The Interview

BBC World Service
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Jul 31, 2019 • 23min

Leader, Hong Kong Civic Party - Alvin Yeung

Hong Kong is in uproar. Each weekend for the last two months, thousands of people have taken to the streets. Alvin Yueng, who leads the Civic Party shares their fears.(Photo: Alvin Yeung Ngok-Kiu, of Civic Party. Credit: Dickson Lee/South China Morning Post/Getty Images)
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Jul 26, 2019 • 23min

Albert Woodfox: Life after solitary confinement

There are some human experiences which most of us find it very hard to get our heads around. Stephen Sackur speaks to Albert Woodfox, who experienced the unimaginable torment of more than four decades in solitary confinement, in a tiny cell in one of America’s most notorious prisons. He was the victim of ingrained racism and brutality inside America’s system of criminal justice. He is now a free man, but what does freedom really mean, after everything he’s been through?(Photo: Albert Woodfox, a former member of the Black Panthers, who was put in solitary confinement at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Credit: Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images)
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Jul 24, 2019 • 25min

Olafur Eliasson - Artist

How far can artists and their work change the world? Can artistic endeavour lead to concrete action to mitigate the impact of global warming, or is this fanciful? Zeinab Badawi is at the Tate Modern in London, interviewing award-winning Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson about his new exhibition and why he believes art can be a force for good in the world.Image: Olafur Eliasson (Credit: Neil Hall/EPA)
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Jul 22, 2019 • 25min

Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India - Raghuram Rajan

Sarah Montague speaks to Raghuram Rajan, until 2016 the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He says “capitalism is under threat” and if world leaders want to save liberal democracies from a surge in populism they need to give more power to local communities and away from big governments and big businesses. When he left his job as Governor of India’s central bank, he said it was “better to be a doer than an adviser”. Now he is being talked of as one of the front-runners to be the next Governor of the Bank of England. Would he rather do that job than advise in another?
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Jul 19, 2019 • 47min

Mayor of Istanbul - Ekrem Imamoğlu

Have voters in Istanbul dealt a serious blow to Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan? They’ve elected the opposition to the Mayor's office. A city of 16 million, it was the President's power base. Zeinab Badawi talks to the city’s new Mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.Image: Ekrem Imamoglu (Credit: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
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Jul 17, 2019 • 23min

Foreign Minister of Iran - Javad Zarif

HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi is in New York, for a rare interview with the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who is attending high level talks at the UN. Hostilities between Iran and the US are at a historic high; recently, President Trump said he was ‘ten minutes away from war with Tehran’. Could the two countries stumble into a war? And is Iran raising the stakes in the Persian Gulf after Washington tore up the nuclear deal last year?Image: Mohammad Javad Zarif (Credit: Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters)
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Jul 15, 2019 • 23min

Nobel Prize-winning economist - Sir Angus Deaton

Stephen Sackur interviews Sir Angus Deaton, a British-American economist and academic. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics (2015) for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare. He has just launched the Deaton Review with the Institute for Fiscal Studies; a five-year academic investigation into inequalities in the UK, the largest ever conducted. What can Western democracies do to tame capitalism and reduce its worst effects?Image: Sir Angus Deaton (Credit: Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Jul 12, 2019 • 24min

Prime Minister, Greece - Kyriakos Mitsotakis

Can a new government transform Greece's fortunes? HARDtalk's Zeinab Badawi speaks exclusively to the new Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens. After the centre-right New Democracy party won the elections, he takes over a country traumatised and impoverished by a decade of economic austerity. In his first interview with the international broadcast media since his decisive victory over the populist Syriza party, Zeinab Badawi asks Prime Minister Mitsotakis whether he can deliver on his campaign promises.(Photo:: Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Credit: Milos Bacanski/Getty Images)
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Jul 10, 2019 • 23min

President of the UK Supreme Court - Lady Hale

Stephen Sackur speaks to Lady Hale, President of the UK Supreme Court. The British legal system has long enjoyed an international reputation for independence, integrity and efficiency. But senior judges, lawyers and police officers are now voicing concern about a judicial system close to breaking point. Is one of the world’s most admired justice systems failing the people it is supposed to serve?Image: Lady Hale (Credit: UK Supreme Court/PA Wire)
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Jul 8, 2019 • 24min

Former UK Prime Minister - Sir John Major

What kind of country will emerge from the Brexit mess? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir John Major, former British Prime Minister. Within weeks the UK's Conservative party will have a new leader and Britain a new prime minister. As with so much in UK politics the battle between Boris Johnson and Jeremy hunt boils down to Brexit; who do Tories believe is better equipped to navigate the political and constitutional crisis that looms as the departure date of October 31st draws near?Image: John Major (Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images)

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