The Bunker – News without the nonsense

It’s Keir Starmer’s first Labour Party Conference as Prime Minister – what’s the vibe like and what should we be looking out for? Steve Richards, host of Rock & Roll Politics, knows party conferences better than anyone in the business and joins us on site in Liverpool for a very special Start Your Week, looking ahead at what to expect from the Labour gathering.   We are sponsored by Indeed. Go...

The Lord Darzi review on the state of the NHS painted a dire picture of our healthcare system. And while that comes as little surprise, what new information does the report offer – and can it be used for positive change? Alastair McLellan has spent the last two decades writing about the NHS and shares his reflections on the Darzi Report with Ros Taylor.   We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.c...

Carol Vorderman has made a remarkable journey from Countdown maths guru to one of the most popular and forthright political commentators in the country… and a lot of people in the Torysphere really hate her for it. She tells Andrew Harrison what it’s like to be in the right wing’s sights – how British media and politics keep outsiders in their place – and about her new book Now What? How To Fix Br...

The relationship between the UK and Germany survived Brexit better than many expected – but are we as close to Germany as we could be? Berlin was the first capital Keir Starmer visited as Prime Minister, and there was even a photo of the Reichstag in the Labour manifesto. But what’s the truth about the UK-German relationship, and why do so many of us know so little about Germany? To find out, Ros...

A ceasefire in the Hamas-Israel conflict still feels painfully far off. If one were to be secured – what would it even look like? As we approach the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, Gavin Esler talks to former advisor to Israeli governments Daniel Levy , who provides insights based on years of experience in peace negotiations in the region.   We are sponsored by Indeed. G...

Yesterday’s unprecedented second assassination attempt on Donald Trump will take over the election agenda this week but will it change the course of the campaign? Back in the UK, Labour’s upcoming party conference next week means it’s their last chance to roll the pitch. What are we expecting? And how will Starmer’s meeting with Italian far-right PM Giorgia Meloni go down with the Labour left? Plu...

The final report into the Grenfell Tower fire was released last week. It unequivocally states that the tragedy was the result of systemic failures across central and local government, in the construction and design industries and among local social housing managers – and that the 72 deaths were avoidable. What are the key points, lessons, and the details you need to know? Hannah Fearn is joined by...

While America may be Britain’s most important ally, we are just one of many special relationships the US maintains worldwide. How has the nature of our relationship changed over the decades? And how might it differ under a Harris or Trump presidency? In the fourth episode of our Foreign Affairs mini-series, Gavin Esler discusses the past and future of UK-US relations with Financial Times chief for...

After Harris and Trump’s election debate clash, do you want to know what actually mattered from their showdown? In a teaser for our sibling podcast American Friction , The Bunker’s very own Jacob Jarvis and Chris Jones are joined by Rolling Stone’s Nikki McCann Ramirez, to discuss the highs, lows and the facts and lies from the event.    Want to know more about the race for the White House? On Ame...

We hear a lot about the personalities of infamous figures like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un – but relatively little about one of the most powerful people in the world: Xi Jinping. Who is Xi, how did he get to where he is today, and what does he want? To find out, Ros Taylor talks to Michael Sheridan , whose new book The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and His New China charts the leader’s...

US presidential debates are part spectacle, part showdown, and sometimes total sh*tshow. What is it about American politics that lends itself to these televised debates, and how have they evolved over time? Ahead of the Harris-Trump debate, Seth Alexander Thévoz spoke to Alan Schroeder, emeritus professor in the School of Journalism at Northeastern University and author of Presidential Debates: Ri...

In a busy week ahead of conference recess, look out for a major report on the state of the NHS and a contentious vote on winter fuel payments. Plus, there’ll be action on no-fault evictions , new developments in the COVID inquiry and the start of early prison releases. How is Labour navigating these challenges? Plus, Keir Starmer meets with Joe Biden – and in more U.S. politics news, Kamala Harris...

Something is going terribly wrong with Hollywood. The movie industry is shrinking, its revenue is down and its employees are being forced out. Fewer major studios are making fewer movies. But why? What is leading this mass creative exodus, and can the engine of America’s movie industry be saved? Pop culture historian Daniel Bessner answers this in his exhaustive Harper's Bazaar piece entitled ‘The...

Scare stories about Artificial Intelligence are everywhere – but its colossal environmental impact is startlingly underreported. How exactly does the use of A.I. contribute to the climate crisis, is there anything being done to counteract it, and why is this issue largely unknown? To find out, Kate Devlin talks to  Jesse Dodge , senior research scientist at the Allen Institute for AI .  We are spo...

The US Republican Party used to be known as the party of law and order. Now it’s headed by a convicted felon, Donald Trump. Peter Wehner, has served in three Republican administrations and was speechwriter for George W. Bush during his presidency. He now writes for The Atlantic and The New York Times and says what has happened to his party “haunts” him. He joins Chris Jones in The Bunker to explai...

Keir Starmer has promised change – but what form will it take? And could it mean the return to the concept of the so-called ‘Big State’? Will Labour’s proposed plans for increased public ownership and workers’ rights be the transformation Britain so desperately needs – or could an interventionist approach do more harm than good? To find out, Gavin Esler talks to New Statesman senior politics edito...

Summer is coming to a close, kids are returning to school, Parliament is back and there’s no shortage of problems facing Keir Starmer . What will the Commons be focused on? And how quickly can Starmer clean up the Tories’ mess? In Germany, the far-right AfD triumphed in state elections on Sunday. How worried should we be? And in the Middle-East, why are we no closer to seeing a ceasefire between I...

We used to think that machines would only take over manual work. Now A.I. looks capable of anything. Will work become a luxury for a select few? Are there some jobs that can never be automated? Alex Andreou talks to Allison Pugh – author of The Last Human Job – about tech’s growing power and why our humanity depends on the connections that work fosters.   Buy The Last Human Job: The Work of Connec...

With its paranoid fantasies of Donald Trump at war with a secret, Satanic US government, the QAnon conspiracy wrought terrible damage on American politics. But spreading the word of Q exacts damage on believers too. Journalist Jesselyn Cook explored the broken lives and shattered relationships of Q believers for her new book The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family. She t...

How did the Conservatives turn 14 years of unprecedented political power into near-extinction at the ballot box? Where did it all go so wrong? How will their era go down in history? And what made Rishi Sunak  take his catastrophic electoral gamble in 2024? Steve Richards of the Rock & Roll Politics podcast talks to Ben Riley-Smith, whose new book Blue Murder: The Rise and Fall of the Conservat...

The UK and Russia have long had a strained relationship – and ties have only been worsened since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Is there any future possibility for a return to a 1990s state of civility between the two nations – or has Putin’s reign marked a permanent end to such a connection? In the third episode of our ‘Foreign Affairs’ mini-series on Britain’s foreign relationships, Rafael Behr sp...

Keir Starmer is due to snap us back to reality after the Bank Holiday with a stark speech on the decade needed to clean up the Tories’ mess. What’s he going to say – and why now? In US news, Trump has basically dumped JD Vance for RFK Jr. – but will this improve his chances against Harris and Walz? Plus, clashes between Hezbollah and Israel signal an escalation in the Middle East . How concerned s...

Kamala Harris is closer than ever to being the president of the United States. Focus has been on America this week at the DNC, but what would a Harris presidency mean for the rest of the world? What foreign policy issues does she care about -- and how would she handle wars springing up around the globe? To find out, Ros Taylor is joined by Chatham House director Bronwen Maddox in The Bunker .   We...

Oil, and the industry around it, has a huge influence on our world. From our social existence and food systems to urban spaces, military power and financial architecture. But how did oil and capitalism become so intertwined? And in what ways does oil control our entire social structure, beyond providing a source of energy or transport fuel? Alex Andreou is joined by University of Exeter professor...

Russian state media is notoriously corrupt and rife with propaganda. So how are Russian citizens being fed information about the Russia-Ukraine war? Does any truth exist within Russian television – or is it all one big narrative crafted by Putin? To find out, Chris Jones talks to BBC Monitoring journalist Francis Scarr. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit....