The Bunker – News without the nonsense

The week’s major stories in one place… In a shock development connected to the Epstein Files, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. As King Charles distances himself from his disgraced brother, what impact will this have on the future of the royal family? Plus more of the biggest stories of the week, including Reform’s “shadow cabinet”, the latest biza...

Artificial intelligence is chewing through the economy, wiping out manual work and supposedly safe professional jobs alike. Are politicians’ promises that A.I. will create new, better jobs to replace the ones it destroys hollow? How will we handle a world with drastically fewer jobs? Will it be an Oscar Wilde paradise or a Matrix nightmare? And did the Luddites have a point after all? Economic ana...

How did Britain, a country bursting with factions, movements and rebellions, end up dominated by two major parties? Today in The Bunker , Seth Thévoz is joined by historian George Owers, author of The Rage of Party , to trace the fierce rivalry between Whigs and Tories that shaped our modern political norms and to explore why its legacy still shapes every election Britain fights. Buy George’s book...

The Russian army invading Ukraine today is very different to the one which started the conflict. How are things going for Putin’s military – and how can Ukraine and Europe push back against them? Shashank Joshi, defence editor at The Economist, joins Gavin Esler to discuss.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social   • Advertisers! Want to r...

Setting up the stories of the week ahead…  At the Munich Security Conference, Yvette Cooper calls out Russia for the murder of Alexei Navalny but what is Britain going to do about it? And what’s behind Marco Rubio’s apparently conciliatory tone? Plus Britain rushes forward a social media ban for teenagers, John Healey is this week’s next Keir Starmer… and are you ready for the Chinese Year of the...

Keir Starmer survives the worst week of his premiership – just. The Epstein whirlpool drags Sarah Ferguson downwards (astonishing BBC feature here ). New investigations into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Plus: the US Government trolls LGBTQ+ Americans by removing Pride flags from outside the Stonewall Inn. The winners and losers of the week. And no pork scratchings at the Peppa Pig stage show. Jonn...

The new Wuthering Heights film is already sparking debate. From saucy costume choices to renewed arguments over what Heathcliff should look like,  raising a bigger question: Why are we still arguing about a novel published nearly 200 years ago? Today in The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by historian, playwright and author Samantha Ellis , How to be a Heroine , to ask: have we all been get...

Back in 2001 Eric Schlosser’s masterwork of investigative journalism Fast Food Nation exposed the dirty secrets of America’s “convenience restaurant” business: the catastrophic treatment of livestock, the terrible wages, the injuries, poor pay and outbreaks of food poisoning… and worse. The book started a conversation about food health around the world. Now, 25 years later, a weird mix of wellness...

Trump has stripped US foreign policy down from a mix of carrot and stick into an ideological cudgel to beat friends and foes alike – and a lurid horrorshow for domestic consumption in Red America. But who’s actually running the show? Is America’s realignment with the world purely dependent on Trump’s whims or is there something coherent going on in there? Is it all just 1980s real estate thuggery...

Setting up the stories of the next seven days… Labour’s widely unpopular senior advisor Morgan McSweeney falls on his sword but will it be enough to stop Starmer from being consumed by the Mandelson/Epstein fallout? Plus the unfolding Tulsi Gabbard scandal, make or break for the assisted dying bill, Cuba in trouble… and minnows vs giants in the FA Cup, except the minnows are owned by former Man Ut...

Wrapping up the stories of the week… With Peter Mandelson quitting the Lords after more damning info emerged from the Epstein files, will this lead to Starmer’s demise? Zoë Grünewald and Jacob Jarvis discuss this and more as they round up the biggest stories from the past week. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included....

Donald Trump didn’t threaten to take over Greenland only for reasons of military conquest. The arctic territory contains significant deposits of rare earth metals including dysprosium, terbium and yttrium. They’re vital to tech – and currently, China controls a staggering 95% of them. But what are they and why are they so valuable? Commodities journalist Ronan Murphy , Editor of Argus Non-Ferrous...

How has money laundering become such a major business and why do we struggle to stop it? Oliver Bullough, bestselling author of Moneyland and Butler to the World , joins Seth Thévoz to discuss his new book Everybody Loves Our Dollars - How Money Laundering Won.   Buy Everybody Loves Our Dollars through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for ever...

“Well that’s just, like, your opinion, man…” We’re swamped with hot takes, cold takes, tepid takes and more opinions than anyone can handle. Now Paper Cuts survivors Miranda Sawyer and Jonn Elledge join Andrew Harrison to choose the weirdest (and occasionally best) columns of the month… so you don’t have to. This time: Telegraph reverse-ferrets on Trump, Sarah Vine goes H.A.M. on the Beckhams, eve...

Yet more damning information linking Andrew to Epstein has emerged and former diplomat Peter Mandelson has also quit Labour due to new information. Will this scandal ever reach a conclusion? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the fallout and the week ahead in news.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast         Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, th...

Trump continues to reign terror upon Americans with his ICE crackdowns. Protests are heating up after two killings at the hands of ICE officers – how far will this division spread and what consequences will it have? Alex von Tunzelmann joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist)...

Donald Trump continues to eye Greenland, as he continues to float the idea of annexing the Danish territory. Europe has rallied behind Denmark and Greenland, which insists nothing is up for negotiation. So what’s really going on? Today on The Bunker, Alex von Tunzelmann speaks to Dr Christine Nissen of the European Council on Foreign Relations about Europe’s pushback against Trump’s pressure tacti...

The public executions of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by ICE in Minneapolis have horrified America. Now the Trump Administration is slandering Good and any woman who protests as a trivial, out-of-control “Wine Mom” or an “AWFUL”: Affluent White Female Urban Liberals . What are these new iterations of the hated “Karen” meme telling us about the misogyny that powers MAGA – and Trump’s vulnerabi...

Trump’s foreign policy has been described as “the Donroe Doctrine”, harking back to the Monroe Doctrine. How does the current president’s expansionist mindset compare with this historical outlook? History Seth Thévoz and borders expert Jonn Elledge discuss what the Monroe Doctrine was, how it was formed and how it measures up to the present day.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Follow us on BlueSky:...

Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has been blocked from standing as an MP sparking a fresh row within Keir Starmer’s Labour Party. What will the fall out look like? Does the PM come out stronger or weaker? Gavin Esler and Ros Taylor discuss this and the other issues to look out for in politics this week.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with...

Catching you up on the big stories of the week… Trump blusters, threatens and rambles his way through the World Economic Forum week in Davos, insulting America’s allies. Where does this shitshow leave the semblance of Western security? Plus: the Chinese mega-embassy, super-intelligent cows, whatever the hell is going on with the Beckhams… and would you fly RyanAir if Elon Musk owned it? The Guardi...

The government says it’s getting serious about childhood obesity, with a ban on junk food ads before 9pm and online. Today on The Bunker, Zoë Grünewald is joined by Dr Beverley O’Hara   lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at Leeds Beckett University to find out whether this is real reform or a rerun of previous failed plans.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Pro...

Pete Hegseth is one of the most powerful people in Trump’s orbit as the self-proclaimed secretary of ‘war’.  He has a huge budget and the weight of the entire American military at his disposal. What will he do with it and why has he caused such chaos so far? Guardian US politics reporter Joseph Gedeon joins us to discuss.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast         Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. A...

After the Cold War ended, the West thought of Russia as a potential ally, a protégé nation ripe for liberal democracy. How wrong we were. Western ignorance, short-termism, and a catastrophic failure to understand how humiliation grips the Russian psyche – plus the suspicious and resentful mindset of eventual supreme leader Vladimir Putin – have led Russia to a dark place of vengeance, neofascism a...

Trump is trying to bully and blackmail the world with cashgrabs and tariff threats. How will his actions play out and how will leaders respond? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the key issues and questions for the days ahead.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people down...