• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing . Wars around the globe are drawing eerie comparisons with the late 19th and early 20th Century, when Great Powers clashed in an atmosphere of nationalist populism. Are we – like then – on an inevitable march toward world war, or already deep in a second Cold War? Yale historian and Cold War expert Professor Odd Arne Westad joins Seth Thévoz and suggests we may be looking at the wrong era entirely – and why it may “n...
May 13, 2026•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1812
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. The German town of Weimar exudes a dark fascination, and not just because Hitler loved to visit it. How did Germany’s cultural capital – home of the Bauhaus, Goethe, Schiller and the doomed inter-war experiment with democracy – also become one of Nazism’s earliest strongholds and the location for the Buchenwald concentration camp? Why did the Weimar Republic fall? And can it really teach us how to hold back fascism ...
May 12, 2026•38 min•Season 1Ep. 1811
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Keir Starmer’s position looks more precarious than ever after the local elections. How will moves against him pan out? Gavin Esler joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss this and the other news to look out for in the week ahead. 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 mon...
May 11, 2026•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1810
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Farage is under fire for pocketing a £5m “personal gift” from a crypto billionaire. What’s his excuse? Plus, the Hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius is finally heading to port, but will the crisis really be over when it docks? And with Trump's “Project Freedom” on ice, what on earth is happening in the Strait of Hormuz? Jacob Jarvis and Zoë Grünewald dissect the biggest stories of the week. • Back us on Patreon – www.pat...
May 08, 2026•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1809
GLP-1s like Wegovy and Ozempic have become a huge deal. But how much do we actually know about what they do? And what pros and cons do we need to balance? Natasha Devon is joined by nutrition coach and fitness expert Michael Ulloa to discuss. • It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Natasha Devon. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickins...
May 07, 2026•23 min•Season 1Ep. 1808
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Our double-header on everything you need to know about this week’s devolved elections… In Scotland voters are gearing up for what’s being dubbed the “meh election” and the so-called “scunner factor” is well and truly sinking in. With Reform’s English nationalists eyeing up Holyrood, the SNP faces a fight to keep Scotland’s parliament looking recognisably… Scottish. The Guardian’s Scotland correspondent Libby Brooks ...
May 06, 2026•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1807
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. A double-header on what you need to know about this week’s national elections: In Wales Labour could face an historic annihilation that will reverberate through the whole country. Should they blame Starmer or their own poor government? Will Plaid Cymru have to choose between the Greens and what’s left of Labour as coalition partners? And how in hell are English nationalists polling so well, even though their last le...
May 06, 2026•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1806
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Setting out the stories of the week ahead… As Labour braces itself for a battering in the local, Scottish and Welsh elections, Reform have an idea to liven things up: punishing anyone who votes Green by putting migrant detention centres in their constituency. Plus: What Russia’s scaled-down, tank-and-missile-free ‘Victory Day’ tells us about the state of Putin’s power. Protesting against the antisemitism crisis. And...
May 05, 2026•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1805
They wear suits, sport shades and say almost nothing. The Secret Service deliberately operates in the shadows but a third assassination attempt on Donald Trump has suddenly put them in the spotlight. So what exactly do they do all day? And what does it take to protect the president? Former agent Mike de Gues , who previously guarded Trump, gives Gavin Esler the insider story. • It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/b...
May 02, 2026•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1804
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing for The Bunker. King Charles’ US state visit has gone well so far — but what does it really mean for the UK’s increasingly strained “special relationship” ? Plus: we discuss the horrific attack in Golders Green, Keir Starmer dodges a parliamentary enquiry into the Peter Mandelson appointment, and finally, the end of hereditary peers. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Rafael Behr to unpack the biggest stories from the past we...
May 01, 2026•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1803
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Our op-ed obsessives are back tackling the brilliant, the baffling, and every take in between. This month’s edition is extra special: it's an American Friction takeover to mark Podmasters’ 10th birthday with Jacob Jarvis , Chris Jones and Nikki McCann Ramirez wading knee-deep into this month’s weirdest columns. On the menu: resurfaced Donald Trump conspiracies, the Wegovy essay that broke the internet, Adrian Chiles...
Apr 30, 2026•40 min•Season 1Ep. 1802
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Far-right politics used to mean street thugs, secretive meeting and the ever-present threat of violence. Now the far-right is in Westminster, suited, booted and hungrier than ever for power. How did a fringe ideology move to the mainstream? Author, journalist and expert on the far-right Daniel Trilling joins Zoë Grünewald to discuss how we got here – and whether we can stop Britain’s slide into extremism. • Buy Dani...
Apr 29, 2026•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1801
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Cryptocurrency has come a long way since it was a fringe enthusiasm for get-rich-quick bros and anti-state libertarian fantasists. Now “stablecoins” like Tether are on the verge of becoming a parallel banking system in the US, except much less regulated. And the moneymaking opportunities that crypto affords are corrupting American politics to a staggering degree. Why is stablecoin more potent than regular crypto? Is...
Apr 28, 2026•38 min•Season 1Ep. 1800
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Setting up the events of the next seven days… Another day, another assassination attempt. Will the attack on Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner overshadow King Charles’s visit to the US? Will the gun attack change anything apart from making conspiracy nutters crazier? And what were journos doing at an event to celebrate a man who hates them and says they’re enemies of the people? Plus: It’s Groundhog Day...
Apr 27, 2026•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1799
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing . Our original podcast is back for one week only! Bigmouth AKA The Culture Bunker , the pop culture chatpod that birthed The Bunker, Oh God, What Now? and more, returns for our tenth birthday. On the agenda: Kneecap ’s new album ‘Fenian’, Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles , hot new tunes from the panel… and all the stuff we missed when we were off air, including Project Hail Mary and The Lowdown . With regulars A...
Apr 25, 2026•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 1798
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing for The Bunker. Starmer has had another tumultuous week amid the Peter Mandelson and Olly Robbins drama. Is there a route back and who’s really benefiting from the fallout? Plus: The Onion buys Alex Jones’s InfoWars, Donald Trump’s administration shows fresh signs of strain as the Iran ceasefire is extended, and how worried should we be about Anthropic’s new model Mythos? Jacob Jarvis is joined by Jonn Elledge to unp...
Apr 24, 2026•40 min•Season 1Ep. 1797
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Péter Magyar ’s stunning victory over Hungary’s arch-populist Viktor Orbán put progressives around the world into raptures. Was this the beginning of the end for the European far-right? But behind the energy and charisma, Magyar is a complex figure – driven, ruthless, a traditional conservative and graduate of Orbán’s Fidesz movement, and maybe not exactly the centre-left’s dream date. Euronews EU Correspondent Sand...
Apr 23, 2026•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1796
• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. The news is no longer what people in power want to hide – it’s what algorithms say will keep you clicking. And it’s become a breeding ground for misinformation. As powerful, politically-connected people tighten their grip on what we read and hear, how do you know what to trust? Eliot Higgins of the investigative journalist group Bellingcat tells Rafael Behr how the news environment is evolving, and why open-source i...
Apr 22, 2026•37 min•Season 1Ep. 1795
The far-right “Unite The Kingdom” march in London in September 2025 was an unprecedented display of populist, xenophobic anger. It shocked the country – but it didn’t surprise Liam Byrne , the Labour MP and former minister who dissects the Age of Rage in his book, Why Populists Are Winning – And How To Beat Them . He talks to Zoe Grünewald about how mainstream politics took away ordinary people’s certainties and left them prey to unscrupulous, well-funded demagogues – and what we need to do to t...
Apr 21, 2026•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1794
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 Willia...
Apr 20, 2026•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1793
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: Ja...
Apr 17, 2026•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1792
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” g...
Apr 16, 2026•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1791
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 numbere...
Apr 15, 2026•39 min•Season 1Ep. 1790
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 ne...
Apr 14, 2026•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1789
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...
Apr 13, 2026•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1788
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 ...
Apr 10, 2026•37 min•Season 1Ep. 1787
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 t...
Apr 09, 2026•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1786
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 e...
Apr 08, 2026•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1785
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 m...
Apr 07, 2026•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1784
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...
Apr 03, 2026•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1783
