The Bunker – News without the nonsense

When term starts in autumn, universities won’t look like what we’re used to. What will “bubble learning” look like? What sort of hole will the pandemic knock in University finances? Will there be a socially-distanced bar and/or Animal Rights Soc disco? And will Government bail out colleges – or let some fail in an orgy of academic Darwinism? Dorian Lynskey talks to Oxford Brookes History professor...

There’s a nightmare economic downturn on the cards, but unions were deeply involved in the emergency bailout plans. Is organised Labour about to re-enter policymaking for the first time in over 40 years? What can unions do for women workers in an economy in turmoil? And how can we rebuild better? TUC General Secretary FRANCES O’GRADY tells Ayesha Hazarika about the role unions can play not just in...

What buttons can government push to wake up a comatose economy, and will they work this time? Will this formerly Conservative government need to go full Keynesian with a bonanza of giveaways to stimulate activity? Or if fear of persistent virus stops us returning to “normal”, might Government withdraw its support measures to force us back to work? Alex Andreou talks to DR GEMMA TETLOW , Chief Econ...

Where does this week of chaos leave the Government’s authority? Will it affect our staggering progress towards the cliff edge of a failed negotiation with the EU? Ian Dunt talks to ANAND MENON of UK In A Changing Europe about the Johnson government’s self-inflicted problems. This podcast recorded on Tuesday 26 May.   “With unemployment and a recession coming, will people finally stop thinking abou...

Got a bonus one for you: Britain’s fishing industry has long been an emotional hot button for Brexiters and a seaborne sticking point for our trade negotiators. What exactly is going on in Britain’s coastal waters? And what would a No Deal Brexit mean for fishermen who’ve been promised so much – and used as symbols – over the past five years? Ros Taylor talks to IAIN SPEAR of Devon scallop supplie...

Dom Under Siege , Day Five: Has the Prime Minister’s incomprehensibly immovable Rasputin done enough to save his skin? And is a 60-mile car trip really the best way to test your eyesight? Plus guest John Appleby of health think tank the Nuffield Trust joins us to scope out how the NHS will change after COVID lifts. And why does the Government’s “Cultural Renewal Taskforce” contain no-one from the...

Coronavirus has provided a golden opportunity for unscrupulous online and offline retailers to jack up their prices on essential goods. Who are the worst culprits for COVID price gouging? Who are the victims? And what should government be doing to stop them? ADAM FRENCH , Senior Consumer Rights Editor at the consumer advocate Which?, talks to Andrew Harrison about pandemic profiteering. Audio prod...

Should he stay or should he go now? Audio of our Emergency Dominic Cummings podcast , recorded on Zoom at 1pm today, Sunday 24 May with Dorian Lynskey, Ros Taylor, Alex Andreou and Andrew Harrison . You can just about get it listened to before the PM’s press conference at 5pm when, gosh, who know who’ll get sacked? Video of this podcast is coming soon on our Patreon page too. Sign up for full acce...

The Government’s emergency measures to keep public places empty are proving to be a rat’s nest. Even senior police officers and prosecutors don’t fully understand the law. Prosecutions are falling apart. And civil liberties groups are calling for a review of all penalties. Constitutional expert and Remainiacs regular DAVID ALLEN GREEN talks to Ayesha Hazarika about bad law made in haste, and what...

There’s only one problem with the widely-held belief that humans are fundamentally amoral and selfish, says Dutch historian RUTGER BREGMAN : it’s rubbish. His new book Humankind: A Hopeful History argues that the record shows humanity’s superpower is its unique aptitude for altruism and co-operation. He tells Andrew Harrison why everything from Lord Of The Flies to the story of the Blitz is teachi...

On this week’s full-length podcast: Keir Starmer, Donkey Farmer . Be a hero, or else: The Government frogmarches teachers to the frontline. Futurist Mark Stevenson joins us for some big ideas on how to change everything when the COVID mess starts to abate. Corona-ing up the Culture Wars . Should we give in to travel guilt? And which of the panel will defend David Cameron?   Naomi Smith and Alex An...

FROST/BARNIER: As Britain’s negotiators issue ultimatums out of thin air and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier pronounces the talks “very disappointing”, is there anything to save Britain from the catastrophic No Deal we were promised would never happen? We talk to HILARY BENN , Chair of the Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union, about the Brexit brinksmanship...

Hollywood bowled over: Coronavirus has thrown the entire movie industry into suspended animation. Are the studios strong enough to withstand this unprecedented shock? Will smaller movies become collateral damage in the shutdown? Will straight-to-streaming become the new norm for even blockbuster movies? And anyone for Tenet ? Is Christopher Nolan’s mind-scrambler really going to save the movies bu...

The Government’s emergency measures have saddled Britain with levels of debt unseen outside wartime – and a possible future of mass unemployment. How can we rebuild the economy for a post-COVID future? What’s the scale of the task? And which industries could thrive after the shutdown and which are doomed? DR GARRY YOUNG , co-Deputy Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research...

As we disappear deeper into virtual worlds both for work and relaxation, what are the political dimensions of the technologies we depend on to connect? Videogame scriptwriter Edward Stern , who has worked on Dirty Bomb , Gears Of War and other “shooty bang” games, explains to novice Ros Taylor why games will be increasingly important in our distanced future… what makes a good game tick… why they a...

Are YOU staying alert? If not, WHY not? We look at the Government’s confusing (and possibly self-serving) re-do of its COVID advice. UCL Global Politics professor and presenter of the Power Corrupts podcast Brian Klaas explains why we’re asking the wrong questions about Trump’s shambolic Corona response. And is this the most disappointing apocalypse ever if you happen to be a guy visiting Subway w...

Coronavirus has changed everything – and maybe inaugurated a strange new era of history that nobody anticipated. What can we learn from past existential crises, from the oil shock to the world financial emergency of 2008? Will 2020 be a turning point like 1945 or 1979? And what good could come from this great upheaval? Historian ALWYN TURNER , author of Rejoice! Rejoice!: Britain in the 1980s , Cr...

Meanwhile, in Brazil… Extreme populist President Jair Bolsonaro’s dismissive response to the Corona crisis makes even Trump’s look vaguely reasonable. Could the anti-lockdown sentiment he’s fomenting push Brazil into real crisis? And how does this homophobic, military fetishist, formerly marginal far-right figure maintain power? Rio-based British journalist DOM PHILLIPS talks to Dorian Lynskey abo...

Who’s up for some philosophy? COVID is shaping up as a crucible for the very idea of freedom – and an ultimate test for populism and libertarianism. Ian Dunt talks to TOBY BUCKLE of the Political Philosophy Podcast about what freedom means, who owns it, what the lockdown is doing to international notions of liberty, and whether Boris Johnson is, if possible, even worse than Trump. “Look at the evi...

How is the Great Home Schooling Experiment going? Is distance learning exposing the holes in Conservative eduction policy – and the gulf between wealthy pupils and state students without laptops and iPads? Do we need to stop treating schools as a national childcare service? And will we see the end of traditional summer holidays? Education journalist LAURA MCINERNY who runs Teacher Tapp talks to Do...

Britain’s COVID response is now officially the worst in Europe – yet somehow Boris Johnson is getting away it. How? Plus: The NHS triumphant. Health policy expert Roy Lilley on how the service must change after the Corona ordeal. And what have we learned on our enforced retreat into inner space? Gavin Esler and Ayesha Hazarika join Andrew Harrison for this week’s full-length BUNKER. “Everyone’s an...

After an economic shock that’s unique in human history, how can we rebuild Britain’s businesses and public finances? How are we going to pay off a national debt unseen outside of wartime? Ian Mulheirn, Chief Economist of Renewing the Centre at the Tony Blair Institute, tells Naomi Smith about the hard choices ahead in a world without rules.  “This is the first time ever that governments have activ...

Donald Tusk is telling Poles to boycott their presidential elections out of “basic human decency”. Is Poland’s ruling Law And Justice using COVID to intensify its anti-liberal direction? How are ordinary Poles coping with Corona? And could Law And Justice really get Poland expelled from the EU even though Poles are the most pro-EU people in Europe? Sociologist ROCH DUNIN-WĄSOWICZ of the LSE explai...

Zoom fatigue, virtual pubs, the Baby Johnson… Standup comic and comedy writer ATHENA KUGBLENU purges all her lockdown neuroses while Ian Dunt hides behind the microphone. Is Captain Tom being politicised? Why do we have to see everything through the prism of the Second World War? And why do we still treat posh upper class white guys with such respect?  “A lot of stuff is going on under our noses w...

The lockdown is impacting everyone differently but it’s hitting people with pre-existing mental health issues especially hard. Demand for help with depression and anxiety are up by 30% worldwide, and the impending once-in-a-century recession is likely to make it worse. Will Higham of the charity Rethink Mental Illness talks to Naomi Smith about the post-COVID crisis in mental wellbeing – and how i...