The Interview

“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 UN of service and impact. That is the UN I want see.”
James Copnall speaks to Olara Otunnu, Ugandan diplomat, lawyer and former Foreign Minister.
He has spent decades working at the highest levels of international diplomacy. He has also served as a United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
Now Uganda has formally nominated him for UN Secretary-General, putting him among seven candidates in the running to succeed Antonio Guterres. It is a position widely regarded as the world’s top diplomatic job.
Olara Otunnu talks about how he intends to bridge the gap between international politics and the needs of local people around the world.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, South Africa’s Ambassador to the US Roelf Meyer and the author Maggie O’ Farrell. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: James Copnall
Producer: Sharon Hemans
Editor: Farhana Haider
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Olara Otunnu. Credit: Getty)

“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 apologise. And Trump, when he met Roy Cohn, he began mimicing how he talked.”
BBC Newsnight presenter Paddy O’Connell, speaks to author Kai Bird about Roy Cohn, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and mentor.

Cohn rose to prominence as Senator Joe McCarthy’s chief counsel in the early 1950s, helping drive the campaign against alleged communists in the United States.
Decades later, he became Donald Trump’s lawyer and mentor shaping his approach to power.
In an interview with BBC Newsnight, Kai argues that Cohn’s lessons in attacking, denying and never apologising provided a blueprint for Trump’s political life.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews coming from the BBC, including episodes with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and author Maggie O’Farrell.

You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Paddy O’Connell
Producer: Osman Iqbal
Editor: Farhana Haider
(Image: Kai Bird. Credit: Getty)

“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 unemployment rate in the last 40 years, and even when it comes to education, every year there’s not been one single government examination where the paper isn’t leaked, or the paper or the exam isn’t cancelled. So people are really frustrated with unemployment, and with the education ministry in India, which isn’t accountable at all.”
Yogita Limaye speaks to youth campaigner Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the satirical Cockroach Janta Party.
Dipke rose to prominence in India earlier this year after criticising the country’s Chief Justice, who had compared unemployed young people and social-media activists to cockroaches.
Dipke was studying in the US when he posted "What if all cockroaches come together?" on the social media platform ‘X’ in response.
He thought little of the post at the time. But it quickly went viral, snowballing into a youth protest movement that has shaken India’s political establishment and thrust Dipke himself into the spotlight.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with fellow activist Sonam Wangchuk, writer Twinkle Khanna, and film director Rohan Kanawada. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Yogita Limaye
Producer: Ben Cooper
Editor: Farhana Haider
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Abhijeet Dipke. Credit: Reuters)

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 France, when it was established as a water company during the country’s industrial revolution.
More than a century-and-a-half later, it’s grown to become one of the world’s leading operators of environmental services, working across five continents - providing water supplies, waste management and energy services.
In this exclusive, wide-ranging interview, Brachlianoff reveals how a multi-billion dollar corporation operates, as well as how Veolia adapts to the various challenges posed by climate change, and opportunities offered by technological advances.
“Why is it important that we increase the recycling rates? It's not just for the CO2 emissions, although it's important, it's because it's a source of materials as opposed to importing it from elsewhere. So in a way, instead of mining the planet, what about mining our waste? Instead of importing paper and oil and plastic, because plastic of course is traditionally made out of oil and lithium to make batteries, what about mining our waste?” says Brachlianoff.
(Image: Estelle Brachlianoff. Credit: Getty Images)
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
Thank you to the Big Boss Interview team for their help in making this programme.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with entrepreneur Isaac Larian, meteorologist Celeste Saulo, and Arm CEO Rene Haas. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Justin Rowlatt
Producers: Ben Cooper and Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Damon Rose

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 bring apartheid to an end.
Now he takes up his new post amid a serious rupture in relations with the US President Trump has cut aid, expelled the previous South African ambassador and offered refugee status to white Afrikaners he says are fleeing persecution, claiming the community faces “genocide”.
The South African government rejects that allegation. Meyer, himself an Afrikaner, explains why he believes Trump has been given the wrong picture and how his experience negotiating the end of apartheid could help repair relations with Washington.
“The notion of a mass attack on the Afrikaner was misrepresented by those that might have conveyed the message. I mean, I’m an Afrikaner from South Africa myself. And I can say that I’ve never experienced something of that kind. We found it strange. So the source is misrepresented, unfortunately, something that just doesn’t exist,” says Meyer.
(Photo: Roelf Meyer, South Africa’s ambassador to the US, wears a navy blazer with a white shirt and light blue tie. He has short white hair. Credit: Getty Images)

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Sundar Pichai and Julia Gillard.

You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Ione Wells
Producer: Osman Iqbal
Editor: Damon Rose