The Interview (BBC World Service)

Stephen Sackur speaks to a brilliant heart surgeon - veteran of more than 30,000 operations - but his growing international reputation rests less on his medical skill, more on his business brain.

He wants to do for major surgery what Henry Ford did for the motor car - make it affordable for the masses, by means of mass production.

He's building what he calls medical cities across India and beyond - but can this vision of delivering a public good for private profit really change healthcare around the world?

Sarah Montague is in Brussels to talk to the man with the unenviable job of finding a way out of Europe's financial crisis.

He is Olli Rehn, Europe's Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs.

It's nearly two years since the Greek crisis first blew up; and in that time seven heads of Eurozone governments have been replaced; there have been at least 15 European summits; and any number of plans; and yet, Greece is still on the verge of defaulting and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned this coming year will "undoubtedly" be harder than the last.

What has been achieved and are we any closer to resolving the crisis?

(Image: European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn. Credit: Reuters)

This year - 2012 - is the Chinese Year of the Dragon and Chinese workers certainly seem to have fire in their belly.

There's growing discontent amongst the workforce whose labour fuelled the country's economic miracle.

They're angry that export-led growth has largely passed them by - whilst filling state coffers and enriching some beyond their wildest dreams.

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Cheng Siwei - one of China's most influential economists.

How much of a threat is economic uncertainty and social unrest to China's prosperity and stability?

Hungary's centre-right government has galvanized critics at home and abroad with its new controversial constitution.

There have been mass protests in the country, opposition politicians have chained themselves to gates outside public buildings, and the prime minister, Viktor Orban, has been dubbed Viktator.

The EU, IMF and the US have rebuked the Hungarian government over its changes to election rules, the central bank and the judiciary, warning they will erode democracy and entrench one-party rule.

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Hungary's Government Communication Minister, Zoltán Kovács.

His government says the reforms are necessary to modernise the Hungarian state.

But with the country badly in need of a $20bn international bailout - is it about to perform a U-turn and back down?

Ten months after the wave of Arab unrest reached Syria, President Assad is still in power.

Bloody protests continue and there are fears that the country could be sliding into civil war.

But there is little appetite from foreign powers for military intervention.

Sarah Montague speaks to Bassma Kodmani, a leading figure in the exiled Syrian opposition and asks her why foreign intervention in Syria should be an option.

(Picture shows Bassma Kodmani. Credit: BBC)

The British artist and film-maker Steve McQueen - whose new film Shame is about sex addiction - says the condition is very real and is destroying people's lives.

He tells HARDtalk's Zeinab Badawi that both men and women can have an unhealthy relationship with sex in the same way they can with food where the craving for it becomes a compulsion making everything else in life become secondary.

The satellite TV station Al Jazeera, is credited with giving ordinary Arabs a platform from which to challenge their governments.

And day by day it's been covering the dramatic events of the Arab Spring using the latest slick technology on both its Arabic and English channels.

But is it selective in who it criticises?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Wadah Khanfar.

He was the boss of Al Jazeera for nearly ten years.

Was the station's coverage biased on his watch?

And why did he leave Al Jazeera in the midst of the biggest news events in the Arab World for decades?

(Image: Wadah Khanfar. Credit: Getty Images)

Sir Patrick Stewart has an acting career spanning more than 50 years.

He was an accomplished Shakepearean actor when he took on the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation which brought him international acclaim.

He talks to Sarah Montague about his decision to join the Star Trek cast and why it wasn't supposed to be successful.

He also recalls his childhood where family rows often resulted in his mother becoming a victim of domestic violence.

Sir Patrick is now a patron of the charity Refuge which helps victims of domestic violence.

(Picture: Sir Patrick Stewart. Credit: AFP)

Gus O'Donnell has been at the heart of government in Britain for 30 years, working closely with the last four British prime ministers. He was John Major's press secretary; under Tony Blair he took on the top job in the civil service, a position he held when Gordon Brown took over. And that meant that at the last election he was the one overseeing the negotiations for Britain's first full coalition government since the Second World War. After nearly two years with David Cameron as prime minister he has now retired. And with his former role being split into three jobs - does even the man who signed his letters by his initials G.O.D - recognise he was just too powerful?

Living as an openly gay man in socially conservative Africa is hard enough, but Edwin Cameron went even further.

He was the first public official in South Africa to reveal his HIV positive status.

Nelson Mandela appointed him a judge and he now serves on South Africa's Constitutional Court.

There remains high levels of homophobia on the continent - why are gay activists like Cameron losing the argument?

Gene Sharp is a political thinker whose influence is now spoken of in same breath as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

But he is no platform speaker or figurehead at a demonstration.

Rather, a quietly spoken political philosopher who's been writing about non-violent struggle for 50 years.

What's changed is that his most celebrated pamphlet - From Dictatorship to Democracy - is now grabbing attention around the world.

He's been hailed as having helped mould protest movements from Burma to Serbia to Egypt.

What is it that Gene Sharp has been able to unlock?

(Image: People flash the V (peace) sign during a demonstration. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Mary King is a sportswoman like few others.

She's 50-years-old and still at the pinnacle of her sport.

That sport is three-day eventing.

Next year, she's hoping to collect her first Olympic gold medal - at what will be her sixth games.

But is equestrianism - as its enthusiasts insist - the toughest sport in the world?

Or is it less a test of the person - more of the horse - and a preserve of the rich?

(Image: Mary King. Credit: Press Association)

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

South Sudan became independent in July 2011 after waging a five-decade war against the north in what was Africa's longest running civil war.

But secession has brought neither peace, stability nor prosperity, despite the country's vast oil wealth.

Hostilities with its northern neighbour leave the two countries teetering on the brink of war, and ethnic clashes and rivalries between southern tribes have left many thousands dead.

Zeinab Badawi speaks to the UN head of mission for South Sudan, Hilde Johnson. Is the country effectively already a failed state?

(Image: Victims of ethnic violence in Jonglei, South Sudan. Credit: Associated Press)

Anti-doping authorities in Britain will carry out more than 7,000 drugs tests on athletes at the London Olympics and Paralympics later this year, more than at any previous games.

They're also warning potential cheats that the 2012 Games will be the 'riskiest yet' with a greater chance of them getting caught.

But, despite the rhetoric, the British Olympic Association also faces the overturning of its lifetime Olympic ban for any athlete banned for more than six months for a doping offence.

The World Anti-Doping Agency says the BOA's stance is not compliant with its code.

What message does this send in an Olympic year, and what can WADA do to combat what it sees as the growing role of organised crime in the trafficking of performance enhancing drugs?

Tim Franks speaks to WADA's President, John Fahey.

Can the Republican Party find a presidential candidate capable of turfing Barack Obama out of office?

The battle to win the Republican nomination is proving to be protracted and brutal, and right now the main beneficiary appears to be the man currently occupying the White House.

Senator John McCain is the Republican candidate 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?

(Image: John McCain. Credit: Getty Images)

Hardtalk is in the financial heart of New York City to meet one of the country’s most respected and enduring policy makers.

Paul Volcker was chairman of the Federal Reserve in the Reagan years and in all he served five presidents, most recently advising the Obama administration in regulating the banks and engineering an economic recovery.

America has lost its economic swagger; Stephen Sackur asks - can it get it back?

What's the key to world class sporting performance?

Top coaches will tell you the biggest prizes don't necessarily go to the best natural athletes, but to those best prepared. Science, technology and psychology - all are used to gain a competitive edge.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir Clive Woodward, coach of England's World Cup winning rugby team in 2003, and now performance director for the British Olympic team preparing for London 2012.

Are sporting champions born or made?

(image: Sir Clive Woodward. Credit: Getty Images)

Some politicians claim that they would be willing to die for their beliefs.

Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan politician who says that she expects to be killed.

"I am resigned to this fate", she says.

She is currently an MP in the Afghan parliament and has been a prominent national figure since she was first elected in 2005.

She has already survived several assassination attempts.

So what, in that case, does she believe she can achieve in running for the presidency of her country in 2014?

She talks to Tim Franks.

This summer Ukraine is co-hosting the European football championships, but don't be deceived by the sporting camaraderie - Ukraine's political relationship with the EU is in crisis.

The most pressing dispute concerns Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister imprisoned for seven years after a trial dismissed as a political charade by many in the West.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Yulia Tymoshenko's daughter, Eugenia.

What does the Tymoshenko story say about Ukraine?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, currently on a visit to London.

He took power in Kampala at the head of a rebel army in 1986 and has delivered stability and economic progress in a country previously laid low by brutal dictatorship.

But in recent years, he has faced questions about his commitment to democracy and human rights.

When he took power, he said Uganda's - and Africa's - problem was leaders overstaying their time in power.

Has he fallen into the same old trap?

(Image: President of Uganda Yoweri K Museveni. Credit: Associated Press)

The 10th anniversary of the end of Angola's devastating post-independence civil war is being marked in 2012.

What a difference a decade makes.

Angola is now one of Africa's powerhouse economies, enjoying growth that puts the West to shame, and exploiting China's insatiable demand for commodities, especially oil.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Angola's foreign minister, Georges Chikoti.

For Angola and Africa, this is an era of opportunity; will it be seized or squandered?

Politics can be a cruel business. No one knows that better than Britain's former foreign secretary David Miliband.

He was hot favourite to lead the UK's Labour party after its dismal 2010 election defeat, but he lost out to his younger brother Ed.

His steady rise to the political summit was halted, but he remains a Labour MP, and he still makes carefully timed interventions in foreign policy and national politics.

Without the trappings of power, how does David Miliband maximise his influence?

Turkey is a rising power in a strategically vital region, but does it have the ability to shape events beyond its borders?

Officials in Ankara would like to see Turkey inside the EU and providing leadership in the Middle East, but both goals remain elusive.

Stephen Sackur talks to Egemen Bagis, Turkey's minister for Europe.

His country is flexing some diplomatic muscle, but is it having the desired effect.

Ghana has been hailed as a shining example to all of Africa - a model of democracy, decent governance and responsible economic management in a continent struggling to fulfil its potential.

But if Ghana looks like a success story to outsiders, how does it look to Ghanaians themselves?

Nana Akufo-Addo is the leader of the main opposition party and candidate for president.

Stephen Sackur asks him if Ghana can use its resource wealth and inward investment to benefit the many, not just a few.

Over the past ten years Jacqueline Wilson has been the most borrowed author from British libraries.

She's sold 30 million of her books just in the UK - and written nearly a hundred of them over the years - girls love them.

They almost always focus on a young girl in a difficult family usually being brought up single-handedly by her mother, sometimes with an abusive stepfather.

And often featuring drink or drugs.

So why does she draw on such bleak territory?

Jacqueline Wilson talks to Sarah Montague

Hardtalk is in Tunisia a year after the revolution which gave birth to the Arab Spring.

Stephen Sackur meets Moncef Marzouki - a man who has undergone an extraordinary transformation from political prisoner and dissident exile to president of the Republic.

He now heads a coalition government of Islamists and secularists.

The country has become the test bed for the new politics of the Arab world.

Can Tunisia make a success of its revolution?

(Image: Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Tunisia is the first Arab nation to be transformed by people power but how successful has the transition to democracy been?

Stephen Sackur talks to Said Ferjani who is a key figure in the Ennahda Movement - the moderate Islamist political party which dominates the democratically elected Tunisian government.

Ennahda says it is committed to building a Muslim democracy.

Is Tunisia a model which the rest of the Arab world can follow?

A year has passed since the uprising that ended the 30-year rule of Egypt's former president, Hosni Mubarak.

Since then the country has struggled to establish democracy and credible elections under the control of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Human rights abuses are continuing and the animosity between pro-democracy activists and the Establishment is escalating.

Abdel El-Menawy is the former head of Egyptian television.

He helped draft Hosni Mubarak's final speech and has written a book detailing the final days of his rule.

Presented by Stephen Sackur.

(Image: An Egyptian boy wearing an Egyptian national flag in Tharir Square. Credit: Getty Images)

The Maldives was plunged into political crisis when the former president Mohamed Nasheed resigned, claiming to have been forced out of his position.

He was succeeded by his former vice president - Mohamed Waheed - who denies allegations of taking part in a coup.

President Waheed is now building a government of national unity, but with tensions still running high between him and supporters of his predecessor, how safe is the island nation's democracy?

(Image: Maldivian President Mohamed Waheed Hassan. Credit: Associated Press)

Otis Williams is the sole constant in the life of one of the most successful groups in Motown history.

He formed The Temptations in 1961, and the record sales tell a story of extraordinary success.

If rock and roll was about sex and drugs, Motown was all that and more.

So how has he sidestepped the cocaine addiction, the drink and the depression that killed other members of his group?

Did he ever feel he got his just rewards for so much success?

And when will he finally decide he has had enough?

(Image: Otis Williams. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Hardtalk is in New York City with a guest who is a woman who has spent her life challenging assumptions that go with the label 'physically disabled'.

Aimee Mullins had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was just a year old.

She went on to become a champion athlete, an actor and highly paid model.

She has been feted as an inspiration across America.

Stephen Sackur asks, What is the real lesson of the remarkable story of Aimee Mullins?

(Image: Aimee Mullins. Credit: Reuters)

In a special edition of Hardtalk, recorded in front of an audience in the village of Portmeirion in North Wales, Stephen Sackur talks to Sir Mark Walport the Director of the Wellcome Trust.

One of the world's most important funding institutions for biomedical research, it distributes close to a billion dollars' worth of grants every year.

Much of it goes to cutting edge genetic research which promises to transform human healthcare, but also raises profound ethical questions.

Our scientific knowledge is expanding but what about the wisdom with which we use it?

Frank Chikane served in the South African presidential office from the time of Nelson Mandela to Jacob Zuma - so he was privy to what went on behind the scenes.

Now he has written a book in which he describes for the first time his account of Thabo Mbeki's removal as South Africa's president.

He says it was a painful and humiliating episode for Mr Mbeki and it exposed the deep rivalry at the heart of the ruling African National Congress which continues to divide it today.

Zeinab Badawi asks if the ANC become so riven with factionalism and corruption that it can no longer govern effectively.

Britain has already seen the first skirmishes in what could be a protracted battle between the Cameron government and organised labour.

In the short term, schools and fuel suuplies could be hit by strikes; looking further ahead, there's talk of union protests targeting the London Olympics.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Len McCluskey, leader of Unite, Britain's biggest union.

He talks of defending workers' rights within the law, and outside it, if necessary. How far is he prepared to go?

A year ago revolution was in the air in the Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain - what about now?

After months of violence which killed dozens of protestors, the Bahraini king commissioned an independent inquiry - then he promised to implement sweeping reforms.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Nabeel Rajab - one of Bahrain's most outspoken human rights activists.

Has this strategically vital Gulf monarchy successfully reformed itself from within?

Alan Ayckbourn is often described as the most performed playwright alive in the world.

A revival of his play Absent Friends has opened in London's West End.

And a new play - his 76th - premieres this summer.

After more than 50 years of writing and directing, what is it about Alan Ayckbourn and his portrayal of relationships in the English suburbs that can still fill theatres around the world?

Lake Como in northern Italy is the venue for an economic conference hosted by the Ambrosetti Forum.

The economic policy-makers gathered here are fervently hoping that the worst of Europe's sovereign debt crisis is over - but is it?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Juergen Stark who was - until his shock resignation in 2011 - a key figure on the board of the European Central Bank.

He quit because he disagreed with the ECB's crisis management.

Much has changed in the last few months, but has the eurozone really been saved?

Should Iraq be doing more to end the bloodshed on its doorstep or does it have its own vested interest in keeping Syria's president Assad in power?

While president Nouri Al-Maliki faces criticism for his stance on Syria and his closeness to Iran, the country remains gripped by a rise in sectarian violence.

Hamid Al-Bayati represents Iraq at the United Nations.

Tim Franks asks him just how much influence Iran has on Iraq's foreign policy.

Stephen Sackur speaks to one of Britain's finest writing talents, whose creativity defies a simple label.

Yes, Michael Frayn is a renowned playwright whose work has ranged from high farce to cerebral intensity.

But he's also an acclaimed novelist and an accomplished translator from the Russian of Chekhov and Tolstoy.

Throughout his writing career he's mixed high seriousness with a wicked sense of the absurd.

Is laughter an essential tool for the serious writer?

Stephen Sackur speaks to perhaps the UK's most controversial police officer, a commander in London's Metropolitan Police and a convicted criminal.

Ali Dizaei was born in Iran, studied law in London and became a high-flying spokesman for ethnic minority police officers in a London force dogged by accusations of racism.

Ali Dizaei portrays himself as a victim; the courts decided he was a rogue cop.

What does his rise and fall say about British policing?

From Syria, to Sri Lanka, to Russia, there are journalists ready to put themselves in harm's way to shine a light on some of the darkest corners of conflict, crime and corruption.

What makes them do it? And what difference do they make?

Stephen Sackur speaks to British photo journalist Paul Conroy who was wounded in the Syrian army's bombardment of the city of Homs last February which killed his Sunday Times colleague Marie Colvin.

When, if ever, is telling the story worth risking your life?

In a programme first broadcast in 2012, Stephen Sackur speaks to FW de Klerk, South Africa's last apartheid-era leader and a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela.

Photo: Former South African President FW de Klerk in Cape Town, South Africa, 2020 (Credit: Reuters)

The official Olympic creed says it’s not the winning that counts but the taking part. Try telling that to the elite professional athletes and their coaches who have dedicated their lives to the quest for a gold medal.

With the London games now fewer than 100 days away HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Peter Keen, Performance Director for UK Sport. In Beijing four years ago, his strategies helped deliver a record medal haul for team GB - in London the aim is to do even better.

But has the cult of winning gone too far?

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur is at the Globe Theatre in London - a magical recreation of the theatre where William Shakespeare honed his theatrical genius in the late sixteenth century.

Over the next six weeks every one of Shakespeare’s 37 plays is going to be performed, in 37 different languages by theatre companies from all over the world.

He speaks to actor Zoë Wanamaker, honorary president of the Globe which was built thanks to the tireless efforts of her father, the American actor and director, Sam Wanamaker, about Shakespeare, the stage and her family's artistic obsession.

In post Soviet Russia, a small band of businessmen became unimaginably rich. These so-called oligarchs command assets worth billions of dollars, but their position isn’t without its perils in the era of Putin. Disloyalty to the Kremlin can have grave consequences. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire many times over, the architect of a vast business empire that currently faces significant economic and legal challenges. Is the politics of Russia proving to be bad for business?

Science is constantly changing and deepening our understanding of ourselves and our planet. So is it time to give scientists a more prominent role in the debate about humanity's strategic choices; economic, political and environmental?

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir John Sulston, a Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist who has led a Royal Society study into the global impact of population growth two decades on from the Rio Earth Summit.

Can science help the human species change its ways?

Africa's newest nation, South Sudan, is in trouble.

Less than a year after independence from Khartoum, the South and its much larger northern neighbour are confronting each other over oil reserves, borders and territory.

Sporadic fighting has prompted mutual recrimination and talk of all-out war.

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to South Sudan's foreign minister Nhial Deng Nhial. The African Union and the UN are pushing hard for a negotiated settlement, but is it already too late?

The west faces a lost decade of economic stagnation. Unemployment is high, inequality is rising and governments are broke. Should we be blaming capitalism or looking to the market for solutions?

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir Ronald Cohen, one of Britain's most innovative business leaders. He is a pioneer of venture capitalism who is now committed to the idea of social investment, or capitalism with a conscience. Can the private sector combine a commitment to profit and the public good?

American Presidents have long been criticised for being too in thrall to the Jewish lobby, and that American Jews influence US foreign policy, which explains America's unwavering support for Israel.

So what happens if American Jews fall out of love with Israel? That's what the Jewish American academic Norman Finkelstein claims is happening. He suggests that American Jews are now unhappy with what Israel is doing and they want to distance themselves from the country.

Finkelstein is nothing if not controversial. He, after all, is famous for accusing Jews of exploiting the Holocaust. His actions have resulted in him being banned from entering Israel.

Could he be right and, if he is, what does that mean for America's Middle East policy?

Jordan has survived the Arab Spring relatively unscathed, at least so far.

Perhaps it is because the king has promised reform.

But he is now on his fourth prime minister since the start of 2011 and the changes proposed so far won't do enough to satisfy his critics.

They say King Abdullah is just buying time and is not serious about reform.

And this in a country seen as critical to peace in the region not least because of its troubled neighbours, Syria and Israel.

So how much time does Jordan have to sort itself out?

Nasser Judeh, foreign minister of Jordan, talks to Sarah Montague.

Has western military intervention in Afghanistan failed?

The question will hang over this weekend's Nato summit in Chicago as the alliance's political leaders set the seal on a phased military retreat while pledging long-term support for the Afghan Government.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir William Patey who has just retired from his post as British ambassador in Kabul.

Did the West get the balance between war and diplomacy fundamentally wrong in Afghanistan?

Greece appears to be inching closer to the Eurozone exit door.

If the Greeks leave how far could the contagion spread?

One country which could very soon find itself in the eye of a financial storm is Cyprus - where the banks are paying a heavy price for their investments in Greece.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Michalis Sarris, chairman of the Cyprus Popular Bank and former minister of finance.

A mountain of banking debt, a weak government, an angry public - could Cyprus be the next domino to fall in this Eurozone crisis?

Football is a global obsession - the star players of the sport, the likes of Messi, Rooney and Ronaldo reap vast rewards and worldwide adulation.

But there's a sense of something rotten in the people's game.

A sport worth billions of dollars has fallen prey to match fixing, cheating and bouts of shameful behaviour.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Louis Saha, a French international striker, currently with Spurs in the English Premier League.

His is the view from inside the football factory - has the joy been taken out of the beautiful game?

At last Sub Saharan Africa has a positive economic story to tell, but is it being matched by improved governance?

Are Africa's leaders making the best use of the current surge in economic growth to tackle endemic poverty?

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Guy Scott, recently appointed vice-president of Zambia. He is a trained scientist, an ex-farmer, and he happens to be the most senior white official in post-colonial Africa.

It is tempting to see him as a symbol of a continent no longer trapped in its past, but is it true?

So much for all the talk of a Moscow Spring.

Despite sporadic street protests and the stirrings of middle-class rebellion, Vladimir Putin is back in the Kremlin and Russia's economic and political status quo remains intact.

Why do liberal opponents of Putin struggle to gain traction?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Grigory Yavlinsky, economist, reformer and a veteran leader of Russia's fragmented opposition.

Will the liberals ever win in Russia?

Robin Gibb was a musician who did much to define the pop music of the 70s and 80s.

With his brothers Maurice and Barry he formed the Bee Gees.

They wrote the soundtrack for the disco era, perhaps captured best in their music for the movie Saturday Night Fever.

In December 2010, Robin Gibb joined Stephen Sackur in the Hardtalk studio to talk about his music, his family and the pressures of a pop business which drove him into a private hell of drink, drugs and depression.

In more recent years, Robin Gibb found a new sense of purpose, both in his music and in his work for a host of charities.

To the end he remained committed to song-writing and was an advocate for talent in an industry increasingly dominated by marketing rather than the music itself.

So today, a look back at Hardtalk with the late Robin Gibb.

Iron Maiden is one of the most successful heavy metal bands ever.

They have sold more than 80 million albums and are renowned for their live shows - tickets for which they say sell faster now than at any point in their 30 years as a band.

Sarah Montague speaks to the band's lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, the only member of the band who has lopped off the long, 'hard rocking' hair.

And that is because of his dual life.

For when he is not on stage performing in front of thousands he can often be found in a cockpit.

He is a commercial pilot who has now set up his own aviation business.

So how can you mix the hard rock lifestyle of a metal-head with the clean living required of a pilot and entrepreneur?

The people of Greece shocked the rest of Europe with the results of their parliamentary elections on 6 May 2012. No party had a clear majority and the Syriza coalition of the radical left was put in second place.

Syriza opposes the bailout package or 'memorandum' which gives Greece billions of euros in exchange for a very tough austerity package of cuts and tax increases.

Gavin Esler speaks to Syriza's top economic adviser Yiannis Milios and asks what will happen if the party wins the re-run election on 17 June 2012. Do they really believe they can stay in the Eurozone while tearing up the rules?

(Image: A woman voting in the Greek elections of 6 May. Credit: AFP / Angelos Tzortzinis)

Stephen Sackur is in the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen, which for the past six tumultuous months has held the presidency of the European Union.

In that time, the number of Eurozone countries seeking an emergency financial bailout has risen to five. On the eve of yet another crisis summit, EU leaders face decisions that could make, or break the common currency.

Stephen Sackur talks to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark's prime minister. Is the dream of a common European future from Scandinavia to the Aegean well and truly over?

(Image: Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt giving a press conference. Credit: Georges Gobet / AFP / Getty Images)

We are in a depression - unemployment at levels last seen during the thirties, an economic crisis in the Eurozone and the prospect of worse to come.

But the Nobel Prize Winning economist Paul Krugman, thinks none of this needs to be happening and that America and Europe should be richer than they were five years ago - even now it wouldn't take much to solve the problem.

He thinks what debt-ridden governments should be doing is borrowing more to spend their way out of trouble.

(Image: Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman. Credit: Reuters)

Even if you have not seen his shows, you will have heard his songs.

For works such as Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Lion King, Sir Tim Rice is regarded as one of the greatest lyricists of his generation.

After a break from songwriting which lasted ten years, he is completing a new work, so what tempted him back?

Why are there so few truly original musicals nowadays and why has he made it clear that he is very unlikely to work with his one time collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber ever again?

(Image: Lyricist, writer and composer Sir Tim Rice's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, California. Credit: Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur talks to the newsmakers and personalities from across the globe.

Hardtalk is in Margate, a traditional English seaside town, home to the new Turner Contemporary art gallery.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Tracey Emin, the artist of international renown who was raised in Margate and has a major exhibition based in her old home town.

Her work has always been deeply personal - a frank exploration of her sexuality, her relationships, her life.

She has made an extraordinary journey from wild youth to pillar of the cultural establishment - just how blurred is the line between her art and her life?

(Image: Tracey Emin unveils her new exhibition at the Turner Contemporary in Margate. Credit: Getty Images)

Could we soon see a cure for HIV/Aids? Francoise Barre-Sinoussi thinks so. She's the Nobel Prize-winner who helped first identify the virus 30 years ago.

She argues that the need to pour money into fighting one of the world's most deadly diseases is as great as ever. Already nearly 30 million have died from it.

But with budgets being cut, can we afford more expensive research?

(Image: Francoise Barre-Sinoussi Credit: Getty Images)

HARDtalk's Katya Adler speaks to the chairman of the Police Federation in England and Wales, Paul McKeever.

The police in Britain, used to being revered, respected and admired at home and abroad, find themselves under a heavy black cloud.

With allegations of bribery and corruption denting the public's trust, the force now also faces dramatic cuts to its budget and changes to its structure.

Paul McKeever, himself a long-serving officer, says proposed government reforms could lead to the destruction of the police as we know it. But with the force untouched by change for decades, is now not an ideal opportunity to shape up for the challenges of the 21st century?

(Image: Paul McKeever in 2011 Credit: Getty Images)

Katya Adler talks to Dr Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.

Iran's nuclear power programme has been a source of international tension for the past decade. At no point has it been able to shrug off the suspicion that its pursuit of nuclear energy is also an effort to make nuclear weapons.

Iran insists it has no such ambitions but many of the world's major powers remain unconvinced and Israel is warning it will attack.

The international community is seeking assurances from Iran at a fresh round of talks in Moscow later this month.

Katya Adler asks Dr Ali Asghar Soltanieh what guarantees Iran will give that its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful.

(Image: Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh. Credit: AFP / Getty Images)

Wayne McGregor is known for pushing boundaries in an art form usually associated with traditional entertainment.

Once known as the bad boy of ballet, he has been the resident choreographer in one of the dance world’s pillar of establishment, the Royal Ballet in London’s Covent Garden, for six years.

He continues to challenge his audiences and his dancers to the limit, constantly concocting new ways of marrying ballet with the world of science, new technology, pop music, art and architecture.

HARDtalk’s Katya Adler asks if this is why he remains the maverick inside the ballet establishment.

Israel's secret service, the Mossad, is regarded as one of the most resourceful and ruthless intelligence agencies in the world.

But are Israel's top spies on the same page as the country's politicians when it comes to an assessment of the threat posed by Iran?

The question was prompted by Meir Dagan, director of Mossad until a year and a half ago. Just months after retiring he said an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would be stupid.

Why did he go so public so quickly, and is there a dangerous gulf between Israel's political leadership and security chiefs?

(Image: Meir Dagan - left - shakes hands with former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon while receiving his letter of appointment in October 30, 2002. Credit: Getty Images)

The Greek election in June 2012 has saved Europe from economic and financial meltdown - for now.

No-one in Europe believes the combined currency, banking and sovereign debt trauma is over. And right across the continent, politicians are struggling to answer a simple question: how does Europe find a way back to sustainable economic growth?

Stephen Sackur talks to Labour's business spokesman Chuka Umunna. He says active government can revive and reshape capitalism. Are business leaders or the public ready to believe him?

(Image: Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna (left) with Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. Credit: Chris Radburn / PA Wire)

The 2012 Cannes Film Festival was criticised when all 22 films in the competition were directed by men.

But Hollywood is not much better - a recent study found that less than 10 per cent of its directors were women.

So why are there so few women film-makers? Sarah Montague puts that question to Beeban Kidron, one of the few women to have made the big time.

She is perhaps best-known for directing the second Bridget Jones movie, The Edge of Reason.

But most of her other films concern far more radical material: a documentary about the anti-nuclear women protesters at Greenham Common, a TV adaptation of the lesbian novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.

Her latest documentary is about India's sacred prostitutes. Is it women and the choices they make that interests her most?

(Image: Beeban Kidron in 2005. Credit: Ian West / PA Wire)

With the London Olympics just weeks away, athletes are completing their final preparations - and that means fine tuning the mind as well as the body.

In elite sport the title 'head coach' increasingly refers to the specialist hired to get inside the athlete's head to instil a winning mentality.

Stephen Sackur talks to the psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters - a consultant to the British Olympic cycling team and a highly prized adviser to a host of other famous sporting names. Is winning really all in the mind?

(Image: Steve Peters speaks to the British cyclist Victoria Pendleton during the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic in February, 2011. Credit: Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur talks to Gehad El-Haddad, an adviser to the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

Mohamed Morsi has made history by becoming Egypt's first freely-elected president, but how much power has he won?

The image of tens of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters savouring victory in Tahrir Square can't disguise the fact that Egypt is still governed by a military clique.

With Parliament dissolved, no new constitution written and the generals ringfencing their powers, has Egypt's revolution run out of road?

(Image: Gehad El-Haddad)

Electoral politics is a blood sport and some of the toughest fighters in the game are the campaign strategists who hone and sell their candidates' message.

Lynton Crosby is widely regarded as a master in the dark arts of political campaigning. He ran winning election campaigns in his native Australia for former prime minister John Howard. In the UK, he twice helped Boris Johnson win the London Mayor's office.

Opponents on the left have accused him of using grubby, divisive methods to further a conservative agenda. Is bare-knuckle politics good for democracy?

(Image: Lynton Crosby)

The British Government has promised action to deal with the scandal at Barclays.

The bank has been fined for trying to fix the interest rate at which banks lend to each other - London Interbank Offered Rate - or Libor.

Yet again it's the lack of regulation that is being blamed for a financial problem.

Sarah Montague talks to Professor Niall Ferguson who argues that the world is responding in the wrong way to the global financial crisis.

He thinks the economic chaos which began in 2007 was caused by too much regulation, not too little.

(Image: Professor Niall Ferguson)

The election of a Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi as president of Egypt will have an impact not only on Egypt but also elsewhere in the Middle East.

Nowhere more so perhaps than in Gaza.

There, Hamas, which is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, has ruled for five years.

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Ghazi Hamad, deputy foreign minister for Hamas in Gaza.

At loggerheads with the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and viewed by Israel as a terrorist organisation, will the new dynamics of power in Egypt better serve the cause of peace and reconciliation in the Middle East or merely exacerbate the tensions?

Zeinab Badawi talks to the musician and political activist Femi Kuti, son of the late, legendary afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.

As Africa's most populous nation and one of its biggest oil producers, Nigeria is a giant on the African stage. But in terms of prosperity it has never fulfilled the expectations of its people.

Femi Kuti is a constant thorn in the side of the Nigerian authorities and uses his songs to criticise government and speak up on behalf of the poor and dispossessed.

But with fantastic rates of growth in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, is Femi Kuti being overly pessimistic about Nigeria's prospects?

(Image: Femi Kuti performs on the stage in 2008. Credit: Stephane de Sakutin / AFP / Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur talks to a member of the Brussels political elite, the EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht.

His job is to promote Europe's trade agenda around the world - but who is listening when the EU itself is staring over an economic abyss?

Europe's politicians resemble the cast of a third rate disaster movie... trapped in a Eurozone crisis from which there is no obvious means of escape.

Can the continent's leaders stay calm or will rising panic consume them?

(Image: Karel de Gucht giving a press conference in February 2012 Credit: AFP / Getty Images)

Is Rwanda's president Paul Kagame in serious danger of losing the international community's goodwill?

He has been accused of autocratic behaviour and of being unrealistic about the prospects for an economic transformation of Rwanda, a country still haunted by the ghosts of genocide.

Perhaps most damagingly, a recent UN report claimed that the Rwandan government is breaking UN sanctions by backing rebels in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Zeinab Badawi talks to President Paul Kagame: can he reclaim his reputation as a bold and visionary leader or is he destined to go down as another African strongman who failed to live up to expectations?

(Image: Rwandan President Paul Kagame in 2010. Credit: AP Photo / Adam Scotti)

Stephen Sackur speaks to a scientist of rare distinction. Jocelyn Bell Burnell was a key member of the team which discovered pulsars and neutron stars in the late 1960s.

She became one of the world’s most renowned astrophysicists - remarkable for the originality of her research, but also for being one of the few prominent women in her discipline.

Throughout her career she's blazed a trail for women in a predominantly male world. Why are there so few women at science's top table?

Image: Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Stephen Sackur speaks to the renowned Harvard academic James Robinson. In a recent book, written together with Daron Acemoglu, he tries to answer one of the most basic questions of global economics and politics: why do some nations thrive while others fail? What does Norway have that Mali lacks?

There are of course multiple answers based on physical geography, resources and cultural differences, but James Robinson is adamant one factor determines economic success much more than all others: the development of resilient, inclusive political institutions.

Put crudely, the idea is political freedom begets prosperity - but is that always true?

(Image: James Robinson)

Baaba Maal is maintaining a West African tradition: he is an internationally renowned musician with a strong political voice, like Fela Kuti and Youssou N'Dour before him.

His campaigning touches on sensitive subjects, from women's rights to HIV and climate change.

Africa is currently a jarring mix of rapid economic growth and life-threatening poverty. As the continent changes, is the music changing too?

(Image: Baaba Maal performing. Credit: Getty Images)

More than 10,000 athletes are about to compete at the London Olympics.

The spotlight will certainly be on them but one former champion, Jonathan Edwards, will take a particular interest.

He won Olympic gold in the triple jump and his world record in the event has stood secure for 17 years.

On present form no triple jumper to compete in London looks close to breaking it.

He was also part of London's bid when the city was awarded the Games in 2005.

Now he's the athletes' representative on the Games organising committee overseeing preparations for the athletes.

London is almost at the start line but what did it take to get this far?

Jonathan Edwards talks to Rob Bonnet.

(Image: Jonathan Edwards. Credit: AP Photo/Herbert Knosowski)

Six of the world's ten fastest growing economies are in Sub- Saharan Africa.

The World Bank predicts a decade of African growth which Europe can only dream of, but how realistic is the excitable talk of economic transformation in the world’s poorest continent?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Arnold Ekpe, CEO of Ecobank, which boasts eight million customers across 32 Sub-Saharan nations.

As economic opportunity beckons, are Africans ready to seize it?

At the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 a diminutive Moroccan runner named Nawal El Moutawakel won the 400 metres hurdles and so became the first Arab and Muslim woman to win Olympic gold.

She says her victory changed her life forever and propelled her towards a career in sports administration and as a passionate advocate of women in sport, especially in the Islamic world.

She's now an influential member of the International Olympic Committee.

With current IOC president Jacques Rogge due to step down next year, could she be in line to succeed him?

Nawal El Moutawakel talks to Rob Bonnet.

(Image: Nawal El Moutawakel in 2010. Credit: Getty Images)

Sheikh Hasina has been Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the last three and a half years. It’s her second term in office and throughout her time at the top she’s attracted controversy and criticism in equal measure.

Bangladesh is densely populated, desperately poor and riven with corruption and political violence.

Back in 2009 Sheikh Hasina vowed to clean up government and heal the country’s divisions. So what’s gone wrong?

(Image: Sheikh Hasina. Credit: Getty Images)

Zeinab Badawi talks to Amos Gilad, Policy Director at the Israeli Ministry of Defence. Is the Arab Spring a blessing or a disaster for Israel?

Upheaval in the Arab world, especially in Syria, means political realities are still evolving in the Middle East.

For years Israel has seen itself as living in a hostile neighbourhood, its borders tense and prone to bouts of violence. Hamas rules in Gaza and the peace process with the Palestinian Authority is going nowhere.

And then there's Iran - neither an Arab nation nor a neighbour, but a powerful backer of Syria's government in the current turmoil. And for Israeli military planners, a potential threat from a nuclear-armed Iran is probably their biggest pre-occupation.

(Image: Amos Gilad)

As another wave of financial fear sweeps through the Eurozone, with Spain seemingly staggering towards a bail out and Italy not far behind, the voices of the continents Eurosceptics grow louder.

Most prominent among them is Nigel Farage, leader of the UK independence party and self-styled scourge of the EU establishment in his role as a member of the European Parliament.

In Europe's crisis he sees political opportunity; but is he playing with fire?

(Image: Nigel Farage)

London's reputation as a global financial centre has been tarnished yet again.

This time another British bank Standard Chartered, stands accused of irregularities.

New York's top financial regulator claims the bank carried out $240 billion dollars of illegal transactions with Iran over the past decade. The bank refutes the claim.

This latest case follows on the heels of other scandals in the City of London.

Moves are underway to tighten international banking regulation. So where does the problem lie?

Zeinab Badawi talks to Mark Carney, who is in charge of steering these new rules as Chairman of the Financial Stability Board for the G20 Leading economies.

He's also Governor of Canada's Central Bank.

(Image: Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney. Credit: REUTERS/Chris Wattie)

The United Nations had hoped that by 2015 every child would be able to go to primary school.

But the last time they reported on progress to that goal, they said 69 million children were still not getting an education - most of those in sub-Saharan Africa.

Michael Barber has advised governments around the world about education.

He's now working for the international company Pearson.

It recently announced it would invest millions in private schools for the world's poorest families.

Is that the right way to tackle the problem or could it undermine what governments are trying to do?

Katya Adler speaks to Sharon Bowles, Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

The Eurozone crisis has been a test not only for Europe's politicians but also its institutions. The European Union's response to the economic turbulence in its midst has been criticised as too slow and ineffective.

Sharon Bowles is at the heart of the EU’s decision-making process and has a big say in how new economic legislation is drafted - but will it work?

(Image: Sharon Bowles. Credit: John Thys / AFP / Getty Images)

Katya Adler speaks to Lord Moynihan, Chairman of the British Olympics Association and Director of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games.

London 2012 has been a resounding success, applauded at home and abroad, but what can be done to ensure an enduring sporting legacy?

British sports are celebrating their best collective performance in over a century. So now that the Games are over, why has Lord Moynihan submitted his resignation?

(Image: Lord Colin Moynihan at a press conference in July 2012. Credit: David Davies / PA Wire)

The expenses scandal tarnished those at the very heart of British democracy. Some politicians in the so-called Mother of Parliaments were shown to be greedy and a few criminal.

A handful went to jail and one of those is the former Conservative peer and former leader of Essex County Council Lord Hanningfield.

So why did he do it? Is there something fundamentally wrong with Britain's political culture and with those who go into politics? And what lessons can a lawmaker learn from prison?

(Image: Lord Hanningfield)

Angélique Kidjo has been hailed as Africa's premier diva, known for her passionate voice and fierce determination to help African girls fulfil their potential.

Three decades ago she left her home continent and became an international star.

Stephen Sackur asks Kidjo how much Africa and its music scene has changed between then and now.

(Image: Angelique Kidjo performing in 2010. Credit: AFP / Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur talks to Rob Davies, South Africa’s Minister for Trade and Industry.

The labour unrest in South Africa’s platinum mines has claimed the lives of dozens and produced the kind of violence not seen since apartheid.

The strike has driven up the cost of platinum prices and shaken investor confidence. It has also drawn the world’s attention to the low wages and poor working conditions of South Africa’s miners.

Is the call to invest in Africa’s biggest economy being stifled by the rage against social and economic disparity?

(Image: Rob Davies addressing the media at the TIME / FORTUNE / CNN Global Forum in June 2010. Credit: Getty Images)

Maajid Nawaz is a British born Muslim who became a radical Islamist.

He was arrested and imprisoned in Hosni Mubarak's Egypt but when he emerged from prison he renounced his former views and launched a campaign to counter Islamist ideology.

To some he's a truth teller, to others a traitor.

Stephen Sackur asks him to explain his extraordinary transformation.

While some Arab states are actively funding the Syrian opposition, the West has publicly refused to provide arms.

The US, in particular, has been criticised for its reluctance to get involved beyond talks and diplomacy.

Brian Sayers is a lobbyist for a US-based non-profit organisation. The Syrian Support Group has been given the green light by the US Treasury to raise money for the Free Syrian Army despite the fears that the FSA might have links to extremist groups in the region.

The Syrian Support Group insists that the money raised will not get into the wrong hands. How can they be sure?

(Image: Brian Sayers)

Tarek al-Hashimi is in a very strange position: he is Iraq's vice president but right now he is a de facto fugitive in Turkey. He is being tried in absentia on charges of sponsoring death squads inside Iraq.

The conflict in Syria is fuelling sectarian tension across the Middle East.

In neighbouring Iraq a political and security crisis has deepened in the last year.

What hope is there for justice or peace in a region in the grip of sectarian strife?

(Image: Iraq's Vice President Tarek al-Hashimi. Credit: AFP / Getty Images)

The grim threat of renewed conflict hangs over the Democratic Republic of Congo.

An armed rebellion in the East - on the Rwandan border - has already forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

The DRC army is in disarray and the Kinshasa government has been undermined by allegations of electoral fraud and corruption.

Stephen Sackur talks to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raymond Tshibanda.

What hope is there for the Democratic Republic of Congo?

(Image: Democratic Republic of Congo's Minster for Foreign Affairs Raymond Tshibanda. Credit: JUNIOR D.KANNAH/AFP/GettyImages)

The 2008 banking crash prompted a prolonged crisis of confidence in the financial institutions and markets that underpin Western capitalism.

Governments on both sides of the Atlantic have tried to recalibrate the balance between risk and reward and to encourage genuine wealth creation rather than short term speculation.

Xavier Rolet is the CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group.

Have financial markets learned the right lessons from recent history?

(Image: Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Copyright London Stock Exchange press office handout)

The future of the Gulf state of Bahrain remains uncertain after 18 months of street protests inspired by the Arab Spring.

Some of the most outspoken Bahraini critics of the ruling Al Khalifa family are behind bars, violent clashes between police and demonstrators continue.

Maryam Al Khawaja is a prominent human rights campaigner, whose father was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to overthrow the government.

Who will win the fight for Bahrain's future?