Hardtalk

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde says the challenge right now is to move from a fragmented, 3 speed world economy to a full speed economy. It's a neat slogan, but how is it be done?

Mathieu Kassovitz has been a darling of French cinema for 30 years. Now he says, "I'm out of this country" - and it's nothing to do with taxes. Is he frustrated with an industry that was indifferent to his latest movie? Or with the politicians who furnish some of his least-appealing characters? His newest offering, a tale of post-colonial bloodshed on a Pacific island inspired by real events, which he thinks should shame France, attracted an audience there of just 150,000 people. Has the actor-director tired of France, or have the French tired of him? Presented by Shaun Ley.(Image: Mathieu Kassovitz, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Angela Merkel is a politician caught between a rock and a hard place. In Germany, a new party accuses her of doing too much to keep alive the hated Euro currency. Other eurozone members say her government is not doing enough, fearful of those domestic critics ahead of this autumn's federal election. Hardtalk speaks to Germany’s deputy finance minister Steffen Kampeter. Just how big a price is Germany prepared to pay to save the euro-project, and its own reputation?(Image: Steffen Kampeter, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur meets one of Britain's most successful actors, Jeremy Irons. The Oscar winning performer is best known for his portrayal of troubled, brooding upper class men. He has just finished making a documentary about the potentially devastating impact of the mountains of toxic waste polluting our planet. He is an actor with very strong opinions. Could that get him into trouble?(Image: Jeremy Irons, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Rarely does the death of a long-retired politician prompt a genuinely worldwide reaction, but Margaret Thatcher was one of a kind. Britain's first female prime minister transformed her own country, and provided the world with a model of market economics and conviction politics, which was inspirational to some, repellent to others. Hardtalk speaks to a man who played a key role in the creation of Thatcherism. Maurice, now Lord Saatchi, was the advertising guru who helped define, and sell, what she stood for. How enduring is the Thatcher legacy? Presented by Stephen Sackur.(Image: Lord Maurice Saatchi, Credit: Getty Images)

In the midst of war or natural disaster humanitarian aid can make the difference between life and death. But according to influential critics it can also exacerbate conflict, offer succour to tyrants and foster dangerous dependency. Stephen Sackur talks to Sir John Holmes who was the UN's Emergency Relief Co-ordinator during crises in Sudan, Sri Lanka and Haiti. Today the emergency response is focused on Syria, but the question remains the same; does humanitarian aid work for those who need it most?(Image: John Holmes listens to Manila residents displaced by devastating floods in 2009, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

For more than a decade Kosovo has been struggling to emerge from a political and diplomatic twilight zone. It is a fledgling state lacking universal recognition. At the heart of Kosovo's problem is a still bitter and dysfunctional relationship with Serbia - until their feud ends neither will be welcomed into the European family of nations. Stephen Sackur talks to Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister Mimoza Kusari-Lila. Are Kosovans ready to reach out to Belgrade?(Image: Mimoza Kusari-Lila, Credit: Getty Images)

For years, the UK's relationship with Zimbabwe has been characterised by deep mutual suspicion. But things are beginning to change - the Zimbabwean people have just approved a constitution and the EU has eased its sanctions regime. Stephen Sackur talks to Zimbabwe's justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, a close political ally of Robert Mugabe. His very presence in London is a sign of the new dynamic in Zimbabwe. But are the country's troubles really over?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Daniel Dennett, a philosopher who applies Darwinian evolutionary theory not just to species, but to ideas and religious beliefs. Dennett believes religion has outlived its usefulness, hampers rational thought and damages our species. Along with Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, Dennett is seen as a founding father of the new atheism. But do humans want to live in a world where atheism rules and religion is dead?(Image: Daniel Dennett, Credit: Steven J Eliopoulos, www.GravityBoston.com)

What could and should the outside world be doing as Syria sinks ever deeper into civil war? Has inertia and division within the international community condemned Syria to a slow and agonising collapse? Hardtalk speaks to Norwegian general Robert Mood, who led the ill-fated UN supervision mission in Syria last year. What went wrong then, and do the Syrian people deserve better from the world's major powers now?(Image: Major General Robert Mood in a crowd in Syria, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Ivory Coast was once one of west Africa's economic powerhouses. Today, the world's biggest cocoa producer is trying to recover from the conflict that tore the country apart. Following elections in late 2010 the incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to admit defeat to his opponent, Alassane Ouattara. After a period of violence in which thousands of Ivorians were killed, Gbagbo is now awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. As president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara has the task of uniting a divided country. His critics accuse him of presiding over a victor's justice and letting off supporters of his who are suspected of crimes. Are they right?(Image: Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara. Credit: REUTERS/Luc Gnago)

Are you an optimist or a pessimist when it comes to the future of human civilisation? Your response may be determined by where you live. In the West, beset by economic stagnation, many see reasons to be fearful. In Asia and Africa prosperity and confidence are on the rise. Stephen Sackur speaks to Kishore Mahbubani, former diplomat turned provocative thinker on globalisation. He sees a world increasingly united by economics, ideas and aspirations. But is that more than just wishful thinking?(Image: Kishore Mahbubani. Credit: Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur speaks to Welsh rugby legend, Gareth Thomas. He confronted one of the last great taboos in professional sport by publically revealing his homosexuality, while still playing at the top level. His honesty won him admiration within and far beyond the world of rugby, but has he changed anything for other gay sportsmen? And what other awkward truths lie behind the public mask donned by sport's elite performers?(Image: Gareth Thomas. Credit: Phil Cole/Getty Images)

At the end of 2013, Romanians will be able to live and work in any EU country they want to. All work restrictions, imposed by some countries when Romania and Bulgaria joined the union six years ago, will be lifted. There were worries then that workers from those two impoverished European states would flock to richer nations, and such concerns have not gone away. Zeinab Badawi speaks to Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta. He's on a mission to restore his country's image. Can he succeed?(Image: Prime Minister of Romania Victor Ponta. Credit: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Stephen Sackur asks veteran Conservative cabinet minister Ken Clarke if prime minster David Cameron is in danger of losing grip of his party. No one ever said it would be easy for the British prime minister - his government is an uneasy coalition, and his economic inheritance was disfigured by debt. But right now his biggest problems are coming from within. The Conservative Party is fractious; his authority has been challenged on everything from economic policy, to Europe, to his vision of progressive conservatism.(Image: Ken Clarke. Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Two decades ago the world's killing fields were in the Balkans and Rwanda but right now, they're in Syria. Can we be any more confident today, than we were back then, that the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity will be brought to justice? Stephen Sackur speaks to Theodor Meron, currently serving a second term as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. When it comes to delivering justice, is the international legal framework now in place fit for purpose?

Stephen Sackur visits the grand presidential palace in Tunis to speak to the Tunisian president and former human rights campaigner Moncef Marzouki. During his presidency, Tunisia's status as the success story of the Arab uprising has been threatened by growing internal tensions. What has happened to Tunisia's revolution?(Image: Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki. Credit: FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain and India are two countries united by 200 years of shared history but now with an ever growing distance in ties. India is a rising global economic powerhouse: Britain a former imperial power in search of a global boost to its ailing economy. When the British prime-minister David Cameron visited India in February, he took a 100 strong trade delegation with him. Amongst them was the Indian born British entrepreneur, Karan Bilimoria, who was founding chairman of the UK-India Business Council. Is Britain becoming more irrelevant to India today?

Europe's prolonged economic crisis has prompted a populist backlash against the powers that be. In Finland, the EU's prosperous northern outpost, the big beneficiary has been Timo Soini, leader of the Eurosceptic, nationalist party long known as the True Finns. He wants to see the Eurozone dismantled, immigration curbed, traditional values restored. Critics have labelled the party xenophobic - is this the angry politics of European disintegration?(Image: Timo Soini. Credit: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Henry Winkler's long career will always be defined by one role. He was the Fonz, the cool dude at the centre of the US TV show Happy Days which was a worldwide hit in the '70s and '80s. The show portrayed an innocent, untroubled 1950s America. It was a far cry from Winkler's own childhood which was clouded by undiagnosed dyslexia. How did a troubled kid come to be a symbol of sunny optimism, and what happened to the idealised America of Happy Days?(Image: Henry Winkler, Credit: Getty Images)