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.
1526
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
1527
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
1528
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
1529
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
1530
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
1531
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
1532
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
1533
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
1534
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
1535
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
1536
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
1537
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
1538
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
1539
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
1540
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
1541
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
1542
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
1543
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
1544
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
1545
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
1546
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
1547
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
1548
At War in the Information Battlespace
Digital disinformation from hostile powers is attacking our democracies, but do our politicians even want to stop it? Disinformation expert, security specialist and former US intelligence officer MATTHEW FERRARO talks to Nina Schick about the evolving ...
21 min
1549
Learning from the Germans: SUSAN NEIMAN on how ...
What can you do when your society is responsible for racist atrocities? What should you do? One country trying to atone for their past is Germany. Susan Neiman, moral philosopher and author of ‘Learning from the Germans’, told Ros Taylor about what the...
28 min
1550
Khanspiracies: AMIL KHAN on our post-truth COVI...
According to recent polls, half of Britain would not trust a COVID vaccine, and a majority of Republican voters in the US believe in the bizarre QAnon theory. So why are these crazy notions becoming so widespread? Political communications specialist AM...
27 min