The Interview

“There are those that believe the power of law should be replaced by the law of power”
Anna Foster speaks to Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, about the threat to international law from states acting through power and influence instead, in particular America. Defending the rule of law is necessary, he says, if we are to have a better world.
He also sets out the case for reform of the UN Security Council to allow it to remain effective and relevant in the face of increasingly complex global conflicts.
Antonio Guterres has been at the head of the United Nations since 2017, and is now entering his final year in office.

Thank you to the Today team for its 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 Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and Mustafa Suleyman, boss of Microsoft AI. 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: Anna Foster
Producer: Lucy Sheppard
Editor: Justine Lang
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Antonio Guterres. Credit: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)

Nick Robinson speaks to Polish President Karol Nawrocki about Trump, Russia and the future of Europe.
A historian and a boxer by background, he was elected in June 2025 with the support of Poland’s conservative opposition Law and Justice Party.
A social conservative and devout Catholic, he is also an outspoken critic of the European Union and staunch supporter of Donald Trump, believing that the US President is the only person who can stop the threat to Europe from Vladimir Putin’s Russia: "Europe for a number of years was involved in not so important things, in ideological issues such as Green Deal for instance, climate policy, migration issues. It was not building its resilience and its security."
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, American singer-songwriter Patti Smith and Jordan Bardella, leader of the National Rally in France. 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: Nick Robinson
Producers: Oscar Pearson and Lucy Sheppard
Editor: Justine Lang
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Polish President Karol Nawrocki. Credit: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP)

I do believe US military action is a real threat, and the prospect of removing it depends on the ongoing conversations.
The BBC’s South America correspondent Ione Wells speaks to Gusatvo Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president about his fears of US military action against his country. Petro, a former guerrilla fighter turned reformist leader, has been in office since 2022, championing social justice, environmental policies and regional diplomacy.
He responds to Donald Trump’s recent comments suggesting a military operation against Colombia “sounds good” and accusations that Petro himself is a drug trafficker—claims he strongly denies.
Petro warns that the United States risks moving from global leadership to isolation through what he calls “imperial-style behaviour,” following the recent seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US forces. He also expresses his belief that Washington needs a fundamental rethink of power and diplomacy.
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world.
The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and author Sir Salman Rushdie. 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
Producers: Alba Morgade, Farhana Haider
Editor: Justine Lang
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
Image Credit: NurPhoto/Getty Images

We are in a new era where human rights have been replaced by trade and big businesses and they have almost entirely depleted our ability to show humanity to people on the other side.
Lucy Hockings speaks to Baroness Arminka Helic, Member of the House of Lords and campaigner for refugees and victims of war.
A former Bosnian refugee, she saw first hand the legacy of conflict-related sexual violence and the importance of ending impunity for rape and assault committed as a weapon of war. She tells of her warm welcome to the UK in 1992 and wants us always to remember the human beings behind the refugee statistics.
Baroness Helic talks about the progress in raising awareness of the crimes and her own work in launching the ‘Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative’ in 2012. She says that it’s really hard for victims to speak out because of the stigma around rape but when they do, their voices need to be heard and the crimes documented.
She also speaks about the plight of asylum seekers and the use of starvation in conflict zones like Gaza and Sudan. A Conservative peer, she’s keen to take the politics out of immigration and remember our humanity.
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 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: Lucy Hockings
Producers: Clare Williamson, Farhana Haider
Editor: Justine Lang
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Baroness Arminka Helic. Credit: Roger Harris/House of Lords)

Michael Berkeley speaks to Gabriel Zuchtreigel, Director of Pompeii in Southern Italy, one of the world’s most important archaeological sites.
History, he says, comes alive through archaeology, helping us to appreciate our shared humanity with those who lived thousands of years ago, and providing a more democratic way of learning about the past. Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that erupted and buried Pompeii in ash and pumice, did not distinguish between the wealthy and the poor in its victims.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel was appointed Director of Pompeii in 2021, and has since begun a major excavation, and made a number of significant finds. But it is walking around the site at night, emptied of the crowds, that he feels the ancient city come alive. It is as if, he says, the inhabitants only left a few minutes ago.
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including with artist Doris Salcedo and author Sir Salman Rushdie. 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: Michael Berkeley
Producers: Clare Walker and Lucy Sheppard
Editor: Justine Lang
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Gabriel Zuchtreigel Credit: Ivan Romano/Getty Images)