HARDtalk

Stephen Sackur talks to Diane Foley, whose son James was kidnapped by the Islamic State group and murdered in 2014. She’s spent a decade coming to terms with that and campaigning to get other detained Americans home.

Stephen Sackur is in Washington DC to speak to Democratic Party Senator Chris Murphy. In the final days of an eye-wateringly close presidential election campaign, how can Vice President Kamala Harris convince Americans that she and the Democrats stand for change rather than business as usual?

Stephen Sackur is in Washington DC to speak to Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton. With the election looming, Bolton calls his former boss a danger to America. But he won’t back Kamala Harris either. Is America too divided to offer global leadership?

Stephen Sackur speaks to stand-up comedian, and broadcaster Frank Skinner, who also happens to be a writer on poetry, religion and much more. Football and sex were, and are, the staples of much of his humour, but he’s never been a one-trick pony. What unites his many facets?

Stephen Sackur speaks to former Iranian nuclear negotiator Seyed Hossein Mousavian. Now in exile in the US, he is an advocate for dialogue between Iran and the West. With Israel poised to strike, having already delivered severe blows to Tehran, how vulnerable is Iran?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the Iranian-Danish film director Ali Abbasi. His new movie The Apprentice, about Donald Trump’s early years in business, has enraged team Trump. He’s also made powerful enemies inside Iran. Is censorship a growing cross-cultural problem?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the former MEP Marietje Schaake, who is now a cyber expert at Stanford University. Her book, The Tech Coup, suggests the world’s failure to properly regulate digital technology threatens individual rights and democratic freedom worldwide. Is it too late to change course?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Israel’s ambassador at the UN, Danny Danon. Israel is now fighting a multi-front war, intent on delivering its enemies in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran a series of crushing blows. But can force alone deliver Israel the security it craves?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Tamir Pardo, former director of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. He was appointed by Benjamin Netanyahu but now he’s a fierce critic of the Israeli Prime Minister. When he says the greatest threat to Israel’s future comes from within, what does he mean?

Allan Little speaks to Kim Aris, the son of the ousted civilian leader of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi. Now a political prisoner approaching the age of 80 and in declining health, what is her fate and that of the country she left her family to serve?