The Interview

“When you've been really nihilistic in your life when you're younger, and then you feel you've been given a second chance.”

Emma Barnett speaks to artist Dame Tracey Emin about her life and career.

Emin rose to fame in the 1990s as a disruptor of the art world, with her works, such as the sculpture ‘My Bed’, gaining widespread media attention. Having been at the forefront of the modern art scene for over three decades, a solo exhibition has now opened at the Tate Modern in London showcasing 40 years of her work.

She’s well-known for channelling her life experiences into her artwork. Following a troubled childhood, in which she was a victim of sexual abuse, Emin battled alcohol addiction throughout her adult life. However, she gave up alcohol after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 2020 - which is now in remission.

Emin views the experience as a ‘second life’, and believes the lifestyle change has been for the better.

Thank you to the Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett team for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Emma Barnett

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(Image: Tracey Emin posing beside her artwork during a preview of her upcoming show, Tracey Emin: A Second Life at The Tate Modern in London. Credit: ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP via Getty Images)

“We need to get back to something where freedom of navigation and peaceful navigation is restored, and that will depend on some kind of deal between the two sides in that war.”

(Image: Vincent Clerc Credit: BBC)

“People are too gloomy about AI, particularly in the developing world it is seen as a threat, that people are going to be using AI systems, rather than offshoring jobs and the like. That's true, but you could use AI yourself and develop solutions to the challenges you have in your community, in your country, and create unprecedented wealth.”

(Image: Karim Beguir Credit: JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)

“The destruction of USAID is not only one of the cruellest acts that I've seen in my career, but of course also one of the dumbest.”

Caitriona Perry speaks to Samantha Power, the former American ambassador to the United Nations. She went on to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development until January 2025 when Donald Trump came to power. President Trump later closed USAID down.

She is scathing about his decision, describing it as a “soft power suicide” which will lead to the avoidable deaths of millions of people around the world. Ambassador Power also warns of gridlock in the United Nations, thanks to the use of veto powers by permanent members of the Security Council.

Thank you to Caitriona Perry and Abby Godard for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Caitriona Perry

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(Image: Samantha Power Credit: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“One of the things that was going to combat gender inequality in our world was that sense of progress and then to see in the research that actually the younger generation is more conservative on these questions than people my age, that deeply troubled me.”

Lucy Hockings speaks to Julia Gillard former Australian PM and chair at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, King’s College London about new research on equality.

Having worked her way to the top in the male dominated world of Australian politics, Julia knows about sexism and misogyny. She famously called it out in a speech against opposition leader Tony Abbott in 2012 and has always been a proponent of equality for women. But 14 years on and research from the organisation she now leads finds that more and more young men want a traditional wife that obeys her husband and that’s not too independent*. So what has gone wrong?

Lucy and Julia unpick the research and analyse the factors behind this backsliding, and they also discuss Julia’s time as Australia’s first ever female head of government.

Presenter: Lucy Hockings

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*31% of Gen Z men (born between 1997 and 2012) agree that a wife should always obey her husband and one third (33%) say a husband should have the final word on important decisions, according to a new global study of 23,000 people in 29-countries conducted by Ipsos UK and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Business School, King’s College London.

(Image: Julia Gillard Credit: Vicki Couchman for King’s College London)

“I have never made a movie I didn't believe was necessary for me or for someone in the world, whether to entertain or to connect at a spiritual level or something. It's been only done for the art.”

John Wilson speaks to Oscar-winning Mexican director, screenwriter, and producer, Guillermo del Toro about his life and career.

Born in Guadalajara in 1964, his life suddenly changed at the age of five after his father, then a motorcycle racer, won the lottery. While his parents travelled the world with the winnings, del Toro was raised at home by his Catholic great aunt, a deeply religious figure who exposed him to concepts including purgatory and sin.

Fascinated and frightened in equal measure, it piqued his interest in the supernatural, leading him to seek out books and films on the genre. And when his father presented him with a video camera a few years later, the two interests combined and set the young del Toro on a path to becoming an Oscar winner renowned for making films that mix fantasy, horror, and Gothic romance, to create modern fairy tales.

Thank you to the This Cultural Life team for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: John Wilson

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(Image: Guillermo del Toro. Credit: Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images for Santa Barbara International Film Festival)

“Africa is flowing with resources from oil, diamonds, critical minerals. But at times we find that in our cities, at the bus stations, there's no toilets with running water in a continent which is rich with possibilities. So it's how that intentionality, that political will, to put resources to what matters most.”

Daniel Dadzie speaks to Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN deputy director for women, about the need for Africa to focus on the priorities of its people, such as water and sanitation.

The interview took place at the African Union summit in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia, where the theme was: “Ensuring sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems.” It’s part of Agenda 2063 - the organisation’s 50-year strategic framework. But Gumbonzvanda says these things can’t wait fifty years, and that they need to be a priority for African leaders now.

In her role as deputy lead for UN Women, she is also increasingly concerned by the stories she’s been hearing from the women of Sudan, where the civil war continues to rage. She says that regional bodies and the UN are not doing enough to protect the war-torn country’s women and children.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Taiwan’s cyber ambassador Audrey Tang, author Sir Salman Rushdie, and South African health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. 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: Daniel Dadzie

Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for The Ford Foundation)

“We stand and fight for survival. We are an independent state. We will definitely not lose this war”

Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s International Editor, speaks to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview marking the fourth anniversary of the Ukraine war.

Official figures put the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at 55,000 since the full-scale Russian invasion began, but that is believed to be an underestimate, with many more missing. The number of Russian soldiers killed is believed to be much higher. The civilian death toll in Ukraine stands at more then 14,000.

Repeated attempts at a peace deal have failed.

In the face of ongoing Russian aggression, President Zelensky remains defiant. Russia has started the Third World War, he says, and must not be allowed to win.

Thank you to Imogen Anderson and Jeremy Bowen for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Jeremy Bowen

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(Image: Volodymyr Zelensky Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Laura Kuenssberg speaks to former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and former head of the British Armed Forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, about the war in Ukraine.

Johnson was in Downing Street four years ago, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. As one of the driving forces behind the West’s initial response, he has been critical of the slowness of allies in providing support to President Zelensky, which Johnson says has cost lives.

The two men believe the conflict could have been prevented altogether if Western allies had paid more attention to Putin's increasing aggression and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Presenter: Laura Kuenssberg

Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Boris Johnson and Sir Tony Radakin. Credit: Jeff Overs)

“Food is a human right that should be supported by everybody, no children should go to bed hungry, even less in a conflict."

(Image: José Andrés Credit: Pief Weyman/NBC via Getty Images)