The Bunker – News without the nonsense
News without the nonsense, every weekday morning. In episodes that fit your commute*, The Bunker cuts through the noise to make sense of what’s really going on in news, current affairs, politics, economics and culture. We bring you smart explainers, interviews, fresh perspectives and under-reported stories to as a refreshing alternative to repetitive 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 • Alex von Tunzelmann • Andrew Harrison • Zing Tsjeng • Jacob Jarvis • Emma Kennedy • Rafael Behr • Seth Thévoz.
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(* Even if it’s just from the kitchen to the front room. )
The Bunker is a Podmasters production.
1476
Daily: Inside New Zealand’s Ardern of Eden
Are progressives right to get so excited about Jacinda Ardern? She’s won admiration for her handling of the COVID crisis and the massacre in a Christchurch mosque – and for crushing New Zealand’s equivalent of Ukip. Toby Manhire, editor of The Spin-Off...
18 min
1477
Start Your Week: The North hits back with ALEX ...
As Boris Johnson falls out with everyone – Manchester, Brussels, scientists, his own Northern MPs – what can we expect for the biggest crisis week since last week. Alex Andreou tells us what to expect from the EU talks-that-aren’t talks, Westm...
22 min
1478
Daily: Turning misogyny into terror
A poisonous online culture of misogyny is radicalising young men to hate women – producing terrifying consequences from routine rape and death threats against female politicians to actual violence and murder. Author of Men Who Hate Women and f...
27 min
1479
Daily: On Your Bike, Britain!
More bikes and fewer cars on the road has turned out to be one of the unexpected dividends of COVID. But can Britain ever get to an Amsterdam-style paradise of bikes? And will Britons ever stop raging about cyclists? Coventry’s Cycling Mayor Adam Trant...
24 min
1480
Weekly: It’ll End In Tiers
Has the Government’s emergency tier strategy broken the short-lived compact between the Conservatives and the North? Is new government spokesperson Allegra Stratton more than just a human shield for former communications genius Boris Johnson? And does ...
52 min
1481
Daily: Why strongmen fail the leadership test
If we’re living in an era of strongmen, why are so many (male) leaders failing us all over the world? How do our ideas of leadership need to change? Dr Pippa Malmgren, co-author with Chris Lewis of The Infinite Leader and former economic advisor to Pre...
26 min
1482
Start your week: Tiers Are Not Enough
Does the Government’s latest, three-tier COVID system make sense – and is the North of England out of patience with Westminster? Will the Agriculture Bill put hormone beef on your plate? And will we finally, finally see an end to the EU Trade Talks sag...
22 min
1483
Daily: Black barrister, white system
Junior barrister Alexandra Wilson made the news when she revealed how she’d repeatedly been mistaken for a defendant in court simply because she is black. She tells Dorian Lynskey about life as a black barrister in an overwhelmingly white system, what ...
24 min
1484
Daily: MASKS under the scientific spotlight
If there’s one symbol of the COVID fight it’s the face mask – but do we understand the consequences of a masked society? Professor Graham Martin, Director of Research at the Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute, tells Ros Taylor why the issue of ma...
21 min
1485
Orange Hawk Down – plus Dirty Data Returns
Don’t mask, don’t tell. Will Trump’s bizarre bout with COVID make, break or fatally contaminate the US presidential race? The directors of a shocking new documentary People You May Know join us to explain how US churches used Cambridge Analytica-relate...
45 min
1486
Daily: SCIENCE strikes back
How did evidence-based science end up playing second fiddle to demagoguery and populism? And what can we do about it? Prof Luke O’Neill, professor of biochemistry and COVID immunologist at Trinity College Dublin, has written a book with the a...
24 min
1487
Daily: IAN DUNT starts your week
As promised, here's our new thing! What’s coming up this week? IAN DUNT tells us what to watch out for as Conservative Conference ends in a welter of COVID incompetency news, Priti Patel gets nastier, and Matt Hancock prepares to face the music in...
21 min
1488
Telling the stories of COVID’s victims
Uncovering the personal stories of people who died from COVID-19, Sirin Kale’s Guardian series Lost To The Virus has become one of the most moving reporting feats of the year. She tells Dorian Lynskey about the truth behind the biggest human story of o...
20 min
1489
COVID in the courts: The future of Britain’s ju...
Arbitrary Coronavirus regulations and the Government’s brinkmanship over international law are putting the justice system under unprecedented strain. Criminal barrister JOANNA HARDY tells Nina Schick about the impact of COVID on our justice system, the...
26 min
1490
The Art of the Steal: Trump’s Tiny Tax Returns
As The New York Times exposes Donald Trump’s microscopic tax returns, will the revelations have any impact on November’s election? With barmy conspiracy theory QAnon making inroads into the UK, will Britain have to get used to a future of totally irrat...
53 min
1491
Imperial Hangover: Dr SAMIR PURI on the legacy ...
Although it’s over 50 years since most colonies achieved their independence from Britain, on these shores we still seem to living in the shadows of the Empire. Dr SAMIR PURI, author of ’The Great Imperial Hangover: How Empires Have Shaped the World’ ta...
27 min
1492
Why does GERMANY do everything better? JOHN KAM...
Britain might enjoy a (worsening) love-hate relationship with Germany but the UK still can’t understand why they’re so much better than us in industry, political debate and social cohesion. Former BBC, FT and Telegraph reporter JOHN KAMPFNER’s new book...
25 min
1493
Is competition killing us?
Whatever else they argue about, most politicians agree on one thing: competition just makes everything better. But does it? In her new book Competition is Killing Us: How Big Business is Harming Our Society and Planet, Michelle Meagher describes why sh...
23 min
1494
Will we be OK? Facing the Climate Emergency
Could there be cause for optimism on climate change? Do individuals have power over our planet’s future? Paul Behrens, author of new book The Best Of Times The Worst Of Times, tells Ros Taylor about the best and worst climate scenarios, why women’s rig...
22 min
1495
Lockdown: The Sequel
As COVID cases are back on the rise another lockdown looks likely, but has the Government blown its pandemic response? And how will Britain react to an autumn trapped indoors? Plus, following a scathing report by the Public Accounts Committee, is the H...
47 min
1496
Testing Times: Dr DAN POULTER MP on Britain’s C...
COVID has developed from a short-term emergency into a public health crisis that could define the next half century. As Lockdown II looms, Conservative MP Daniel Poulter, former junior Health Minister and chair of the the All Party Parliamentary Group ...
18 min
1497
Power Chords: TOM MORELLO of Rage Against The M...
Rage Against The Machine’s TOM MORELLO is one of the most charismatic and energising figures in rock’n’roll and politics. He tells Dorian Lynskey about the role of radicalism in rock, protofascism, AOC, Trump, the Presidential Election, cancel culture,...
22 min
1498
Nudge dread: Does Behavioural Science really work?
Can we really guide and control human activity by constructing networks of carrots, sticks and semi-invisible hints? Behavioural science AKA “nudge” is key to the UK Government’s COVID response yet, as tech journalist and sceptic Andrew Orlowski says, ...
17 min
1499
Street Life: Why Britain’s homeless need their ...
There’s an unseen epidemic of people dying while homeless, and journalist MAEVE McLENAGHAN tells their stories in No Fixed Abode: Life and Death Among the UK's Forgotten Homeless, out this week. She tells Dorian Lynskey what she learned, how there...
25 min
1500
The Infernal Market Bill
Boris Johnson wants to blow up the Brexit talks with an Internal Market Bill that shatters international law. Will it blow up in his face?And on the six-month anniversary of Britain locking down for the first time, we’re joined by Miatta Fahnbulleh ...
52 min