The Interview

Hardtalk is in Cape Town to speak to Mmusi Maimane, who stood down last October as leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. In his first major interview to an international broadcaster since he left the DA, Zeinab Badawi asks Mmusi Maimane what his resignation says about the state of politics in South Africa and his ambitions for the new Movement for One South Africa which he hopes will become a new political force in the country

2 Mars 202024min

"Get ready" is the message from health experts fighting COVID-19, the coronavirus. At least 80,000 people are already infected in more than 40 countries, and that number is expected to rise. Is the World Health Organisation moving fast enough? We speak to WHO adviser Professor David Heymann.

28 Feb 202023min

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Dr Yasser Abu Jamei, director of Gaza’s biggest mental health program. The past few days have seen rising tension in Gaza – Islamist militants fired rockets into Israel; the Israelis responded with air strikes aimed at the Islamic Jihad group. Hardly unusual and certainly not the stuff of international headlines but that in itself is telling. In Gaza conflict is the norm, so too an economic blockade that has long choked the economy. What happens to a people living with trauma and collective despair?

26 Feb 202023min

In the United States all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, but having money and power helps if you need legal difficulties to disappear. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to lawyer Alan Dershowitz. He's one of America’s most high profile and outspoken lawyers – his long list of past clients includes Claus von Bulow, OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and, yes, Donald Trump. Prof Dershowitz joined the legal team arguing for acquittal in the recent Senate impeachment trial. He’s a skilled lawyer, has he used those skills wisely?Photo: Alan Dershowitz (Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

24 Feb 202023min

Tarana Burke first coined the phrase MeToo, long before the Harvey Weinstein case. She continues to reach out to marginalised women and girls. What difference has the MeToo movement made to the bigger picture?(Photo: Tarana Burke at New York Fashion Week. Credit: Getty Images)

21 Feb 202024min

The designer catwalk and the glossy magazine cover are powerful cultural signifiers. Top models who occupy those spaces are deemed to have a look that attracts and sells. But how diverse is that look? How inclusive? Stephen Sackur interviews Halima Aden, a supermodel who challenged a host of stereotypes. She is a refugee from Somalia’s civil war; she’s Muslim and follows a modest dress code. Hers has been an extraordinary journey to international fame and fortune - how has it changed her?

19 Feb 202024min

There are international laws and norms designed to prohibit states from bumping off their enemies, internal or external. But look around the world, and its clear those laws are being violated, often with impunity. Stephen Sackur interviews Agnes Callamard, a renowned human rights investigator who serves as the UN Special Rapporteur on extra judicial killing. Given the scale of the problem, have her investigations become an exercise in futility?

17 Feb 202024min

Remember the time when political discourse was founded on those quaint concepts - facts, evidence, and expertise? Now it seems partisanship infects every corner of the realm of ideas, according to Paul Krugman. Stephen Sackur interviews the Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, whose latest book suggests America’s political and economic future is threatened by zombie ideas peddled largely by America’s conservative movement. Has he become addicted to the partisan warfare he professes to despise?

14 Feb 202024min