Hardtalk

The International Red Cross doesn't take sides; it prioritises field operations over political grandstanding. It's the humanitarian organisation that reaches the conflict zones others fail to reach. Or is it? Hardtalk speaks to Yves Daccord, Director General of the ICRC. From Syria to South Sudan, is the Red Cross model of scrupulously neutral intervention broken beyond repair?

Does the world of sport need a Mr Clean to fix it? The constant drip of doping allegations, bribery and corruption that have one way or another dogged the sporting world - have tainted it. Zeinab Badawi speaks to Sebastian Coe – former British Olympic champion. He set twelve world records during his athletics career on the track and went on to hold many roles in various sporting organisations. Now he wants to become the President of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the IAAF. What more can be done help clean up sport?

Sir Antony Sher is widely regarded as one of the finest of contemporary classical actors - he is South African, Jewish, openly gay and famously frank about his private struggles. Stephen Sackur asks how this self-styled outsider became a doyen of the British theatrical establishment.

Hardtalk speaks to Thuli Madonsela, South Africa’s Public Protector. As the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, Mrs. Madonsela claims President Zuma ‘benefitted unduly’ from a 25 million dollar facelift for his private home and wants him to return some of the taxpayers’ money. The ruling ANC says she’s mistaken, and the Parliament dominated by the party has voted to throw out her findings. Mrs. Madonsela is sticking to her guns and has been under attack at home whilst being celebrated abroad. So who’s right and who’s wrong?

HARDtalk's Stephen Saclur talks to the joint winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize who have been chosen for their extraordinary efforts on behalf of children's rights - Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani school girl campaigner Malala Yousafzai, the youngest ever recipient. Malala rose to prominence two years ago after she was shot and almost killed by the Taliban in Pakistan. She now lives in England and campaigns around the world for girls' education. Kailash Satyarthi has spent three decades fighting child slavery and abuse in India - his organisation Save the Childhood has saved tens of thousands of children from servitude and suffering.

Whatever happened to the Egyptian revolution? Those heady days of people power in Tahrir square now seem like a collective delusion. A military strong man is back in power, President Mubarak has been handed a get out of jail for free card and dissent is being repressed with an iron fist. HARDtalk speaks to Alaa Al Aswany, the bestselling Egyptian novelist, political commentator and sometime dentist. Is Egypt's story a harsh lesson in the dangers of wishful thinking?

Around the world the election of Barak Obama to the White House was seen as a watershed moment for race relations in America. The first black man to be President was taken as the symbol of a new post-racial era; but six years on, with tensions between black communities and the police running sky high is anyone still talking about a post-racial America? HARDtalk speaks to Cornel West, writer, academic and fierce critic of President Obama, and asks why the race debate turned sour.

Israelis and Palestinians seem to have given up on the idea of negotiating a compromise peace. From Jerusalem to Gaza mutual mistrust is deep and getting deeper. Israel's unilateral approach is embodied in settlement building on occupied land; the Palestinians are seeking international recognition of their claim to statehood. Hardtalk speaks to Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the so-called Middle East peace process. Has the time come to admit that the 'peace process' is an unhelpful fiction?

Hardtalk speaks to the man who has been called America’s greatest living crime writer. Through works such as the Black Dalia and LA Confidential, James Ellroy has created a uniquely dark portrait of America. His is a nightmare vision of crazed killers and corrupt cops. He writes of what he knows – his own mother was murdered when he was a child. So is that simple, terrible fact the key to understanding all the words he has ever written?

HARDtalk’s Sarah Montague speaks to Vali Nasr, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a former adviser to President Obama's administration, about US foreign policy.

Hardtalk speaks to Pervez Musharraf. The former army chief and former president of Pakistan thought he could ride a wave of popular support back into power. Instead, he found himself facing separate charges of treason and murder. How did Pakistan's former strong man get things so wrong, and what will his fate tell us about where power lies in today’s Pakistan?

Ebola is wreaking havoc on 3 West African nations - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The official death toll is beyond 5000, the real victim-count is almost certainly much higher. The virus brings with it a lethal cocktail of fear, fractured communities and economic misery. Hardtalk speaks to Dr Geraldine O’Hara, a specialist in infectious diseases who is just back from a stint working with Doctors without Borders in Sierra Leone. What's the key to beating Ebola?

Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur talks to a man with a remarkable story which has earned him accolades and admiration around the world. Sir Nicholas Winton is now 105 years old, when he was just 29 he helped rescue more than 600 mostly Jewish children from Nazi persecution in Czechoslovakia. He hates being labelled a hero, but Sir Nicholas Winton is living proof that individuals can make an extraordinary difference - what motivated him?

Just how far is Vladimir Putin prepared to push, in his high stakes confrontation with the West over Ukraine? New allegations of Russian military incursions prompted Ukraine's President to talk of all-out war, and western leaders to threaten more sanctions. Hardtalk speaks to Mikhail Kasyanov, who was Russian Prime Minister in Putin's first presidential term, and is now a diehard opponent. Do most Russians remain confident their President knows what he's doing?

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is ninety years old. His grip on power is still tight but it it won’t last forever; and in recent months the jostling for the succession has turned into a public punch up - adding to the uncertainty in a country beset with political and economic problems. Hardtalk speaks to Zimbabwe's Tourism Minister, Walter Mzembi. He wants to put an end to his country's international isolation; how can that happen while the old guard remains in place?