak to the US Senator Bernie Sanders - the longest serving independent in US congressional history. He was credited with injecting passion and belief into the race for 2016’s Democratic presidential nomination - a race that was eventually won by Hillary Clinton. But did he plant the seeds of a political revolution in the United States?(Photo: Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) react during a news conference on release of the president"s FY2018 budget proposal, 2017. Yuri Gripas /Reuters)
4 Juni 201722min

Head of UN Mission in South Sudan - David Shearer
What hope is there for the people of South Sudan? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to the head of the United Nations mission in South Sudan, David Shearer. South Sudan's lethal cocktail of civil war, ethnic division, failed governance, widespread hunger and disease threatens millions of lives. It represents a tragic failure on the part of the rulers of Africa's newest country, and on the part of the United Nations mission there which has brought neither peace nor protection.(Photo: David Shearer, Head of the United Nations mission in South Sudan)
1 Juni 201722min

Executive Editor of the New York Times - Dean Baquet
President Trump has regularly criticised the New York Times and accused it, and other media, of propagating ‘fake news’. Does its claim to be fair in its reporting stand up to scrutiny? Hardtalk is in New York city to speak to Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times. The paper has been at the forefront of reporting into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and the first months of the Trump presidency. Stephen Sackur asks Dean Baquet how far the public can trust the New York Times' regular use of anonymous sources to report on the inner workings of the White House.(Photo: Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times)
31 Maj 201723min

Sir Suma Chakrabarti - President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir Suma Chakrabarti, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. After the collapse of the Soviet Empire, a new, freer, more prosperous region emerged in eastern Europe, anchored in the EU and Nato. The EBRD was created to foster that transformation to democracy and the free market. These days many of its investment projects are in Turkey, Central Asia and North Africa - has mission creep undermined its founding values?
29 Maj 201723min

Midlle East Specialist - Gilles Kepel
Stephen Sackur speaks to renowned academic Gilles Kepel, an expert on Islamist terrorism in France and beyond. His work is influential - it was cited by newly elected French president Emmanuel Macron during the recent campaign - and to some, controversial. In the wake of the terrible suicide bombing in Manchester, a familiar question is being asked again - is the West any closer to an effective counter terror strategy?(Photo: Midlle East specialist and Professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (IEP) Gilles Kepel, 2012. Credit: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)
26 Maj 201723min

Turkish Author - Elif Shafak
Stephen Sackur speaks to Elif Shafak, the Turkish novelist and writer who lives much of her life in London. A dozen years ago Europeans looked at Turkey and thought they saw a country becoming more like them - embracing western values and on a long term track to EU membership. But today Europe sees authoritarianism, conservatism and repression embodied in the all-powerful figure of President Erdogan. Does the West get anywhere close to understanding Turkey's complex culture and politics?(Photo: Author Elif Shafak taking part in a debate for the BBC's 100 Women season. Credit: Henry Iddon)
23 Maj 201722min

Nigeria's Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu
Stephen Sackur speaks to Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu. When President Muhamadu Buhari won the Nigerian presidency two years ago it seemed like Africa's most populous nation had turned a corner. A first ever peaceful, democratic transition brought a promise of cleaner, better governance, and major economic reform. How is it going? Can oil dependent Nigeria transform itself into a modern trading economy?(Photo: Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu arrives for an informal meeting between members of OPEC, 2016. Credit: Ryad Kramdi/AFP /Getty Images)
22 Maj 201723min

Speaker of the Venezuelan Parliament Julio Borges
Every day Venezuela seems to get one step closer to economic and political chaos. Mass anti-government protests have swept the country for the past month. Close to forty people have been killed in street clashes, the shops are short of food and hospitals low on medicine. Stephen Sackur asks Julio Borges, Speaker of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, if the Chavista Socialist revolution is dying on its feet?(Photo: Julio Borges speaks at a joint press conference with Peruvian president, 2017. Credit: Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images)
19 Maj 201722min





















