What explains the world better? The unattainable relics and archaeological finds that fill museums – or the simple snowglobes, plushies and other knick-knacks in their gift shops? Ahead of a new exhibition Cursed Objects in Museum Shops , curator and Podmasters veteran Kasia Tomasiewicz unearths the true meanings of the souvenirs and objets de tat we often ignore but shouldn’t. Includes discussion of the rubber Charles Duckens, a cuddly Black Death Plague Flea and the Hello Kitty Pearl Harbor co...
May 02, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1551
O Canada! Liberal PM Mark Carney sweeps to victory (well, minority government) in the Canadian General Election. Did Trump’s unhinged plans for annexation and his tariff moodswings make him the worst ally Canadian Tories could wish for? And what happens now that Canadians are broadly agreed that yes, Canada should continue to exist as a country? John Michael McGrath of our friends in Ontario, the onpoli podcast gives Andrew Harrison the rink-side view of history. • Support us on Patreon for earl...
May 01, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 1550
Donald Trump’s first 100 days have been some of the most consequential ever. But, is that a good thing for him? Or could it come back to bite him? Doug Sosnik, former advisor to President Bill Clinton as well as several Governors and Senators, joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss what to look out for in the coming months in terms of what could hurt Trump. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsk...
Apr 30, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1549
Wall Street is erratic, global trade is unravelling and world leaders are more divided than ever. The similarities to 2008 are growing more apparent – but the crisis this time looks very different. Archie Hall , Britain economics reporter for The Economist , joins Alex von Tunzelmann to explore the global fallout, the risks to Britain’s fragile recovery, and whether there is still time to avert another financial crisis of the magnitude of 2008. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed....
Apr 29, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1548
Who will be the big winner at the local elections – and will Farage make it sound like it was Reform UK no matter what happens? Plus, Trump marks 100 days in office – how does this stand up to previous presidents? Gavin Esler joins Jacob Jarvis to talk through the news to look out for for the week ahead. Subscribe to Crime Scene, the truth about true crime with Bernard Hogan-Howe and Alison Phillips, out on Thursday We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. w...
Apr 28, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1547
Political allegories and woke wars, Patrick Troughton’s louche sex life, the madness of Tom Baker, Doctor Who ’s strange grip on Britain’s psychic landscape… Fascinating new book Exterminate! Regenerate! The Story of Doctor Who is a bigger-on-the-inside popular history of Who for the general reader. Author John Higgs talks to confirmed Who addict Andrew Harrison live onstage at the Rock’n’Roll Book Club https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/ in London’s cosmic Walthamstow. • Buy Exterminate! Regenerat...
Apr 27, 2025•57 min•Season 1Ep. 1546
What do we really mean by free speech? How has the definition changed over time? And why is it always so contentious? As the issue remains the cause of political arguments across the world, Seth Thévoz speaks to Fara Dabhoiwala , historian and the author of What is free speech? The history of a dangerous idea to ask who decides what we can and can’t say? • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. Buy What is free speech? The history of a dangerous id...
Apr 25, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1545
Donald Trump spent his last campaign distancing himself from Project 2025. But since returning to office, he’s followed its blueprint with surprising precision. It's already reshaped American life and the workings of government – but could the most dramatic changes still be ahead? Today on The Bunker , Jacob Jarvis sits down with David A. Graham , author of The Project , to explore Project 2025 and how its authors’ growing influence could shape the future of the Trump administration. • We are sp...
Apr 24, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1544
Labour’s election guru, a modern-day Macchiavelli, the power behind the PM, a “permanent insurgent”… Starmer’s Chief Of Staff Morgan McSweeney is perhaps the most powerful unelected person in politics. Who is he? What does he want? Is he behind the party’s lurch right – and can he win Labour a second term? Steve Richards of the unmissable Rock and Roll Politics podcast tells Andrew Harrison what makes McSweeney tick. • Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more. • We are sponsored by Inde...
Apr 23, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1543
Rachel Reeves heads to Washington this week – what should we be looking out for? Plus, we unpack what happens now after the death of Pope Francis and look to the latest news from America. Ros Taylor joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the week ahead in news. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Ros Taylor. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harr...
Apr 22, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1542
From ‘cleanfluencers’ to home gurus, the ideal of a spotless home has never been so aspirational. But why are women still being told that inner peace is only a bottle of disinfectant away? Today on The Bunker , Coco Khan is joined by Emma Casey , author of The Return of the Housewife , to find out why we are still selling the idea that cleaning is the new path to feminist empowerment. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. Buy The Return of the H...
Apr 18, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1541
What if your neighbour was a Russian spy? In 2010, the FBI arrested ten deep-cover agents living quiet suburban lives across North America, their true identities hidden even from their own children. Today on The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by Shaun Walker , author of The Illegals , to take a closer look at one of the most shocking espionage operations in modern history and what it reveals about Putin’s spy games. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://Indeed.com/bunker for £100 s...
Apr 17, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1540
Trump’s trade war has intensified the rivalry between America and China – while Beijing’s retaliation has exacerbated worldwide market meltdowns. Has the US president actually had a plan, and what does China make of his actions? Journalist and China commentator Cindy Yu joins Gavin Esler to discuss the trade war and which side might be more confident of ending up on top. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us ...
Apr 16, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 1539
At first the social media ‘Like’ button was just an easy way to get users to interact. Now people click a Like button some seven billion times a day, creating a colossal dataset that companies can use to sell to us, mislead us and predict what we want. And liking itself gets user addicted to a dopamine loop of gratification. Where did the Like button come from and what is it doing to us? Silicon Valley veteran Bob Goodson , co-author of Like: The Button That Changed The World , tells Andrew Harr...
Apr 15, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1538
The Trump tariff mayhem rolls on and back at home steel is grabbing the headlines. What’s going on now and how will these stories develop? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss all this and more in Start Your Week. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. T...
Apr 14, 2025•35 min•Season 1Ep. 1537
What would you do if the world as we know it came to some sort of catastrophic end? Well, you’d be forgiven for not being prepared for it – but doomsday preppers across the globe think they are. To discuss the phenomenon of people bracing for armageddon, and the theories around why they do this, Jacob Jarvis is joined by the co-authors of Be Prepared: Doomsday Prepping in the United States, Robert E. Kirsch and Emily Ray. Buy Be Prepared: Doomsday Prepping in the United States through our affili...
Apr 11, 2025•40 min•Season 1Ep. 1536
The climate crisis is spiraling, Trump’s back in the White House, and the headlines keep getting worse. It’s easy to feel powerless. But what if the first step toward saving the planet is something you learned in primary school? In this episode of The Bunker , Zing Tsjeng sits down with Mike Berners-Lee , author of A Climate of Truth , who argues that radical honesty about what’s happening, who’s responsible, and what must change might just be our most powerful tool against the looming polycrisi...
Apr 10, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1535
Why is Donald Trump dismantling America’s national security apparatus? And how dangerous will this be for the US and the world? The commander-in-chief recently dismissed six National Security Council staffers, reportedly at the request of right-wing influencer and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. Today in The Bunker , national security journalist Ben Makuch joins Jacob Jarvis to ask: Who is Laura Loomer, and why does she have the ear of the president? Plus, they unpack the global consequences o...
Apr 09, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1534
French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen has been convicted of embezzlement and handed a five-year ban from running for office – a verdict she has promised to overturn. Could this be the end of the Le Pen political dynasty? Today in The Bunker, Gavin Esler is joined by Emile Chabal , professor of contemporary history at Edinburgh University , to explore the tale of money, ambition, and political survival. Could this be Le Pen’s coup de grâce or lead to a political renaissance? • We are sponsore...
Apr 08, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1533
Trump’s tariffs have created turmoil and Starmer has declared “the world as we know it has gone”. So, if it truly is the end of “globalisation” – what does that mean for us now? Gavin Esler joins Ros Taylor to discuss the news to look out for in the week ahead. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Ros Taylor with Gavin Esler. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group...
Apr 07, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 1532
Liberation Day? More like Liquidation Day. Trump’s malicious and ignorant tariff package has horrified the worlds of business and economics. What does it all mean? Did Britain really get off “lightly” as the Trump fanboys claim? Dmitry Grozoubinski – director of ExplainTrade and author of Why Politicians Lie About Trade – talks Andrew Harrison through the wrongheaded tactics, fantasy maths and tatty showmanship of what The Economist calls “the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic erro...
Apr 04, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1531
Nearly 40 per cent of the world’s dirty money flows through London, but what role have British institutions played in helping wealthy elites launder cash? Today on The Bunker, Tom Mayne, journalist and co-author of Indulging Kleptocracy: British Service Providers, Postcommunist Elites, and the Enabling of Corruption , joins Seth Thévoz to discuss how deregulation, weak enforcement, and the UK’s libel laws have enabled corruption to thrive in the capital. Buy Indulging Kleptocracy: British Servic...
Apr 03, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1530
The generation born after the War? They hoarded all the wealth and now they’re hoarding the political power. Millennials? Lazy, self-absorbed, could afford a house if they cancelled Netflix. Generation X? Nobody cares. These are the clichés – but are they really true? Bobby Duffy , KCL Professor of Public Policy and author of The Generation Divide: Why We Can’t Agree and Why We Should, tells Alex von Tunzelmann why both the avocado/Netflix Millennial AND the selfish Boomer caricatures are wrong…...
Apr 02, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1529
Thought that Trump’s bizarre threat to annex Canada as the “cherished 51st state” was just another spur-of-the-moment brainfart? In Canada they’re taking it deadly seriously – and America’s global bully act is reshaping Canadian politics. John Michael McGrath of Ontario politics podcast On Poli joins us to explain how Trump has made Canadians more patriotic, the challenge facing new premier Mark Carney, whether an actual shooting war could erupt… and the true meaning of “Elbows up”. • Support us...
Apr 01, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1528
Trump’s trade war continues with Starmer desperately seeking to keep Britain out of it as much as possible. What’s going to happen next? Alex von Tunzelmann joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss this and more as they look at the week ahead in news. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harriso...
Mar 31, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1527
Labour promises to take the brakes off building with its new Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Will the downgrading of rights to object on environmental, local and procedural grounds anger voters more than new homes will mollify them? Has the government created the right incentives to get its mythical 1.5m new homes built? And have the YIMBYs really defeated the NIMBYs? A special roundtable with Hugh Ellis , Director of Policy at the Town and Country Planning Association ; Housing & Resident...
Mar 28, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 1526
America’s far-right is obsessed with people having babies. Why are they focused on this and where did ‘pronatalism’ come from? Carter Sherman is a reproductive health and justice reporter at Guardian US and joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss why people like Musk and JD Vance have jumped on this bandwagon and what it means for politics and people across the United States. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written...
Mar 27, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 1525
Is British TV in crisis? On the surface, it looks like a golden age – hits like Bridgerton , Baby Reindeer , and Adolescence are winning international acclaim. But behind the scenes, it’s a different story. Traditional broadcasters are losing ground to streamers, and homegrown hits like Mr Bates vs. The Post Office could struggle to get commissioned as budgets tighten. To break it all down Scott Bryan , TV critic and writer of the Worth Watching Substack, joins Alex von Tunzelmann in The Bunker ...
Mar 26, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 1524
Since winning re-election Donald Trump hasn’t just embraced the shady world of cryptocurrencies, he’s cheerleading and even shilling for crypto – and profiting from it himself. Why is Trump going all-in on impenetrable digital currencies? What do the Crypto-Bros think they’ll get from hooking up with MAGA? And could a crypto-addicted US financial system collapse the real economy like subprime mortgages did? Tech journalist and self-styled “crypto sceptic” Molly White of the essential industry ne...
Mar 25, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 1523
The Spring Statement is due this week – is there anything to look forward to or will it be just cuts, cuts, cuts? Gavin Esler talks Jacob Jarvis through what Reeves has planned, and what it means for Starmer’s government. Plus, they discuss the latest from the US and look at conflicts across the world. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Gavin Esler. Audio production: Simon Wi...
Mar 24, 2025•23 min•Season 1Ep. 1522
