The Bunker

The Mandelson scandal is back and all eyes are on Starmer as he looks to once again justify the baffling and increasingly disastrous appointment. Gavin Esler joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss what could happen and what it all means, plus the latest from Trump's war in Iran, political change in Hungary and more.  Listen to This is Not a Drill: https://linktr.ee/drillpod  Back us on Patreon:  www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Gavin Esler. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Labour and Reform battle over women's votes – but what are either of the parties actually talking about? Plus: Tucker Carlson launches a publishing house with Russell Brand on board, Donald Trump starts a feud with the Pope, and US–Iran conflict rumbles on. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Alex von Tunzelmann to unpack the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor.  Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The stunning defeat of Viktor Orbán and his “illiberal democracy” project in Hungary appears to be a humiliating blow to Trump, Vance, Putin, Farage, and populists across the world. (Who will host their get-togethers now?) But is it really the beginning of the end for far-right authoritarianism, or something more complex? Jason Pack – host of the Disorder podcast and Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute – talks to Andrew Harrison about why Orbán fell, where the “neopopulist” go next, and what fans of democracy should learn from Peter Magyar's victory.  • Support us on Patreon to join the Oh God, What Now vs Origin Story Podclash on Thursday 30 April.  FURTHER READING FROM JASON • Listen to the Disorder podcast with Jason Pack • Ordering the Disorder Substack: The Heart of Europe beats Stronger than ever • How Orban led to Trump. • Hungary's Lessons for Trump's Opponents: Viktor Orbán's critics had to put their ideological differences aside.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor and Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who is Gavin Newsom and what does he want? Does the California Governor have the right stuff to put the Democrats back in power and wrest America back from its ruinous MAGA direction? Or is he a bit too slick and slippery to fulfil the hopes of beleaguered progressives? The Independent's Washington Correspondent Eric Garcia talks to Dorian Lynskey about “Newsomania”, the Governor's merciless social media game and chequered history, and the contradictions of a man who grew up poor yet who numbered the Gettys among his family friends. “He's one of the most politically acrobatic figures I've ever seen… and it makes people ask, does this guy have any real beliefs?”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Trump appointed the crankish Robert F Kennedy Jr to head America's Department of Health and Human Services, he brought paranoid, anti-science “do your own research” thinking to the centre of US health policy. Kennedy has since promoted extreme anti-vaxxers, cut cancer and vaccine research, and spread dangerous lies about autism and vaccination. Now measles is surging in the US and trust in public health institutions is collapsing. Will RFK's “Make America Healthy Again” agenda usher in a new age of mass disease? Dr Gigi Gronvall, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, talks to Emma Kennedy about the dangers of Kennedy's misinformation agenda – and how America can rebuild its public health capabilities. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Emma Kennedy. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Setting out the news stories of the week ahead… Today, good news for once as far-right poster boy Viktor Orbán takes a crushing defeat in Hungary. Plus, Starmer takes UK closer to EU using the tools the Brexiters forged, and they do NOT like it. Trump is bored of Iran and looking for something else to wreck. And the Southport murders and COVID vaccine inquiries both report. Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison get you up to speed on the next seven days.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump's ceasefire deal in Iran has left everyone confused. Does anyone know what's actually happening? Plus: Kanye West being banned from the UK, Viktor Orbán faces election defeat and a £4 million donation to Reform from a crypto billionaire. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Zoë Grunewald to round up the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Zoë Grunewald. Producer: Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A culture of fear, blame, obedience and corner-cutting sets in chain a devastating course of events. Millions are displaced, many die and the effects last for decades. Sounds familiar? On 26 April 1986, reactor no.‍4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat in modern Ukraine exploded, spreading radioactive contaminants across the Soviet Union and Europe. The disaster would eventually cost $700bn and hasten the fall of the USSR. Adam Higginbotham is the author of the definitive work on the accident, Midnight in Chernobyl. He tells Andrew Harrison how the culture that led to Chernobyl wasn't confined to Soviet Russia – and how Putin's war on Ukraine risks stirring up Chernobyl's radioactive poisons all over again  • Buy Midnight in Chernobyl and/or Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Tom Taylor & Dom Delargy. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The toxic stew of grievance, misogyny and self-pity known as the Manosphere isn't just warping young men's minds and legitimising contempt for women. It's become big business for influencers like Andrew Tate, HSTikkyTokky and others. If disaffected young men pay enough into their “Universities” they can ascend to ever-higher levels with names like “the War Room”. There they learn that women and woke are to blame for all their problems, and they can learn how to master both… if they keep paying enough.  Debbie Ging, Professor of Digital Media and Gender at Dublin City University, talks to Zoë Grünewald about the economics of the Manosphere and how the quest for fast cars and compliant women can become a ruinously expensive pursuit.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written by Zoë Grünewald and Sophie Clark and presented by Zoe Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump is making increasingly intense threats against Iran and coming off as more and more unhinged. Alex von Tunzelmann joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss how out of the ordinary all of this is, why it's not being stopped and how it could unfold.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump declares the war will be over soon and rambles violently in the process. Again. But should we take this seriously or is this just another wild claim? Plus: ‘bimbofication', yes we're not sure either, Keir Starmer calls for closer EU ties and Artemis 2 launches. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Zoë Grunewald to discuss another busy week.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Zoë Grunewald. Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The creation of Artificial General Intelligence could be the greatest gamble mankind has ever undertaken. And one of its unlikely prime movers is a working class north Londoner and chess prodigy, the son of immigrant parents, who founded the groundbreaking company DeepMind to create machine superintelligence – a goal which if achieved could transform or destroy our world. Unlike the Altmans and the Musks, Demis Hassabis has the decency to fear what he is creating. The story of this 21st Century Oppenheimer is told in The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence. Author Sebastian Mallaby talks to Emma Kennedy about Hassabis's journey and where it could take us.   • Buy The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Sophie Clark. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Golden Apple…  From the boxy, upstart Apple II computer to the world-changing iPod and iPhone and beyond, Apple Inc. has shaped both the digital world and our own reality since it was founded on 1 April, 1976. Steve Jobs and creators like Jony Ive brought sleek consumer design to the masses, saved the music business, and created the app industry – but Apple has also grown into a corporate behemoth which kowtows to Trump. On Apple's 50th birthday, tech journalist Craig Grannell talks to Alex von Tunzelmann about how it became the world's most valuable brand… the disasters that happened along the way… and whether Apple can survive the age of A.I.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. Produced by Sophie Clark. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Artificial Intelligence is being touted as civilisational game-changer – and a miracle cure for Britain's ailing economy. So far it's all promise and no real achievement. But investors are still piling vast sums of money into a very few companies. Could that concentrated investment lay the world open to another financial crisis? Joshua Roberts, Capital Markets Correspondent for The Economist, talks to Seth Thévoz about the “apocalyptic bubble-bursting scenario.”  “We have never seen companies this highly since the DotCom boom,” he says. “And that was followed by a huge crash.”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Audio production by Robin Leeburn with thanks to Jason Hosken at The Economist. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Setting up the big stories of the next seven days… As Trump runs out of options will he take the biggest step of all: a ground invasion of at least part of Iran? And can he do it while convincing that it's not really “boots on the ground”? Plus: The financial consequences of the Iran War land in the UK right at the start of the local, Scottish and Welsh election campaigns. Apple Computer's 50th birthday. The decision on Trump's nightmare ballroom. And could YOU be the next Tottenham Hotspur manager? Gavin Esler and Andrew Harrison wade through the week that's coming.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The government is placing new limits on crypto and overseas donations — but is this about national security or is Starmer just worried about Farage's fundraising power? Plus: Boris Johnson dubs himself the “Napoleon of Notting Hill”, and Trump's 15-point peace plan falls flat. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Seth Thévoz to round up the biggest stories from the past week.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every day we're swamped with weird takes on everything from the Iran war to the malevolence of pigeons. Now Paper Cuts survivors Miranda Sawyer and Jonn Elledge join Jacob Jarvis to discuss the weirdest (and occasionally best) columns of the month… so you don't have to.  This time: Terrible Iran takes, energy bill nightmares and a loving look at Adrian Chiles' latest offerings.  • Spotted a column we should talk about next time? Send it to info@bunkercast.co.uk   www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  www.podmasters.co.uk   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

George Orwell's vision of a world of constant surveillance, where authoritarians rule by destroying the very concept of objective truth, is coming true in ways the author never predicted – and many ways he did. A new documentary film, Orwell: 2+2=5 by the acclaimed Haitian director Raoul Peck, connects the dots between 1984, Animal Farm, Big Data and mass manipulation in the digital age. Our own Orwell correspondent Dorian Lynskey – author of The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell's 1984 – talks to Andrew Harrison about what George Orwell really understood about the human mind, and why the world needs to stop misusing “Orwellian”.  • Orwell: 2+2=5 opens in selected cinemas on Fri 27 March.  • Buy The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell's 1984 through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Canada slapped down Trump's bizarre fantasy of taking over the country when it elected Mark Carney as PM, and Canadians are still boycotting travel to the USA. But MAGA has not given up on its ambition of annexing the North. And they're targeting the province of Alberta, known as “The Texas of the North” – a place that's innately right-wing, suspicious of government, resentful of the rest of the country, and full of oil. Canadian journalist John Last talks to Ros Taylor from Ottawa about the subversive campaign to MAGA-fy this chunk of Canada, and whether a mix of “useful idiots”, far-right cranks and redpilled Trump fanboys could turn Alberta into Canada's equivalent of the Donbas. His verdict? “The core of this movement is treasonous.”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Sophie Clark. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Setting out the stories of the next seven days… Trump's directionless assault on Iran reaches a decisive moment. Does the President declare arbitrary victory or press on? And with its regime renewed, its grip on the world economy tightening, and the US now abandoning oil sanctions, is Iran actually winning? Plus: the new BBC Director General, a possible antisemitic hate crime in Golders Green, and everybody get ready for the annual “they're banning Easter” squabblefest. Gavin Esler and Andrew Harrison set out the week ahead.  • The Together Against The Far Right demonstration is on Sat 28 March.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Angela Rayner sparked speculation this week after warning Labour is “running out of time”. Is this the first sign of a leadership bid, or media overexcitement? Plus: a meningitis outbreak in Kent raises fresh public health concerns, and as the conflict in Iran enters its fourth week, is Donald Trump losing control of the narrative? Jacob Jarvis is joined by Alex von Tunzelmann to unpack a packed week.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With war in Ukraine, the US almost our enemy, Brexit Britain now semi-detached and Putin waiting in the wings, the continent that rebuilt itself from the ruins of two world wars now finds its founding settlement under unprecedented pressure. Does Europe need to go back to find its future? Historian Roderick Beaton, author of Europe: A New History, joins Alex von Tunzelmann to trace how Europe was forged, how it has weathered cycles of integration and disintegration, and what its future might look like in this new era of uncertainty. •  Pre-order Europe: A New History through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann.  Producer: Andrew Harrison. Production Assistant: Jake Preston.  Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk wants much more than just a radicalised far-right population, a hotline to political power and a civil war in Britain. As Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff, authors of Muskism: A Guide For The Perplexed explain, he's building no less than a dark new way for society to function. Under ‘Muskism', technology envelopes every aspect of life, states and corporations are indistinguishable, and humans who disagree are just bugs in the code. But will Muskism survive its creator?  Andrew Harrison talks to the authors about the state subsidies that built Musk's empire, the real reasons he went over the edge, and why Musk keeps drawing all the wrong conclusions from the science fiction he claims to love. • Buy Muskism: A Guide For The Perplexed through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by  Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Trump's war to (he claims) end Iran's nuclear programme pushing the world to the brink, the question of who has the Bomb and why feels more urgent than ever. But the untold story of how nuclear weaponry proliferated and shaped our world is even stranger than most of us know. Historian David Holloway, author of Nuclear Weapons: An International History, explores how the Bomb reshaped global politics with Dorian Lynskey. From the US-Soviet arms race to the rise of “Mutual Assured Destruction”, we came closer to destruction that we knew. How did we avoid it – and will we always be as lucky? • Buy David's book Nuclear Weapons: An International History through our affiliate bookshop and you'll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Setting up the stories of the next seven days… As Iran blockades the Straits of Hormuz and 20% of the world's oil supply, can Trump cajole/bully other nations into clearing up the mess he caused? Including Britain? Plus: Ed Davey goes full Oppenheimer and calls for Britain to build its own nukes. Rachel Reeves tries to kickstart the economy (again). And the last word on the bitter “Should we replace Winston Churchill with an otter?” controversy that has torn the country apart. Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison set out your week ahead.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lord Mandelson is back in the spotlight after newly released documents revealed Keir Starmer was warned about his links to Jeffrey Epstein before appointing him ambassador. Plus: we unpack Donald Trump's U-turn on Iran, Zoë Grünewald explains why Kemi Badenoch is her loser of the week, and finally Jacob Jarvis asks what removal of hereditary peers in the House of Lords will change about UK politics.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Zoë Grünewald.  Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As artificial intelligence systems become more powerful, what crimes should we prepare for it to commit? Can the law keep up with code? And when A.I. is misused, who's actually responsible? Today on The Bunker, Kate Devlin is joined by Dr Federica Fedorczyk, Research Fellow at University of Oxford and an A.I. ethics specialist, to unpack how artificial intelligence is already challenging the criminal justice system and what happens when the law struggles to keep pace. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Kate Devlin. Producer: Liam Tait. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A shock-and-awe attack on a Middle East country based on a faulty premise. No clear rationale, no exit strategy and a premature declaration of victory. Thousands of deaths with no clear end in sight. By attacking Iran, is Trump just re-running America's disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq? Or is this time even more poorly-planned and even worse? Dr Renad Mansour of Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme talks to Andrew Harrison about the similarities between America's great military follies.  • Read Renad Mansour on Iran and more at Chatham House .  Support The Bunker at www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Read any paper to the right of The Guardian and you'll see furious condemnation of “tax raids” on “grieving families”, and a Labour plot to destroy the Middle Class and farmers via the “hated” inheritance tax “trap”. Yet IHT makes up only 0.7% of Government revenue and fewer than 5% of people leave enough to be subject to it. Why is Britain neurotic about a tax that so few pay? And with huge inheritances and the Bank of Mum and Dad creating a two-tier society of those with family wealth and those without, should we want to increase IHT not cut it?  Senior fund manager Dan Kemp looked after $350bn in assets at the finance giant Morningstar, and now runs a new company, Portfolio Thinking. He tells Andrew Harrison why even he thinks simply cutting inheritance tax is a bad idea.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump's war in Iran continues and Britain's right wing gang are desperate for Starmer to get more involved despite the obvious reasons not to. Why are they cheerleading what could be another disastrous and drawn out conflict in the Middle East? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss what's going on and how the UK may or may not get further involved.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rounding up the stories of the last seven days… Trump shatters international law, triggers a conflagration across the Middle East and insults Keir Starmer into the bargain. Also: Shabana Mahmood doubles down on immigration harshness after the Gorton & Denton disaster. The Fall of the House of Brewdog. And who's been visiting Salford Lads' Club? Jonn Elledge revisits the week just gone with Andrew Harrison. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk is betting big on artificial intelligence. But is this a visionary leap forward, or a high-stakes gamble? His latest move is to merge SpaceX with his A.I. lab xAI, consolidating his companies' finances and laying the groundwork for something even more ambitious: satellite data centres designed to push A.I. development into space.Zoë Grünewald is joined by The Economist's US technology editor Henry Tricks to unpack Musk's moves, what it means for the world's richest man, and whether this enormous bet on A.I. could end up putting his empire on the line. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait and Sophie Clark. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last week Zia Yusuf, floated a headline-grabbing idea: a British version of America's deeply unpopular ICE. Today on The Bunker, Zoë Grünewald speaks to Sunder Katwala, director of British Future and author of How to be a Patriot, to unpack what a “British ICE” would actually mean in practice and how the politics of deportation are fast becoming a race to the bottom. • Buy Sunder's book How to Be a Patriot: Why Love of Country Can End Our Very British Culture War through our affiliate bookshop and you'll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait and Sophie Clark. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Trump using America's 250th anniversary to rebrand the USA in his own gaudy, aggressive, white nationalist image? There'll be a “Patriot Games” high school athletics tournament, quickly dubbed America's Hunger Games. Commemorative quarter coins have been scrubbed of any “woke” content. There'll be mixed martial arts on the White House lawn. And Trump's organisers of the celebrations are charging for access to the President. What would George Washington think? South Carolina political commentator, historical preservationist and navy veteran Mike Bedenbaugh is the author of a new book, Reviving Our Republic. He tells Andrew Harrison why the “Semiquincentennial” is a last-ditch chance for America to rediscover its purpose.  • This edition was recorded before America's attack on Iran.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump's attacks on Iran have thrown the Middle East into chaos and left the world on the brink of what feels like an existential crisis. What is he doing and why now? And how will this situation develop and worsen in the coming days? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss this and the latest British politics updates in Start Your Week.    Back us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social  Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump delivered a record-length State of the Union address this week, in a marathon rant that has become the new normal. Plus, we explore the looming special educational needs reforms in the UK and check in on Kim Jong Un. And also, the weird story of an army of robot vacuum cleaners… Jacob Jarvis is joined by The Guardian's Rafael Behr to comb over another wild week.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr.  Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston.  Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We read the columns and the pundits so you don't have to… On this month's round-up of the weirdest, worst and occasionally best opinion columns: Brutal takes on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from Camilla Long (Sunday Times) and Sophie Money-Coutts (Telegraph) while Brendan O'Neill (who else?). Plus: The Telegraph defends child labour, the Mail rages against fare-dodgers, and why the I's Kate Lister is the best sex columnist on the planet. Paper Cuts alumni Jonn Elledge and Miranda Sawyer join Andrew Harrison to dismantle February's punditry.  • Got a column we should be talking about next month? Send it to info@bunkercast.co.uk  THE COLUMNS: • Camilla Long on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the Sunday Times. • Brendan O'Neill on “The hunting of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor” • Sophia Money-Coutts – “I know how high society works – and why the Epstein scandal could easily happen again” • Angus Colwell in defence of child labour in the Telegraph • Gaby Hinsliff in the Guardian – “Do you remember your first crappy job? Today's young people would wish for half your luck” • Kate Lister in the i – Pushing for an open marriage? Check your market worth first  • Dominic Lawson in the Mail – Why on earth would a wealthy banker dodge £5,900 in train fares? Keep The Bunker proudly independent by backling us at www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait with Sophie Clark. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Barack Obama set the internet alight when he declared on a podcast that aliens are “real”. However, the former US president later insisted that, while in office, he saw no evidence of this and that he was just answering a speed round question. Once the preserve of late-night radio and fringe forums, UFOs are now discussed in Congress, scrutinised by the Pentagon and casually referenced by presidential hopefuls. Alex von Tunzelmann separates fact from fantasy with Andy McGrillen, author of Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects and host of That UFO Podcast to find out what's the difference between serious scientific inquiry and full-blown conspiracy culture? • Buy Andy's book Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena through our affiliate bookshop and you'll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The sudden ousting of two of China's top military leaders has sparked intense speculation about what it says about Xi Jinping's grip on power. From Mao to today, the Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly removed senior figures accused of corruption, incompetence, or simply becoming inconvenient. What's going on this time? Today on The Bunker, Gavin Esler is joined by Daria Impiombato, Senior Analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, joins us to unpack it all. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump is causing chaos again with a tariff tantrum while Starmer's Labour faces a major test at the upcoming Gorton and Denton byelection. Gavin Esler joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the news to look out for in the week ahead.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast         Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Gavin Esler. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The week's major stories in one place… In a shock development connected to the Epstein Files, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. As King Charles distances himself from his disgraced brother, what impact will this have on the future of the royal family? Plus more of the biggest stories of the week, including Reform's “shadow cabinet”, the latest bizarre viral video to come out of RFK Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again initiative, and a hotel scam that will have you quietly applauding – with Jacob Jarvis and Alex von Tunzelmann. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Simon Williams . Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Artificial intelligence is chewing through the economy, wiping out manual work and supposedly safe professional jobs alike. Are politicians' promises that A.I. will create new, better jobs to replace the ones it destroys hollow? How will we handle a world with drastically fewer jobs? Will it be an Oscar Wilde paradise or a Matrix nightmare? And did the Luddites have a point after all? Economic analyst and author of A World Without Work Daniel Susskind meets Andrew Harrison at the New Claims window.  • Buy A World Without Work through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production by Simon Willia,s. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did Britain, a country bursting with factions, movements and rebellions, end up dominated by two major parties? Today in The Bunker, Seth Thévoz is joined by historian George Owers, author of The Rage of Party, to trace the fierce rivalry between Whigs and Tories that shaped our modern political norms and to explore why its legacy still shapes every election Britain fights. Buy George's book The Rage of Party: How Whig Versus Tory Made Modern Britain through our affiliate bookshop and you'll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Russian army invading Ukraine today is very different to the one which started the conflict. How are things going for Putin's military – and how can Ukraine and Europe push back against them? Shashank Joshi, defence editor at The Economist, joins Gavin Esler to discuss.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social  • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Audio editor: Simon Williams. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Setting up the stories of the week ahead… At the Munich Security Conference, Yvette Cooper calls out Russia for the murder of Alexei Navalny but what is Britain going to do about it? And what's behind Marco Rubio's apparently conciliatory tone? Plus Britain rushes forward a social media ban for teenagers, John Healey is this week's next Keir Starmer… and are you ready for the Chinese Year of the Fire Horse? Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison guide you through the next seven days. • Hear more on Britain's preparations to deter war with Russia on the next edition of Oh God, What Now? • Pic: Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Defence Secretary John Healey during the 62nd Munich Security Conference on February 14, 2026 in Munich, Germany. (Getty) www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Keir Starmer survives the worst week of his premiership – just. The Epstein whirlpool drags Sarah Ferguson downwards (astonishing BBC feature here). New investigations into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Plus: the US Government trolls LGBTQ+ Americans by removing Pride flags from outside the Stonewall Inn. The winners and losers of the week. And no pork scratchings at the Peppa Pig stage show. Jonn Elledge and Andrew Harrison round up the stories of the week that's just gone.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The new Wuthering Heights film is already sparking debate. From saucy costume choices to renewed arguments over what Heathcliff should look like,  raising a bigger question: Why are we still arguing about a novel published nearly 200 years ago? Today in The Bunker, Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by historian, playwright and author Samantha Ellis, How to be a Heroine, to ask: have we all been getting Wuthering Heights wrong this whole time? Buy Samanth's book How To Be A Heroine Or, what I've learned from reading too much through our affiliate bookshop and you'll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Back in 2001 Eric Schlosser's masterwork of investigative journalism Fast Food Nation exposed the dirty secrets of America's “convenience restaurant” business: the catastrophic treatment of livestock, the terrible wages, the injuries, poor pay and outbreaks of food poisoning… and worse. The book started a conversation about food health around the world. Now, 25 years later, a weird mix of wellness woo and RFK Jr's anti-science Make America Healthy Again movement dominates the debate – and fast food is now worth $400bn in the US alone. Eric Schlosser joins Andrew Harrison to discuss what his book changed – and what needs to change before it's too late.  • Buy the 25th anniversary Penguin Classic edition of Fast Food Nation through our affiliate bookshop and you'll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump has stripped US foreign policy down from a mix of carrot and stick into an ideological cudgel to beat friends and foes alike – and a lurid horrorshow for domestic consumption in Red America. But who's actually running the show? Is America's realignment with the world purely dependent on Trump's whims or is there something coherent going on in there? Is it all just 1980s real estate thuggery writ large? And where is it all heading? The Economist's Geopolitics Editor David Rennie explains the new American brutalism to Seth Thévoz.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast Presented by Seth Thévoz. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Art direction: James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Special thanks to Chris Wimpress and Hannah Marinho. The Bunker is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Setting up the stories of the next seven days… Labour's widely unpopular senior advisor Morgan McSweeney falls on his sword but will it be enough to stop Starmer from being consumed by the Mandelson/Epstein fallout? Plus the unfolding Tulsi Gabbard scandal, make or break for the assisted dying bill, Cuba in trouble… and minnows vs giants in the FA Cup, except the minnows are owned by former Man Utd players. Gavin Esler talks Andrew Harrison through the stories of the week ahead.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wrapping up the stories of the week… With Peter Mandelson quitting the Lords after more damning info emerged from the Epstein files, will this lead to Starmer's demise? Zoë Grünewald and Jacob Jarvis discuss this and more as they round up the biggest stories from the past week. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social  • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Zoë Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Simon Williams. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices