Hardtalk

The fashion world today is full of numerous brands and designers - but one stands out as a pioneer of women’s high street fashion: Biba created by design icon Barbara Hulanicki. Born in Poland but raised in Britain her shops were a hangout for some of the most famous names in swinging sixties London. The rise and fall of Biba was a personal tragedy for her. But Barbara Hulanicki’s legacy is intact: she made fashion affordable for the masses. But has she helped bring about a throwaway culture that expects cheap and fashionable clothing?Picture shows: Designer Barbara Hulanicki at Milan Fashion Week Menswear in 2009. Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

The migrant crisis is pushing EU countries into trying to come up with solutions that are fair for member states and refugees fleeing conflict. There is evidence that people smugglers from the western Balkans are involved in the movement of thousands of migrants and are increasingly favouring land routes through Balkan states like Macedonia. Hardtalk asks the Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki what can governments like his do to resolve the current crisis?(Photo: Macedonia's Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

What does the leadership battle for Britain’s Labour Party tell us about left of centre politics in Britain and elsewhere in the world? If the polls are correct, then the veteran MP Jeremy Corbyn, is set to become the new Labour leader this month. He is the most left-wing of the four contestants and his anti-austerity economic policy is based on printing money for increased public spending and state ownership of major industries. After a huge defeat for Labour in May’s general election and a big swing to the Conservatives would Labour and other similar parties in Europe be more popular with voters by holding to the centre-ground?(Photo: From left, Charles Clarke and Ken Livingstone)

Stephen Sackur speaks to writer and publisher Jürgen Todenhöfer, who embarked on one of the most hazardous journeys imaginable for a western journalist. Last December, the 74-year-old German spent 10 days inside the territory controlled by the so-called Islamic State movement. He was taken to the group's base in Raqqa, Syria, and then to their most highly prized asset in Iraq - the northern city of Mosul. He emerged unscathed with a remarkable story. What motivates the jihadist fighters?

Earlier this year Zeinab Badawi went to Malta to meet Suha Arafat - the widow of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Ten years after his death, Mrs Arafat gave a rare broadcast interview about their marriage and tells her why she believes her husband was assassinated and why she has chosen to live in Malta and not amongst the Palestinian people who so revered him.(Photo: Suha Arafat. Credit: Matthew Mirabelli/AFP/Getty)

Tim Franks speaks to Don McLean - the self-confessed "accidental" pop star whose first unlikely hit became one of the defining songs of the century. In April, the manuscript to American Pie was auctioned for more than a million dollars. McLean has always resisted analysing his famous lyrics too closely but what does he have to say now about the American music industry, and the American dream?

Draw up a list of the greatest living film-makers and Werner Herzog would surely occupy a prominent place. He is responsible for some of the most wildly beautiful images captured on film. If you have seen Fitzcarraldo you won’t have forgotten the steamship being hauled over a mountain. He is seen as the film industry's obsessive genius, the director who once threatened to shoot his lead actor to prevent him quitting. After five decades making movies, is Werner Herzog's love of film as intense as ever?(Photo: Werner Herzog with an award during the Lola - German Film Awards in 2013. Credit: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Colm Tóibín is an Irish writer whose intense, lyrical novels have won him awards, acclaim and most importantly millions of readers around the world. Colm Tóibín isn't so much a flamboyant storyteller; he's more an acute observer of character and the deepest human feelings. There are recurring themes in his work - loss, mourning, sexual repression and exile which might suggest a dark, brooding presence - but how close is that to the real Colm Tóibín?(Photo: Colm Tóibín. Credit: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images)

Zeinab Badawi talks to the South African jazz musician and political activist Hugh Masekela. His life and music have reflected the struggles of the anti-apartheid era and the subsequent years of black majority rule. So why does he now describe South Africa as fast turning into a rubbish dump and becoming removed from its authentic African culture?(Photo: Hugh Masekela. Credit: C Brandon/Redferns/Getty)

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?(Photo: James Ellroy. Credit: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images)

South Africa's Democratic Alliance, the country's main opposition party, has its first ever black leader. Mmusi Maimane took over in May this year from Helen Zille. He says he wants to represent all South Africans regardless of colour, but the vast majority of black South Africans support the ANC, the party of Nelson Mandela. Can Mmusi Maimane win them over and take race out of South African politics?(Picture: Mmusi Maimane campaigns around Protea South on October 23, 2013 in Soweto, South Africa. Credit: Foto24/Getty)

For more than three decades the ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem has performed as principal dancer at most leading ballet establishments, redrawing the boundaries of the genre. But at the end of this year she will be giving her last performance in a worldwide farewell tour. She will undoubtedly go down in ballet history as one of the greatest dancers of all time - but she is famously been dubbed 'Mademoiselle Non' for being too assertive. Hardtalk speaks to her about that as well as the poisonous rivalries in the world of ballet and her activism to save the planet.(Photo: Sylvie Guillem. Credit: Getty Images)

Could Turkey be slipping back into conflict? A fragile three year peace process between the government and Kurdish militants from the PKK, the Kurdistan workers’ party, has broken down. Several Turkish soldiers and police have been killed in the past few weeks and the government blames the PKK. Zeinab Badawi talks to Turkish MP Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Honorary President of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP). What is he doing to prevent a further escalation of violence in Turkey?

The migrant crisis on both sides of the English Channel has led to accusation and counter accusation in Britain and France as thousands of migrants make nightly attempts to enter the UK illegally. What is clear is the EU's migration system isn't working. Hardtalk speaks to Calais' deputy-mayor Philippe Mignonet and senior British Conservative MP Tim Loughton. How can Europe move beyond the blame game and find a fair and just solution for everyone?(Photo: Migrants continue to try and board lorries bound for the UK on June 2015 in Calais. Credit: Getty Images)

A host of countries around the world still impose the ultimate punishment on the most serious criminals - death. What is it like to be in command of the machinery of state-sanctioned execution? Hardtalk gets a rare insight from Allen Ault, who spent years running the corrections system in the southern US state of Georgia. He organised the killing of criminals until he could stand it no more. Now he is an opponent of the death penalty. Stephen Sackur finds out why.(Photo: Allen Ault)

The prime minister Alexis Tsipras is facing a rebellion from the hard left in his party, Syriza, who accuse him of going back on his promise to reject austerity. However, it is not just economics that is at the heart of the disagreement; it is a struggle for what kind of country Greece wants to be in the 21st Century. Zeinab Badawi talks to Stathis Kouvelakis - a Syriza central committee member. Who is winning the argument in Greece?(Photo: Stathis Kouvelakis)

There are a number of successful contemporary artists whose work sells for millions of dollars. But how many of them will leave an enduring mark when the clamour of fashion and hype has moved elsewhere? Hardtalk speaks to one of Britain's best known and controversial artists Marc Quinn. He sculpts, he paints, he manufactures extraordinary objects, and sometimes he enrages the critics - but will his work stand the test of time?(Photo: Artist Marc Quinn poses with a maquette for his Fourth Plinth proposal entitled Alison Lapper Pregnant. Credit: Getty Images)

If you are watching cycling's greatest race the Tour de France this year, are you admiring the remarkable strength and stamina of the riders, or privately wondering whether their performance is fuelled by illegal substances? So much elite sport today is tainted by our knowledge of past cheating. Hardtalk's Stephen Sackur talks to David Howman, director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Why is it proving so hard to root drugs out of sport?(Photo: Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) David Howman. Credit: Getty Images)

What does it mean to be black in the United States today? The messages are mixed. An African-American has made it all the way to the White House, but in Barack Obama's America one in three of all young black males is likely to spend time in prison during the course of his life. Stephen Sackur speaks to Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer, rights advocate and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. Why are America's race-based wounds so slow to heal?(Photo: Bryan Stevenson. Credit: Getty Images)

Hardtalk is at Nato headquarters in Brussels to speak to the organisation’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. In some ways it is just like old times – Moscow is once again seen to pose a threat to Europe’s eastern flank. Nato leaders promise a robust, collective response. But a generation on from the Cold War - are they serious? The western world’s military alliance has a proud history, but does it have a future?