The Interview

Jerry Brown, former California governor: America then and now

BBC special correspondent James Naughtie speaks to former Governor of California, Jerry Brown. He was first elected governor in 1974, succeeding Ronald Reagan, and went

Shami Chakrabarti, human rights lawyer: Healthy democracies need a free media

“There aren't enough lawyers and judges on the planet if journalists are silent, because abuses of power just don't come to light, in my experience, without this relation

Olara Otunnu, diplomat: UN cannot be diplomatic ivory tower

“I do not want the United Nations of New York, Geneva or Vienna to be an ivory tower, a diplomatic ivory tower. I want to see the UN not of power and privilege, but the U

Kai Bird, Author: Roy Cohn, the man who shaped Trump?

“He had no guardrails. He had no rules. He told Donald Trump, you know, when criticised, attack, attack, attack, deny, deny deny, always go on the offensive, never apolog

Abhijeet Dipke, youth campaigner: There’s an underlying frustration in India

“I think there’s been this underlying frustration among the youth of India for a very long time. If we look at the unemployment data, India currently has the highest unem

Estelle Brachlianoff, Veolia CEO: We need to rethink waste

Justin Rowlatt speaks to Estelle Brachlianoff, chief executive of environmental firm Veolia. The corporation’s origins can be traced all the way back to 19th Century Fran

Roelf Meyer, South African Ambassador: Trump has been misled

Ione Wells speaks to Roelf Meyer, South Africa’s new ambassador to the United States. In the 1990s, Meyer was one of the leading negotiators in the talks that helped brin

Earl Spencer, Diana’s brother: King Charles told me the world would forget her

“I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said. I've only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life. I was hyper alert

Fally Ipupa, musician: Speak out on DRC suffering

“Not just African musician. Everybody, even journalist, even president, even football player, even promoter. We need to do it for those people who suffer, who don’t have

Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the ICRC: The rules of war are being ignored

‘I compare the erosion of international humanitarian law with bankruptcy it happens gradually at first and then all of a sudden instantly. This is what is happening with

David Vigneault, ex-intelligence chief: Democracies are being destabilised

“This is one of the exact aspect of hybrid warfare of Russia… They are targeting us specifically to create dissensions, to create and to prop up artificially some voices

Amir Khan Muttaqi, Afghan FM: Not everything is banned for women

Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, meets Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi as the Taliban seeks greater international recognition.

Sophia Amoruso, Nasty Gal founder: I was out of my league

“I had hired a CEO for the last two years. The company was at a place where revenue had plateaued. I wasn’t someone who could look at a spreadsheet 50 tabs wide and tell

Vadym Skibitsky, Ukrainian intelligence: We are fighting for survival

“We don’t have another way for surviving, because we are an independent state, it's our territory, it's our land, it’s our culture, it’s our history, and we must fight to

Rene Haas, Arm CEO: AI demand won’t slow

“Let's go back to the timeframe with the internet building out. We didn’t have an issue that the internet 20 years later is not a valuable utility… If you don't have acce

Leah Solivan, TaskRabbit founder: How the gig economy falls short

“People just wanted to own the way they worked, but with that comes these institutional structures that have been built around the history of work that doesn’t allow for

Daron Acemoglu, Economist: Liberal democracy is in crisis

BBC Newsnight presenter Paddy O’Connell speaks to Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu about why he thinks liberal democracy is in crisis, and how artificial inte

Michelle Bachelet, UN Chief candidate: Time for a woman to lead

“For 80 years, we only have men [lead the UN] and I think it is not about women because she is a woman … The idea is a woman because she has the experience, the leadershi

Kristina Wilfore: Male anxieties being weaponised

“It's a distortion of real pressures. When I'm analysing trends around men…they are wanting to lean into what being a man means. In many cases strength, loyalty, protecti

Joe Ngai, McKinsey: Domestic rivalry drives Chinese firms

“More Chinese companies are put out of business by other Chinese companies. Chinese companies are not put out of business because of Western companies, so this whole comp