Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a mutiny inside her own Conservative Party, which threatens to scupper her Brexit deal and quite possibly her premiership too. If she loses the key parliamentary vote on her deal in just a few days time, the UK could plunge into political chaos. The stakes could hardly be higher for Owen Paterson, a Conservative MP and former Minister intent on rejecting Mrs May’s Brexit. Is it too late to avert a damaging national crisis?

Image: Owen Paterson (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Anger is a powerful force in politics and there's a lot of it about. Donald Trump, Brexit and a host of populist movements have been fuelled by anger with the way things are. Where does it come from? How best to respond?
One much discussed, provocative perspective comes not from a politician but the Canadian clinical psychologist, Jordan Peterson, whose defence of traditional values has won him a worldwide following. Is his diagnosis liberating or dangerous?
(Photo: Dr Jordan Peterson. Credit: Carlos Osorio/Getty Images)

The HARDtalk programme, like so many others in the churn of 24/7 news tends to focus on people and places facing problems and challenges. More often than not we hold the powerful to account for things that went wrong, not right. Are we missing the bigger picture about the world we live in? Stephen Sackur speaks to the psychologist and writer, Steven Pinker. His new book, Enlightenment Now, is a paean to human progress driven by reason and science. How convincing are his reasons to be cheerful?
(Photo: Psychologist and writer Steven Pinker)

Stephen Sackur is in Moscow for an exclusive interview with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. In recent days the world has been alarmed by the very real possibility of a direct military confrontation between the United States and Russia. Syria is of course where the current tensions are highest, and where missiles have been fired, but the hostility is deep-seated on a number of fronts. We’ve had diplomatic expulsions, sanctions, there’s talk of a new cold war. What is Russia’s next move?

The National Assembly in Pakistan has been dissolved ahead of the general election in late July. Just as eyes were turned on him when he was a top international cricket star, much attention is focussed on Imran Khan who abandoned sport for the far less gentlemanly arena of Pakistani politics. He established his own party- the Movement for Justice Party, more than 20 years ago and says he wants to create a new Pakistan. In the last elections in 2013, his party came third. So can he make it to the position of Prime Minister this time round? And is he the right person to steer Pakistan given criticisms about his performance?
(Photo: Imran Khan on Hardtalk)

It was front page news around the world when a mass grave was discovered at a Mother and Baby Home in Ireland. The remains of almost 800 babies were found. But research by Paul Redmond showed that this was only "the tip of the iceberg". He collected evidence of high death rates at homes for illegitimate children across Ireland and also claimed the catholic nuns who ran them were trading in adoptions; being paid to send children to the United States for adoption often against the mother's wishes and sometimes without her knowledge. He was born in one of those homes and adopted before he was a month old. Now he feels he has a duty to expose what went on.
(Photo: Paul Redmond in the Hardtalk studio)

Sarah Montague speaks to biochemist Jennifer Doudna. Crispr Cas9 has been described as the greatest biological breakthrough in decades. It is a gene editing tool and the hopes that rest on it are immense - that it can be used to cure cancer and other intractable diseases, stop mosquitoes carrying malaria, create drought resistant crops and food that does not rot, even that it can recreate extinct animals. What does she make of the breathtaking pace of innovation since her discovery and does she fear where it may lead?

When historians write their versions of Donald Trump’s extraordinary ascent to the Presidency, prominence will surely be given to the former Director of the FBI James Comey. He was a Republican hired by a Democratic President, whose handling of two key investigations; into Hillary Clinton’s emails and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, polarised America. His recent memoir was a withering condemnation of the man who fired him, President Trump. But has James Comey sullied his own reputation by stepping into America’s political swamp?
(Photo: FBI Director James Comey testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. Credit: Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

When Iran’s President Rouhani was convincingly re-elected last year, Iranians seemed hopeful their living standards might improve. However, inflation, poverty, water shortages and corruption are all things that appear to be getting worse. Now, Iran is again facing US sanctions after President Trump walked away from the nuclear deal with Tehran. Stephen Sackur speaks to Iranian political analyst and erstwhile nuclear talks adviser Mohamed Marandi. Is Iran on the brink of an economic and political crisis?
(Photo: Professor Mohamed Marandi)

It took former cricketer Imran Khan two decades of political slog to win power in Pakistan. It’s taken his critics just months to decide he’s out of his depth. They point to the country’s crippled economy, propped up by emergency loans despite the Prime Minister's promise to end the begging bowl culture. Is the PTI government strong enough to put Pakistan on a new course? Stephen Sackur speaks to Pakistan’s Finance Minister, Asad Umar.

(Photo: Asad Umar. Credit: Reuters)

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to former British Labour Foreign Secretary, Lord David Owen. The beginning of the year is a time for reflecting on the past and plotting a better future. In Britain the focus is on where Brexit is taking the nation. How will leaving the EU affect the UK's sense of itself and its international standing? Lord Owen, David Owen tried and failed to change the face of British politics by launching a new party on the centre left. Does the UK currently have a clue where its going ?

President Donald Trump has blown a superpower sized hole in the international agreement designed to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. The US has given up on carrot and stick diplomacy with Tehran, in favour of just stick. So what now? The other signatories to the nuclear deal are trying to keep it alive, but ominously in the Middle East, tension is rising; most particularly between Israel and Iran. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Tzipi Hotovely - how close are we to a major Middle East conflict?
Image: Tzipi Hotovely, Credit: Getty Images

Stephen Sackur speaks to Mahmoud al-Zahar, co-founder of the Islamist movement Hamas. Donald Trump broke with long established diplomatic convention by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. His recent tweets on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been music to the ears of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So what do the Palestinians do now? Hamas controls Gaza and has been at loggerheads with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank for more than a decade. Are the Palestinians staring defeat in the face?
(Photo: Palestinian Hamas leader Mahmud al-Zahar speaks against the renewed Israeli-Palestinian talks in Washington, in 2010. Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP)

Are journalists still able to tell the truth to power? On March 16th 1968 US soldiers committed a war crime during the Vietnam war. More than 500 men, women and children were systematically slaughtered in the village of May Lai. The terrible truth was exposed thanks to the work of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to him about a lifetime of reporting that has been punctuated by scoops, prizes and plentiful confrontations with the powers that be.

Who or what can deliver South Sudan's people from despair? Its first six and half years as an independent country have been an unmitigated disaster. A brutal civil conflict, a broken economy, famine and epic levels of corruption - on any and every measure the world’s newest country is failing. This comes despite some of the largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa. HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to South Sudan's Minister of Petroleum, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.
Image: Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth (Credit: BBC)

Has the internet left every one of us dangerously exposed? HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to Michael Chertoff, former US Secretary of Homeland Security during the Bush Administration and now a leading thinker on cyber-security. Most of us have embedded the internet and smart technology in our lives. We might like to believe we’re autonomous digital citizens, but what if our behaviours are now being monitored, and modified by private and state actors over which we have no control?
Image: Michael Chertoff (Credit: Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur is in northern Italy for the annual discussion of global politics known as the Ambrosetti Forum. High on the agenda for many European politicians are the challenges posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia. Arkady Dvorkovich was until this spring Russia's Deputy Prime Minister. Amid the mutual suspicion and the sanctions, is there any way to avert deepening hostility between Russia and the West?
Image: Arkady Dvorkovich (Credit: Reuters)

HARDtalk is in Geneva, the headquarters of the Kofi Annan Foundation which marks its tenth anniversary this year. Zeinab Badawi speaks to the former Secretary-General of the United Nations as he reaches his eightieth birthday, in front of an audience. In a career spanning six decades at the United Nations, he has held several senior positions including two terms as Secretary-General until 2006. There were high points such as the award of the Nobel Peace Prize as well as tragic events such as the Rwandan genocide and the Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims. What are his biggest worries today and does he have any regrets?

The removal of Robert Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe in November 2017 led to several Mugabe loyalists going underground. The most prominent of these is probably Jonathan Moyo - until recently a cabinet minister, key ally and close adviser to Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace. He has been described as one of the most hated men in Zimbabwe and is wanted in the country on corruption charges. Jonathan Moyo is now in hiding in self-imposed exile and says his family is being harassed and that his life is under threat. HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to him in his first interview since the ousting of President Mugabe. What has he got to say for himself?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Egyptian activist and writer Dr Nawal El Saadawi. She has been described as the Arab world's leading feminist. She is a medical doctor, writer, activist, campaigner and outspoken political critic. She was banned from speaking in the Egyptian media and imprisoned under the government of President Sadat for her outspoken views. How much freedom of expression is there currently under President Sisi? And what about the status of women in Egypt today?
(Photo: Dr Nawal El Saadawi)