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.
1676
“The most serious science policy failure in a g...
Britain’s COVID response is now officially the worst in Europe – yet somehow Boris Johnson is getting away it. How? Plus: The NHS triumphant. Health policy expert Roy Lilley on how the service must change after the Corona ordeal. And what have we learn...
48 min
1677
HARD REBOOT: Turning the economy off and on again?
After an economic shock that’s unique in human history, how can we rebuild Britain’s businesses and public finances? How are we going to pay off a national debt unseen outside of wartime? Ian Mulheirn, Chief Economist of Renewing the Centre at the Tony...
21 min
1678
Law versus Justice: Is POLAND’s democracy self-...
Donald Tusk is telling Poles to boycott their presidential elections out of “basic human decency”. Is Poland’s ruling Law And Justice using COVID to intensify its anti-liberal direction? How are ordinary Poles coping with Corona? And could Law And Just...
24 min
1679
DAILY: Standing Zoom Only with comedian ATHENA ...
Zoom fatigue, virtual pubs, the Baby Johnson… Standup comic and comedy writer ATHENA KUGBLENU purges all her lockdown neuroses while Ian Dunt hides behind the microphone. Is Captain Tom being politicised? Why do we have to see everything throu...
31 min
1680
Daily: The COVID mental health challenge
The lockdown is impacting everyone differently but it’s hitting people with pre-existing mental health issues especially hard. Demand for help with depression and anxiety are up by 30% worldwide, and the impending once-in-a-century recession is likely ...
19 min
1681
The Laissez-Failure Edition
As Boris Johnson returns to work, will we see a chastened lockdown hawk or will he revert to his laissez-faire instincts? With trust in journalists plummeting, who decided that it’s the media’s job to ask “helpful questions” of government? Plus Conserv...
47 min
1682
Daily: Leaves mean leaves! LOCKDOWN GARDENING w...
Put that sourdough starter away… Lockdown is the perfect opportunity to enrich the soul by discovering the mystery and magic of gardening. Superstar ethnobotanist JAMES WONG tells Alex Andreou how to start growing at home, and the hacks that c...
26 min
1683
Daily: REBELS WITHOUT A CLUE The psychology of ...
Bleach! 5G! Bats! Why would anyone march with a banner that reads “Sacrifice the Weak”? Is the political reaction to COVID really being influenced by conspiracy theory? And can a democracy function when many voters simply reject facts in favour of comf...
27 min
1684
Daily: Can AVIATION survive isolation?
The airline and travel industries are suffering the most serious crisis in their history: worse than 9/11, the 2008 financial slump and the Icelandic volcano combined. Can air travel survive COVID? And given its carbon footprint, do we even want it to?...
33 min
1685
DAILY: What are we going to do about TAX?
Britain’s tax system was already a mess before the COVID-19 emergency sent the public finances into a crisis of wartime proportions. Is this a moment to radically re-engineer government revenue? Are we taxing the right things, activities… or people? Wi...
26 min
1686
Daily: Sweden’s Corona gamble
While the rest of Europe locked down, Sweden took a different and much looser path on dealing with COVID. Is their controversial approach working? Is Sweden right to measure itself against a longer-term tally of suffering caused by the virus’s economic...
22 min
1687
Nothin’ But A 5G Thang
After the Sunday Times exposé of Johnson’s indolent initial response to the COVID crisis, is the Government’s infantile “rebuttal” an attempt to rewrite the facts of what happened? Hard Lockdown vs Soft Open: economics writer Frances Coppola joins us t...
53 min
1688
Daily: SCIENCE VS POLITICS. The Empirical Strik...
After years of rubbishing expertise, politicians are now turning to science in humble desperation. Buzzfeed and Telegraph science writer TOM CHIVERS, author of The AI Does Not Hate You, talks to Ian Dunt about the uneasy alliance between science and po...
30 min
1689
Daily: Will COVID take meat off your plate?
We’ve all heard about the “wet markets” in Wuhan. How connected are COVID-19 and dangers of future pandemics to the world meat trade? JULIET GELLATLEY of vegan charity Viva! explains how indiscriminate mixing of species and neglect of hygiene in meat m...
30 min
1690
Daily: Can MUSIC survive Corona?
Music makes life worth living for some of us, and live shows are the only way many artists make a living. As Corona puts the music industry in an induced coma, TOM GRAY of Gomez talks to Dorian Lynskey about the monumental challenges that music faces. ...
27 min
1691
Daily: CHINA CRISIS with Dr Yu Jie
How did China really perform in the biggest global health disaster in 100 years? Chatham House China and diplomacy expert DR YU JIE gives Alex Andreou the inside story on the PRC’s response to Corona. What was behind the infamous silencing of warnings ...
19 min
1692
Labour’s bin-fire reignites
The Labour antisemitism leak: what does it mean and is anyone going to jail for a data breach? Plus, how long can lockdown continue? Why herd immunity isn’t a scare phrase but in fact the only way we’ll beat COVID. The magical, corporeally-fixated inca...
53 min
1693
Daily: Can POETRY help us handle the Plague?
Who knew that poetry would join videoconferencing and sourdough-making as one of the key ways we got through the COVID lockdown? SARAH CROWN, Director of Literature at the Arts Council and senior reviewer for the Guardian and the TLS, talks to Ros Tayl...
26 min
1694
DAILY: Among the Apocalypse Addicts with author...
It’s the end of the world as we know it and… some people are quite into that, it seems. Why are so many people so keen on the end of everything? What do doomsday preppers, alt.right catastrophists and billionaire plutocrat antidemocrats like Peter Thie...
28 min
1695
DAILY: Corona Fraud and how to beat it – with A...
The COVID lockdown has provided scammers, fraudsters and cybercriminals with a golden opportunity to find new ways to steal. Now ALEXIS CONRAN, presenter on The Real Hustle and talkRadio, tells Naomi Smith about the new scams they’re using, and how to ...
30 min
1696
DAILY: “This is the NHS’s day and this is its h...
COVID-19 has put the NHS under the spotlight as never before but how many of us really understand the true state of this national treasure? ROY LILLEY is one of the most influential voices in the world of public health. Today he explains the catastroph...
35 min
1697
Crisis management with DAVID LAMMY, Shadow Just...
Newly-promoted Shadow Justice Secretary DAVID LAMMY joins us in an unprecedented week in British politics. Has Boris Johnson’s hospitalisation finally brought home the seriousness of COVID-19 to the hosts of secret barbecues and birthday parties? Does ...
52 min
1698
DAILY: Work-life balance on steroids with GABY ...
WFH? WTF! As the world adjusts to flexible working, will we ever go back to offices, meetings and “presenteeism”? GABY HINSLIFF, Guardian writer and author of Half a Wife: The Working Family's Guide to Getting a Life Back, talks to Ros Taylor abou...
23 min
1699
Daily: NIGELLA LAWSON’s lockdown kitchen
Domestic Goddess NIGELLA LAWSON comes to the nation’s aid in a Lockdown Kitchen conversation with our own Alex Andreou. What’s her emergency back-of-the-cupboard recipe for when the chips are down (and there aren’t any chips)? Is isolation reminding us...
26 min
1700
DAILY: Inside apocalypse fiction with NAOMI ALD...
What’s so seductive about the end of everything? What happens when you’re writing a novel about an apocalyptic future, and then an apocalyptic future arrives? NAOMI ALDERMAN, author of bravura sci-fi gender reversal novel The Power and now showrunner f...
34 min