The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Twitter as we know it is dead. The bird has been sent out to pasture and replaced with a stark ‘X’ symbol. Will Elon Musk’s rebrand go down in history as the most successful rebrand since ‘Snickers’ – or will it be the next ‘New Coke’? Leslie Hallam, director of the psychology of advertising masters programme at Lancaster University, joins Alex Andreou in the Bunker to discuss the world of marketi...

Rishi Sunak’s decision to limit the number of students able to study what he calls “low-value degrees” has sparked backlash. Why is he doing this – and does it make sense? And is this even about education at all? Dr. Zoe Hope Bulaitis , assistant professor of liberal arts and natural sciences at University of Birmingham and author of Value and The Humanities , joins Gavin Esler in The Bunker to di...

Attitudes to migration were a key cause of Brexit – but is it still such a major factor in how people vote? With research showing that the UK now has a more favourable attitude to migration, what are the arguments for it? Alex Andreou is joined by Rob Ford , professor of political science at the University of Manchester, and co-author of Brexitland , to explore the real public opinions on migratio...

Setting up the stories of the week ahead. Today: Rishi Sunak says he’s “on the side of motorists”. How did a sliver of a vote in the Uxbridge by-election cause a massacre of green policies? Talking of pollution, Nigel Farage’s war on banks continues. Will his hard-done-by routine rehabilitate his political career? Plus the military coup in Niger, the Ukraine war comes to Moscow, and the latest fro...

Can Artificial Intelligence replace our loved ones after death? Will Gregg Wallace’s cannibalism mockumentary change how we see the future of food? Dr. Kate Devlin, author of Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots and historian Dr. Kasia Tomasiewicz join Jacob Jarvis and Andrew Harrison to chew the fat and try to answer some of the after life’s biggest questions. Yes, back by popular demand, it’s the...

Phone hacking, false claims of election hacking and a potential high profile libel case with a maligned BBC newsreader. Those are just a few of the scandals facing Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in the last few years. Despite this, the 92-year-old media mogul’s vice-like grip on the media landscape has remained as powerful as ever.  Gavin Esler is joined in The Bunker by journalist William D Cohan...

This week on Bunker Global: The Spanish election fallout as a hung parliament leaves Spain in political limbo. Are Wagner mercenaries really preparing to invade Poland ? Also, Elon Musk is ghosting Twitter employees in Africa, why does Big Tech show such little respect to the global South?  . Dipo Faloyin , senior editor of global news at Vice and author of ‘ Africa is not a Country’ , and Guy Hed...

Are we witnessing the death of Silicon Valley as big tech shifts from physical products to services? And has the time of California being the promised land for budding tech bros gone? Dr. Kate Devlin is joined in The Bunker by Joel Kotkin , fellow in urban studies at Chapman University, to find out. “One of the dirty little secrets of Silicon Valley is that it was largely created by federal spendi...

MPs have collectively earned millions of pounds from side hustles in the last few years. From the ‘cash for access’ scandal to the resignation of Owen Paterson, the public is fascinated by extra work carried out by politicians. But how much does this impact their day jobs?  Marie Le Conte sits down with Dr. Simon Weschle, assistant professor in the political science department at Syracuse Universi...

Buying a house in the UK is almost impossible for many people. But house prices could fall by 10 per cent over the next 2 years. Is that a good thing? Peter Apps is the deputy editor of Inside Housing magazine, he joins Hannah Fearn in The Bunker. “There’s so much demand in the UK and there’s such a shortage of houses.” – Peter Apps. “It’s very difficult to predict where we’re going to be for the...

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are both on manoeuvres after the by-elections – but what are their tangible plans? As the Labour leader asks Sadiq Khan to “reflect” on ULEZ, the Tory PM is doubling down on just being horrid. Plus, we have the latest on the climate crisis in Greece, an update on elections in Spain, and news from Ukraine. Alex Andreou joins Jacob Jarvis to map out the week ahead.  “Ris...

From the Hague to Westminster, buildings shape the politics that happens within them. Does the design of the Chamber in Westminster encourage bad behaviour? How does Britain compare with the rest of Europe? Exploring the benefits of horseshoes, circles and semicircles are historian Seth Thévoz and Sophia Psarra, professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Her forthcoming edited collecti...

For the first time in 63 years, Hollywood has a double strike on its hands. Actors have joined writers on the picket lines – in an effort to take on the tech giants who have disrupted TV and cinemas in recent years.  Alex Andreou sits down with screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick to discuss streaming platforms, the threat of AI on creativity and Chicken Run 2.  “Every industry is scrambling with regula...

The first debate in the race to be the GOP’s presidential nominee for 2024 is a month away. What should we watch out for – and how will the party split? Former President Trump is dominating the opinion polls, but a crowded field of other candidates has emerged – including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice-President Mike Pence. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Politico ’s senior campaigns and...

This week on Bunker Global: As horror heat consumes the earth – is climate chaos the new normal? Plus, we pick apart the extent of China’s spy operations . And, as Giorgia Meloni’s tenure as Italian PM looks increasingly concerning , we pick apart her actions so far. Laura Makin-Isherwood , former London bureau chief of Feature Story News, and Kai Strittmatter , former China correspondent for Germ...

Social media fuels many emotions, especially anger. And if you’ve followed UK politics for any length of time, you’ll be used to that feeling. Author of Outrage Machine , Tobias Rose-Stockwell , says tech companies know this and have tailored their algorithms to maximise the amount we consume. But how does this translate to real life? Does it alter the way we vote? And does it damage democracy? He...

Libel laws have been around for centuries in England – yet the public and the papers keep falling foul of them. The witch hunt for the then-unnamed BBC presenter in early July is the latest example. The anonymity of that presenter, now revealed to be Huw Edwards, meant people began publicly accusing other BBC presenters of being involved. At least one Twitter user has now been sued over this. So w...

Labour says it will harness the sun, wind, and waves to deliver clean energy by 2030. It’s a very ambitious plan, to say the least, but one Sir Keir Starmer says can only do good. Is it achievable? Will it save the world? And is it even any different from what the other political parties are offering? Luke Murphy is the associate director for energy, climate, housing and infrastructure at Institut...

Rishi Sunak’s Tories face three by-elections this week — what will these results mean for the struggling PM? Meanwhile, Keir Starmer’s latest u-turn has frustrated even his most loyal supporters. What pressure does he face? Plus global weather is out of control — and actors join the fight against AI. Hannah Fearn joins Alex Andreou to map out the week ahead. “These three by-elections are a snapsho...

Are work-from-home jet-setters pioneering of a new way of life or are they just the next generation of gentrifiers? After the pandemic the rise of “digital nomads” sparked envy across social media – but are they causing more problems than they solve? Kasia Tomasiewicz is joined in the Bunker by UCL anthropologist Dave Cook to find out if working from the beach is all it's cracked up to be.  “They...

Young people living in America are more likely to be shot and killed than to die in a car accident. Does that shock you? What about this - there have been over 600 mass shootings recorded in the US every year for 3 years, not far from 2 a day. Why is it getting worse? And Are there any solutions at all? Dr. Patrick M. Carter is Co-Director at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at Michigan...

This week on Bunker Global: We ask what it will take for Ukraine to achieve NATO membership following their summit in Lithuania, take a closer look at the civilians caught in the crossfire between Boko Haram and the Nigerian Army , and finally Artificial Intelligence promised not to destroy humanity in an AI press conference in Geneva, do we trust it?  Dipo Faloyin , senior editor for global news...

Mark Zuckerberg has transformed from unsuspecting nerd to an MMA fighter taking on arch tech bro Elon Musk. What has changed? Bobby Friction speaks to Wessie du Toit, a freelance writer behind the newsletter The Pathos of Things , about Zuckerberg 2.0 and if we should be concerned about his macho man transformation.  “After the 2016 election, Zuckerberg became a pantomime villain so he needed a ma...

The basis of human life is built upon various elements. Have we forgotten how important they are? Sky News’ economics editor, Ed Conway , explores whether we’ve lost touch with them in his new book Material World – and why they could fuel our downfall or build a better future. He joins Alex Andreou in The Bunker to discuss. “We have forgotten some of the physical underpinnings of our time.” – Ed C...

Thames Water recently announced £14 billion of debt. How does an essential utility haemorrhage so much money? More than three decades after they were privatised, could renationalisation be the solution? Laura Makin-Isherwood is joined by Rob Branston, associate professor in business economics, to discuss how the privatisation of water companies in England has failed and the solutions to clean up o...