i'm stephen sackur.he christian religion is divided on issues of sexuality, not least the degree of acceptance and inclusion offered to gay men and women of faith. amid the fierce theological

i'm stephen sackur. a tiny proportion of muslim women in britain wear the burqa or niqab, forms of dress which keep the face partially or fully covered. nonetheless, those women find themselves at the heart of the sometimes bitter argument about religion, values and tolerance in western society. my guest today is a muslim scholar and imam taj hargey, who has long stirred controversy among fellow muslims by condemning the burqa and demanding a new form of islam, progressive, enlightened and gender—equal. will his ideas ever gain traction in the muslim community? taj hargey, welcome to hardtalk.

president ivan duque on hardtalk with stephen sackur.han £40 million, $51 million. 15 suitcases of the drug were found on a private jet returning from columbia injanuary. it was one of the biggest drug seizures everfor the uk's border force. tom symonds reports. it was like a scene from a crime drama, a sleek private jet hired for £138,000, paid in cash, arriving at farnborough airport. 15 heavy suitcases unloaded, the gang whisked off in their hired cars, but they didn't get far. customs officers pulled them overfor a search, one of the gang clock showing. inside the case... a serious amount of cocaine. we've been asked not to show the face of the customs officer but he has a big smile. presumably they don't get many days like that? well, this is one of the largest seizures in our region's history, but it is a day that we want to celebrate and show that this sort of activity, people that are seeking to smuggle illicit goods into the country, our officers are there to identify them and take action. 15 suitcases, half a ton of cocaine, wo

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.hen iran's president rouhani was convincingly re—elected in last last year, iranians seemed hopeful their living standards might improve. well, they haven't. inflation, poverty, water shortages and corruption on a host of measures, things that appear to be getting worse. now iran is again facing us sanctions after president trump walked away from that nuclear deal with tehran. my guest is iranian political analyst professor mohamed marandi. is iran on the brink of an economic and political crisis? mohammad marandi, in tehran, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. there is a time delay on this line, but nonetheless, my first question is a simple one. there was a lot of hope around the re—election of president rouhani last year. it seems to have evaporated. why? well, obviously there are a host of difficulties that exist in iran, mostly economic. the dissatisfaction that exists in the country, according to polls, is focused on jobs and inflation. but we have to take into account the fact that

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. four decades ago, daniel 0rtega was a latin american revolutionary at war with a corrupt autocracy. now he stands accused of defending his own autocracy in the face of a popular revolt. several hundred anti—sandinista protestors are believed to have died in the last four months, but power remains firmly in president 0rtega's hands. hardtalk‘s stephen sackur speaks tojuan sebastian chamorro, a leader of the opposition alliance. has the window of opportunity for change in nicaragua already closed? juan sebastian chamorro, in managua, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, stephen, for having me on your programme. we've been watching events very closely for the last four months in nicaragua, we have seen the street protests, we have seen the violence and we have seen thousands of nicaragua and is demanding an end to the presidency of daniel 0rtega. but i'll be honest with you, it looks as though those protests have run out of stea m. though those protests have run out of steam. would

welcome to hardtalk from bogota with me, stephen sackur. i have come to the colombian capital for an exclusive interview with the new president of the country. ivan duque isa president of the country. ivan duque is a useful centre—right politician who faces enormous challenges in these early days of his presidency. will he stick with that fragile peace deal agreed by his predecessor with the rebel group the farc? and how will he deal with the unfolding economic and humanitarian catastrophe in neighbouring venezuela? catastrophe in neighbouring venezuela 7 ivan catastrophe in neighbouring venezuela? ivan duque is a relatively untested political novice. how will he responded to these early challenges? president ivan duque, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. it is a pleasant to here. i have to start by the crisis in venezuela. a massive economic and humanitarian catastrophe in that country which is having repercussions throughout the region. people are calling it the greatest migration crisis that latin america has ever experienced. is colombia s

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.tish prime minister theresa may is running out of time to avoid the brexit cliff edge. her proposals for a post—brexit trade deal with brussels got short shrift from the eu's chief negotiator. she seems to be hoping to get more joy from some of europe's national leaders. but with every passing day, the prospect for a no—deal, potentially chaotic brexit grows more real. my guest is the dutch mep sophie in ‘t veld, deputy to the european pa rliament‘s chief negotiator. is brexit brinkmanship a game no—one can win? sophie in ‘t veld in brussels, welcome to hardtalk. hello. you follow the brexit negotiations very, very closely. are you comfortable with the fact that when theresa may and her government came out with their big proposal, the so—called white paper, their vision for what a post—brexit trade deal with the eu could look like, it was, effectively, dismissed by the eu's, the eu commission's chief negotiator, michel barnier, with barely a second glance? well, dismissed. i think mr b

i'm stephen sackur. anger is a powerful force in politics and there is a lot of it about.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? well, 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? jordan peterson, welcome to hardtalk. thanks for the invitation. at the beginning of this year, you wrote this book, 12 rules for life: an antidote to chaos, and in the six or seven months since, around the world it has sold pretty much two million copies. pretty extraordinary. yes. you have struck some sort of a chord, why do you think that is? because i'm having a serious conversation with my viewers and listeners and readers about how to structure their lives individually and the relationship between responsibility and meaning and it's a level of discourse or a level of analysis that people don't o

in a change to our scheduled programme, we are showing an edition of hardtalk from 2012, when stephen sackur interviewed senatorjohn mccain. can the republican party find a presidential candidate capable of turfing barack obama out of office? well, the battle for the republican nomination is proving to be protracted and brutal, but right now the main beneficiary appears to be the man already inside the white house. my guest today is senatorjohn mccain, who ran against obama and lost four years ago. is the struggle to find a convincing presidential nominee indicative of a republican party that has lost its way? senatorjohn mccain, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, i am happy to be here, and our relationship goes all the way back to the year 2000. you haven't aged a bit. (laughter). that is the first untruth you have told. let's get down to business and talk about the republican nomination process. to quote the esteemed political science professor, larry sabbato, the republican party is making its nomination progress "a big mess". do you agree? i do, to a significant degree. i think we have had

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. tiny proportion of muslim women in britain wear the burqa or niqab, forms of dress which keep the face partially or fully covered. nonetheless, those women find themselves at the heart of the sometimes bitter argument about religion, values and tolerance in western society. my guest today is a muslim scholar and imam taj hargey, who has long stirred controversy among fellow muslims by condemning the burqa and demanding a new form of islam, progressive, enlightened and gender—equal. will his ideas ever gain traction in the muslim community? taj hargey, welcome to hardtalk. pleasure to be here. let's start with some definitions. you spent much of you life in south africa, you have founded two mosques, one in cape town, south africa and one in oxford in the uk. you are a student of islam. but how would you describe yourself? i would say i'm an enlightened, progressive, liberal muslim that sticks to the koran and doesn't allow secondary sources that are suspect to determine my manifestati

just to let you know that you can watch the special edition of hardtalk with stephen sackur talking tojohn. hello, good morning. fewer showers and more sunshine on saturday but it still didn't feel very warm. this is how we ended the day at leigh on sea, shown by one of our weather watchers, but already those skies have changed. everything is coming in from the atlantic, you would expect it to be a bit warmer but that may not be the case. 0vernight, temperatures not quite as low, but it will feel quite chilly, i think, during sunday, because it is going to be dull and it is going to be a bit rainy as well. mainly starting dry for eastern scotland and eastern england, but we will see the rain pushing east. quite heavy at times, especially for wales and the south—west. improving and brightening up in northern ireland in the afternoon, breaks coming out of the irish sea later. quite a blustery day later in the day. the wettest weather in the south—east. 17 perhaps, but only 12 or 13 in scotland even though the rain might not amount to much. typically it all clears away as things start to get

now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur talks to associate chair of the democratic party, jaime harrisonto hardtalk. i'm steven sackur. for good or ill, donald trump dominates the american political landscape. he seems to relish conflict because it keeps him firmly and forever centre stage. so with vital congressional mid—term elections looming this autumn, how should democrats respond? well, my guest is jaime harrison, associate chair of the democratic national committee. not so long ago, his party was predicting a mid—term wave that would sweep away republican control of congress. but are the democrats underestimating the power of trumpian politics? jaime harrison in columbia, south carolina, welcome to hardtalk. thank you stephen. thank you for having me. just a few months back, one of the most senior democrats in the senate, charles chuck schumer, said this, he said "i smell a wave coming." and it did seem at that point that the democrats were absolutely convinced that they were going to sweep away the republicans in congress. are you just as confident of that today? i feel really go

stephen sackur speaks to iranian political analyst, professor mohammad marandi.

now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur speaks to the dutch mep, sophie in‘t veld.

i'm a stephen sackur.ever before in the history of humankind have we had so much information, so many facts at ourfingertips, and yet much of the stuff we think we know is wrong. what on earth is going on? my guest today is bobby duffy, social scientists, opinion pollster, and managing director of the ipsos mori social research institute. how can we, the people, make informed decisions if we're not properly informed 7 bobby duffy, welcome to hardtalk. great to be here. you and your company have spent many years surveying attitudes and opinions of people around the world, i think at least a0 countries, and your conclusion is mind—blowingly depressing. it seemed to have concluded that much of what we think we know is wrong. why is that? so the study is based on over 100,000 interviews we have done over the past ten years asking people about social realities. so everything from immigration rates to crime rates, how they are changing, pregnancy rates among teenagers, the proportion of the population that are m

now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur talks to associate chair of the democratic party, jaime harrison

now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur talks to associate chair of the democratic party,

now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur in conversation with canadian psychologist jordan b petersonwelcome to hardtalk. anger it is a powerful force in politics and there isa powerful force in politics and there is a lot of it about. donald trump, brexit and a host of populist movements have been fuelled by anger with the way things are. letters income from? how best to respond? well, one much discussed provocative perspective comes not from a politician, but the canadian medical psychologistjordan politician, but the canadian medical psychologist jordan peterson, politician, but the canadian medical psychologistjordan peterson, whose defence of traditional values has won him a worldwide following. is his diagnosis liberating or dangerous? jordan peterson, welcome to hardtalk. thanks for the invitation. at the beginning of this year, you wrote this book, 12 rules for life: an antidote to chaos, and in the six 01’ an antidote to chaos, and in the six or seven months since, around the world it has sold 30 much 2 million copies. predict extraordinary. you have struck some sort of a cou

i'm stephen sackur. the christian religion is divided on issues of sexuality, not least the degree of acceptance and inclusion offered to gay men and women of faith. amid the fierce theological arguments are stories of individuals torn between their faith and sexual orientation. like my guest today. vicky beeching, a popular christian singer—songwriter turned public advocate for lgbt rights, whose remarkable story has seen her described as one of the most influential christians of her generation. has she found peace after years of turmoil? vicky beeching, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. just a decade ago, singing and songwriting were the pillars of your life. you built your life around that singing career. do you still sing today? i don't. it's very interesting, as i'm sure we'll get onto in our conversation, when i took the big step to come out as gay, many things changed. i lost a lot of things, and my music career was one of them. and that was a choice, was it? you chose to consciously n