Iran’s nuclear programme

Last week’s talks between Iran and the six world powers were hailed as a significant step forward, after Iran agreed to an inspection of the nuclear site at Qum and to explore its stocks of enriched uranium for processing abroad.

Is this the beginning of a new era of transparency and co-operation between Iran and the West, or is it the so-called rogue state simply trying to avoid further sanctions?

Sir David is joined by Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, to talk about Iran’s nuclear programme.

One year after Lehmann brother’s breakdown, is the worst of the financial crisis over? John Gieve, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, joins Sir David to discuss global economy and the banks’ situation one year after the crisis.

Plus, is the so-called war on drugs a waste of time, money and lives? For decades we have been fighting this war and no one has been able to claim victory. Is legalisation the solution? Sir David talks to Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the UN office on Drugs and Crime, and Tom Feiling, author of The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took Over the World about the international drug trade.

Ian Botham, the former English Test cricketer who scored more than 5,000 runs and took 383 wickets in Test matches, was voted the greatest English cricketer of the 20th century by the fans.

He has compiled a book of his 50 top British and Irish sporting heroes. Ian Botham joins Sir David to talk about his sporting heroes and what makes them special.

Travel writer William Dalrymple joins Sir David to talk about his book Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, the story of traditional forms religious life and how they have been transformed  in the region’s rapid change.

Plus, a couple in the US has been sentenced to six month in prison because they refused to get any medical help for their sick daughter. They prayed instead, and the daughter, suffering from undiagnosed diabetes, died.

Carol Cooper, a family doctor who also writes on medical matters for the Sun newspaper, and Andrew Butterfield, a member of the World Healing Crusade, discuss why the power of prayer and spiritual healing offers some people more hope than conventional medicine.