i'm stephen sackur. in pakistan, journalists who ask awkward questions of people in power need to watch their backs. in the last year, there have been a string of attacks on reporters. the perpetrators remain unknown and unpunished. the government insists pakistan is a bastion of media freedom. well, my guest is hamid mir, a high profile columnist and tv presenter, survivor of several past assassination attempts, currently facing accusations of sedition. is the pakistani state out to silence independentjournalism? hamid mir, in islamabad, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen sackur, for inviting me on your show. well, it's a pleasure to have you on this show. clearly, you can talk to me in london from pakistan, but it seems you cannot speak to your own tv audience inside your own country. your show is currently banned, and indeed, your newspaper column seems to have been suspended too. why is that? yes, i am banned on my tv channel and i cannot write my regular column in my newspaper. this is not the

now on bbc news it's hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.he athletic excellence we saw at the tokyo olympics will live long in the memory, but so will the moment the brilliant us gymnast simone biles chose not to compete, to safeguard her mental and physical health. us gymnastics, still reeling from the repercussions of a sex abuse scandal, illustrates what can go wrong when gold medals and glory are put above care of individual athletes. my guest is former us olympic champion gymnast aly raisman. is there a wider lesson for elite sport in the shame of american gymnastics? aly raisman in massachusetts, welcome to hardtalk. hi, how are you? i am very well. it's a pleasure to have you on this show. let me begin by asking you what it was like for you as one of us gymnastics�* most decorated olympians, the captain of the gymnastic team in rio 2016, what was it like for you watching your team compete from afar in tokyo just a couple of weeks back? i think there was a lot of different emotions. i just want to first start off and say how proud i am

now on bbc news it's hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i am stephen sackur. those of us lucky enough to live in countries where 70% of the us population have been double vaccinated, we may think we can relax our guard but the pandemic isn't over and the global vaccine rollout still faces enormous challenges. my guest is professor sir andrew pollard, a key figure in the development of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. science has offered us tools to beat the virus. are we making the most of them? professor sir andrew pollard, welcome to hardtalk. hi andrew pollard, welcome to hardtalk-— andrew pollard, welcome to hardtalk.- it - andrew pollard, welcome to hardtalk.- it is - hardtalk. hi there. it is - re hardtalk. hi there. it is pretty much _ hardtalk. hi there. it is pretty much seven - hardtalk. hi there. it is l pretty much seven months hardtalk. hi there. it is - pretty much seven months since that historic day when the uk began to roll out of the vaccine you were intimately involved in developing, the oxford astrazeneca vaccine stopping in those seven mont

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.lliant us gymnast simone biles chose not to compete, to safeguard her mental and physical health. us gymnastics, still reeling from the repercussions of a sex abuse scandal, illustrates what can go

i'm stephen sackur. months of conflict in northern ethiopia have cost thousands of lives and brought hunger and fear to millions. late last year, prime minister abiy ahmed's government seemed confident of crushing tigrayan rebel forces. that confidence was misplaced. the war has spread. both the addis government and the rebels stand accused of horrifying war crimes. my guest is ethiopia's attorney general, gedion timothewos. is his government leading the country to disaster? gedion timothewos in addis ababa, welcome to hardtalk. thanks for having me. it's a pleasure to have you, mr attorney general. now, when we last spoke to each other nearly nine months ago, you seemed very confident that your government was about to crush the forces of the tigray people's liberation front. are you now prepared to say that your government's strategy has gone disastrously wrong? mr sackur, as i have stated back then, we are in a position to retake mekelle and we are able to finalise the initial phase of the operation wi

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with stephen sackur.

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.iban leaders in kabul are engaged in careful message management — amnesty for all, no safe haven for foreign fighters, and respect for the rights of women and girls, they say. but then the rider — under their islamic law. now, it's too early to know what taliban governance 2.0 will look like, but it is clear many afghans are fearful. my guest is kamila sidiqi, a trail—blazing women's activist, entrepreneur, and former government official in kabul. is her cause lost? and where does the blame lie? kamila sidiqi in germany, welcome to hardtalk. hello, thank you so much. you're welcome. it is a great pleasure to have you on the programme. now, if we'd been talking to you a week ago, we would have been talking to you in kabul. now you're in safe haven in bonn, germany. tell me exactly what prompted you to flee kabul, and how did you do it? i was in kabul and my trip to london was on 20, my ticket was on 20 next week. suddenly, this... i heard a lot of the news that most of the people left k

welcome to hardtalk i'm stephen sackur. canada's treatment of its indigenous people over hundreds of years is a dark and spreading stain on the country's reputation. in the last few months, the unmarked graves of hundreds of indigenous children have been discovered in the grounds of residential schools, which became notorious for racism, neglect and abuse. my guest is roseanne archibald, newly elected chief of canada's assembly of first nations. canada's leaders have promised truth and reconciliation for years. when will they mean it? roseanne archibald in the taykwa tagamou nation territory in canada, welcome to hardtalk. hi, stephen. how are you? i am well. i am also shocked, to be honest. over recent weeks and months, i've been shocked to learn about the scale of discovery of unmarked graves of children around a number of residential schools on canadian territory. the numbers go from the hundreds, even beyond 1,000 of new unmarked graves. are you as shocked as people outside your community and outside canada? the number

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the taliban now have the afghanistan they fought forfor two decades, a country rid of american and nato troops, theirs to bend to their will. or maybe it's not as simple as that. can the taliban afford to forego international aid and economic assistance? do they need to build alliances both inside and outside the country? well, my guest is omar zakhilwal, former afghan finance minister and recent interlocutor with the taliban. does the future belong to the pragmatists or the zealots in afghanistan? omar zakhilwal in kabul, welcome to hardtalk. pleasure. you made a remarkable decision just a couple of weeks ago as thousands and thousands of afghans were trying to flee the country as the taliban fighters swept into kabul. you decided to head back from safety in the united states. why did you do that? well, my country faced a sudden, unexpected, deep uncertainty. there were fears, as we saw at kabul airport, people even hanging to the planes to just escape. and ijust couldn't bear to see

i'm stephen sackur.hose of us lucky enough to live in countries where 70%+ of the adult population have been double vaccinated against covid might be tempted to think we can relax our guard. but the pandemic isn't over and the global vaccine roll—out still faces enormous challenges. my guest is professor sir andrew pollard, a key figure in the development of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. science has offered us tools to beat the virus. are we making the most of them? professor sir andrew pollard, welcome to hardtalk. hello, there. it is pretty much seven months since that historic day when the uk began the roll—out of the vaccine you were intimately involved with developing. that is the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. in those seven months, has the impact of that vaccine been what you expected? well, there has over that seven months been the most enormous impact. i mean, there's now a billion doses of the oxford vaccine which are out the door. and those vaccines are already having that impact. there's almos

i'm stephen sackur.ere have been a string of attacks on reporters. the perpetrators remain unknown and unpunished. the government insists pakistan is a bastion of media freedom. well, my guest is hamid mir, a high profile columnist and tv

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.he humanitarian crisis in northern ethiopia is worsening as conflict continues on multiple fronts. tigrayan rebel forces have won a string of victories over the ethiopian military. ethiopia's prime minister now says all of the state's military resources will be deployed to halt the rebels. my guest is getachew reda, spokesman for the tigray people's liberation front. with the death toll rising and man—made famine taking hold, what is the endgame for tigray�*s rebels? getachew reda in mekelle, tigray, welcome to hardtalk. my pleasure. let me ask you this — we see the terrible suffering that millions of people are experiencing in your region as a result of, what, 8—9 months of conflict? why is it that your side, the tigray people's liberation front, appears intent on intensifying the fighting rather than ending it? well, it's exactly the same reason why we took up arms and tried to liberate our people from the suffering you've alluded to. in fact, we do not consider ourselves rebels. we

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. in the end, it wasn't about fire power or troop numbers. in afghanistan, the taliban had a vital asset, which the us and her allies lacked — strategic patience. two decades after they were expelled from kabul, the islamists are back in power. us and british troops are scrambling to complete a humiliating evacuation. my guest is british conservative mp and former soldier tobias ellwood. this looks like an historic defeat for western power. how damaging could the consequences be? tobias ellwood, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. i am sure that you, like the rest of us, have been watching the scenes of chaos, of fear in kabul over the last few hours and days — fear particularly seen at kabul airport. when you watch those scenes, what are your feelings? well, personally, i had a journey of discovery with afghanistan. back in 2002, my brother was killed in the bali bombing — and i really couldn't understand what happened, that why somebody like my brother, who was a teacher out there, was targeted and killed, and i then tried to unde

i'm stephen sackur. taliban leaders in kabul are engaged in careful message management.e rider, and there are islamic it is too early to know what taliban governance will look like but it is clear many afghans are fearful. my guest is a trailblazing women's activist, entrepreneur and former government official in kabul. it's her cause lost and where does the blame lie? welcome. hello. thank you so much. it is a great — welcome. hello. thank you so much. it is a great pleasure _ welcome. hello. thank you so much. it is a great pleasure to _ welcome. hello. thank you so much. it is a great pleasure to have - welcome. hello. thank you so much. it is a great pleasure to have you - it is a great pleasure to have you on the programme. we have been talking to you a week ago, we would be talking to you in kabul. now you are in germany. tell me what prompted you to fully kabul and how did you do it? i prompted you to fully kabul and how did you do it?— did you do it? i was in kabul. my tri to did you do it? i was in kabul. my trip to london — did you do it? i was in kabul. my tri

welcome to hardtalk with me, stephen sackur. today, i'm in the rural east of england in the studio of one of the country's leading painters and sculptors, maggi hambling. her work has defied convention. she has won international acclaim and stirred plenty of controversy, too. so how has her creativity evolved over six decades? maggi hambling, welcome to hardtalk. hello. let me ask you about this location. many people around the world will associate you with soho, central london, a bohemian art scene in the city. but in recent years, you've been doing your work in the middle of the suffolk countryside. has it changed the way you work and what you do? not at all. not at all? not at all. even though the atmosphere around you is so very different? not at all. i still get up at five in the summer and six in the winter and come into the studio and make a drawing and get going. if i stayed in bed, i'd just worry about everything, so it's far better to be up and at it. and yet, i suppose what's missing here is the community and the peop

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. racism is the wound which has festered throughout us history. from slavery to civil rights, battles have been fought and won, but still this struggle for justice and equality continues. my guest today is daryl davis, a black man who over four decades has tried to talk to america's most die—hard racists in the ku klux klan. he claims to have forged friendships with white supremacists and opened their minds. but is reaching out to the kkk a distraction from the bigger task of dismantling systemic racism? daryl davis in maryland in the us, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen. i appreciate it very much. it's a pleasure to have you on the show. yours is a remarkable story. you've spent most of your life seeking dialogue with america's most extreme racists and white supremacists. is that something you are still working on, still seeking that dialogue? absolutely, every day. and how is it going right now? well, it's going fine, you know, given the pandemic. a lot of stuff is being done,

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.r all, no safe haven forforeign fighters, and respect for the rights of women and girls, they say. but then the rider — under their islamic law. now, it's too early to know what taliban governance 2.0 will look like, but it is clear many afghans are fearful. my guest is kamila sidiqi, a trail—blazing women's activist, entrepreneur, and former government official in kabul. is her cause lost? and where does the blame lie?

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.s to bend to their will. or maybe it's not as simple as that. can the taliban afford to forego international aid and economic assistance? do they need to build alliances both inside and outside the country?

i am stephen sackur.s and feels like a strategic defeat. but what does it tell us about the geopolitical balance of power.

i'm stephen sackur. the african elephant is an endangered species.n the case of the forest elephant, critically endangered. that is the result of decades of poaching but it reflects a wider problem too. in the battle for space and resources, wildlife is in a losing fight with humanity in many parts of africa. my guest today is paula kahumbu, kenyan conservationist, campaigner and broadcaster. she's trying to make conservation africa's common cause. so how is she doing? paula kahumbu in nairobi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. i appreciate being invited to speak here. it is a pleasure to have you on the show. you, of course, for decades, have been a conservationist and a wildlife advocate. after all of those years, do you think you are winning? i think we are winning on some fronts. for sure, there is some progress, but i would say that overall, we are in big trouble and sadly, most people don't appreciate just how serious it is. do kenyans want to hear your message, do you think? i mean, you are a very successful broadcaster and your wildli

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.illions. late last year, president abiy ahmed's government seemed confident of crushing tigrayan forces. that confidence was misplaced — the war has spread. both the addis government and the rebels stand accused of horrifying war crimes. my guest is ethiopia's attorney—general, gedion timothewos. is his government leading the country to disaster? gedion timothewos in addis ababa, welcome to hardtalk. thanks for having me. it is a pleasure to have you, mr attorney—general. when we last spoke to each other, nearly nine months ago, you seemed very confident that your government was about to crush the forces of the tigray people's liberation front. are you now prepared to say that your government strategy has gone disastrously wrong? mr sackur, as i started back then we are in a position to retake mekele, and we're able to finalise the initial phase of the operation within a matter of three weeks. we took over mekele, we established an interim administration, we invested in rehabilitating

i am stephen sackur. a harsh spotlight on two decades of us and nato military commitment in afghanistan. it looks and feels like a strategic defeat. but what does it tell us about the geopolitical balance of power. at kabul airport has put a harsh spotlight on two decades of us and nato military commitment in afghanistan. it looks and feels like a strategic defeat, but what does it tell us about the wider geopolitical balance of power? well, my guest is russia's ambassador to the uk, andrei kelin. is this reverse for the us and her allies a positive for russia? and is moscow seeking to exploit other perceived vulnerabilities in the west? ambassador andrew kelin, welcome to hardtalk. your government appears to view the overthrow of a democratically elected government in afghanistan by a theocratic islamist militant group as an overall positive. why? oh, i wouldn't say so, and i never heard such an estimation. you wouldn't say so? that we are glad that it's happened? no, of course not. it is definitely a fa

i am stephen sackur. and in the case of the forest elephant. critically endangered.

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.ave been fought and won, but still this struggle for justice

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.en forforeign fighters, and respect for the rights of women and girls, they say. but then the rider — under their islamic law. now, it's too early to know what taliban governance 2.0 will look like, but it is clear many afghans are fearful.

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. in the end, it wasn't about fire power or troop numbers. us and british troops are scrambling to complete a humiliating evacuation. my guest is british conservative mp and former soldier tobias ellwood. this looks like an historic defeat for western power. how damaging could the consequences be?