The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Why has self-interest become such a dirty word (or words) in politics? Why do we always assume the worst motives in our opponents? And if voters keep on disappointing progressives by voting against their supposed economic interests, do we need to revise our idea of what self-interest really is? Thomas Prosser , author of What’s In It For Me? Self-Interest And Political Difference explains why we s...

Britain’s £80bn trade sector was left out of Johnson’s vaunted Brexit deal. Why, and what does that mean? With Lockdown III (or is it IV, V or VI?) about to be launched, has No.10 definitively lost control of the Pandemic? And what should we keep an eye out for in 2021? Yasmeen Serhan, Ian Dunt and special guest Dmitry Grozoubinski – international trade expert and former WTO negotiator for Austral...

Joe Biden’s in-tray is packed but will the 46th President’s energies be consumed by repairing the damage of Trumpism instead of his own agenda? What lies in store in flashpoints around the world from Taiwan to Turkey to the Western Sahara? And will the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks see the Taliban restored to power in Afghanistan? Arthur Snell plots out the year ahead.   “ Are we really in...

From Barnard Castle to bleach injections to ward off COVID, from Matt Hancock trying to cry on TV to “will you just shut up, man?” it’s been a year of ignominy and idiocy – as well as twelve months of pain, failure and tragedy. But what were the worst bits? Yasmeen Serhan, Arthur Snell and Ahir Shah join Andrew Harrison to remember the most shameful moments of a year everyone wants to forget.  “ W...

How it started, how it’s going… This was a year that blew up Boris Johnson’s plans for post-Brexit Britain and forced the Conservatives into uncharacteristic economic intervention. What has 2020 done to a newly-purified party of true believers? Former Conservative MP David Gauke tells Ros Taylor about the state of the New Tories, what would have happened if Cameron hadn’t called a referendum on th...

The Labour Party has just endured its most self-torturing year since, well, last year. Is Keir Starmer beginning to turn the party’s fortunes around? Is the Left’s guerrilla war against the Leadership all noise or is Labour truly in a civil war? Does Corbyn even want to come back into the Labour fold? And above the infighting, is the Opposition doing enough opposing? Nick Cohen of The Observer giv...

How did it feel to be at the centre of protests for racial justice that shook Britain and the world? Imarn Ayton , an actor and drama teacher from Peckham, found herself on front covers and news bulletins across the world after she was given a megaphone at a protest in London – and decided to speak into it. She tells Jude Rogers what BLM has achieved, what was behind the infighting in the movement...

Angry, irrational rejection of key public health measures like lockdowns and masks was one of the ugliest aspects of 2020. How did lockdown deniers give scepticism such a bad name? Did the Brexiters’ war on experts make it harder to fight COVID? And deep down, do some lockdown deniers have a point? Alex Andreou talks to Queen Mary University politics professor Tim Bale and FT writer, honorary fell...

What psychodrama is driving No Deal? Can the Tory Party be rescued from its embrace of nationalist unreason? And what is Boris Johnson like to work for? Former Cabinet Minister and power-walker Rory Stewart joins us Ayesha Hazarika, Arthur Snell and Andrew Harrison for this week’s panel edition. “Churchill desperately cared about detail… but I couldn’t get Boris to engage in the Foreign Office at...

It’s the final, final week where everything definitely goes down to the wire… again. As Boris Johnson ends Brexit as he began it, choosing between two alternatives he doesn’t really believe in or care about, Ros Taylor sets out the week ahead. Plus: Will London go ti Tier 3, will schools close and will Donald Trump ever shut up, man? Also, bidets! “ Johnson is a man hovering on the edge of indecis...

Never let it be said we don’t mix it up… We lure Geoff Norcott , famously the only* right of centre comedian out there, into The Bunker and attempt a civilised conversation. How does a working class son of a trade unionist end up on the political right? Why does right wing comedy reiterate the same tired punchlines about “wokeness”? And how does he think Brexit – which he voted for – is going?  *...

Our 200th edition. Everyone wants to go home and visit their folks for Christmas, right? And the Government is fine with it… right? Christina Pagel of Independent SAGE and UCL’s Clinical Operational Research Unit tells Ian Dunt why packing yourself into unventilated homes with aged relatives, school kids and students might not be a very good idea. What are the best ways to have a safer Christmas?...

One day you’re one of the world’s most powerful people, the next you’re out of work. So what do ex-leaders get up to when they leave office? And are they ever any good at it? BBC Radio producer and author of The Ex-Men : How Our Former Presidents and Prime Ministers are Still Changing the World Giles Edwards takes Ros Taylor behind the closed doors of members-only clubs – and reveals how these ex-...

Fishing, level playing fields… as the scales tip the EU Trade Deal , will an arrogant Boris Johnson choose No Deal for the hell of it? The COVID vaccine is here but do we need to brace ourselves for “vaccine nationalism”? Special guest Magid Magid – former Lord Mayor of Sheffield and Green MEP – tells us about generational changes in politics, the green future, and what it’s like when you’re a mig...

Audio issues now fixed . “The Deal’s not oven ready – and Johnson isn’t govern ready.” Will the No Deal Doomsday Clock finally tick down to zero before Thursday’s EU summit? Plus, why we need to worry about the mysterious Taxation (Post Transition Period) Bill rather the Internal Market Bill. And is Keir Starmer heading for High Noon with the angry Left? Naomi Smith sets up your week ahead.  “The...

The Salisbury poisonings were an infamous example of Russian interference in British security. But were they really the first time Novichok was used on British soil? Former US Army chemical warfare specialist and author of Toxic: A History of Nerve Agents From Nazi Germany to Putin's Russia Dan Kaszeta talks to Arthur Snell about assassination, clandestine state conflict, Navalny, and the psycholo...

With comedy venues closed by COVID, comedians are turning to social media to carry out the essential public service of mocking politicians and politics. One person taking the twittersphere by storm during lockdown is award-winning actor and stand-up Rosie Holt . She speaks to Minnie Rahman about the transition from the stage to social media, the inspiration behind her humour, and why this Governme...

Will Brexit really lead to Ireland reunifying and leaving the Union, in a final irony for English nationalism? In a special edition on the future of the island of Ireland we talk to Neale Richmond (Fine Gael TD for Dublin Rathdown), Ulster Unionist Party MLA and former leader Mike Nesbitt, and Claire Hanna (SDLP MP for Belfast South). Is the rancour finally leaching out of Northern Irish politics?...

In the age of “reactionary populism”, larger-than-life characters trump competence. Can liberal democracies survive the age of the performative strongman? Political economist and author of This is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain William Davies tells Dorian Lynskey about Trump, truth, and television politics – and why the death of neoliberalism might be a win for democracy. “Competence...

Patreon people get the podcast early…  As Boris Johnson unlocks Britain for the tiniest Christmas ever, is he just admitting that the public no longer listens to government? What will hacking back the overseas development budget mean for ‘Global Britain’? (Spoiler: it’s bad). Has COVID made Universal Basic Income more likely? And why do we want a “normal” Christmas anyway? Miatta Fahnbulleh , Naom...

Are we in for the first parliamentary crisis of the pandemic? Will Boris Johnson have to rely on Labour votes to get his post-lockdown tiers-based restrictions past rebellious Tory MPs? Is the EU deal really going to fall apart over fish, a mere 0.1% of the economy? And will these negotiations with the EU ever end? Alex Andreou sets out the week ahead. Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. As...

The climate emergency brings a nightmare threat to biodiversity, with disastrous knock-on effects to human economies as well as the natural world. Are governments doing enough to protect and restore threatened ecosystems? Ecologist and chief scientific advisor to the UN’s Trillion Tree Campaign Thomas Crowther tells Jude Rogers about the urgent need to reverse global deforestation – starting at th...

From Israel to Iran, Donald Trump thought he could reset the Middle East. His fixation on the region defined the last four years of US foreign policy. But what will Biden’s presidency mean for America and the Middle East? Senior policy fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute Michael Stephens talks to Arthur Snell about oil, oligarchs, and outbreaks – and if Trump’s unorthodox approach has...

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria is one of the best-known journalists on the planet, reaching 200m people weekly with Fareed Zakaria’s GPS. He talks to Ros Taylor about the aftermath of Trumpism, Biden’s prospects for changing the West’s trajectory on climate change… and why the COVID aftermath might lead to a release of hedonism on a par with the Jazz Age.  “Trump is playing brilliant politics with the small...

The Labour grief-fest won’t abate. What do the Labour Left actually want? Victory, or just to burn the party down? Now that we’re moving into the pick-up-the-pieces phase of COVID, what have we learned and what should we do with it? Special guest Christina Pagel of UCL and Indie SAGE has thoughts. And what should a Minister for Men look like? Long-lost regular Ahir Shah returns – with exciting din...