Helen Thompson, professor of political economy: A new era of global power politics

“Regardless of whether it's Trump or anybody else in the White House, we should expect something quite significant to be going on in terms of the United States’ relationship with the rest of the world.”Amol Rajan speaks to Helen Thompson, professor of political economy at Cambridge University, about a new era of global power play. In this conversation, she traces the roots of the re-birth of US expansionism back to the 19th century, and America’s early presidents. She also explains how the dynamics of geopolitics are tied to the control of resources, in particular oil.Professor Thompson is an expert on the history of globalisation who has taught at Britain’s Cambridge University for more than 30 years. Her current research looks at the geopolitics of energy, and the long history of this century’s global disruptions.Thank you to the Radical team for its help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with the Colombian president Gustavo Petro, New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producers: Anna Budd, Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Helen Thompson Credit: Anna Budd/BBC)

‘All they have seen is a 40-year rule that has resulted in high unemployment rates, poor services, and an increased violation of human rights. This young population is yearning to see a different president, a different kind of Uganda.’Catherine Byaruhanga speaks to human rights lawyer and activist Nicholas Opiyo about Ugandan politics, the rule of law, and the impact of 40 years of one leader on the nation.He’s taken on multiple cases of national significance, including successfully overturning the country’s anti-LGBTQ legislation back in 2014 - although this has since been re-instated, and represented a former rebel commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army.Opiyo has also represented Ugandan opposition politician Bobi Wine, who, despite previously being arrested and charged with treason in 2018, challenged the 81-year-old incumbent President Yoweri Museveni in January’s disputed elections.These elections were watched from afar by Opiyo, who was recently forced to flee his home country for his own safety, but still continues his human rights work. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, Botswana’s President Duma Boko, and Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Foreign Minister of Egypt. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Catherine Byaruhanga Producers: Clare Williamson, Ben Cooper and Farhana Haider Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Nicholas Opiyo. Credit: Reuters)

‘It's so far from your reality because I didn't know anybody and I was an immigrant’Anita Rani speaks to the Beijing-born director Chloé Zhao about her career and her latest film, Hamnet.Zhao made history in 2021 when, at the age of just 39, she became the first woman of colour - and, at the time, only the second woman ever - to win the best director award at the Oscars.Now, just five years after her Oscars triumph for Nomadland, Zhao is making headlines once again as the director of the critically-acclaimed movie Hamnet, a dramatisation about the son of the English playwright William Shakespeare. It won two Golden Globe awards, including one for ‘Best Drama Movie’, and has recently been nominated for 8 Academy Awards too.Thank you to the Woman’s Hour team for their help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Indian author Twinkle Khanna, former US Vice President Kamala Harris, and Hollywood legend Sir Anthony Hopkins. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Anita Rani Producers: Emma Pearce, Ben Cooper and Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Chloé Zhao. Credit: Emma McIntyre/WireImage)

“There are those that believe the power of law should be replaced by the law of power”Anna Foster speaks to Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, about the threat to international law from states acting through power and influence instead, in particular America. Defending the rule of law is necessary, he says, if we are to have a better world.He also sets out the case for reform of the UN Security Council to allow it to remain effective and relevant in the face of increasingly complex global conflicts. Antonio Guterres has been at the head of the United Nations since 2017, and is now entering his final year in office. Thank you to the Today team for its help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and Mustafa Suleyman, boss of Microsoft AI. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Anna Foster Producer: Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Antonio Guterres. Credit: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)

Nick Robinson speaks to Polish President Karol Nawrocki about Trump, Russia and the future of Europe.A historian and a boxer by background, he was elected in June 2025 with the support of Poland’s conservative opposition Law and Justice Party.A social conservative and devout Catholic, he is also an outspoken critic of the European Union and staunch supporter of Donald Trump, believing that the US President is the only person who can stop the threat to Europe from Vladimir Putin’s Russia: "Europe for a number of years was involved in not so important things, in ideological issues such as Green Deal for instance, climate policy, migration issues. It was not building its resilience and its security."The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, American singer-songwriter Patti Smith and Jordan Bardella, leader of the National Rally in France. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Nick Robinson Producers: Oscar Pearson and Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Polish President Karol Nawrocki. Credit: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP)

I do believe US military action is a real threat, and the prospect of removing it depends on the ongoing conversations. The BBC’s South America correspondent Ione Wells speaks to Gusatvo Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president about his fears of US military action against his country. Petro, a former guerrilla fighter turned reformist leader, has been in office since 2022, championing social justice, environmental policies and regional diplomacy.He responds to Donald Trump’s recent comments suggesting a military operation against Colombia “sounds good” and accusations that Petro himself is a drug trafficker—claims he strongly denies.Petro warns that the United States risks moving from global leadership to isolation through what he calls “imperial-style behaviour,” following the recent seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US forces. He also expresses his belief that Washington needs a fundamental rethink of power and diplomacy.The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and author Sir Salman Rushdie. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Ione Wells Producers: Alba Morgade, Farhana Haider Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.Image Credit: NurPhoto/Getty Images

“Rape and sexual violence against women and girls, babies, men and boys, is used as a part of ethnic cleansing and genocide.”We are in a new era where human rights have been replaced by trade and big businesses and they have almost entirely depleted our ability to show humanity to people on the other side.Lucy Hockings speaks to Baroness Arminka Helic, Member of the House of Lords and campaigner for refugees and victims of war.A former Bosnian refugee, she saw first hand the legacy of conflict-related sexual violence and the importance of ending impunity for rape and assault committed as a weapon of war. She tells of her warm welcome to the UK in 1992 and wants us always to remember the human beings behind the refugee statistics.Baroness Helic talks about the progress in raising awareness of the crimes and her own work in launching the ‘Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative’ in 2012. She says that it’s really hard for victims to speak out because of the stigma around rape but when they do, their voices need to be heard and the crimes documented.She also speaks about the plight of asylum seekers and the use of starvation in conflict zones like Gaza and Sudan. A Conservative peer, she’s keen to take the politics out of immigration and remember our humanity.The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Lucy Hockings Producers: Clare Williamson, Farhana Haider Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Baroness Arminka Helic. Credit: Roger Harris/House of Lords)

Michael Berkeley speaks to Gabriel Zuchtreigel, Director of Pompeii in Southern Italy, one of the world’s most important archaeological sites.History, he says, comes alive through archaeology, helping us to appreciate our shared humanity with those who lived thousands of years ago, and providing a more democratic way of learning about the past. Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that erupted and buried Pompeii in ash and pumice, did not distinguish between the wealthy and the poor in its victims. Gabriel Zuchtriegel was appointed Director of Pompeii in 2021, and has since begun a major excavation, and made a number of significant finds. But it is walking around the site at night, emptied of the crowds, that he feels the ancient city come alive. It is as if, he says, the inhabitants only left a few minutes ago.The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including with artist Doris Salcedo and author Sir Salman Rushdie. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Michael Berkeley Producers: Clare Walker and Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Gabriel Zuchtreigel Credit: Ivan Romano/Getty Images)

BBC presenter Amol Rajan speaks to the British artificial intelligence entrepreneur Mustafa Suleyman, Chief Executive of Microsoft AI.He believes in the enormous potential of AI to be a force for good in the world, changing how we live and work for the better. He is committed to developing a humanist superintelligence, one that always works to serve people and never vice versa. But he remains clear about what he sees as the risks, issuing a warning that without the right ethical safeguards, AI could grow powerful enough to overwhelm humanity. "As somebody who’s deeply techno-optimistic, I invite people to be also healthily afraid and sceptical," he says.The son of a London taxi-driver and a nurse, he dropped out of Oxford University and by his mid-twenties had co-founded DeepMind, the pioneering artificial intelligence research lab. By the time it was sold to Google four years later in 2014, it was worth a reported $400 million.The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Amol Rajan Producers: Kate Collins, Laura Cooper and Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Mustafa Suleyman Credit: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

Steve Rosenberg, the BBC’s Russia editor, speaks to Nigel Casey, the UK’s ambassador to Russia, about the challenges of working in Moscow on behalf of a government that views President Putin’s Russia as a threat to Britain. He believes this job is one of the most challenging - and important - of his career. In a wide ranging conversation, the ambassador describes his life in Moscow over the last two years, a period of heightened tensions between the UK and Russia after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.The number of diplomats in the city has been drastically reduced and, for a British ambassador in Moscow, there are daily challenges to deal with. You’re going to hear his experience of being followed wherever he goes in Russia and how, on occasions, his staff face harassment. He sees a key part of his job - defusing potentially dangerous diplomatic misunderstanding with the Russian government. He also reveals the gap between the anti-British rhetoric heard in the country’s state media and the genuine curiosity of ordinary Russians towards the UK. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Steve Rosenberg Producers: Ben Tavener, Clare Williamson and Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Nigel Casey. Credit: UK Gov)