The Interview Archiv
1979 Episoden
23 Minuten
Shaun Ley speaks to the Nobel Prize winning economist Esther Duflo. The experimental trails she ran with two colleagues in Africa and India produced some surprising results. Among their findings: food aid isn’t helping the poor, and the poorest kids don’t need more books, they need more time. A fashionable idea wins the Nobel Prize. But is this really a story of failure of economists to predict the financial crisis, and of economics to offer big solutions?
24 Minuten
Last weekend in Hong Kong, metro stations were torched, the Chinese state news agency was attacked, police fired water cannon and tear gas, and 200 people were arrested. That is Hong Kong’s new normal. How long can it go on without a major intervention from Beijing? Is there any way out of the impasse between Hong Kong’s government and pro-democracy protestors? Stephen Sackur interviews former senior official in the territory’s administration, Anthony Cheung. Are Hong Kong’s prospects bleak?
23 Minuten
Donald Trump wants Americans to bask in the afterglow of the killing of the world’s most wanted terrorist, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But many are focused on the daily developments of the impeachment investigation. Both say something important about the way Donald Trump conducts national security and foreign policy. Stephen Sackur interviews former senior US diplomat Richard Haass. Trump horrifies the foreign policy establishment, but does that matter to American voters?
25 Minuten
Perhaps inevitably, Britain’s unresolved Brexit agony has led to a general election. The current Parliament could not find a path out of the morass, so the people must now elect a new one. Brexit has exposed profound tensions in Britain’s vaunted system of democracy, raising questions about the relationship between the people, Parliament, Government and the courts. Stephen Sackur speaks to businesswoman Gina Miller, who led two legal challenges to the Government’s Brexit strategy and won both times – how come this non-politician has had such an impact on Britain’s political landscape?
(Photo: Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller leaves the Supreme Court for the result of a hearing on the prorogation of parliament. Credit: EPA)
(Photo: Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller leaves the Supreme Court for the result of a hearing on the prorogation of parliament. Credit: EPA)
25 Minuten
Imagine having an extraordinary sporting talent, but finding yourself traumatised by the realities of elite-level competition. Imagine being defined by your gender and physicality in ways that crushed your own sense of yourself. Stephen Sackur interviews former Olympic swimmer turned artist, model and now writer Casey Legler about their pain-filled early life, which included a prolonged battle with alcohol and drugs. What did it take to emerge from the darkness?
25 Minuten
What was it like to be a spy during the Troubles in Northern Ireland? HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to former MI5 agent Willie Carlin. He became an undercover spy within Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA, during the so-called 'dirty war'. He was dramatically extracted after his cover was blown. Now he’s written a book - Thatcher's Spy - about his experiences.
23 Minuten
HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Armenia’s foreign minister. Armenia is a small state with outsize strategic significance in a Caucasus region beset with tension and hostility. Last year popular protests delivered a so-called velvet revolution which saw a new government installed in Yerevan amid ambitious talk of reform. Is Armenia looking east or west for political and economic inspiration?
23 Minuten
Last week the whole of Europe heard a howl of rage coming from Catalonia. Since Spain’s highest court sentenced nine pro-independence politicians to a collective one hundred years in prison there have been mass, sometimes violent protests across the region which has left hundreds injured. Madrid says there can be no political dialogue until Catalan politicians condemn the violence and rein in the militants. Where does the pro-independence movement go from here?
23 Minuten
What will become - what should become - of Jack Letts? HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to his parents, Sally Lane and John Letts. Alongside the humanitarian fall-out from Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria, there are grave security concerns - not least what will happen to the thousands of so-called Islamic State militants imprisoned by Syrian Kurdish forces. British-born Jack Letts left the UK in 2014 to live in the so-called IS Caliphate. Since then, he’s had his British citizenship revoked, and his parents have been convicted under UK anti-terror laws for sending him money.
24 Minuten
Is Turkey creating further instability in Syria? HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi talks exclusively to the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara. Turkey has been condemned for its recent offensive in northern Syria but it says its operations have been necessary to flush out what it describes as Kurdish terrorists.
24 Minuten
What makes a whistleblower? What prompts someone to break ranks, maybe break the law, in order to expose a secret, often at great cost? Stephen Sackur interviews Katharine Gun. In 2003, she worked at the UK’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ. She leaked potentially explosive information about America’s covert effort to sway UN diplomats to support the Iraq war. She risked everything, including prison, in an act that changed her life. Now her story has been made into a movie; but, 16 years on, has her perspective changed?
Image: Katharine Gun (Credit: Lia Toby/Getty Images for BFI)
Image: Katharine Gun (Credit: Lia Toby/Getty Images for BFI)
24 Minuten
What is the most serious existential threat facing humanity? Artificial Intelligence, warned the physicist Stephen Hawking, could spell the end of the human race. Stephen Sackur interviews Stuart Russell, a globally-renowned computer scientist and sometime adviser to the UK Government and the UN. Right now, AI is being developed as a tool to enhance human capability; is it fanciful to imagine the machines taking over?
25 Minuten
Brexit represents a political gamble played for the highest of stakes. If Britain leaves the EU without a deal there will be significant economic disruption, even the most ardent Brexiteers acknowledge that. But they believe the potential rewards justify the risk. Stephen Sackur speaks to Stuart Wheeler, a successful businessman and lifelong gambler who backed his commitment to Brexit with plenty of his own cash. Has his money given him undue influence over Britain’s future?
Image: Stuart Wheeler (Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
Image: Stuart Wheeler (Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
24 Minuten
Rock music inhabits a world of permanent revolution. Today’s biggest bands will most likely be tomorrow’s tired old has-beens. But just occasionally artists and groups find a way of reinventing themselves and outlasting the constant fluctuations in fashion and taste. Stephen Sackur speaks to the singer-songwriter Brett Anderson. His band Suede was hailed as the future of Rock'n'Roll back in the early 1990s. Today they are still making music a generation after Britpop ceased to be a thing. So what keeps him going?
24 Minuten
The number of forest fires burning in the Amazon rainforest may have dropped since the global alarm was raised in August, but Brazil’s Government is still feeling intense political heat. Stephen Sackur interviews Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, who is in Europe trying to convince sceptics that President Bolsonaro’s government is not prioritising economic exploitation at the expense of environmental protection. How credible are the Brazilian Government’s soothing words?
Image: Ricardo Salles (Credit: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)
Image: Ricardo Salles (Credit: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)