HARDtalk

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur looks back on some of the most powerful moments from 2024 in his end of year review.

Stephen Sackur speaks to former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. Russian forces are gaining ground along the frontline in eastern Ukraine, and US president-elect Donald Trump wants the war to end. What are Ukraine’s options now?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the former editor of The Washington Post Marty Baron. Donald Trump accused him of peddling lies and fake news. He called it independent evidence-based journalism. Does the re-election of Trump suggest the mainstream media is in terminal decline?

Stephen Sackur is in Oslo for an exclusive interview with 92-year-old Terumi Tanaka who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Japanese survivors’ group Nihon Hidankyo. Eight decades on, is nuclear war unthinkable, or not?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Republican congressman and Trump loyalist Mark Alford. The president-elect has already made clear his intent to blow up the Washington status quo, from swingeing tariffs to the mass deportation of migrants. Is America ready for Trump 2.0?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Arab Barghouthi. His father, Marwan, is serving life for murder in an Israeli jail, but is widely seen by Palestinians as a potential leader who could unify his people. Does his son believe he will ever be free?

Germany, Europe’s most powerful economy, will hold elections in February after the collapse of Chancellor Scholz's ruling coalition. Stephen Sackur speaks to Peter Boehringer, who is a senior MP for the far-right Alternative for Deutschland party. Is his party too extreme to be a serious contender for national power?

Following the death of Barbara Taylor Bradford at the age of 91, another chance to listen to Stephen Sackur’s 2009 interview with the best-selling novelist. A talent for storytelling made her one of the richest women in Britain; her first novel, A Woman of Substance, has sold more than thirty million copies around the world. Adored by her fans and ignored by the critics, Bradford's books featured strong women overcoming life's slings and arrows. Image: Barbara Taylor Bradford (Credit: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises via PA)

The UK parliament is considering landmark proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. They would, if approved, establish the right for some terminally ill people to choose a medically assisted death. Several European nations, Canada, and a number of US states have already gone down this road. Stephen Sackur speaks to actor and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr. Is the focus on a ‘good death’ detracting from the right to a good life?

Stephen Sackur is in Belgrade for an exclusive interview with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić. The Balkan country is at a crossroads. Does it prioritise turning westwards, doing all it can to gain EU entry, or face east, deepening an already close friendship with Russia and expanding economic ties with China?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Iran’s former vice president for women and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar. Despite state repression, many Iranian women are still confronting restrictive laws which they label ‘gender apartheid’. Amid social and economic unrest, is today’s Iranian leadership in danger of losing its grip?

This month marks 50 years since 21 people were killed by the IRA in the Birmingham pub bombings. Six men, ‘The Birmingham Six’, were imprisoned for 16 years for murderous bomb attacks which they did not commit. In 2011, Stephen Sackur spoke to one of those men, Paddy Hill. He had been a free man for 20 years, but had he managed to rebuild his life?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Steve McQueen, the Oscar-winning director of films including 12 Years a Slave and Widows. Much of his work has portrayed racial injustice, and his latest film, Blitz, tells the story of a black boy caught up in war-torn London in 1940. His images are often difficult to bear - how important is it not to look away? Image: Steve McQueen (Credit: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Stephen Sackur speaks to British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi. Her latest film, The Teacher, is set in the West Bank and invites audiences to see and feel the Palestinian experience in intimate, human and emotional detail; but is that possible in the post-October 7th climate of war?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Jamaica's minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett. While the island nation projects itself to the world as a Caribbean success story, its reputation is being tarnished by violent crime, drugs and gang warfare. What will it take to make Jamaica more secure?

Allan Little speaks to the Trinidadian human rights activist Jason Jones. He is campaigning to legalise consensual sex for homosexuals on his native island, and hopes that the case will have repercussions for similar laws in other countries. But will it be enough to change cultural attitudes?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Russia’s ambassador in London, Andrei Kelin. Thanks to the war in Ukraine and allegations of Russian hybrid warfare in Europe and beyond, diplomatic relations between Moscow and the West are poisonous. Is Vladimir Putin right to think he’s reshaping geopolitics?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Fred Fleitz, a national security official in Donald Trump’s first administration, tipped for a new foreign policy role if Trump returns to power. If Vice President Kamala Harris represents foreign policy continuity, what would the world get from Trump 2.0?

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?