The Bunker
Your daily need to know on news and politics. Every weekday morning The Bunker cuts through the noise to make sense of what’s really going on, with smart explainers, interviews, fresh perspectives and under-reported stories to rescue you from everyday Punch and Judy news coverage. It’s the only way to start the day. From the producers of Oh God, What Now?
Our regulars include: Gavin Esler • Ros Taylor.• Hannah Fearn • Andrew Harrison • Jacob Jarvis • Emma Kennedy • Rafael Behr • Seth Thévoz.
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The Bunker is a Podmasters production.
1176
Daily: “The Police couldn’t get arrested!” – MI...
What if you discovered that your Dad was living a double life, and really worked in the CIA? Does managing The Police prepare you for advising the Pentagon? From his chateau in France, maverick music manager Miles Copeland chats to Dorian Lynskey about...
23 min
1177
Daily: A STAGGERING INJUSTICE – Inside the Post...
The wrongful conviction of hundreds of subpostmasters for false accounting was so shocking that even Boris Johnson as called it one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in our history. Why did Post Office management cover up the truth about its flawe...
25 min
1178
Daily: The Hammer and the Dance – Overnight COV...
COVID is a paradise of hindsight – a world of self-appointed experts who tell us what should have happened – and sometimes rewriting what did happen to suit themselves. But what about those people who could see what was going to happen? On ...
24 min
1179
THANGAM STYLE: A Debbonaire special guest
It’s time for Parliament’s end of term report card. Does anyone at all get an A, or should everyone be forced to repeat the year in disgrace? Special guest Thangam Debbonaire MP, Shadow Leader of the Commons, joins us to explain the meaning of...
56 min
1180
Pinged people can’t pull pints: START YOUR WEEK...
New COVID infections are trending downwards. Has Johnson’s Freedom Day gamble paid off, or are we just in a moment of calm before a new wave breaks? Plus pingdemic panic, vaccine passports, the Government gives up on students (again), Lord Frost tries ...
26 min
1181
Daily: “Give technology a soul” – How to build ...
With new technology, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you become part of the road. What are the big topics in tech that we should be talking about – for our own prosperity and survival? King’s College Professor Mischa Dohler tells Alex Andreou ho...
28 min
1182
Daily: TRANSYLVANIAN FAMILIES – Why Romania rules
It’s astonishingly beautiful, fiercely independent, full of mystery and a crossroads of jaw-dropping historical events – so why do we still think of Romania as a backwater? Paul Kenyon, author of Children of the Night: The Strange and Epic Story of Mod...
27 min
1183
Daily: THE MODI POLITIC – India’s deadly descen...
India’s brutal second wave of COVID is now receding, leaving behind intensified poverty, economic carnage, a staggering estimated 400-700m infections and a death rate of approximately 2%. But things were already going catastrophically wrong in the worl...
27 min
1184
I Don’t Want Your “Freedom”
As Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid roll the dice with the health of millions, healthcare commentator Roy Lilley takes us on a deep dive into what’s in store for the NHS. Plus, the Cuban uprising and the Labour Left, the Pegasus spyware scandal, and do un...
58 min
1185
The Freedom Gamble: Start Your Week with Naomi ...
As Johnson opens “Freedom Day” with a classic one-rule-for-us flip-flop (hey, he was in a pilot scheme!) what does England’s first week without restrictions mean for ordinary people who aren’t in the Cabinet? Plus the NI protocol reaches crunch point, ...
28 min
1186
Daily: ANOTHER KIND OF HUMAN – Why Neanderthals...
“Neanderthal” is a common term of abuse but should we stop feeling so superior towards our close evolutionary relatives? Did they think like us, even at the abstract level? Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of the “insanely fascinating” Kindred: Neanderthal ...
24 min
1187
Daily: BRIT-TECH – The real levelling up?
The pandemic has stress-tested Britain’s tech sector for flaws and strengths. Does it have the capacity to overcome the damage caused by Brexit? Alex Andreou talks to Professor Richard A. L. Jones, Manchester University expert in Materials Physics and ...
24 min
1188
Daily: YOU’RE LISTENING TO THE STREETS – Inside...
The video series Anywhere But Westminster by John Harris and John Domokos is one of the Guardian’s most acclaimed strands and now a winner of the Orwell Prize. What makes it work? The Two Johns tell Dorian Lynskey about why we need more reportage and f...
28 min
1189
England: Every Loser Wins
Has the heroic, nearly-there performance of Gareth Southgate’s England team shown that politics and sport do mix – if the politics is about young players stand up for what’s right? Boris Johnson sets his sights on unlocking regardless of rising COVID f...
52 min
1190
England: Pride and Penalties – Euro 2020 in review
After all that, penalties again. England’s Euros end in defeat in the Final but how has this tournament changed the relationship between the team and the nation – and football itself? BBC and Premier League football journalist Lynsey Hooper of The Offs...
32 min
1191
Daily: FROM CATWALK TO TIGHTROPE Fashion after ...
What has lockdown done to Britain’s £26bn fashion business? What will the post-pandemic High Street look like? Will we all wear posh pyjamas for the rest of our lives? And what on earth is “phygital” fashion – a mix of physical and digital shopping? Gu...
22 min
1192
Daily: CYBER-STING – The FBI’s fake app that to...
In Operation Trojan Shield an FBI-led alliance of national security services used ANOM, a fake EncroChat-style communication network, to capture 800 criminals in possibly the biggest undercover cyber-sting ever. They netted over 32 tons of drugs and mo...
26 min
1193
Daily: DOUBLE OUR WOODLAND or we’re in trouble
The row over trees cut down for HS2 is trivial next to a far bigger crisis of deforestation that’s damaging Britain’s agriculture, destabilising our environment and making us vulnerable to extreme weather, says Phil Sturgeon, trustee of climate charity...
23 min
1194
Mission: Kim Possible – with guest John Rentoul
Did the Batley and Spen result rescue Labour from a death spiral? The Independent’s political commentator John Rentoul joins us to ask whether Starmer really has pulled off a great escape. Meanwhile, as Sajid Javid loudly announces the end of COVID res...
54 min
1195
JAVID’S BIG GAMBLE: Start Your Week with Alex A...
Sajid Javid wants to “trust common sense” and tear up COVID restrictions just as we’re reaching the highest infections since January. Are Jo and Josephine Public being lined up as Third Wave fall-guys? Plus the school isolations mess, and why parasitic...
26 min
1196
Daily: SAVING A PLANET ON FIRE – Climate change...
As the heatwave in the Pacific North West puts climate change into even sharper focus, it’s easy to feel powerless before the enormity of global warming. But should we? Do ordinary people have the tools to fix this? Climate campaigner Dr Alice Bell is ...
25 min
1197
Daily: DISCO RETURNO – Why Britain needs nightc...
No one looks back and remembers the nights they got plenty of sleep. But beyond a mere boogie, nightclubs play a vital role in shaping our collective and individual identity. Alex Andreou assembles an all-star spinning a-roundtable to chew on how COVID...
30 min
1198
Daily: HEADLINE NEWS – The power of FONTS
Words shape the world – but typefaces shape the words. In a world where fonts subtly engineer how we think, should we be more conscious of the lore of the letter? Andrew Harrison talks to giant of typography Gail Anderson – graphic designer, former Rol...
25 min
1199
We Consider The Matt Closed
Pity about Matt Hancock. He was a real hands-on Minister. But the story isn’t the hapless ex-Health Secretary’s office affair, it’s the serious implications of leaked CCTV, off-books emails to “collaborators” and Boris Johnson’s self-serving role in th...
61 min
1200
TRYST AND TRACE: Start Your Week with Ros Taylor
As we clear away the bunting and empty bottles after Hancock Humiliation Weekend, how will the story — of leaked CCTV, secret email addresses and backhanders — develop? What sort of Health Sec will Sajid Javid be, and will he give Dido Harding the NHS ...
25 min