The Bunker – News without the nonsense

A bonus excerpt from the new series of our science and psychology podcast, Why? In Episode One: Most of us think we’re too smart, stable and strong-willed to join a cult – but clearly somebody’s joining them. So why do people willingly give up their free will and independence to join secretive communities with charismatic leaders – and how do they get out? Emma Kennedy talks to world-leading cult...

General Election 2024: Was Starmer lucky, ruthless or both? Was there any way back for the Tories after that disastrous rain-sodden launch? And was the vote a real watershed moment – or just an interval before we return to the business of national decline? ITV News’s Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana talks to Andrew Harrison about Taken As Red: How Labour Won Big and the Tories Crashed the P...

Georgia is a key battleground in the US election – and was central to Trump’s push against the 2020 result. Trump has been charged over allegations of leading a criminal racketeering enterprise, in a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 outcome. With the case pending, Gavin Esler speaks with Marian Mohamed, director of Trump: The Criminal Conspiracy Case , which airs at 9pm on Wednesday, October 23 – a...

What is it like to wear a hidden camera among neo-fascist extremists? Or at a rally for far-right groups from across Europe, some with a reputation for extreme violence? In a chilling new C4 documentary Undercover: Exposing the Far Right , reporters from Hope Not Hate pose as far-right recruits to discover how they talk privately, how they network, and how they’re laundering discredited “race scie...

It’s the last full week before the Budget and of course the press is losing its cool over a raft of leaks. What will be in it, who’s annoyed in Government – is any of it worth paying attention to? Plus, Charles and Starmer attend the Commonwealth summit, the latest from the US election, and the state of conflicts across the world. Gavin Esler talks Jacob Jarvis through the week ahead.  We are spon...

JD Vance says The Lord Of The Rings shaped his politics. Italy’s Georgia Meloni used to dress as a hobbit and go to right-wing Tolkien meet-ups. Far-right oligarch Peter Thiel named his company after a magic stone from Middle Earth. Why are right-wingers so fascinated by Tolkien? And is their fake, fascist-adjacent vision of a mystic rural paradise dangerous? New York Times columnist and self-decl...

As pressure to return to the office continues to grow, could we be witnessing the end of flexible working? Despite promises from the government to explore working from home and four-day weeks, bosses seem adamant to return to the status quo. In today’s episode of The Bunker , Hannah Fearn sits down with Professor Cary Cooper to unpack why workplaces are urging employees back into the office.  We a...

Whenever there’s a crisis in America, conspiracy theories follow. The response to Hurricane Helene has highlighted the growing mainstream acceptance of these bizarre tales. From Marjorie Taylor Greene’s wild claims about weather controlling technology to militias disguised as disaster relief. In this episode, we unravel the web of misinformation and dive into the growing trend of mainstream conspi...

The Conservative leadership race has taken an unexpected turn, with Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick emerging as the final two candidates. On The Bunker , Rock & Roll Politics host Steve Richards sits down with Andrew Harrison to discuss how we ended up here. What are the key differences between the two, and should either be a cause for concern for Keir Starmer? • We are sponsored by Indeed. G...

After Starmer’s 100 days milestone, focus is turning to a major investment summit this week. Will he manage to keep business on side by vowing to cut red tape, without causing too much unrest in his party ranks? Plus, we look at escalation in the Middle East and the race to the White House as it draws ever closer. Ros Taylor joins Jacob Jarvis to talk through the stories to look out for in the wee...

Two years after Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter takeover, the platform has become a hotbed for alt-right content. Having lost a fifth of its user base and a mass exodus of advertisers, what happened to Musk’s dream of turning the platform into an ‘everything app’? Today, Jacob Jarvis sits down with tech reporter Ryan Broderick, author of the Garbage Day newsletter, to try and understand Musk’s imp...

All new cars sold in Britain will be electric by 2030 if we stick to Government plans. But instead of cheering for decarbonisation, our right-wing press pumps out a steady series of angry hit pieces against electric vehicles. What’s really going on? Is demand for electric cars really plummeting? Is the technology really falling short? And what have the right wing got against electric cars anyway?...

Yuppies, successful and affluent young urban professionals, were a notable demographic in 1980s America. Newsweek declared 1984 the year of the yuppie, and these types of characters were immortalised in fiction through American Psycho . But, what were the real world Patrick Batemans actually like – and how did they shape the politics of the America we see today? And how do they tie in with Trump....

China’s economy has been described as “unsustainable” after a model of massive growth in recent decades begins to fail. How does it currently work, how might it change – and is Xi Jinping capable of leading – or even simply acknowledging – the shift it requires? With critical economists being jailed or literally disappearing in China, Ian Williams, the author of Vampire State: The Rise and Fall of...

The news to look out for this week: Why did Sue Gray have to go and what will her departure mean for Starmer and his government? And the Tory leadership contest rolls on… should we care? Plus, is there any end in sight to conflict in the Middle East, one year on from October 7th? Ros Taylor and Gavin Esler discuss the stories to pay attention to in the week ahead.  • “Running a political campaign...

Starmer and his Cabinet caught hell for accepting donations of clothes, accommodation, tickets to see Taylor Swift and Arsenal, and more. But as historian Seth Thévoz explains, this is peanuts compared to the largesse afforded to past political generations. Listen up for jaw-dropping tales of free holidays, yachts and stately homes… how Churchill barely owned the clothes he stood up in and fought...

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a new Russia emerged – one that was open for business. Over the next 30 years, huge international companies took advantage of this new global Russia and found immense success. But Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine changed everything. Charles Hecker has been a journalist and geopolitical risk consultant involved with Russia for around 40 years. In his new bo...

The death penalty is a fixture of the American penal system – with 27 states still implementing it. Since it was reinstated in 1976, there have been 1,600 prisoners and counting executed as a punishment. Robin Maher , executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, joins Gavin Esler to discuss the use of capital punishment in the United States. What is the history of this penalty – and...

Who ensures that dictators and oligarchs get good press? Who feeds the media fake stories that serve the ends of the powerful? Phil Elwood was a PR operator who worked for authoritarian regimes, manipulating the media to support his controversial clients. In his book All The Worst Humans he opens the lid on the dark arts of PR and news management, from “kneecapping” the US bid for the 2022 World C...

Tory conference is upon us and the leadership candidates are trying to outdo each other with audacious comments and weird merchandise. What should we look out for as they gather in Birmingham? Plus, Labour donation outrage continues – will the media keep going with this story? And is Starmer able to get a grip of it? Plus, we look ahead to the VP debate in the USA and discuss the escalation in the...

What’s the feeling been like in the White House since Biden dropped out of the race? And how is Harris juggling both distancing herself from Biden and running on his record? In a teaser for our sibling podcast American Friction , The Bunker’s very own Jacob Jarvis and Rolling Stone’s Nikki McCann Ramirez, speak to the New York Times’ chief White House correspondent Peter Baker to discuss the feeli...

If Donald Trump wins in November, the Republican Party will remain his plaything. But what if he loses? Can the party regain its bearings and return to a pre-Trump era of relative sanity – or is it too far gone, and its supporters too radicalised? To find out, Dorian Lynskey talks to McKay Coppins , staff writer at The Atlantic and author of two books about the GOP.  Click here to read McKay Coppi...

The problems with our rail network are clear to anybody who’s been on a train lately. It’s a colossal challenge for Labour – so how will they handle the issues? And could our rail systems ever rival those of Japan, Switzerland and Germany? To find out, Ros Taylor talks to rail engineer and writer Gareth Dennis, whose upcoming book How the Railways Will Fix the Future: Rediscovering the Essential B...

Donald Trump and his allies are clearly motivated by money just as much as politics. How did these chancers go from exploiting a movement, to basically taking complete control of it? Joe Conason, author of The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism , joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss. Buy The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Co...

The small boat crisis isn’t going away. Keir Starmer says he wants to solve the problem by stopping the gangs who organise the crossings – but will that work, and what do we do with the thousands of migrants who’ve already made it here? To find out, Ros Taylor talks to immigration barrister and author of the Free Movement blog, Colin Yeo.   We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £...