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.
1301
“Parliament is a breeding ground for bullying”:...
Bullying and sexual harassment are a blight on Parliament – and Westminster has been slow to deal with it. Cofounder of Women in Westminster and campaigner on the winning Starmer and Sadiq Khan campaigns Tara Jane O’Reilly talks to Ian Dunt about the m...
20 min
1302
War On The Bullsh*t: How to spot when DATA is l...
Why do we believe lies just because there’s a graph attached? How can we develop a sixth sense to detect statistical disinformation? Data scientist and University of Washington professor Jevin D West, co-author of Calling Bullsh*t: The Art Of Scepticis...
29 min
1303
Superpower vs Futurepower: The coming CHINA-IND...
What should we watch out for in the impending confrontation between India and China, the world’s largest democracy and the world’s largest autocratic superpower? And how does Pakistan fit in? Prof GUY BURTON of Vesalius College in Brussels joins Arthur...
21 min
1304
I Spit On Your Grades, or: Get Gavin Gone
A-Levelling down: can the Government just style out a total betrayal of hardworking strivers? And will Gavin Williamson stay unsacked before you finish this paragraph? Former MEP Caroline Voaden joins us to channel the rage of parents and teenagers eve...
48 min
1305
Revolting Developments: Why the Govt’s plans wo...
The Government’s new planning ideas hand a huge advantage to developers, with no-question greenlights for permissions in new “growth” and “renewal” areas. Is this a real fix for the housing crisis or just another free market free-for-all? STEVE COLE of...
31 min
1306
Daily: RORY BREMNER at the Speed of Thought
What makes comedy happen? Our most celebrated impressionist RORY BREMNER talks to Alex Andreou about how his ADHD drives his own work – plus tracking and tracing Boris Johnson’s offspring, how hard it is to pin down a take on today’s political...
34 min
1307
Jobless Britain? Fighting the return of mass un...
Job losses are surging, but the next wave of mass unemployment won’t be like the ones in the 80s, the 90s or the financial crisis of 2008. The Institute for Government’s GILES WILKES – economist and past special advisor to Vince Cable and Theresa May –...
24 min
1308
Belarus: Rebelling against a “democratic” dicta...
Belarus is convulsed by pro-democracy demonstrations, the opposition leader has fled in fear and the EU is threatening to reimpose sanctions. Yet pig-farmer turned strongman Alexander Lukashenko shows no sign of relinquishing his 26-year grip on power....
16 min
1309
DIRTY CASH: How to stop dark money destroying o...
Since before the Referendum, rivers of untraceable money have flowed through our politics, washing away accountability and benefiting secretive and powerful people. Peter Geoghegan of openDemocracy joins us to discuss the revelations of his new book De...
53 min
1310
Going Underground: Paranoia, prepping and the w...
There’s a world going on underground. Ethnographer, archaeologist and author of the eerily prescient Bunker: Building For The End Times BRADLEY GARRETT is fascinated by tunnels, chambers and hidden realms – and what drives people to populate them. He t...
30 min
1311
IMMIGRATION: Reasons to be cheerful? Ian Dunt t...
Priti Patel might be trying to stoke fears with her ludicrous ‘Clandestine Channel Threat Commander’ but as the Brexit madness recedes, is the environment for immigrants moving in an inexorably more liberal direction? Professor Jonathan Portes of KCL t...
25 min
1312
Creasy’s the word: STELLA CREASY MP on making m...
Some good stuff DID get done during the chaotic COVID Parliament that’s just ended. Walthamstow MP STELLA CREASY tells Ayesha Hazarika about her fight to get misogyny reclassified as a hate crime as part of the Domestic Abuse Bill, why women have been ...
24 min
1313
Daily: What we owe to JOHN HUME, with Claire Ha...
When JOHN HUME died earlier this week, presidents and political leaders across the spectrum eulogised him as nothing less than the father of peace in Northern Ireland. How did this quiet, determined man find a way to bring about the impossible, and sid...
26 min
1314
For Services To Brexit, I Mean Cricket… plus gu...
With the Grand Reopening leading inevitably to the Great Re-Locking, is No.10’s rule-by-snappy-slogan no longer fit for purpose? Has Boris Johnson’s back-scratching Dissolution Honours finally made Lords Reform inevitable – and should we fear ...
56 min
1315
“The Banksy of money”: Is CRYPTOCURRENCY out of...
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were supposed to overturn the tyranny of the banks and give consumers new power over their money. This financial Wild West is still plagued with fraud, scams, pyramid schemes and doomed start-ups. But as entrepreneur, inve...
26 min
1316
How Not To Waste The Next Four Years: MIATTA FA...
If we’re stuck with a hard right government for the next four years, how should progressives best use this time? Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation MIATTA FAHNBULLEH talks to Alex Andreou about the opportunities amid the chaos, how it’s im...
29 min
1317
Probing the Pandemic: LAYLA MORAN on MPs’ indep...
Britain can’t wait for the Government’s Public Inquiry into COVID. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus is seizing the initiative and examining every aspect of the crisis. Its chair, Lib Dem MP and leadership candidate LAYLA MORAN, explains...
25 min
1318
Private Investigations: BELLINGCAT and open sou...
From unmasking suspects in the Salisbury poisoning to exposing money laundering and Russian involvement in the shooting down of flight MH-17, investigative collective Bellingcat is at the forefront of a new kind of investigative journalism. Founder ELI...
28 min
1319
Oh My Darling, Quarantine
Is the summer tourist season already a write-off for Europe – and will the traditional foreign holiday become history? Are you ready to start paying more tax from the age of 40 to fund your own social care? And as COVID continues to hollow out city cen...
52 min
1320
“The Golden Age of Incompetence”: Ian Dunt meet...
“We’ve been kettled with our own thoughts.” Comedy writer and friend of the podcast JASON HAZELEY – Screenwipe writer and co-creator of everything from the grown-up Ladybird books to Philomena Cunk – talks to Ian Dunt about what the p...
28 min
1321
The Great Deceleration is coming, says DANNY DO...
We’re conditioned to think that economic development will get faster and faster. But it turns out that many key indicators from population growth to GDP expansion are slowing down. DANNY DORLING, social geographer and author of Slowdown: The End Of The...
33 min
1322
Daily: JARVIS COCKER is born again
A pop career is for life. Art explorer, national treasure and former Pulp frontman JARVIS COCKER talks to Andrew Harrison about his return to the music fray with new band Jarv Is… and new album Beyond The Pale. On the agenda: the musical concerns of th...
22 min
1323
Building back better with MOLLY SCOTT CATO of t...
Can Europe really build back better after the pandemic? How does the EU’s response to COVID look when you’re one of Britain’s former MEPs? Molly Scott Cato, former Green Party MEP and the party’s current Brexit and Finance spokesperson, joins Alex Andr...
25 min
1324
Russia Report: It’s A Vladi Disgrace
“In Moscow, inquiry closes YOU.” As the Russia Report confirms the Conservatives’ wilful blind eye to Putin’s interference in UK elections, where do we go from here? If we rage about the Russians supposedly tipping the Referendum or the General Electio...
54 min
1325
Why Corona is a feminist issue
Coronavirus has put women out of work more frequently than men, led to a spike in domestic violence, pushed women’s healthcare down the list of priorities, and set the scene for a mental health crisis for women. Yet politicians appear blind to the pand...
30 min