The Bunker – News without the nonsense

For many of us, politics is a hobby. We soak in the gossip, eat up the statistics and tweet our outrage when an unpopular decision is made. But if we want to make change, should we get off our sofas and start to mobilise? Tufts University politics professor and author of Politics Is for Power, Eitan Hersh tells Ros Taylor why we should stop treating politics like entertainment, and the steps we ca...

Out early for Patreon people… When a government fails to deliver the basics – like getting petrol to the pumps – can it ever win back the confidence it has lost? Is Keir Starmer pulling off the relaunch he needed at the Labour conference ? We ask special guest Stephanie Lloyd , former deputy director of Blairite think tank Progress, if the Party’s centrists have enough to offer beyond “Not Corbyn...

They cancel Christmas earlier every year, don’t they? As petrol queues swamp Britain, will the EU lorry drivers we told to get out come back now we need them? (Spoiler: non, nein, όχι). Plus the German election results, Keir Starmer’s big moment at the Labour Conference, and phone hacking is back back back! Alex Andreou starts your week.  “HGV drivers are not short of work in Europe. Offering them...

With gas prices soaring, and energy companies going bust, is it time for the Government to intervene? And while the Business and Energy Secretary described events as a “perfect storm”, how much of that storm was warned about, and even self-inflicted? Former energy trader and co-founder of one of the UK’s largest green energy suppliers, Amit Gudka tells Alex Andreou why Britain is so exposed to vol...

Hear the music from every edition on our rolling playlist . Our new weekend pop culture roundtable returns with special guest Lynval Golding of The Specials , and their latest album, Protest Songs . Journalist Ian Harrison joins us to chew on new films The Farewell and Sweetheart , and we all listen to Bright Magic, the latest offering from Public Service Broadcasting . "The history of music can a...

Are humans really driven by desire for power, money, sex and comfort – or is something even deeper at play? Beneath greed, acquisitiveness, and even altruism and self-sacrifice is an even more fundamental motivation, says science writer Will Storr : the scramble for status. He tells Andrew Harrison about his new book The Status Game: On Social Position And How We Use It , and the hidden social sys...

COVID has transformed the way we work. But not everyone’s a winner, especially women, with many in jobs that make working from home is impossible, undertaking twice as much unpaid overtime, or being pushed back into the office at risk of potential pay cuts. So what can be done to support working women? Naomi Smith talks to Maya Jeyabraba and Rose Lasko-Skinner from DEMOS, who have just published D...

As gas prices soar and energy providers go out of business, is Britain heading for another winter of discontent? Plus, how is the Republic of Ireland finding Brexit? Is there any sympathy for the UK in Brussels? Tony Connelly , Europe editor for Irish state broadcaster RTE, joins us to discuss. And are the French right to be angry about the new AUKUS alliance? “ On gas providers the Government sou...

As Johnson and Truss head stateside, what will their New York trip mean for the UK’s environment strategy? Could AUKUS prove awkward at the international dinner table? And: why have so many people stopped wearing their COVID face coverings? Ros Taylor and Yasmeen Serhan chew on the new cabinet appointments, gas shortages, and the Great British Bake Off stars to watch.   •   “A lot of Johnson's New...

Nuclear anxiety was an everyday emotion in the 1980s, sparking atomic pop culture and peace camps across the world. September 2021 marks 40 years since the RAF Greenham Common protests, when a handful of Welsh women left their homes to march against the arrival of US nuclear warheads at the base in Berkshire. Professor Jane Holgate and Stephanie Davies , author of Other Girls Like Me , are both fo...

Hear the music from every edition on our rolling playlist .  Welcome to the debut of our new weekend pop culture roundtable, as the podcast formerly known as Bigmouth joins The Bunker. This week, special guest Dan Gillespie Sells, composer of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie joins us to talk over the musical’s transition to Amazon Prime film. Critic Michael Hann helps us unpack Sex Education Series...

If Apple Inc. was an economy, it would be the eighth largest in the world. But facing huge lawsuits across the world, it is finally starting to encounter the weight of its success. Has the company abused its market monopoly position in tightening its technological grip? Alex Andreou talks to Brooke Masters , Chief Business Correspondent at the FT, and Reuters Tokyo’s Tim Kelly about big tech battl...

Parties are the engines of democratic politics. But they also pit us apart as people and polities. So what are the new ways of political polarization, and what can we do to tackle them? Alison Goldsworthy , CEO of the Depolarization Project and former Lib Dem deputy chair, and behavioural scientist Alexandra Chesterfield are two of the authors of Poles Apart and the brains behind the Changed My Mi...

As we brace ourselves for “permanent” shop shortages and price hikes, we hear from lorry driver and transport expert Tom Reddy and Food and Drink Scotland’s James Withers on what’s behind the HGV driver shortages. Plus: how did hapless Education Secretary Gavin Williamson get to where he is today, and what does it take to make a sporting hero? And from the States, Joanna Walters unpacks Texas’ con...

As the Government pushes ahead with plans to vaccinate children , is their COVID strategy only guided by the science when convenient? Plus: could Emma Raducanu’s stunning US Open success strike back against Priti Patel’s oppressive immigration policies? Alex Andreou and Arthur Snell unpack Afghanistan’s new cabinet , whether the latest lobbying scandals will affect Johnson’s rumoured cabinet reshu...

When award-winning author and journalist Evan Osnos returned home to America after a decade away, he found a nation gripped by fear and anger, with democratic norms under attack. But how did this happen?  Evan talks to Dorian Lynskey about his latest book, Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury, which chronicles two decades of political fury and disfunction, from the September 11th attacks right u...

Hear the music from every edition on our rolling playlist .  Welcome to the debut of our new weekend pop culture roundtable, as the podcast formerly known as Bigmouth joins The Bunker. This week, special guest Sarah Cracknell of pop couturiers Saint Etienne joins us to talk over their new album I’ve Been Trying To Tell You . Plus critic John Mullen helps us dissect the new Steve Martin/Selena Gome...

The book index might be an unassuming tool, yet it has a remarkable history - not least because it has shaped the modern world. Author, English professor and book historian Dennis Duncan talks to Alex Andreou about his latest novel Index, A History of the , which tells the remarkable story of our first search engine, from its invention (twice) in the 14th century, to preventing someone from becomi...

Chances are you haven’t willingly eaten an insect. But two billion people are already bugging out on this sustainable source of protein. Could insects offer the perfect solution for our post-Brexit and pandemic supply chain problems? Entomologist Brian Fisher and Imperial College London’s Dr. Tilly Collins join Ros Taylor to chew on how we can change perceptions about insects in the West, how heal...

You couldn’t make it up: the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks coincides almost perfectly with the fall of Afghanistan and the West is left wondering what it was all for. Gavin Esler, former diplomat Arthur Snell and terrorism expert Dr Maria Norris recall where they were on the day the world changed, and ask if we’ve learned the right lessons. Plus, will climate change plus conflict cr...

Parliament returns to a family-sized party pack of Government cruelty and ineptitude: a National Insurance hike that hits the lowest-paid the hardest, an end to the £20 Universal Credit bonus for the neediest families, and an Elections Bill that makes it harder for us to vote them out. Business as usual, then. Plus: the Texas Taliban’s war on abortion, the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and where in th...

What stopped Heseltine, Ken Clarke, Dennis Healey and Kinnock from taking the top slot? Why didn’t Barbara Castle become Britain’s first female PM? The Observer’s Nick Cohen talks to the political columnist and podcaster Steve Richards about his new book The Prime Ministers We Never Had …  the intriguing factors that prevented these politicians from reaching power… the tragedy of the Miliband Brot...

The Middle Ages are an unloved tract of history, by turns alien and baffling – but these thousand years of violence, crisis and conquest set the foundations for our modern world in the most unexpected ways. Historian, TV presenter and journalist Dan Jones tells Alex Andreou how his new book Powers and Thrones unveils a medieval world few of us understand, the parallels between Millwall and the Mid...

The sight of Michael Gove getting his rave on in Aberdeen is the only cheering moment in a week of unremitting grimness. As the collapse of Afghanistan gives way to a growing refugee crisis , why is the UK Government doing the bare minimum for those who helped us? And what will the debacle mean for relations between government and military? Plus the Pen Farthing fiasco and the tyranny of TripAdvis...

Schools are back. Will the decision not to vaccinate 12-15 year olds turn classes into superspreader factories – or do we actually want school-age kids to catch COVID and build up immunity? Plus, why the Government won’t provide the catch-up funds that education needs. What the Pen Farthing episode tells us about sentimental Britain. And the shame of Afghanistan is just beginning. Ros Taylor start...