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BBC World Service


In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.


HARDtalk

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?

Terumi Tanaka: Is nuclear war unthinkable?

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?

Marty Baron: Is mainstream media in terminal decline?

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?

Dmytro Kuleba: What are Ukraine's options?

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

HARDtalk - 2024 Review

Stephen Sackur speaks to the British novelist Alan Hollinghurst, author of Our Evenings and the Booker Prize-winning The Line of Beauty. Over four decades, how has his writing and his view of Britain changed?

Alan Hollinghurst: How has Britain changed since the 1980s?

Sarah Montague speaks to Alice Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture. It’s been 40 years since the introduction of the UN Convention Against Torture, but she says it’s still happening at unacceptable levels. Is it possible to eradicate something that has been around for as long as humans have existed?

Alice Edwards: Is it possible to eradicate torture?

Stephen Sackur speaks to a brilliant heart surgeon - veteran of more than 30,000 operations - but his growing international reputation rests less on his medical skill, more on his business brain. 

He wants to do for major surgery what Henry Ford did for the motor car - make it affordable for the masses, by means of mass production. 

He's building what he calls medical cities across India and beyond - but can this vision of delivering a public good for private profit really change healthcare around the world?

Dr Devi Shetty - Indian heart surgeon

Sarah Montague is in Brussels to talk to the man with the unenviable job of finding a way out of Europe's financial crisis. 

He is Olli Rehn, Europe's Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. 

It's nearly two years since the Greek crisis first blew up; and in that time seven heads of Eurozone governments have been replaced; there have been at least 15 European summits; and any number of plans; and yet, Greece is still on the verge of defaulting and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned this coming year will "undoubtedly" be harder than the last. 

What has been achieved and are we any closer to resolving the crisis?

(Image: European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn. Credit: Reuters)

Olli Rehn - European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs

This year - 2012 - is the Chinese Year of the Dragon and Chinese workers certainly seem to have fire in their belly.

There's growing discontent amongst the workforce whose labour fuelled the country's economic miracle. 

They're angry that export-led growth has largely passed them by - whilst filling state coffers and enriching some beyond their wildest dreams. 

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Cheng Siwei - one of China's most influential economists. 

How much of a threat is economic uncertainty and social unrest to China's prosperity and stability?

Cheng Siwei - Former Vice Chairman, Standing Committee, NPC, China

Hungary's centre-right government has galvanized critics at home and abroad with its new controversial constitution. 

There have been mass protests in the country, opposition politicians have chained themselves to gates outside public buildings, and the prime minister, Viktor Orban, has been dubbed Viktator.

The EU, IMF and the US have rebuked the Hungarian government over its changes to election rules, the central bank and the judiciary, warning they will erode democracy and entrench one-party rule.

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Hungary's Government Communication Minister, Zoltán Kovács. 

His government says the reforms are necessary to modernise the Hungarian state. 

But with the country badly in need of a $20bn international bailout - is it about to perform a U-turn and back down?

Zoltan Kovacs - Hungarian Minister of State for Government Communication

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?

Liz Carr: The UK's assisted dying debate

Liz Carr: The UK's assisted dying debate

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