Podcast appearances and mentions of Stephen Sackur

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Stephen Sackur

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Best podcasts about Stephen Sackur

Latest podcast episodes about Stephen Sackur

UnHerd with Freddie Sayers
Stephen Sackur: How the BBC killed HARDtalk

UnHerd with Freddie Sayers

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2025 31:21


Join UnHerd's Freddie Sayers as he sits down with Stephen Sackur, the iconic host of BBC's HARDtalk, to discuss the shocking closure of the long-running show after nearly three decades.Sackur shares his personal story, reveals how the decision unfolded, and reflects on the highs and lows of his time grilling the world's most powerful figures. From unforgettable moments to the toughest interviews, he opens up about the best and worst of HARDtalk. Plus, Sackur weighs in on the future of journalism and the BBC in a rapidly changing media landscape. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HARDtalk
Reid Hoffman: Should we trust the tech elite?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2025 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to Reid Hoffman, the tech billionaire who co-founded LinkedIn and is a prophet of positivity about Artificial Intelligence.

HARDtalk
Christine Lagarde: Can Europe's economy withstand Trump 2.0?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur is in Frankfurt for an exclusive interview with Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank. Donald Trump has triggered what could become a global trade war and has prompted European governments to make massive new defence spending commitments. Is the European economy capable of withstanding Trump 2.0?

HARDtalk
Dominique de Villepin: Can Europe become a superpower in its own right?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur is in Paris to talk to former Prime Minister of France Dominique de Villepin. With Donald Trump in the White House, the alliance between the US and Europe's democracies looks fragile. Is Europe capable of becoming a superpower in its own right?

HARDtalk
Roger Carstens: Do hostage deals risk making problems worse?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 7, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to Roger Carstens, former US Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. Did the deals he strike from Russia to Iran risk making the problem worse?(Photo: Roger Carstens, former US Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs appears via video on Hardtalk)

HARDtalk
Volker Türk: Are we sleepwalking into a dystopian future?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. As conflicts destroy millions of lives around the world, are we sleepwalking into a dystopian future?(Photo: Volker Türk, UN Commissioner for Human Rights appears via video on Hardtalk)

HARDtalk
Badiucao: Art, power and China

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to the dissident artist Badiucao, whose cartoons and drawings challenge President Xi Jinping and the Chinese state. He lives in exile in Australia, but does that mean he's beyond Beijing's reach?

HARDtalk
Lord Sumption: Is liberal democracy in big trouble?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to the former senior judge, barrister and writer Lord Sumption whose latest book assesses the health of democracy and the rule of law

HARDtalk
Victoria Spartz: Has Donald Trump switched sides on Ukraine?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2025 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to US Congresswoman Victoria Spartz. Born and raised in Ukraine and now a Donald Trump loyalist, what does she make of the US president's strategy of pushing for peace in Ukraine by labelling Ukraine's President Zelensky a dictator and appearing to hand Vladimir Putin a series of diplomatic gifts?

HARDtalk
N. Ram: Freedom of expression in India

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2025 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to one of India's most influential media voices, N. Ram, Director of The Hindu Publishing Group. With independent journalists complaining of intimidation and social media facing new curbs, is freedom of expression under threat in the world's biggest democracy?

HARDtalk
Laila Soueif and Sanaa Seif: Hunger for freedom

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to Laila Soueif - mother of Alaa Abdel Fattah, a political prisoner in Egypt - and Alaa's sister Sanaa Seif.

HARDtalk
Jake Sullivan: The legacy of the Biden White House

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2025 22:58


Stephen Sackur is in Washington D.C. for an exclusive interview with Jake Sullivan, who was National Security Adviser in the Biden White House. From Afghanistan to Ukraine to Gaza, he faced a series of rolling crises. Did the failings of the Biden administration prepare the ground for Trump 2.0?

HARDtalk
Omar Abdullah: Can he bring peace to Jammu and Kashmir?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. This mountainous territory neighbouring Pakistan has long been a source of political tension and violence. Can the chief minister work with Delhi to find a pathway to peace and stability?

HARDtalk
Dhananjaya Chandrachud: Justice and the rule of law

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2025 22:58


Stephen Sackur is in New Delhi for an exclusive interview with the recently retired Chief Justice of India and Supreme Court judge, Dhananjaya Chandrachud. With Indian politics dominated by Narendra Modi and the Hindu nationalist BJP, have the courts successfully protected the country's secular constitution?

HARDtalk
Hardeep Singh Puri: India's big ambitions

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur is in New Delhi to speak India's Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri. India has big ambitions to be a global economic superpower. What does that mean for the country's geopolitical alliances and commitment to decarbonisation?(Photo: Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas)

HARDtalk
Mouaz Moustafa: Will Syrians get justice?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2025 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to Mouaz Moustafa, founder of the US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force. He campaigned to bring the Assad regime to justice for its crimes. Now power is in new hands, will Syrians get justice for the dark past and freedom for a better future?

HARDtalk
Ehud Olmert: This war must end now

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He is a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and says only territorial compromise can save Israel from a grim future. But is his simply a voice in the political wilderness?

HARDtalk
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Is Putin vulnerable?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 15, 2025 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to Vladimir Kara-Murza, the anti-Putin activist who was twice poisoned, then imprisoned in Russia. He was freed in a prisoner swap last summer, and is now lobbying the West to intensify the pressure on the Kremlin. But is there any reason to believe Putin is vulnerable?

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

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2025 22:58


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?

The Documentary Podcast
Bonus: HARDTalk - 2024 Review

The Documentary Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 25, 2024 23:31


A special episode from the HARDTalk podcast. HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur looks back on some of the most powerful moments from 2024 in his end of year review.For more in-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities, go to bbcworldservice.com/HARDTalk or search for HARDTalk wherever you got this podcast.

HARDtalk
HARDtalk - 2024 Review

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2024 22:59


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

HARDtalk
Dmytro Kuleba: What are Ukraine's options?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2024 22:58


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?

HARDtalk
Marty Baron - is the mainstream media in terminal decline?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2024 22:57


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?

HARDtalk
Terumi Tanaka: Is nuclear war unthinkable?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2024 22:57


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?

HARDtalk
Mark Alford: Is America ready for Trump 2.0?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2024 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to Republican congressman and Trump loyalist Mark Alford. The president-elect has already made clear his intent to blow up the Washington status quo, from swingeing tariffs to the mass deportation of migrants. Is America ready for Trump 2.0?

HARDtalk
Arab Barghouthi: Will his father shape Palestinians' future?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2024 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to Arab Barghouthi. His father, Marwan, is serving life for murder in an Israeli jail, but is widely seen by Palestinians as a potential leader who could unify his people. Does his son believe he will ever be free?

HARDtalk
Peter Boehringer: Is Germany's far right in a powerful position?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2024 22:58


Germany, Europe's most powerful economy, will hold elections in February after the collapse of Chancellor Scholz's ruling coalition. Stephen Sackur speaks to Peter Boehringer, who is a senior MP for the far-right Alternative for Deutschland party. Is his party too extreme to be a serious contender for national power?

HARDtalk
Barbara Taylor Bradford: A woman of substance

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2024 22:58


Following the death of Barbara Taylor Bradford at the age of 91, another chance to listen to Stephen Sackur's 2009 interview with the best-selling novelist. A talent for storytelling made her one of the richest women in Britain; her first novel, A Woman of Substance, has sold more than thirty million copies around the world. Adored by her fans and ignored by the critics, Bradford's books featured strong women overcoming life's slings and arrows.Image: Barbara Taylor Bradford (Credit: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises via PA)

HARDtalk
Liz Carr: The UK's assisted dying debate

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2024 22:58


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?

HARDtalk
Aleksandar Vučić: Is Serbia looking to the West or Russia and China?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2024 22:58


Stephen Sackur is in Belgrade for an exclusive interview with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić. The Balkan country is at a crossroads. Does it prioritise turning westwards, doing all it can to gain EU entry, or face east, deepening an already close friendship with Russia and expanding economic ties with China?

HARDtalk
Masoumeh Ebtekar: Is Iranian leadership in danger of losing its grip?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2024 23:01


Stephen Sackur speaks to Iran's former Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar. Despite state repression, many Iranian women are still confronting restrictive laws which they label ‘gender apartheid'. Amid social and economic unrest, is today's Iranian leadership in danger of losing its grip?

HARDtalk
Paddy Hill: Rebuilding after a miscarriage of justice

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2024 22:58


This month marks 50 years since 21 people were killed by the IRA in the Birmingham pub bombings. Six men, ‘The Birmingham Six', were imprisoned for 16 years for murderous bomb attacks which they did not commit. In 2011, Stephen Sackur spoke to one of those men, Paddy Hill. He had been a free man for 20 years, but had he managed to rebuild his life?

HARDtalk
Sir Steve McQueen: The power of film

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2024 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to Steve McQueen, the Oscar-winning director of films including 12 Years a Slave and Widows. Much of his work has portrayed racial injustice, and his latest film, Blitz, tells the story of a black boy caught up in war-torn London in 1940. His images are often difficult to bear - how important is it not to look away?Image: Steve McQueen (Credit: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Feedback
BBC news service cuts. Johnny Marr's Great British Groups. In Our Time

Feedback

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2024 28:22


Andrea Catherwood sits down with Director of BBC News Programmes John McAndrew to get answers on listeners' comments following the announcement of cuts - including the axing of long running World Service programme Hard Talk, with Stephen Sackur, the closure of the Asian Network's news team, a reshuffle for overnight bulletins on Radio 2 and 5Live and cutting R4's News Briefing at 0530. Two music obsessives drop into our VoxBox to give their views on Johnny Marr's Great British Groups, a recent series on Radio 2. But did the legendary guitarist manage to settle the debate on the UK's best band once and for all?And following a week of US election news, listeners got in touch about something that might seem unlikely - the discussion of the life and works of 17th century poet George Herbert on In Our Time. A reading of "the most beautiful poem in the world" in which Love welcomes us like a pub landlord, some singing, and the expertise of three Herbert-ologists made for, in some listeners' views, an uplifting audio experience. Presenter: Andrea Catherwood Producer: Pauline Moore Executive Producer: David PrestA Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

HARDtalk
Farah Nabulsi: Challenging imbalance in value of human life

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2024 22:56


Stephen Sackur speaks to British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi. Her latest film, The Teacher, is set in the West Bank and invites audiences to see and feel the Palestinian experience in intimate, human and emotional detail; but is that possible in the post-October 7th climate of war?

HARDtalk
Edmund Bartlett: Does Jamaica have a security problem?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2024 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to Jamaica's minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett. While the island nation projects itself to the world as a Caribbean success story, its reputation is being tarnished by violent crime, drugs and gang warfare. What will it take to make Jamaica more secure?

HARDtalk
Andrei Kelin: Is Vladimir Putin reshaping geopolitics?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2024 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to Russia's ambassador in London, Andrei Kelin. Thanks to the war in Ukraine and allegations of Russian hybrid warfare in Europe and beyond, diplomatic relations between Moscow and the West are poisonous. Is Vladimir Putin right to think he's reshaping geopolitics?

HARDtalk
Diane Foley: Bringing detained Americans home

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2024 22:57


Stephen Sackur talks to Diane Foley, whose son James was kidnapped by the Islamic State group and murdered in 2014. She's spent a decade coming to terms with that and campaigning to get other detained Americans home.

HARDtalk
Chris Murphy: Is Kamala Harris a candidate for change?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2024 22:58


Stephen Sackur is in Washington DC to speak to Democratic Party Senator Chris Murphy. In the final days of an eye-wateringly close presidential election campaign, how can Vice President Kamala Harris convince Americans that she and the Democrats stand for change rather than business as usual?

HARDtalk
John Bolton: Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2024 22:58


Stephen Sackur is in Washington DC to speak to Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor John Bolton. With the election looming, Bolton calls his former boss a danger to America. But he won't back Kamala Harris either. Is America too divided to offer global leadership?

HARDtalk
Frank Skinner: What unites his many sides?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2024 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to stand-up comedian, and broadcaster Frank Skinner, who also happens to be a writer on poetry, religion and much more. Football and sex were, and are, the staples of much of his humour, but he's never been a one-trick pony. What unites his many facets?

Countdown with Keith Olbermann
TRUMP TRYING TO FORCE KAMALA OUT? HOW BAD ARE HIS POLLS? - 10.18.24

Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2024 40:39 Transcription Available


SERIES 3 EPISODE 52: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I suppose it is possible that Trump's brain has liquified, and he's cancelled half his events and all his interviews, and that he is now frantically demanding somebody FORCE Kamala Harris off the ballot and Joe Biden back ONTO it because he's just been shown internal polling indicating he's going to WIN two weeks from Tuesday. Or nah. He's just been shown internal polling indicating he's going to LOSE. Why else would he demand that she "be investigated and forced off the campaign, and Joe Biden be allowed to take back his rightful place" because 60 Minutes screwed up the editing the editing of its Harris interview?  Trump is crazy and getting crazier, but this reeks of somebody showing him internal polling indicating he's going to LOSE two weeks from Tuesday which means that he might avoid ONE of the criminal cases that would send him off to die in prison but he ain't going to avoid BOTH of them and as the expert on cults and cult leaders Matthew Remski wrote the other day, Trump has become one of those quote “cultic leaders who – exhausted, ill – and at the end of their cognitive rope” reduced to a “shrinking repertoire of melted talking points.”  Especially given that a network idiotically edits a clip with a presidential candidate means the. Presidential candidate has to drop out? So Harris has to drop out, and of course since Fox edited out the part where Trump talks about the enemy within, Trump also has to drop out so two Tuesdays from now it's the presidential election between Tim Walz and Jayvee Vance? MEANWHILE, IF SHE WINS it will have been sealed by the 24-hour span in which she looked authoritative and righteously indignant while on Fox News, followed by the moment some pro-Trump hecklers crashed her rally in Wisconsin and her response was... well, put it this way: There were no heckler survivors.  B-Block (19:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: BBC News cancels one of the most informative news programs in the world: "HardTalk" dead after three decades. Dead inside: Christina Bobb predicts a surge of celebrities endorsing Trump after the election because...they're all pedophiles? So she's not just One America One Reich television crazy but QAnon crazy? And Chris Licht is tanned, rested, and ready, to help rebuild the fractured media landscape he personally helped fracture. C-Block (28:21) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: He never wrote a novel, he did write a history of The New Yorker, he did write epic short stories like “The Greatest Man In The World” and at least three that became movies. But then there are his miniatures – his polished gems. His fables. There is more cynicism, more criticism, more liberalism, per square inch, in these – than in any other examples of his writing. So this week three of the Fables of James Thurber: "The Unicorn In The Garden," "The Moth And The Star," "The Rabbits Who Caused All The Trouble."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

HARDtalk
Seyed Hossein Mousavian: How vulnerable is Iran?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2024 22:59


Stephen Sackur speaks to former Iranian nuclear negotiator Seyed Hossein Mousavian. Now in exile in the US, he is an advocate for dialogue between Iran and the West. With Israel poised to strike, having already delivered severe blows to Tehran, how vulnerable is Iran?

HARDtalk
Ali Abbasi: Is censorship a growing cross-cultural problem?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2024 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to the Iranian-Danish film director Ali Abbasi. His new movie The Apprentice, about Donald Trump's early years in business, has enraged team Trump. He's also made powerful enemies inside Iran. Is censorship a growing cross-cultural problem?

HARDtalk
Marietje Schaake: Is Silicon Valley too powerful?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2024 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to the former MEP Marietje Schaake, who is now a cyber expert at Stanford University. Her book, The Tech Coup, suggests the world's failure to properly regulate digital technology threatens individual rights and democratic freedom worldwide. Is it too late to change course?

HARDtalk
Danny Danon: Can Force Alone Deliver Israel The Security It Craves?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2024 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to Israel's Ambassador at the UN Danny Danon. Israel is now fighting a multi-front war, intent on delivering its enemies in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran a series of crushing blows. But can force alone deliver Israel the security it craves?

HARDtalk
Tamir Pardo: Does Israel's greatest threat come from within?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2024 22:57


Stephen Sackur speaks to Tamir Pardo, former director of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. He was appointed by Benjamin Netanyahu but now he's a fierce critic of the Israeli Prime Minister. When he says the greatest threat to Israel's future comes from within, what does he mean?

HARDtalk
María Corina Machado: Defending democracy in Venezuela

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2024 22:55


Stephen Sackur speaks to the de-facto leader of the Venezuelan opposition, María Corina Machado. Two months after an election which she says delivered a humiliating defeat to the country's authoritarian leader President Nicolás Maduro, he's clinging on to power and his regime is clamping down on dissent. Have hopes for change again been thwarted in Venezuela?

HARDtalk
Amin Salam: Can all-out war be averted in Lebanon?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2024 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to Lebanon's economy minister, Amin Salam. His country is being bombed and the casualties are mounting as Israel attempts to destroy the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants entrenched in Lebanon. Is there an off ramp from the road to all-out war?

HARDtalk
Ingrid Newkirk: Will humans ever go animal-free?

HARDtalk

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2024 22:58


Stephen Sackur speaks to Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). For five decades she has led the campaign to end human exploitation and abuse of animals. From food to fashion, to testing in laboratories, are we humans really capable of going animal-free?