The Bunker – News without the nonsense

When Greensill Capital collapsed it brought down a multi-billion dollar empire and exposed David Cameron's greed. Alex Andreou talks to financial journalist Duncan Mavin about the failed project, which is covered in his new book The Pyramid of Lies .  Complete our listener survey for a chance to win a Bunker t-shirt: https://bit.ly/3zFSySB “Lex Greensill was very good at understanding what motivat...

As tensions between ethnic Serbs and Albanians rise in Kosovo – how will this situation develop? With fears over an escalating conflict in the Balkans, journalist Una Hajdari joins Jelena Sofronijevic to discuss the latest. "Poisonous nationalist rhetoric is being spread by political leaders in Serbia, Croatia, and Kosovo." "Putin is Serbia's ally, but he's accidentally advocating for Kosovo." "Co...

The murder attempt on Salman Rushdie continues to reverberate. What does it mean for tensions with Iran – and for free speech? Plus, the economy’s in the toilet and the Prime Minister’s on a Greek beach. Will anyone get a grip of the cost of living crisis ? And if TikTok becomes the dominant social media platform, how do we feel about China owning the arena of political debate? Our special guest i...

Coming up in the next seven days: The attack on Salman Rushdie continues to reverberate. Will Keir Starmer’s plan to freeze the energy cap burst Truss and Sunak’s tax-cuts bubble? And Trump’s worries mount as more details emerge of what the FBI found in Mar-a-Lago. Alex Andreou looks at the next seven days with Justin Quirk.  Complete our listener survey for a chance to win a Bunker t-shirt: https...

It’s 75 years since British India was split in two, but what does Partition mean today? Signalling the end of British colonial rule in the subcontinent, and leaving thousands dead and millions displaced – why are we not taught about it in schools? Ahir Shah discusses family histories and second generation identity with fellow British-Asian comedian Eshaan Akbar .  Complete our listener survey for...

Your pop culture update: Does Netflix smash The Sandman only make sense if you’re a comics geek? Super-producer Danger Mouse ’s return to hip hop leaves our panel “totally blown away.” And why does Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 leave such a nasty taste in the mouth? Music business writer Eamonn Forde joins Alex and Andrew.  Complete our listener survey for a chance to win a Bunker t-shirt: https://bit...

In this week’s Bunker Gold, listen back to Jude Rogers in conversation with Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, from January 2021.  On the last day of Trump’s warped presidency, his niece Mary – psychologist and author of Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man – reflected on the making of a man who impressed his psychopathologies on a nation. How does a perso...

With workers on strike and services cancelled, why are Britain’s railways such a mess? And how can they be fixed? Tom Haines-Doran , research fellow at Leeds University and author of Derailed: How to Fix Britain’s Broken Railways , joins Ros Taylor to discuss the problems with the UK’s train system, and what needs to happen for our railways to get back on track. “Once a new Prime Minister is in pl...

Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week has ignited tensions around the island, but why does China want to crush Taiwan? Cindy Yu , host of the Chinese Whispers podcast, joins Alex Andreou to explain the status of Taiwan, why Pelosi’s visit has angered Beijing, and how the situation could develop in the months ahead. “ If Taiwan declared independence they would incur the wrath of Beijing.” “ The...

As Sunak and Truss argue over cutting taxes, what about emissions? Madeleine Cuff , i’ s environment correspondent joins us to pick apart the pair’s climate credentials. Do they have any? Plus, healthcare commentator Roy Lilley takes us through what you need to know about the state of the NHS staffing crisis. And, as spiders are reanimated in an experiment akin to a David Cronenberg movie, we ask…...

As the cost of living crisis bites, will this week’s Truss U-Turn be “handouts” or an emergency budget ? Can the Mail nobble the Privileges Committee before it nobbles Johnson? Tensions rise over Taiwan and the Russians are shelling nuclear plants in Ukraine. Just another week, then… Alex Andreou looks at the next seven days with Jacob Jarvis.  Complete our listener survey for a chance to win a Bu...

Come 2035, what will a trip away look like? Where will we visit when the planet is undergoing increasingly violent change? Siân Pattenden speaks with Tom Hall, vice president at Lonely Planet , about where our travel plans are headed.  Complete our listener survey for a chance to win a Bunker t-shirt: https://bit.ly/3zFSySB “Maybe the job of travel writers is different to what it was in the past....

Your pop culture update: “Quentin Tarantino meets Agatha Christie” in Brad Pitt action comedy Bullet Train . Icon of the 80s Clare Grogan joins us for the first Altered Images album in 39 years, Mascara Streakz. And movie monster the Predator goes up against Native Americans in hyperkinetic prequel Prey, out now on Disney+. DJ and journalist Anthony Teasdale completes the panel.  Hear all the musi...

Listen back to an archive Bunker from Jan 2022. London’s restaurants are now closing at nearly the double the normal rate as rising VAT, rent, and energy costs add to the weight of COVID, post-Brexit labour issues and supply chain shortages. Corey Mintz , author of The Next Supper, and Eater London’s Adam Coghlan joined Jelena Sofronijevic to chew on why haute cuisine is cooling off, whether takea...

With strike action in Britain set to intensify over the coming months, what is the state of our trade unions? Can they really force the Government’s hand over the cost of living crisis? Jane Holgate , Employment Relations professor at the University of Leeds, joins Alex Andreou to unpack what unions want, who supports them, and the challenges they face. Complete our listener survey for a chance to...

Thatcher famously proclaimed that inflation is the parent of unemployment. But as shop prices soar, energy bills rocket, and interest rates rise, we’ve all become more aware of the everyday impacts of inflation. So how unique is the crisis we face now? Director of the LSE and former vice-president of the World Bank Baroness Minouche Shafik joins Ros Taylor to unpack inflation. Complete our listene...

The Lionesses’ victory in the Euros inspires a generation of girls. Can it transform football… and society? Meanwhile Sunak flails to out-loon Truss. With popular culture pulling in one direction and a regressive Tory gerontocracy pulling in another, is there any space for a unifying national story any more? Historian Alex von Tunzelmann – author of Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Changed Histor...

Reset the Years of Hurt Clock… England’s women bring football home at last. Have the Lionesses changed football forever? Meanwhile Rishi Sunak goes down in the most craven manner possible, Johnson aims to pack the Lords with cronies, and everything’s on fire. But never mind! The football! The football! Gavin Esler puts aside his Scottishness for a moment to revel in the pure joy of an historic vic...

On episode 666 of The Bunker, we’re talking all things Satan. Where does our idea of the Devil come from? And why are we so obsessed with him? Jelena Sofronijevic talks to Erin Cülff of the Myth Monsters podcast and Dr. Michael David Barbezat , a research fellow at Australia Catholic University, to explore Satan in pop culture, from the snake in the Garden of Eden, via Dante’s Inferno and heavy me...

Your pop culture fix: Will Renaissance be a rebirth for Beyoncé ? Amazon’s small-town sci-fi mystery Paper Girls , adapted from the cult comic – can it out-strange Stranger Things? And superior newsroom drama in The Newsreader , on BBC2 and iPlayer now. Telegraph TV critic Michael Hogan is our special guest. Hear all the music on our rolling playlists. Spotify : https://bit.ly/CultBunk Tidal : htt...

Listen back to an edition from our archives with The Bunker Gold . This week, after Tory leadership hopefuls Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss went head-to-head in fiery TV debates, we’ve chosen an episode from December 2021, Harsh Reality – How TV Shaped Modern Britain.  We treat TV as the most disposable art form – but for decades it has shaped our world more than we know. From Big Brother to Shameless...

English football might be doing well on the pitch, but are we seeing the return of hooliganism off it? Since lockdown eased, there’s been a spate of incidents we thought had been left in the 1980s, so what’s going wrong in football at the moment? Professor Geoff Pearson of the University of Manchester joins Justin Quirk to discuss football’s crowd trouble problem, and what can be done about it. “T...

With Covid cases on the rise in Britain, how worried should we be about its resurgence? Tom Chivers , science writer for the i, joins Ros Taylor to discuss the latest uptick in coronavirus cases, what we know about the new variants and the role Covid could play in our lives in the years ahead. “Vaccines are significant when protecting against severe disease, but not reinfection.” “The virus doesn’...

As Truss and Sunak set out their economic plans, we discuss the viability of ‘Trussonomics’ and ‘Hedge Fund socialism’. Plus, what will the next Prime Minister mean for Britain’s standing on the world stage? And ten years after the London 2012 opening ceremony, our panellists look back on the last time the UK felt like a place to be proud of. “Every time they talk about tax cuts, that’s less money...

The Tory leadership contest rumbles on as Sunak and Truss go head-to-head on TV. Who is destined to win out, and who is on the ropes? Plus, transport logjams at Dover and Folkestone look likely to repeat over the summer, a tentative deal to release Ukrainian grain is reached, and Monkeypox vaccines are rolled out across the UK. Justin Quirk and Alex Andreou set out the days ahead. Support us on Pa...