hello. a very good thursday morning to you. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk with zeinab badawi. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi, coming to you from barbados. i'm on an historic sugar plantation where enslaved africans toiled in backbreaking labour during three centuries of the transatlantic slave trade. barbados was one of the earliest and most profitable of the slave colonies in the caribbean. this is the house on the grounds of the plantation, built in the 16505, where the slave owners lived in great style. my guest is barbados—born eminent historian sir hilary beckles. he's vice chancellor of the university of the west indies and chair of a caribbean commission to gain reparations for the descendants of enslaved africans. what are his chances of success?