The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Hear all the music on our rolling playlist : https://bit.ly/CultBunk After a sneaky single drop from their new album A Bit of Previous, Scottish indie pop megastar Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian joins us to talk about making floating music festivals and his Sundance Award-winning film. Crime writer par excellence William Shaw speaks to Siân and Jelena about The Dropout on Disney Star starri...

Cryptocurrencies have boomed in recent years, but are they here to stay? Amy Castor, an independent journalist whose work focuses on cryptocurrency and financial fraud, talks to Justin Quirk to explain some of the myths around crypto, if e-currencies really can work as an alternative to the normal financial system, and the strange world of NFTs. “Crypto was designed as an e-currency, but it’s main...

What’s the situation like on the ground in Ukraine? Nearly a week after Russia invaded, veteran war correspondent John Sweeney dials in from Kyiv to give Arthur Snell the lowdown on Europe’s first ground war since 1945, and why Putin’s gamble might have backfired. “From day one I thought Putin had made a mistake, and this invasion is not going well.”  “This feels to me like Twilight of the Gods, P...

Is a humiliated Putin even more dangerous than a victorious Putin? Can the incredible bravery of the Ukraine and President Zelensky win out? And how many fronts can Putin fight on, at home, globally and in the economic sphere? In a week where Russia tried to pin a potential nuclear war on Liz Truss, ex-diplomat and security expert Arthur Snell , The Atlantic’s Yasmeen Serhan and former Labour spin...

Setting up the week ahead: Putin threatens nuclear war, EU sanctions bite Russia, French presidential elections. Would Putin really use a nuclear weapon to salvage his collapsing war on Ukraine? Will EU sanctions and plans to supply weapons to Kyiv damage the Russian regime’s plans? Plus the French presidential elections, the Policing Bill and more. Arthur Snell and Ros Taylor set up a worrying we...

Eugenics might be considered a horrific relic of the past, but the concept still has its advocates today. Dr Adam Rutherford , science writer and author of Control , talks to Dorian Lynskey about efforts by the powerful to dictate reproduction throughout history, the legacy of eugenics in our language and literature, and present day conversations about tinkering with the DNA of unborn children. “W...

This week’s pop culture review: Untold tales of British metal, the star of the National Theatre’s astonishing Wuthering Heights, new Johnny Marr and more. Journalist and author of Denim And Leather : The Rise And Fall Of The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Michael Hann tells untold tales of rock’s most unfairly despised genre. Actor and cabaret phenomenon Lucy McCormick on her stunning role as Emi...

We live in a world of chaos, with Western democracies facing overlapping geopolitical, economic, and political crises. How did we get here? Professor Helen Thompson is co-host of the Talking Politics podcast – and she was Ahir Shah ’s Director of Studies at University. They unpack her new book Disorder , how the fault lines in the Sino-American relationship, NATO, and the EU have all been decades...

Beijing 2022 was the first Winter Olympics to rely almost exclusively on fake snow – at great cost to the environment. But is it possible to make sports more sustainable, and will we even be able to have the Winter Olympics in the future? Dr. Madeleine Orr is a sports ecologist at Loughborough University London, and the founder of The Sport Ecology Group. She tells Jelena Sofronijevic about why po...

This edition recorded before Putin’s speech and the Russian incursion into Ukraine. “Levelling up” is a mantra for Boris Johnson, but what is his government actually doing about it? Our special guest Tracy Brabin , the Mayor of West Yorkshire and former MP, joins us to discuss tackling inequalities between regions. Plus, we discuss moves to tackle “legal but harmful” content online. What does that...

The threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is still looming. Can further diplomacy prevent war? There are reports of a summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. What could it achieve? Plus, COVID restrictions are due to be ditched in England, and MPs return to Parliament after a recess. Where will their focus be? Alex Andreou is joined by Yasmeen Serhan to discuss the week ahead. “It feels lik...

What will China do in 2022? Cindy Yu , The Spectator’s broadcast editor and host of the Chinese Whispers podcast, joins Alex Andreou to take a look at the direction of travel for the world’s most populous nation. What does a policy of ‘zero-covid’ mean for China? How will relations with America and Russia turn out? And is Xi Jinping lumbering up for conflict with Taiwan? “Sport has always been a g...

Hear all the music on our rolling playlist : https://bit.ly/CultBunk Lakeland poets of “high church rock’n’roll” Sea Power play songs from their magnificent new album Everything Was Forever and explain how it felt when they dropped the word “British” from their name, to the ire of GB News. And Mojo magazine’s Ian Harrison joins us to discuss new waxings from Half Man Half Biscuit and Metronomy plu...

How did a Christian movement, founded at the turn of the century, become the fastest growing religion today? Pentecostal Christianity has 600 million followers, with 35,000 new adherents a day. So what’s behind the remarkable rise of this religious movement? Elle Hardy , author of Beyond Belief, tells Arthur Snell about her mission to report its rise across twelve different countries, from South A...

A strong accent can lead us to make many assumptions about a person. We ask why, and the impact of these judgements. Linguistics experts Dr. Alex Baratta and Dr. Dominic Watt join Jelena Sofronijevic to explore whether RP has been replaced with a new “standard” accent, why some professions are still demanding flat accents…and if the Queen’s English is really dead.  “Your accent is a flag or badge...

Russia’s threatening moves on the borders of Ukraine have led to a frantic diplomacy blitz. Can Vladimir Putin be urged back from the brink? Plus, as COVID rules are due to be ditched in England, is that the right call? Or simply a distraction for Boris Johnson? And, with Futurama returning to and Neighbours leaving our screens, we choose the TV shows we’d like to resurrect and others to scrap. Fi...

Following Cressida Dick’s resignation, we look at the looming clashes over who will become the next Met police chief. What are the priorities for whoever gets the role? Plus, the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine persists. Is war imminent? And after Boris Johnson was handed a police questionnaire over Partygate, what can we expect next? Justin Quirk is joined by Naomi Smith to discuss the we...

We all want control over our lives. But as we make more decisions digitally, the impact of algorithms on our choices grows. They help to sort the information presented to us and limit the options we see – shaping the products we buy, films we watch and even the partners we end up with. Andrew Harrison discusses the future of such technology with Kartik Hosanagar , author of A Human's Guide to Mach...

Hear all the music on our rolling playlist : https://bit.ly/CultBunk Writer, director, actor, singer, dancer - THE NOTORIOUS RBB Rikki Beadle-Blair joins us to talk Riot Act, LGBT+ History Month, and a lifetime of activist art.  Jelena, Alex, and Siân don their scrubs for This is Going to Hurt , the BBC’s new med-drama with Ben Wishaw. And the meat goes on with Pam and Tommy on Disney, and two new...

With environmental destruction threatening our oceans, what might a fresh plan to protect them look like? Chris Armstrong , political theory professor at the University of Southampton, joins Ros Taylor to discuss his new book A Blue New Deal , which outlines a manifesto for protecting our seas. “Our reliance on the ocean has diminished, before air travel we had to use it to get to the other side o...

Christine Lee’s recent designation as a Chinese agent of influence by MI5 has breathed new life into calls to reassess the country’s influence in Westminster. Yet as the world’s second-largest economy, China is widening its reach across the globe – and democratic nations are complicit. Journalist Joanna Chiu , author of China Unbound, tells Arthur Snell about its murky “United Front” and New Silk...

Amid a profound and worsening cost of living crisis, we discuss whether the Government is rising to the challenge. Is the public being shortchanged? Plus, with the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a huge courts backlog, Evening Standard courts correspondent Tristan Kirk joins us to talk about the pressures on the justice system. And after Facebook reported its first ever drop in daily users, what’s ne...

With Boris Johnson’s senior team in chaos, we discuss what comes next as we brace for yet another calamity-packed week. Letters of no confidence continue to be sent – but will the number hit the 54 needed to spur a vote? Meanwhile, ongoing border check disagreements are causing turmoil in Northern Ireland. And on her Platinum Jubilee, the Queen kept busy, declaring her wish for Camilla to become Q...

Northern Ireland has been plunged into political turmoil following DUP first minister Paul Givan’s resignation over Brexit border controls. What does this mean for Stormont? And how will it affect May’s assembly elections? Belfast-based journalist Amanda Ferguson joins Naomi Smith to explain the crisis, and what could happen next. “The DUP will say this is about the protocol, the other parties wil...

Hear all the music on our rolling playlist : https://bit.ly/CultBunk EMMY, BRIT and BAFTA award winning composer Howard Goodall tells us about his new remembrance cantata ‘Unconditional Love’, a career of composing pretty much every memorable British comedy theme tune ever, Brexit’s effect on musicians and much more. Howard joins guest Sophie Harris plus Alex and Jelena (for the first time) to exp...