stephen sackur, bbc news, caracas. legal action against the hungarian government's crackdown on higher education and asylum—seekers. thousands of hungarians have been protesting on the streets of the capital, budapest, against laws which could close a prestigious university. sarah corker reports. for the fourth time in ten days, thousands of hungarians took part in anti—government protests in budapest. there were minor scuffles with police as demonstrators gathered in hero square. they're angry about what they see as a crackdown on free thought and education. translation: every day, something happens that somehow damages democracy. this sometimes accelerates, sometimes slows down. recently it has accelerated again. i don't know how far things can go. in the centre of this political storm is the central european university. a new law signed earlier this week could force the prestigious institution to close. its founder is hungarian—born billionaire george soros, a sworn enemy of the right—wing government. but the educat

to celebrate 20 years of hardtalk interviews. —— stephen sackur.etter to have on our birthday than sir ian mckellen. whether you think of immers richard iii or gandalf, you will that he has won hearts and accolades around the world. notjust for decades of work on screen but his passion of public accuracy, particularly on the issue of gay rights. please give a warm welcome to ian mckellen. that was quite welcome. ian mckellen, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. there's a lot to talk about both personal and in terms of your campaigning. but there are very few actors with the diversity you have offered your audiences, from the great shakespearean roles to comic book characters in x—men. is there a common thread through everything you have done? the common thread is there is no common thread. there is a variety. what i have always admired in my youth was people playing different salts of parts in different environments. i was proud of having played with or 20, which isa drag of having played with or 20, which is a drag role in a british christmas entertai

stephen sackur, bbc news, caracas.e road on the bbc news channel and the bbc iplayer tomorrow. tomorrow, the education secretary, justine greening, is expected to give a speech outlining her vision for a school system in england "that puts ordinary working families at its heart." it follows criticism of theresa may's controversial plans to expand the number of grammar schools in england, which some believe will damage social mobility. 0ur education editor, branwenjeffreys, joins me now. this idea of a system with ordinary working families at the heart can the government make work? families in work but finding it difficult to make end meet are her political priority. the problem is that there is no definition of what an ordinary working family is. and that's what they've been trying to address with analysis they've published. they need to do this yore wise they have a problem in justifying need to do this yore wise they have a problem injustifying their grammar plans. they say in a grammar school you're just as likely t

stephen sackur, bbc news, caracas.has seen some just by living so long, this man has seen some extraordinary changes. he joined the communist party and became secretary to chairman mao. yet the fervent communist then became a dissident and spoke out in favour of democratic reform. as our china editor, carrie gracie, found out, li rui remains an independent voice to this day. oh no, i am in trouble. a failing cameraman as well. born in 1917 and growing up mid—civil war and famine, he dreamed of becoming a communist. the 18—year—old did not listen, but did not get killed either. soon, the communists were ruling china, and he was secretary to chairman mao, who he later described as terrifying and inhumane. but it's dangerous to talk like that now. i think i do understand. when he spoke out about the mistakes of chairman mao, he was expelled from the party and spent eight years in solitary confinement. after chairman mao's death, the party let him back in. but then came the tiananmen square democracy protests. he spoke out

i'm stephen sackur. injust a welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in just a few days, pope francis will fly to egypt to offer his personal support to egypt's coptic christians. he will find a community filled with apprehension, targeted by jihadist community filled with apprehension, targeted byjihadist extremists, and subject to persistent discrimination and sectarian violence. elsewhere in the middle east, in syria and iraq, the middle east, in syria and iraq, the plight of christians is even worse. my guest today is the general bishop of the cup that church in the uk, bishop angaelos. do christians have any future at all in the middle east? —— one. bishop angaelos, welcome to hardtalk do you think there is something substantively different about the nature of the threat faced by coptic christians in egypt to date? because they have faced threats for many yea rs. they have faced threats for many years. yes. we have faced threats for centuries, particularly over the past decades, but to have suicide bombers in churches is a shift, and it looks like

i'm stephen sackur. today i'm in rural northern germany. stable, prosperous, 21st century germany. i'm here to talk about the past and its relationship to the present. my guest is the writer, journalist and son, niklas frank. now, his father was appointed by hitler to be the governor general of nazi—occupied poland. he was intimately involved in the murder of millions of people. so, how has this german son dealt with the terrible crimes of his father? niklas, i'm wondering why you have chosen to make your life in the very far north of germany. is it because you wanted to get as far away as possible from yourfamily background in bavaria? no, i still love bavaria. and every year we have about many weeks in bavaria, in the same village where i grew up. but it was my profession as a journalist at stern magazine, which i worked for 23 years, was based in hamburg. so, i had to lure my wife, she was attached to munich, because she is a big gardener, to her house with a big garden, so we've lived here for 33 years. this place where you now live is extraordinarily peaceful. yes, it is. woul

i'm stephen sackur and today i'm joined by an audience here at the bbc radio theatre to celebrate 20f hardtalk interviews. who better to have on our birthday than sir ian mckellen? whether you think of him as richard iii or gandalf, he has won hearts and accolades around the world. not just for decades of work on screen but his passion of public campaigning, particularly on the issue of gay rights. ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to ian mckellen. applause wow, that was quite a welcome. ian mckellen, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. there's a lot to talk about both personal and in terms of yourcampaigning. but i want to begin with a thought about your career. there are very few actors with the diversity you have offered your audiences, from the great shakespearean roles to comic book characters in x—men. is there a consistent, common thread through everything you've done? the common thread is there is no common thread. there's a variety. that's what i always admired in my youth was people playing different sorts of parts in different environments. i'm as proud of havin

welcome to hardtalk i am stephen sackur. today i am in rural northern germany.table, prosperous when he first century germany. but i am here to talk about the past. and its relationship to the present. my guest is the writer, journalist and son, niklas frank. now, his father was appointed by hitler to be the governor general of nazi occupied poland. he was intimately involved in the murder of millions of people. so, how has this german son dealt with the terrible crimes of his father? niklas, iam with the terrible crimes of his father? niklas, i am wondering why you have chosen to make your life in the very far north of germany. is it because you wanted to get as far away as possible from your family background in bavaria? no, i still love bavaria. and every year we have about many weeks in bavaria, in the same village where i grew up. but it was my profession as a journalist at stern magazine, which i worked for 23 years, was based in hamburg. so i had to lure my wife, she was attached to munich, because she is a big gardener, she has a big garden, so we big ga

i'm stephen sackur.

stephen sackur sent this special report from the capital, caracas.the biggest oil reserves in the world and yet a city where people queue all day hoping for bread, nappies or baby milk. we had to film these scenes undercover. journalists aren't welcome, as venezuela sinks deeper into economic chaos. filming inside supermarkets is a crime. here's why, many of them are empty. the government is drowning in debt, imports have dried up, inflation is over 1000%. the people suffering the most are the poor, in the city's sprawling slums. i'm in one of thejeeps which specialises in transporting people up and down the mountain, and the principle here in the slum is pretty straight—forward — the higher up the hill you live, well, the poorer you are. this barrio used to be a stronghold of the late hugo chavez's socialist revolution. not any more. people here are desperate, struggling to find food and to stay safe. caracas has become the world's most dangerous capital city. i met a heavily armed kidnap gang, nervous young men, barely out of childhood. as venezuel

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.ords israel and apartheid in the same sentence, and you are stepping into a political minefield. write a un report and accuse israel of systematically implementing apartheid policies, well, you can be sure there will be a diplomatic explosion. my guest today, rima khalaf, did just that, and promptly resigned from her un post, when the secretary general refused to accept her work. her motives have been widely questioned. so let's ask her — what were they? rima khalaf, welcome to hardtalk. pleasure to be here. now that the dust has settled for a few weeks on this episode, of you, the report you commissioned on israel, and apartheid, you have had some time to reflect on it all. do you have regrets about the way you handled it? no, actually, not at all. first let me explain that i did not commission the report because i wanted to commission a report. escwa, or the un economic and social commission for western asia, is an intergovernmental body. we are an intergovernmental agency. and we ju

now it's time for hardtalk welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.s something rotten in the republic of france? as the country prepares to elect a new president bears record levels of apathy and delusion among french voters, a spate of terror attacks has sown in security and has sparked debate. my guest todayis and has sparked debate. my guest today is a writer and public intellectual in the grand french tradition. is france living through an age of decline? pascal, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. we are talking with a french presidential elections very close, does france feel right for the sort of political shock that we've seen in recent times both in the uk over the brexit vote and in the united states with the victory of donald trump in the presidential election? i hope not, with all my heart i hope we won't face the same electoral results that you had with brexit and that the americans had with trump. so we're doing everything to avoid the passage to the far right with marine le pen. but at the present time we have two opposite candidates, march

i'm stephen sackur.s wildlife is one of the wonders of the natural world, but the fate of the continent's elephants, rhinos and big cats is now desperately uncertain. illegal poaching could see these great species disappear from their african heartlands. my guest today is richard leakey, chairman of the kenya wildlife service. he also happens to be a world—famous palaeontologist whose life story reads like an implausible movie script. the question is — will his fight for africa's endangered wildlife have a happy ending? richard leakey, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. you know, there is an adage, a saying which goes like this: "you should never go back." and yet you have decided to go back, to run and be the chairman of the kenya wildlife service so many years after you did thatjob in the late ‘80s. why have you gone back? well, i go by a different philosophy. if you do a job and you do it reasonably well, and it gets messed up, if you can go back and tidy it up again, why not? imean, get it back to what