Hardtalk

Shaun Ley talks to Mathieu Kassovitz, the French actor and director. Mathieu Kassovitz has been a darling of French cinema for thirty years. Now he says "I'm out of this country" - and it's nothing to do with taxes. Frustrated with an industry that was indifferent to his latest movie, or with the politicians who furnish some of his least appealing characters? Or could it be the French themselves who've annoyed Mathieu Kassovitz? His newest film attracted an audience there of just 150 000 people. Has the actor-director tired of France, or have the French tired of him?

On Hardtalk, Shaun Ley talks to Germany's Deputy Finance Minister, Steffen Kampeter. His boss, 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 doing not enough, fearful of those domestic critics ahead of this autumn's federal election. Just how big a price is Germany prepared to pay to save the euro-project, and its own reputation?

Stephen Sackur talks to one of Britain's most successful actors, Jeremy Irons. Best known for his portrayal of troubled, brooding upper class men, he is now made a film about the mountains of toxic waste polluting our planet. Could his strong opinions get him into trouble?

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 Thatcher-ism. Maurice, now Lord Saatchi, was the advertising guru who helped define, and sell, what she stood for. How enduring is the Thatcher legacy?

Stephen Sackur talks to Sir John Holmes, who was the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator during crises in Sudan, Sri Lanka and Haiti. In the midst of war or natural disaster humanitarian aid can make the difference between life and death. Since leaving the UN Sir John Holmes has been wrestling with a basic question - does humanitarian aid work, or does it all too often exacerbate conflict and entrench dependency? With international relief efforts now focused on the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Syria can we be confident that lessons from the past have been learnt?

Stephen Sackur talks to Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister, Mimoza Kusari Lila. She was born and raised in Kosovo but left Pristina to study in the US. When she returned in 2001 Kosovo was in limbo, a war-torn NATO protectorate. Kosovo's progress has been slow. The long running conflict between the ethnic Albanian majority and the ethnic Serbian minority has not been resolved. Kosovo has a form of independence, but in the Serb stronghold around Mitrovica the Belgrade government continues to play a dominant role. Neither Kosovo nor Serbia will be welcomed into the European family of nations until they end their feuding. And without European investment and universal international recognition Kosovo's economy remains the poorest in all of Europe. Mimoza Kusari Lila is now minister of trade and industry but there's little prospect of economic transformation without a new relationship with Belgrade. How close is that?

Stephen Sackur talks to Patrick Chinamasa, Justice Minister of Zimbabwe and the first senior Zanu-PF figure to make an official visit to the UK in more than a decade. Zimbabwe's people have endorsed a new constitution, paving the way for elections due later this year. It's hoped that the political violence of recent years will not be repeated in the Presidential contest. But how much has really changed in the country?

HardTalk's Stephen Sackur talks to philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett. He's been described as one of the four horsemen of the new atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens. Professor Dennett has written powerfully and extensively against religion by deploying evolutionary theory to argue that religion has outlived its usefulness and serves as nothing more than a block on human thought and understanding of the universe. Dennett's world view is based on the proposition that there is no grand design, no higher purpose beyond life itself - it satisfies him, but do human beings really want to live in a world where atheism rules and religion is dead?

Stephen Sackur talks to Norwegian general Robert Mood, who lead the 2012 UN supervision mission in Syria. It was the UN Security Council's effort to encourage both the Assad regime and the Syrian rebel forces to stick to a loose ceasefire agreement brokered by the then special envoy Kofi Annan. After worsening violence, the mission was first suspended then abandoned. Has inertia and division within the international community condemned Syria to a slow and agonising collapse?

Zeinab Badawi talks to the President of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara. The 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. 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?

On HardTalk, Stephen Sackur talks to Kishore Mahbubani, one of a select band of international thinkers and commentators whose ideas fuel political debate from Washington DC to Beijing, from Berlin to Brazilia. He was born in Singapore to Indian parents. He had a long career in the foreign service of the Singapore government, twice serving as ambassador to the United Nations. Now he spends his time in academia, and on the international conference circuit, discussing his provocative ideas about the nature of globalisation and the changing balance of world power. His latest book is an antidote to the economic and political pessimism prevalent in the West - the world has never been more peaceful, nor more prosperous, he says, and as peoples converge around shared ideas and aspirations there is every prospect of a more international cooperation on the key challenges facing humanity. But is his optimism to be justified?

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?

Zeinab Badawi speaks to Romania’s Prime Minister, Victor Ponta. 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 haven’t gone away. Victor Ponta is on a mission to restore his country’s image. Can he succeed?

No one ever said it would be easy for British Prime Minister David Cameron – 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. Stephen Sackur speaks to veteran Conservative cabinet minister, Ken Clarke. Is Mr Cameron in danger of losing his grip?

HardTalk's Stephen Sackur talks to Theodor Meron, president of the war crimes tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He was born and raised in Poland, the son of a Jewish family torn apart by the Nazi genocide. He spent his childhood years working in a Nazi labour camp. Having survived and trained as a lawyer he specialised in humanitarian law. He was involved in the discussions which led to the creation of the International Criminal Court, which is now vested with powers to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of war crimes around the world. But does the system of international justice for the worst of crimes really work?