The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Are we ready to live alongside artificial minds? And why do we still harbour a Terminator-style fear of vengeful machines? Oxford University Professor of Computer Science Michael Wooldridge, author of The Road to Conscious Machines, says we are on the brink of a great transformation in artificial intelligence. He talks to Alex Andreou about deepmind superhuman gamer bots, debunking our fear of Frankenstein’s creation, and why automation means more than robot butlers. “We are with AI where nuclear physicists were in the early 1900s… There is so much unexplored territory.” “We’re nothing special in the universe. We’re just a bunch of atoms bumping up against each other.” “I don’t lose sleep over the Skynet scenario. We don’t need AI to make mistakes with nuclear weapons.” “The Frankenstein story embodies our deep-rooted fear of creating something, and then losing control of it.” Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Constitutions are the rulebooks of government, but how does each country get its own peculiar arrangements? Linda Colley, author of The Gun, The Ship, And The Pen: War, Constitutions And The Making Of The Modern World, tells Ros Taylor about the extraordinary circumstances – from Napoleon to Catherine the Great to America’s Founding Fathers – that produced the operating systems for states. Why was America’s sacred Constitution less of a high-minded document and more of “a grimly necessary plan by a group of men who felt themselves under siege”? And does a British Constitution even really exist? “The US Constitution was driven by short-term necessity rather than highfalutin’ ideas.” “One Law Lord once described the British Constitution as a trackless desert.” Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What makes someone give up a lucrative job in the City of London to risk their life fighting ISIS in Syria – with no prior military training? In one of our most astonishing interviews, Macer Gifford describes how he left the UK to spend three long tours fighting with the Kurdish YPG militia against the brutal terror group Islamic State. He tells Arthur Snell what it’s like to cross into a warzone, his book Fighting Evil: The Ordinary Man Who Went To War Against ISIS (£2 on Kindle!) and the shocking, inspiring and sometimes tragic stories of his fellow foreign fighters. “It wasn’t about fighting, it was about standing in solidarity” “Volunteers aren’t all left-wing activists. I’m a card carrying member of the Conservative Party.” “The Kurds are talking about amazing things like women’s rights and gay rights – and it’s all off the back of the most brutal conflict” Presented by Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Which flavour of police overreach do you like least: COVID regulations if you’re on the right, or the Police Bill if you’re centre-left? Special guest Emily Benn joins us to disentangle the worsening mess of civil rights under this government. And with Line Of Duty returning as British policing is in the spotlight as seldom before, do we need a conversation about “Copaganda” entertainment in the UK, as America had over George Floyd? Plus: what Joe Biden’s New Deal really means. “The fact that this is an emergency isn’t an excuse for poor legislation and poor scrutiny.” – Emily Benn “Biden is ripping up an economic consensus that has stood for 40 years since Reagan.” – Miatta Fahnbulleh “I don’t know what Centrist is supposed to mean, apart from claiming that someone is boring and lacks ideas… and that’s obviously rubbish.” – Emily Benn Presented and produced by Dorian Lynskey with Miatta Fahnbulleh and Naomi Smith. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The EU:UK vaccine export row: who’s in the right and will a friendly phone call from Boris Johnson sort it all out like it always does? On the anniversary of Lockdown 1, will the pandemic regulations face a rocky renewal? And Christmas comes early for lucky Priti Patel as the Bristol rioters breathe life back into her illiberal Police Bill. Alex Andreou sets up the week ahead. “The danger of the Bill is that if peaceful protest is outlawed, then you might as well riot.” “Priti Patel must be absolutely delighted at what she saw in Bristol. She will put rocket boosters on the Police Bill.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A bonus weekend edition… Finding inspiration in the midst of pandemic can be difficult, but how hard is it to write a book about a city you can’t visit because of lockdown? And how has the Church fared during this period of enforced isolation? Author and practising Christian Francis Spufford talks to Ros Taylor about his new novel Light Perpetual, the “incredibly natural” failure of imagination in the midst of this pandemic, and how COVID has left the Church “smaller and wobblier” than ever before. “The ordinariness of the Blitz leaps out at me… people woke up having survived the night, dusted themselves down and went to work” “People will sit in cafes and ride on trains again… they’ll regard this as the weird glitch of 2020” “COVID has been catastrophic for the church… it will emerge smaller and wobblier than before the pandemic started” Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Grenfell tragedy exposed the worst of a housing crisis which affects some 8 million people and leaves one in seven people in unaffordable or unsuitable homes. How did we get into this mess and how do we get out of it? Why can’t we build enough houses in the right places? Alex Andreou talks to Catherine Ryder, Director of Policy and Research at the National Housing Federation, and Steve Cole of the country’s largest social landlord the Clarion Group, about beating a huge challenge that has defeated successive governments. “Housing Minister is THE big churn post in government. Everyone comes in with one big thing they want to do…” – Steve Cole “I know only a handful of people in the UK who live where they did ten years ago, and only a handful of people in Greece who DON’T.” – Alex Andreou “There’s been a huge flip from government building supply to supporting demand… The housing benefit bill is £23bn.” – Steve Cole Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For British intelligence, Soviet mole George Blake was possibly the most damaging traitor of the whole Cold War. Towards the end of Blake’s life the FT’s Simon Kuper met the ageing defector for “the most extraordinary interview of my life.” He tells Arthur Snell about his book The Happy Traitor, which sets out Blake’s astonishing journey from comically patriotic British citizen through his time of treachery in an unbelievably complacent British intelligence service to an escape from justice that came straight from a cartoon story. Why did Blake do it? And did he in some sense get away with it? “For a decade, every secret of British intelligence was handed over to the Soviets by Blake.” “By his own reckoning Blake betrayed several hundred British agents, many of whom were executed.” “I was told that Blake detested Putin’s gaudy KGB capitalism… but he depended on Putin for his dacha.” Presented by Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Britain as divided over COVID as we were over Brexit? Do people really think that if you lost your job during the pandemic, it’s your fault? And if Brexity pundits are so anti-lockdown, why are Leave voters largely in favour of restrictions? Bobby Duffy (Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College ) and Paula Surridge (Deputy Director of the UK in a Changing Europe) have researched our changing attitudes with surprising results. They tell Ros Taylor about the deep impulses driving politics – and whether Leave vs Remain identities might finally be breaking down. “Even though we’ve seen a transfer of wealth from young to old, we just don’t see people saying Let’s take from the old and give to the young” – Bobby Duffy “Leave/Remain is often seen as a generation gap but it’s more to do with education.” – Paula Surridge “There is an opportunity to reimagine our economy… but it won’t come easy.” – Bobby Duffy “Real lockdown scepticism is actually a rarity… It doesn’t bring people together across the political spectrum, it splits them up” – Bobby Duffy Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Metropolitan Police’s brutal intervention during Saturday’s vigil Sarah Everard leaves the country aghast. What really happened? What needs to change if British cities are to be safe for women? Special guest Alex Massie of The Times and The Spectator joins us to look at the “fantastically illiberal” Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, and give his personal crash course on Scottish politics for the inattentive English. “A lot of forces who are no friend of women are jumping on this issue for their own motives.” – Ayesha Hazarika “Just as Independence was underpriced in 2014, Unionism is underpriced in 2021.” – Alex Massie “In politics, success is sweet but it’s not half as sweet as your enemy’s failure.” – Alex Massie Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison with Yasmeen Serhan and Ayesha Hazarika. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Met’s outrageous clampdown on the Sarah Everard vigil on Clapham Common has put Priti Patel’s draconian Police, Crime, Sentencing And Courts Bill under a harsh spotlight. Could a bill that effectively outlaws public protest blow up in the Government’s face this week? Ros Taylor explains. “Public protest has become illegal, and we didn’t seem to notice that.” “A protest looks very different when it’s women doing it.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Peter explains better than anyone I know the new world of Putinesque, Trumpian propaganda.” In a weekend bonus, Nick Cohen of The Observer talks to Peter Pomerantsev, author of This Is Not Propaganda : Adventures in the War Against Reality, about how demagogues warp free speech into a weapon against democracy. Why is the modern information battle less of a New Cold War and more a New Thirty Years War? Do we even understand the devil’s bargain that tech giants are offering? We can have perfect lives and perfect homes – as long as we don’t mind giving up our information and our freedoms. “Every aspect of freedom of speech has been used against us, to swamp the world and drown out the truth” “However much we’d like to blame these pathologies on Mark Zuckerberg, we can’t.” “It’s no longer about censorship, it’s about overloading democracies with trolls, bots and conspiracies… it’s about swamping us with information” “When you have an economy based on likes and shares, that’s going to reinforce tribal identities” “Extremism is about demonising the other. What we’re seeing is something eternal” Presented by Nick Cohen. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Few countries exercise such world-wide fascination while being as little understood outside their own borders as Japan. Christopher Harding, author of The Japanese: A History In 20 Lives, talks to Ros Taylor about the key figures who shaped Japan over the centuries, from princesses and samurai to pop culture visionaries. “A British delegate who visited Japan in the 1990s said ‘If this is a recession, then I want one’” “Japan needs more babies, more immigrants, more robots.” “People fall in love with some element of Japan… but we don’t have a joined up sense of Japanese history.” Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yemen is suffering the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, a conflict that has killed some 100,000 people since 2015 and left 24m in peril. Now it’s dragging countries across the region into its vortex. How did we get here? Exactly how are Saudi Arabia and Iran involved? Will the election of Joe Biden make a difference? Arthur Snell talks to Laura Cretney, a PhD student at Durham University who works with charities in the region, to disentangle a nightmare confrontation between Houthi rebels, the Yemeni government and multiple foreign interests. “For many young men, the best and most lucrative way to provide for their families is to take up arms.” “This isn’t just a proxy conflict between Saudi and Iran. There are a LOT of regional rivalries here.” Presented by Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amid the chaos of the Capitol Invasion of January 6, keen observers could spot the iconography of Valkism, a weird confected “religion” born out of video game culture that’s now empowering QAnon and far right politics. Former Government advisor and BBC and Reuters correspondent Amil Khan tells Arthur Snell about the crossover of video games, 4Chan, 8Chan and far right politics which produced Valkism and what it means for the fight against extremism. “Some of these people want to create an alternative reality where their political fantasies can play out.” – Amil Khan “If you’re inspired by the idea of a Nazi alternative universe in a video game, you may well be attracted to far right politics.” – Arthur Snell “We like think that we’re stable, rational people and the nutters must be from somewhere else. Well, the US Capitol riots disproved that.” – Amil Khan “We tend to see extremism as a foreign problem... But this is a British problem, because it feeds off our problems at home.” – Amil Khan Presented by Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s the end of an era! As parents collapse weeping to their knees in a fug of gin, has home schooling changed how we teach kids? Will in-school testing stick? And will the experience shine a light on the God-awfulness of the National Curriculum? PLUS: After that derisory nurses’ pay offer, how long ’til the U-Turn? Porklife as the Government shovels “levelling up” money to Tory constituencies. Farage retires! Again! And why can’t we stop collecting stuff? Ros Taylor, Ahir Shah and Arthur Snell join Alex Andreou for this week’s panel edition. “Perhaps forcing a young woman to dress up and endure whatever hatred the press want to throw at her is inhuman. And perhaps we should stop doing it.” – Ros Taylor “Even the most loving and caring parents are saying OK, please take this away from me, I don’t know what a quadratic is.” – Ahir Shah “It’s fair to say that parents trust the heads rather more than they trust Gavin Williamson.” – Ros Taylor “Like a lot of parents I thought, how hard can teaching be? Turns out it’s QUITE difficult…” – Arthur Snell “What’s a fronted adverbial? Trust me, you’re happier not knowing.” – Ros Taylor “If I have to do a spreadsheet for a pint, I will do a spreadsheet for a pint.” – Ahir Shah Presented by Alex Andreou with Ros Taylor, Ahir Shah and Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does today’s International Women’s Day stand for when we’re in the middle of a new wave of feminism? What can women expect from government when its fill-in Equalities Minister thinks there ought to be a Minister for Men? Naomi Smith presents a special edition with regulars Nina Schick and Minnie Rahman plus special guest Jude Kelly, former artistic director of the Southbank Centre and founder of the WOW – Women of the World – Foundation. “It always irritates me when a man says ‘I’m interested in feminism because of my daughter’. Well, didn’t you care before?” – Jude Kelly “It’s no good just having someone like Priti Patel in cabinet, unless there’s a matching political will for gender equality.” – Minnie Rahman “Having to persuade and listen for centuries has given women fantastic negotiating skills – and men can really learn from that.” – Jude Kelly Presented by Naomi Smith with Nina Schick and Minnie Rahman. Produced by Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Novelist Sergei Lebedev writes forensically detailed books which uncover how Soviet history still exerts its power on modern Russians. According to the New York Review of Books he’s “the best of Russia’s younger generation of writers.” He talks to Alex Andreou about his latest novel, the COVID-relevant thriller Untraceable; precarious life in the new Russia; and how the Soviet Union might be dead but it’s never truly buried. “I’m witnessing my country returning to its past. And I wouldn’t want to be a person who does nothing about it” Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why are so many minority patients rejecting the COVID vaccines and what can healthcare do about it? Vaccine hesitancy in minority communities is threatening to turn the pandemic into a specific crisis for marginalised and non-white populations. Ayesha Hazarika talks to Dr Salman Waqar, GP and General Secretary of the British Islamic Medical Association, about a problem with deep roots in the historic marginalisation of BAME people. “When we tell BAME communities that this vaccine will save your life, many of them won’t take what you say at face value” “I’ve seen elderly vaccination patients crying because it was the first time they’d been out since March 2020” “A lot of the NHS’s non-white workforce has struggled to get its voice heard… We’re still not seeing that workforce represented in NHS management” “The biggest killer in COVID is economic deprivation – and minority communities happen to be more poor” Presented by Ayesha Hazarika. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just how global can Britain be if we’re becoming ever-more insular after Brexit? Naomi Smith talks to Peter Westmacott, former ambassador to Turkey, France and the USA, about the hidden prejudices that influence international relations, whether the advent of Biden will turn back the tide of populist nationalism, and his new book They Call It Diplomacy. “A French colleague once asked me point-blank, Why do you English hate us so much? I don’t believe we do – but there is definitely a Little Englander mindset.” “There was an old Iranian joke that if you hold up Khomeini’s beard you’d see MADE IN ENGLAND underneath.” “Leaving the EU was never a legitimate way of dealing with immigration from places outside the EU.” “I remember saying Be very careful when you call a referendum because you might get an answer that’s nothing to do with the question on the ballot papers.” Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you get get a vaccine passport if it meant you could go out to eat, drink and dance? Even if it created a two-tier Britain? Special guest Alan Rusbridger joins us to talk about his new book News And How To Use It, the crisis in journalism and how we fix it. And Frasier is coming back. Is this a good idea? Hardcore fangirl Yasmeen has thoughts. “Journalism is as essential as ambulances or the police…” – Alan Rusbridger “Vaccine passports? This is the Government wasting time thinking of solutions to problems that don’t exist” – Ian Dunt “You don’t want Mark Zuckerberg regulating your speech. But you don’t want Government regulating your speech either.” – Alan Rusbridger Presented by Andrew Harrison with Yasmeen Serhan and Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Will Wednesday’s Budget see the end of Sunshine Sunak or will the Chancellor put off the reckoning with financial Armageddon again? How will you spend the last week of home schooling? And what about that new Brazilian variant? Arthur Snell sets out the coming week for Andrew Harrison. “Margaret Thatcher is the divinity all the old Tories worship, but this party’s agenda couldn’t be further from hers.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bully, liar, tyrant, fantasist, thief on a monumental scale – just ask the Mirror pensioners – and narcissist of an even greater magnitude, Robert Maxwell was a villain for whom the term “disgraced newspaper tycoon” seems pitifully small. Yet as former Evening Standard and Telegraph journalist John Preston’s new book Fall: The Mystery Of Robert Maxwell shows, the horror of Maxwell’s early life explains (if not excuses) the monster he became. How did Maxwell fool, and then fleece, the publishing world? “If you worked in Fleet Street in the 80s there was no escaping Maxwell…” “You have to seen Maxwell through the prism of what happened to his family in the Holocaust. There was enormous rage and guilt there.” “Robert Maxwell was gripped by a simultaneous desire to sit at the top table, and also to kill everyone else at that top table.” “Maxwell was both ridiculed and feared, often by the same people.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After an initial COVID response that was lauded as an example to the world, Germany has experienced an unexpectedly harsh second wave. What will that mean for the twilight of the Merkel Era? Is Germany’s strange opposition coalition of libertarians, alt.rightists and anti-vaxxers just fringe politics or something more serious? And what comes after Merkel? The Economist’s Berlin bureau chief Tom Nuttall explains all to Justin Quirk. “When the COVID numbers are totted up, Germany will still turn out to be one of the places in Europe where you wanted to be” “When the pandemic hit, support for Merkel’s Christian Democrats shot up.” “The Green Party in Germany really wants power. It craves it. And it’s positioned itself very much as a centrist party.” “The big question is, how big is the Merkel Bonus for the CDU?” Presented by Justin Quirk. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Was the Trump Presidency just a publicity stunt that got out of hand? Film-maker James Fletcher’s new documentary on the 2016 campaign The Accidental President is streaming now on Amazon and Apple TV. He talks to Dorian Lynskey about what fed the Black Swan event of the Trump presidency, how Trump’s freestyle campaign left his Republican rivals with nothing to say, and how it could be that – even after four years of chaos and corruption – Trump increased his popular vote in 2020. “This was an insane conflagration of events” “The Republicans slept-walked into the 2016 election and a complacent Hillary Clinton thought it was in the bag.” “This was a freestyle, open-mic campaign… Any professional campaign advisor would have told Trump to do exactly the opposite of what he did.” “Hillary Clinton just could never convincingly explain why she wanted to be President.” “Democrats just laughed at Trump without understanding what a serious danger he posed.” “Has Trump really changed the system forever? Are we really that shallow and ridiculous?” Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 250th edition! In the Thatcher governments of the 80s Michael Heseltine was the loudest voice for embattled One Nation Toryism. In later years he’s become a hero to Remainers, eventually paying for his Europhilia with expulsion from the party. Ian Dunt talks to him about the future of Toryism, what it was like to work with Margaret Thatcher, what he makes of Keir Starmer… and whether circumstances will force Boris Johnson back to the One Nation Toryism we thought he’d driven out of the party. “The most sensible thing for Britain is to reapply to join the EU. It won’t happen soon – but it should.” “Yes, Margaret Thatcher would have pandered to popular opinion. She was a politician. But she would never do anything as reckless as leaving the Single Market.” “The words of the Levelling Up agenda are fine. What’s completely missing is the deeds.” Presented by Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the Roadmap to Unlocking is unveiled, are Johnson’s plans over-cautious, reckless, unrealistic or maybe… reasonable? Special guest former Home Secretary David Blunkett joins us to explain what it’s like to make decisions in a crisis, what he thinks of Keir Starmer’s performance so far, and whether he rates Priti Patel. Plus, do we need a deradicalisation programme for angry white males? “If opposition leaders are constantly calling for people to resign and then they don’t, it tends to make them look a bit weak.” – Ayesha Hazarika “If Governments want to show how tough they are, they should choose opponents their own size – and maybe not misguided young women.” – David Blunkett on the Shamima Begum case “One type of extremism breeds another. You can’t counter one extreme group by creating another.” – Ayesha Hazarika “On 9/11 there wasn’t a single person in Cabinet that panicked. I was amazed.” – David Blunkett “Starmer’s got a nightmare job because Labour can’t get a hearing… and because the Government are being forced to enact a social democratic programme.” – David Blunkett Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Ayesha Hazarika and Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Will Boris Johnson’s “schools first” plan for unlocking England placate the headbangers of the CRG? What about those desperate for a beer that’s not from a can? Can Keir Starmer out-caution the PM? And what’s going on with Johnson’s latest wheeze, a subterranean roundabout under the Isle of Man? Ros Taylor sets up the week ahead. “This is bad news if you’re a pub landlord – and good news if you’re an off-license flogging cheap tinnies.” “Starmer’s moment is not now. He’ll never prosper in the middle of a successful vaccine rollout.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After decades of feminist thought, why is history still a parade of men and the things they’ve done? The writers, poets and teachers behind the Twitter initiative @OnThisDayShe are putting women back into history, one day at a time – and they’re not leaving out the serial killers. Jo Bell, Tania Hershman and Ailsa Holland of @OnThisDayShe talk to Jude Rogers about why history leaves women out, their new book, why women don’t have to be heroes… and how your best ideas can come on a day out at the local treacle market. “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” – Tania Hershman “The way we talk about history is revealing. A man is said to have done something. A women is always ‘reputed’ to have done something.” – Jo Bell “Even if women are recognised in their own time, they’ll often be forgotten by history afterwards.” – Ailsa Holland “Women’s history is always expected to be somehow uplifting. But it’s not history’s job to be inspiring.” – Jo Bell “If I’d know at school about some of the women we’ve featured it would have changed my whole outlook on life.” – Tania Hershman “This isn’t women’s history. It’s everyone’s history, with women put back in.” – Jo Bell Presented by Jude Rogers. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does it mean to be indispensable? From Major through New Labour to the Coalition, the late Civil Service giant Jeremy Heywood was to a key advisor to four Prime Ministers, and Cabinet Secretary to two. Theresa May described him as “the greatest public servant of our age”. His widow Suzanne tells Ros Taylor about her new book What Does Jeremy Think?, what it took for Jeremy Heywood to manage crises from Black Wednesday to Brexit, and how he handled the duty of pushing through policies he himself feared were wrong. “Jeremy had been in training to get the best result out of Brexit for Britain for almost all his professional life…” “It was only while writing the book that I realised how close the UK came to a total banking collapse during the Financial Crisis.” Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the ownership of Manchester City and Paris St. Germain to motor sport in the Middle East to the Beijing Olympics, questionable regimes are laundering their reputations by association with elite sport. Does “sportswashing” work, and what can fans do about it? Murad Ahmed, Sports Editor of the FT and host of their Business of Football Summit, gives Andrew Harrison the inside track on sport’s dirty secrets. “No fan of a sports team thinks of themselves as a consumer of a global brand. But that’s exactly what marketing directors think.” “The sports market has been completely distorted by ownership by Middle Eastern states.” “The weaponising of fans to go after critics of your country is really worrying.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Britain’s COVID policy has failed women so badly that organisations from Amnesty to the Fawcett Society have called for the EHRC to intervene. Why can’t our blokey-bloke Cabinet understand that more than half the population is being hit harder by the virus – and getting less help? Plus special guest Caroline Lucas MP explains the radical, cross-party Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill. And as Samira Ahmed (possibly) takes over Mastermind, what are our panel’s specialist subjects and starters for ten? “Three million and more people have had no support since March. That’s unforgivable. And it hits women disproportionately.” – Caroline Lucas “We need a lot more bolshy, aggressive, assertive policies if we’re going to get gender parity around COVID and beyond.” – Miatta Fahnbulleh “To be fair to the Government’s sense of imagination, they have found imaginative ways to spread COVID” – Ahir Shah “When you have a PM who uses terms like ‘girly swot’ and ‘big girl’s blouse’, that’s not someone who’s very interested in gender equality.” – Caroline Lucas Presented by Naomi Smith with Miatta Fahnbulleh and Ahir Shah. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As enforced hotel quarantine kicks in, will closed borders mollify the increasingly restive Covid Recovery Group? And brace yourself for an entirely unnecessary War on Woke as the Government invents the Free Speech Champion – the worst superhero ever. Ian Dunt sets out the coming week for Andrew Harrison. “You’d imagine that closed borders and quarantine would be exactly what the CRG want.” “We won’t see much of Labour on the war on woke. But we haven’t seen much of Labour on anything lately.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When opposition figurehead and recovered Novichok target Alexei Navalny flew back to Russia to lead democracy protests, he took an enormous personal risk, of which instant imprisonment was only a part. Could Navalny’s mix of street demos and slick social media mockery really destabilise Putin’s regime? Luke Harding, author of Shadow State : Murder, Mayhem and Russia's Remaking of the West, explains the background to Navalny’s gamble… and the meaning of the casino, nightclub and “aqua-discotheque” in ‘Putin’s Palace’. “Navalny shone a light on corruption – not just by Putin, but his friends.” “Navalny’s return to Russia was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen.” “Putin is a dictator. It’s a tired old show that Russians are tired of watching.” “Navalny’s popularity is clearly growing. If you can get people to protest in minus fifty, you must be cutting through.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The American writer George Saunders won the 2017 Booker Prize with Lincoln In The Bardo and is an award-winning author of short stories. His new book A Swim In A Pond In The Rain explains how short stories work with the aid of Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Dorian Lynskey is a fan. George Saunders talks to Dorian about his “shovel in the fictive graveyard”, being a working class writer in a middle class world, the value of “looming catastrophe” in life and art… and why reading fiction is the best training for spotting lies in loved ones, colleagues and politicians. “I had the idea that literature was a beautiful gilded mansion and I had to leave all my real shit at the door. And it’s not true.” “Our basic storytelling gland has to do with curiosity” “My job as a writer is to get to a place where the world doesn’t surprise me.” “A story isn’t a monolithic whole that comes from the writer’s moral qualities. It’s a magic trick made out of fragments of language.” “When you’ve got an administration that rejects enlightenment values they’re not susceptible to satire. And I found that with Trump.” Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Even after the horror of the Grenfell Fire, millions of people are still living in homes with cheap, inflammable cladding – and the effort to fix it has stalled. Steve Cole, head of corporate strategy at the housing association Clarion, and Inside Housing’s award-winning editor Peter Apps tell Naomi Smith about a scandal that’s been inexcusably neglected, how austerity paved the way for this tragedy, and how to force the Government to take action before another disaster. “There are up to 4.6m flats affected by dangerous cladding and that’s 11m people. That’s equivalent to the entire population of London.” – Peter Apps “British homes are like US cars. They’re only energy efficient because they run on cheap fuel.” – Steve Cole “Why should the taxpayer pay to fix a problem of the construction industry?” – Peter Apps “Regulation isn’t worth much of it’s not enforced… Austerity took a lot of expertise and enforcement out of local government.” – Steve Cole Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofrenijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can Keir Starmer re-energise Labour by connecting it to the symbols its old voters admire? And why are progressives so neurotic about patriotism? Plus, with Russia and China distributing Sputnik and Sinovac around the world, are COVID vaccines a surprisingly hard tool of soft power? And why is supposedly ‘Global’ Britain giving up on learning foreign languages? Ahir Shah, Yasmeen Serhan and Arthur Snell join Andrew Harrison for this week’s panel edition. “To a lot of us the Union Jack only means two things: the World Cup, or fear.” – Ahir Shah “Rich countries need to understand that they may have all the vaccines, but it doesn’t mean they’re more immune.” – Yasmeen Serhan “What the outside world doesn’t realise is, Putin’s popularity in the polls is dropping fast.” – Arthur Snell Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What to watch out for in the next seven days: Trumpeachment II and the Republicans’ Faustian bargain with their own fantasists, worsening import-export crisis in Britain’s Brexit-battered ports, Labour exposes the Government’s crony contracts and more. Alex Andreou marks your card for the week ahead. “The in and out valves to this country are jammed.” “Haulage is not a curve, it’s a tipping point. At some point, it will become unprofitable for these businesses to trade in the UK.” “Covid-19 is no longer an emergency, it’s a fact of life.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are the rules that make powerful people powerful changing? Can they still bank on the old myth of the superhuman CEO or political leader? Business journalist from the Telegraph, Evening Standard and beyond James Ashton has just published The Nine Types Of Leader: How The Leaders Of Tomorrow Can Learn From The Leaders Of Today. He talks to Alex Andreou about how leadership is changing. “The pendulum has swung from alpha dominated populists to diplomats – from Trump to Biden.” “I hate these words like passion and authenticity – but a leader has to be believable.” “There are still plenty of arrogant thin-skinned leaders around, who need to be surrounded by people who just say the right thing” Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If democracy is so great why does it keep producing such terrible results? Nick Cohen of The Observer talks to Georgetown University political philosopher Jason Brennan, author of Against Democracy, about what it means when sweeping democratic mandates arise from underinformed voters. Do people really vote on the basis of policy or simply to be part of the gang? Should you have to pass a test before you can vote? Would Jason criticise our system in front of a Belorussian protestor? And what can Iron Maiden teach us about what’s wrong with democracy? “A key problem is, the average voter basically knows nothing about politics…” “For most people, the act of voting is a little like kicking your dog because you’ve had a bad day at work.” “The average citizen in a democracy is much more authoritarian than the societies they live in. What’s checking them is the elites.” “Why is it so good to live in liberal democracies? Is it because they’re democracies – or because they’re liberal?” “Voters aren’t stupid. It’s more a question of, Is it even worth my while for me to know this stuff?” Presented by Nick Cohen. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofrenijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Technology will displace 47% of all jobs, said Dr Carl Benedikt Frey in a study he co-wrote called The Future Of Employment – a paper so influential that it’s at the centre of jobs policy for governments across the world. But what will replace those jobs? Will anything replace them? In his new book The Technology Trap Dr Frey describes how the same job destruction and extremes of poverty and great wealth that took place in the Industrial Revolution are happening all over again thanks to artificial intelligence and Big Data. So how will we work in the future? Should we celebrate the end of boring, repetitive jobs? And how can we plan for jobs of tomorrow when we can’t even conceptualise them? “The scale of jobs that are replaceable by technology – but that’s only a part of the question” “Machines perform poorly in creative or social tasks. That’s where most new jobs will be created.” Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Britain’s vaccination programme is undoubtedly working. Do we have to grit out teeth and admit our political opponents have done at least one thing right? Healthcare commentator Roy Lilley tells us the mood among NHS workers. Plus: small business goes under the political bus, the murky world of doses for data, will we ever travel for fun again – and what the hell is happening in Italy? Ros Taylor and Ayesha Hazarika join Andrew Harrison for the weekly Bunker panel show. “The NHS is on the ragged edge. It’s hanging on by its fingernails” – Roy Lilley “The vaccine rollout will be a powerful argument in favour of paying more tax for the NHS” - Ros Taylor “Labour was always associated with red tape. Now the Conservatives are strangling business with it” - Ayesha Hazarika Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vaccination steps up, Trump’s legal shenanigans, Paul Dacre to OFCOM, Myanmar, Navalny and the fallout from the EU’s terrible decision on vaccine exports. Yasmeen Serhan of The Atlantic tells Andrew Harrison what to watch out for in the coming week. “Myanmar will reveal whether the US is going to be the country that stands up for democracy again.” “The emerging COVID variants are a warning that we aren’t safe until we’re all safe.” “Trump authorised the Capitol insurrection. There was merch, for God’s sake.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What can the Spanish Flu of 1918 tell us about coping with Coronavirus – and maybe the next pandemic too? Nick Cohen of The Observer talks to Laura Spinney, author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu Of 1918 And How It Changed The World, about the lessons from possibly the greatest public health disaster in history. Did populations weakened by the First World War provide a fertile breeding ground for the Spanish Flu? Is democracy really at a disadvantage when dealing with pandemics? Will post-COVID generations have to face up to the inherent viral dangers of eating meat? And the myth of a new Roaring Twenties: will we go from a new Spanish Flu to a new Wall Street Crash without a an intervening Jazz Age? “What matters is the level of trust in a society. If it’s not there when the outbreak happens it’s very hard to create it.” “Populations tend to bounce back rapidly from pandemics for the simple reason that pandemics tend not to destroy your capital cities.” “This is the first digitally-witnessed pandemic. Every detail has been tracked and traced.” “Every strain of flu that has ever circulated began as a pandemic. But the Spanish Flu was at least 25 times as virulent than most strains.” Presented by Nick Cohen. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofrenijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How does a band make widescreen, forward-thinking communal rock music when they’re suddenly locked down miles away from one another? And when your keyboard player has moved to Australia? Paul Smith of Newcastle postpunk adventurers Maxïmo Park tells Dorian Lynskey about finding inspiration in strange places, recording an album on WhatsApp and jerky FaceTime calls, writing about Brexit and Grenfell… and the myth of levelling up the North. “Whatever we might do to try and conceal it, our true nature always comes up through the cracks.” “My faith in Boris Johnson to roll out the vaccine and save the live industry is low – and it wasn’t high to begin with.” “I don’t want to be the North East guy with a chip on his shoulder… but it’s going to take a lot of levelling up to level up Stockton.” “The live music industry is worth a lot to the Chancellor, whether he knows it or not” Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How does it feel to work in the thick of the pandemic and spend time with patients you know will die? Rachel Clarke is a doctor in Oxfordshire who works in palliative care and her new book is Breathtaking: Inside The NHS In A Time Of Pandemic. She talks to Ros Taylor about the incredible personal stress of frontline medicine in the pandemic, the price Britain has paid for Boris Johnson’s “unforgivable” refusal to take the hard decisions, the death threats she’s had for telling the truth about COVID, and why we’re still so determined to look away from Britain’s appalling death toll from Coronavirus. “I feel murderous with rage and blind with fury when I hear the Prime Minister trot out his glib claims of success.” “I never in a million years thought we’d ever let things get as bad as 2020 again. Yet now we’re in worse conditions than that first peak.” “Boris Johnson knows he promised to protect the NHS and he has manifestly failed.” “The cruelest aspect of this pandemic is that all the ways we show our love are the ways that COVID spreads.” ““The unforgivable thing is not learning from your mistakes, and in Britain we’ve had a litany of mistakes” “If our Prime Minister wasn’t being given the science, or worse decided to juggle it for his own political imperatives, then that’s inexcusable” Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Government’s shoddy EU Deal means the live music business will have to cope with mountains of red tape it thought was in the past. Singer FISH, ex- of prog rock legends Marillion and now a successful solo touring artist, set out the details of this nightmare in a blistering social media post at the weekend. Now he talks to Andrew Harrison about how the strangling complexity of permits and visas will choke off emerging British talent even when COVID lifts, and why the Government isn’t even pretending to help small businesses I one of Britain’s true global industries. Find out more about Fish and buy aptly-titled new album Weltschmertz at fishmusic.scot “This will kill new bands wanting to establish themselves in Europe.” “We could be playing seven cities in ten days before we know someone is infected.” “Most Europeans learned English through rock and pop songs.” “Our albums are three times more expensive now – they cost 31 euros on the continent” “I was supposed to retire in 2022. That’s out the window.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the UK’s vaccination effort finally an actual British success story… for the NHS, not the Government? Exactly how are the vaccines different and how do they work? Special guest Sathnam Sanghera joins us to talk about his new book Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain, how the British Empire still haunts our present, and the unsurpassable joys of blanking Julia Hartley-Brewer. Plus should we all stop saying woke? Miatta Fahnbulleh and Arthur Snell join Dorian Lynskey for the weekly Bunker panel show. “In the middle of a pandemic, Robert Jenrick takes time to talk about defending statues? That’s Imperial thinking.” – Sathnam Sanghera “There are loads of reasons to be totally disappointed with this government… but we shouldn’t fall into the trap of saying everything they do is a failure.” – Arthur Snell “We’ve never confronted the British Empire simply because it’s so painful. Massacres, wars… and a few railways. It’s not fun.” – Sathnam Sanghera “Churchill said the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre was a crime. Was HE woke?” – Sathnam Sanghera Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Britain approaches the horrific landmark of 100,000 COVID deaths, will lockdown hawks force the Government to reopen the economy too soon – again? Plus the worsening mess in customs, import and export. Best for Britain launches a campaign to get COVID support to the 3m workers that Sunak forgot. And it’s bad news for hedgehogs as Chris Grayling takes up their case. Naomi Smith sets out the week ahead with Andrew Harrison. “The Covid Recovery Group is no more interested in our recovery from Covid than the European Research Group was in researching Europe.” “The best things in life are free, but for everything else there’s ‘sovereignty’.” “People won’t wake up until they have to pay customs via chip-and-pin at the doorstep.” “Rollback of workers’ rights is a Brexiteers’ wet dream.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does Englishness even mean in a land so splintered by class, geography, language and even post-colonial neuroses that it barely understands itself? And how far back would you draw the North-South divide? To 1066? Or maybe to the Jurassic period? James Hawes, novelist and author of the riotously readable Shortest History Of England, talks to The Observer’s Nick Cohen about England’s murky past and murkier future in a new occasional series of one-to-one conversations. “The Norman Conquests were a long, grinding and demeaning process for the English. It was the slow annihilation of a culture.” “England hasn’t existed as a separate state since 1707… Instead you had a polyglot empire of different nations.” “When English people stand up and say ‘We’ve lost our Empire’, well you never had one in the first place, mate.” “We were able to beat the French because we’d created this extraordinary combination of aristocrats and businessmen that we call ‘gentlemen’.” “Even now, we automatically fall back into Northern gits and Southern bastards. This stuff runs deep.” “It’s been so long since the English have had to look at the problems of being English that I can’t see it ending peacefully.” Presented by Nick Cohen. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofrenijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices