The Bunker – News without the nonsense

With lockdown about to give way to “it’s not lockdown, it’s tiers,” is it worth another superspreader event to “save” Christmas? Will Rishi Sunak’s spending review be the free-spending Chancellor’s last hurrah? Will this Brexit deal ever be decided? Ian Dunt breaks down the week with Andrew Harrison.  Presented by Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and J...

When Chancellor Rishi Sunak doled out taxpayers’ money on free Wagamamas, he failed more than 3 million people who have received no financial support from the Government whatsoever. Broadcaster turned campaigner Ellie Phillips tells Naomi Smith about the plight of PAYE freelancers who are ineligible for furlough, and the work she’s doing with campaign group Forgotten PAYE who want parity for the s...

Who’s number one in No.10? And which governmental loser is tandem inter pares ? Commentator, LBC broadcaster, author and “not a fan of Boris Johnson” Iain Dale tells our own Ian Dunt what makes Prime Ministers succeed and fail – and how Boris Johnson’s Churchillian fantasies match up to reality. “Clement Attlee is among our greatest Prime Ministers but he wouldn’t have a hope in today’s intense en...

The last four years have seen British politics turned upside down in ways unthinkable in normal times, so much so that constitutional law has become a sticking point. Joelle Grogan, lecturer at Middlesex University and creator of StickyTrickyLaw, talks to Ros Taylor about the clash between Brexit and our courts, what COVID has done to our constitution, and if Biden’s plan to pack the Supreme Court...

Will the demise of Dominic Cummings clear the air in No.10? How can you stop QAnon and 5G anti-maskers from radicalising your auntie ? Is the BBC really in danger from the Government’s public sector broadcasting review? And what is the true meaning of that Mary Woolstonecraft statue – sexist monstrosity, artistic vision, crowdfunding disaster or a bit of all three? Yasmeen Serhan, Alex Andreou and...

Will disposing of Dom enable Johnson to reset as a kindler, gentler government? Will Deal Week turn into Deferment Week yet again? And what will the next seven days mean for the next steps on lockdown? Alex Andreou sets out your week ahead.  “The Government frittered away their post-election honeymoon, and set a tone of snideness and nastiness” “I’m willing to bet Hancock has threatened to resign...

COVID19 has caused the biggest shake-up in transport in over thirty years – with huge bailouts, U-Turns and financial crunches piling up as passenger numbers plummet. Transport writer and broadcaster Christian Wolmar spoke to Justin Quirk what state the sector will be in after the pandemic, and if we can afford the investment we used to take for granted. “Transport has been forced into a completel...

Broadcasting legend and former Question Time host DAVID DIMBLEBY dives into the undiscovered weeds of the Iraq War on his new podcast The Fault Line . He talks to Ian Dunt about the fatal relationship between Bush and Blair, how Iraq began the poisoning of western politics – plus what it’s like presenting election nights, and whether the QT audience really was biased. “When the facts turn against...

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill known as SpyCops is one of the most controversial pieces of legislation before Parliament – and the Labour Party is only timidly opposing it. Is a bill that permits state agents to break the law defensible? Where do we draw the line? Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay explains why he’s campaigning against the CHIS Bill, where Keir Starmer...

Where were you when the Don went down? And what does Trump’s end mean for Britain? Plus, as COVID, No Deal and general incompetence drive Scotland further away from Westminster, could independence really happen? SNP MP Alyn Smith and pro-union (OR IS SHE?) Scot Ayesha Hazarika thrash it out. And who would our panel most like to spend lockdown with? “The left is good at laughing at the right – but...

Will Trump concede and what happens if he won’t? Can Boris “Britain Trump” make amends to a new President who remembers his “slavish devotion” to his predecessor? Plus: Dido Harding up before the beak in Parliamentary Committee and the small matter of a new civil war in Ethiopia. Arthur Snell sets up the week ahead. Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic...

A weekend bonus edition: Since 1935 the American Legion has organised summer camps for high school students to learn about US Government, by forming their own political parties and state legislatures. Filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine documented the programme in Austin, Texas, and the resulting film Boys State won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival. They told Dorian Lynskey what they lea...

As Biden slowly erodes Donald Trump’s leads in the final swing states, we convene our favourite expert regulars for an all-star postmortem of Election 2020. Former Obama staffer Amy Pope , UCL politics professor Brian Klaas and Steve Schmidt of never-Trump Republican political action committee The Lincoln Project look at what Trump has done to American democracy – and how Biden could fix it. “Demo...

Was Guy Fawkes really “the last honest man to enter Parliament”, as we keep hearing on Twitter? Or a fore-runner of today’s religiously radicalised terrorists? Why is a villain of the Gunpowder Plot acclaimed as a hero by some in 2020? Nick Holland , author of The Real Guy Fawkes , tells Jude Rogers why Guy Fawkes persists as a symbol… and what we misunderstand about a man who almost murdered thou...

Been to bed yet? Thinking about going straight back? Yasmeen Serhan gives Andrew Harrison her morning-after interim report on the dismal deadlock in the Presidential Election. How has Trump done so well? Can Biden still scrape it? Did the polls get it wrong? And has America just given brutal populism a vote of confidence? “This election was a test for whether populist politics will stay or not… th...

National lockdown, Labour Party breakdown… Trump takedown? As the US election reaches its nightmare final confrontation, small-c conservative and Never Trumper James Kirchick joins us to argue that American democracy won’t end if Trump wins. Plus, what does Jeremy Corbyn ’s rejection of the EHRC report mean for fighting antisemitism and fixing the Labour Party? And where were we all – and what did...

The most expensive Presidential election in history ends tomorrow. BRIAN KLAAS , Associate Professor in Global Politics at UCL, host of the Power Corrupts podcast, and author of How to Rig an Election tells Andrew Harrison about the states to watch, the Red Mirage vs the Blue Shift, voter suppression, the debasement of the Republican Party… and what it means if Trump wins. “There is no other democ...

Lockdown II: If the Government can’t come up with a COVID exit strategy, could a coalition of MPs, experts and campaigners provide one? And can Britain cope even if we never get a vaccine? March for Change director Tom Brufatto tells Naomi Smith about the the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus’s plan for an independent COVID plan, and why we can’t squander the next full lockdown… which i...

When you go online the mildest disagreements can spin out of control into real anger, but why is our internet behaviour so bad? And how is this affecting democracy and public discourse? David Babbs, project lead at the campaign group ‘Clean Up The Internet’ and formerly of 38 Degrees, talks to Arthur Snell about why the online environment has become so hostile, the issues posed by anonymity, and h...

With a decades-long failed War on Drugs behind us, is it finally time to accept the inevitable – and let the state regulate illegal substances? Steve Rolles , author and policy analyst at Transform Drug Policy Foundation, tells Ian Dunt how we can break a destructive deadlock. What would public health-oriented drugs policies look like? And what can we learn about what not to do from the commercial...

The free school meals fiasco sends the Conservative Party right back to its happy place: being mean to poor kids. Special guest JESS PHILLIPS , Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, joins us to discuss Labour’s future, Starmer’s report card so far, how Birmingham is leading the country, and Aston Villa beating Liverpool 7-2. And our panel reveal the political music that changed them. “When I first sto...

Nearly four years after the Referendum, are Leave vs Remain attitudes still driving our politics? Are we stuck with them forever? And how do they map onto other issues like masks, authoritarianism or social liberalism? Paula Surridge , a political sociologist at the University of Bristol, talks to Naomi Smith about what the tumult of the past half-decade has done to British politics, and whether w...

Will the Special Boat Service raid on a hijacked tanker take the country’s minds off the Government’s continued mishandling of COVID? Why are we shortening quarantine periods when people aren’t even observing the existing rules? Has No.10 successfully stonewalled the free school meals fiasco? And will Dido Harding make it to Friday? Ros Taylor sets up the week ahead.  Presented and produced by And...

The last confrontation between Donald Trump and Joe Biden avoided the shame of the first debate, but did it change the dynamic of the race? And how come we didn’t discover a mute button back in 2016? Thomas Gift , Associate Professor of Political Science at UCL, gives Dorian Lynskey the verdict on the election’s final stand-off. “This was Trump’s last chance to speak to America… and he needed to f...

Is Wales really setting the COVID agenda for the rest of the UK? As the “firebreak” comes down, former special advisor to First Minister Mark Drakeford turned political consultant Cathy Owens talks to Jude Rogers. Is Wales responding better to lockdowns than England? What is the pandemic doing to support for Welsh nationalism? And why it’s not all about trying to keep English tourists out. Audio n...