Marianna Spring, the BBC’s social media investigations correspondent, speaks to Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa, co-founder of the independent Filipino news outlet Rappler.

With over 40 years in journalism, Maria describes today’s information landscape as a war zone, where online attacks, including doxxing, misogynistic hashtags, and manipulated images don’t just stay online. They spill into real-world intimidation and violence.

This conversation explores the rise of online misogyny, the weaponisation of social media by authoritarian regimes, and the global impact on press freedom. Maria draws on her experience in the Philippines to offer insights for resisting digital repression and calls out tech giants for failing to protect democracy.

She also shares her vision for accountability and action and what needs to happen to safeguard journalism and democracy in the digital age.

Presenter: Marianna Spring

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(Image: Maria Ressa Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Amol Rajan speaks to Sir Nick Clegg - former deputy Prime Minister of the UK and, more recently, former President of Global Affairs at Meta - about big tech, AI and the future of social media.

Sir Nick first appeared on the world stage back in 2010, when he became the UK’s deputy prime minister after his Liberal Democrats party went into a coalition government with David Cameron’s Conservatives.

After leaving Westminster in 2017, he surprised many political observers when he was hired by Facebook, now known as Meta, to head up their global affairs and communications. In 2022, Sir Nick was then promoted to become the company’s president of global affairs, where he oversaw policy and government relations.

Sir Nick subsequently worked closely with Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg for several years, but decided to step down at the beginning of this year.

And now, amid growing concerns over the regulation of big tech, the growth of AI and the future of the internet itself, he’s drawing on his vast experience from both Westminster and Silicon Valley to offer insight into what could be ahead.

Thank you to the Radical with Amol Rajan team for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Amol Rajan

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(Image: Sir Nick Clegg. Credit: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

‘When it comes to women's lives, things have progressed, maybe not always in a linear way.’

Devina Gupta speaks to author and columnist Twinkle Khanna about the lives of women in 21st century India.

Born into a family of Bollywood royalty, Khanna initially followed her parents Dimple Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna into acting. However, despite appearing in dozens of films and receiving accolades for her performances, she considers herself to have been a ‘failed actress’.

After a short stint as an interior designer, she turned her hand to writing, and soon realised how much she could make people laugh.

As a prominent writer, however, Khanna has faced significant backlash - including for comments challenging both traditional roles within marriage and religious customs that label women impure during menstruation. Her outspoken views on gender norms and marital expectations have led to heated debate on social media, and made her the subject of widespread trolling.

So with the follow-up Mrs Funnybones book coming out over a decade later, she’s now asking the much larger question: what, if anything, has changed for Indian women in that time.

Presenter: Devina Gupta

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(Image: Twinkle Khanna: Credit: SUJIT JAISWAL/AFP via Getty Images)

“The current state of the art AI technology is prone to some errors… you have to learn to use these tools for what they are good at, and not blindly trust everything they say.”

Faisal Islam speaks to Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google and its holding company Alphabet, about artificial intelligence and its impact on how we live and work.

He tells me that we are at an extraordinary moment in technology, with the potential for enormous benefits but also risks. AI should not be blindly trusted, he says, as it is still prone to errors. And it will disrupt society through its impact on jobs, but also on the climate, thanks to its “immense” energy needs.

Thank you to Faisal Islam and Priya Patel for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Faisal Islam

(Image: Sundar Pichai. Credit: CAMILLE COHEN/AFP via Getty Images)

‘So-called turmoil or shortcomings in my life? I turn them into power or energy’

Best known for playing the serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 thriller ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, Sir Anthony’s journey to Hollywood stardom started with humble beginnings.

Born into a working class family in the Welsh steel town of Port Talbot in 1937, his parents first ran a bakery, and then later a pub. Their strong work ethic was imparted on their son, who, despite struggling socially and educationally in his early years, was determined to make a success of himself. Throwing himself into reading and creative pastimes like music and art, Sir Anthony studied at both the Welsh Royal College of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy for Dramatic Art.

His early career saw him working alongside greats including Katharine Hepburn, Lawrence Olivier, Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole across both stage and screen, with his international breakout coming in the 1980 film ‘The Elephant Man’, which received multiple Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.

It would be another decade before he truly cemented his place as a Hollywood A-lister: playing the infamous serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter, regarded by many critics as one of the greatest film villains of all-time. The role won him the first of his two Oscars, with the second coming for his performance in the 2020 film ‘The Father’.

But the 87-year-old’s long journey to the very top was not only a professional struggle, but at times a personal struggle too, having also battled alcoholism early on in his career - which he says made him a difficult person to work with.

Thank you to the Culture team for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Katie Razzall

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(Image: Sir Anthony Hopkins Credit: Darren Arthur/Getty Images for GEA)

BBC North America correspondent Nomia Iqbal speaks to Noura Erakat, Palestinian-American human rights attorney and professor at Rutgers University.

Noura Erakat reflects on the global response to the war in Gaza and what international law can and cannot do in times of crisis. We explore what accountability might look like and why, for many Palestinians, the law has so often failed them.

She talks about growing up as part of the Palestinian diaspora in the United States and how this has shaped her life.

Presenter: Nomia Iqbal

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(Image: Noura Erakat Credit: Barbara Monteiro)

‘I believe so profoundly in the separation of church and state, and in the dangers of theocracy creeping into the corners of a democracy’

BBC Music Correspondent Mark Savage speaks to US singer-songwriter, producer and performer Brandi Carlile about the personal and political stories behind her songs.

An LGBTQ icon, she sets out her fears about the threat to same-sex marriage in today’s United States, and the impact that has had on her own family. And she shares the strain her own sexuality put on her relationship with her mother while growing up in rural America. It was country music, she says, that brought them together.

Brandi Carlile has won eleven Grammy awards, been nominated for an Oscar, and worked with Elton John and Joni Mitchell. Now releasing her eighth album, she reveals she went into the studio with no songs prepared, only feelings and nostalgia, resulting in a deeply personal record reflecting on childhood memories, parenthood and politics.

Thank you to Mark Savage for his help in making this programme.

Presenter: Mark Savage

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(Image: Brandi Carlile Credit: Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Vitaly Shevchenko speaks to Maria Alyokhina, founding member of the Russian punk activist group Pussy Riot, about the power and the price of protest.

Pussy Riot came to the world’s attention with its Punk Prayer, an angry anti-Putin anthem performed in a Moscow church. Maria Alyokhina spent two years incarcerated in a penal colony as a result. It was worth it, she says, to show the world what life under President Putin was like.

She was freed under an amnesty ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, but her ongoing activism saw her living under surveillance and then house arrest, eventually fleeing Russia in a dramatic escape. Today, she continues to challenge Putin’s regime from outside her home country.

Thank you to the Ukrainecast team for its help in making this programme.

Presenter: Vitaly Shevchenko

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(Image: Maria Alyokhina. Credit: Ina Fassbender/AFP)

James Coomarasamy speaks to acclaimed author Sir Salman Rushdie as he publishes his first work of fiction since surviving a near-fatal attack in 2022, by a man armed with a knife, who is now serving 25 years in prison.

The Eleventh Hour, his new collection of novellas and short stories explores mortality, farewells and even the afterlife. They feature a rich cast of characters - a musical prodigy in post-Partition Mumbai, a ghost with a secret at a Cambridge college and a young writer caught in a Kafkaesque nightmare in modern-day America.

Sir Salman speaks candidly about the threats to free expression, the rise in book bans across the US, and the political climate shaped by figures like Donald Trump. He reflects on the pressures facing writers and readers in a time of disinformation and growing censorship.

We discuss fiction’s power to illuminate truth and why, after everything, he remains committed to the freedom to imagine.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, 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 Coomarasamy

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(Image: Sir Salman Rushdie. Credit: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

‘There's basically a total failure of governance. Nothing is working. There is very serious political instability that has actually manifested itself in violence all across the country.’

James Copnall speaks to senior South Sudanese politician Nhial Deng Nhial, about the political instability that’s threatening the future of the world’s youngest country.

Nhial, who has served in numerous important roles in, including as South Sudan’s Foreign Minister, made headlines last month when he openly criticised the country’s president, Salva Kiir, going from former ally to a voice of opposition.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of struggle led by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or SPLM. But just two years into independence, a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his vice-president Riek Machar led to a civil war in which 400,000 lost their lives.

The civil war was brought to an end in 2018 through a peace deal that saw the creation of a unity government that was meant to pave the way for elections in 2022. However, these never happened, and following renewed clashes between the army and opposition forces earlier this year. The United Nations is deeply concerned about a possible return to outright war.

Amid these growing tensions in the country, even once-staunch allies of the President are now speaking out - including Nhial Deng Nhial who suspended his membership of the ruling SPLM, and accused the government of corruption, fuelling insecurity and refusing to hold long-delayed elections. President Salva is no stranger to public criticism - but there was a sense of shock that the latest to take aim at South Sudan’s leader was Nhial Deng Nhial, a prominent figure in the country, and the party, for decades.

Presenter: James Copnall

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(Image: Nhial Deng Nhial Credit: HANNAH MCNEISH/AFP/GettyImages)