Gaza ceasefire talks are scheduled to take place in Sharm al-Sheikh but how long will the peace last? The Chinese spying scandal rumbles on. Can the plucky American military withstand the might of a bunch of Portlanders in inflatable frog costumes? Oh, and are you prepped for the 2025 stock market crash, due Friday-ish? Ros Taylor and Gavin Esler walk you through the events of the week to come. • Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top...
Oct 13, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1667
Online hatred doesn’t stay online and women often bear the brunt. From harassment campaigns to real-world violence, from Andrew Tate and the “groypers” to terror attacks like the Gretchen Whitmer kidnap attempt, misogyny is behind some of the most dangerous forces in our politics. Cynthia Miller-Idriss , author of Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism , talks to Emma Kennedy about how toxic masculinity, digital radicalisation, and white supremacist ideas became so entangled ...
Oct 10, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1666
Thought viceroys and colonial administrators were a thing of the past? Tony Blair is being lined up to run the “Board of Peace” for a reconstruction authority for post-conflict Gaza and observers are agog. Historian and Bunker regular Alex von Tunzelmann takes us on a tour of the inglorious history of viceregal rule. Where did the role come from? Was it ever a particularly efficient way to run a country you probably shouldn’t have been in anyway? And what cautionary tales should Blair learn from...
Oct 09, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1665
Vladimir Putin has ordered 135,000 new conscripts into the Russian military this autumn, just months after another 160,000 were called up. Officially, these recruits aren’t supposed to serve in Ukraine but as the war drags into its third year, it’s getting harder for Russia to fill the ranks. Today in The Bunker , Gavin Esler is joined by Natasha Lindstaedt , Professor of Government at the University of Essex , to find out how long can Russia sustain a war that’s quietly draining its people, its...
Oct 08, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 1664
Donald Trump keeps talking about cracking down on “left wing terror networks” in the US. This appears like a blatant move to crackdown on his enemies – so what is the real state of domestic terrorism and the overall terror threat in America? Jason Blazakis, director of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies’ Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £...
Oct 07, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1663
It’s Tory conference and Kemi Badenoch is talking about leaving the ECHR and having ICE style crackdowns here in Britain. Will any of this cut through? Plus, we look at other domestic issues and check in on conflicts across the globe with Gavin Esler and Jacob Jarvis. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Writt...
Oct 06, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1662
From Margaret Atwood to Alan Moore, from 1984 to Andor , science fiction has gamed out totalitarian futures better than most political analysts. But does it have the answers to stopping the rise of fascism? Writer, critic and host of a fascinating online science fiction community Damien Walter discusses the lessons of future oligarchs, space tyrants and cosmic populism with Andrew Harrison. Which sci-fi dictator does Donald Trump most resemble? Are V For Vendetta and Judge Dredd warnings or inst...
Oct 03, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 1661
In the 2010s Putin’s Russia was quick to realise the potential of disinformation to undermine its enemies in the West. A complex ecosystem including now-banned propaganda TV station RT and troll factories like the Internet Research Agency used social media to sow distrust, spread fake news, distort elections and encourage a cynical culture of politicised snark. But according to Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody , co-author of Russia, Disinformation and the Liberal Order: RT as Populist Pariah , Russia...
Oct 02, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1660
Keir Starmer says his compulsory digital I.D. card will fight illegal migration and make everyday life simpler. But 2.4 million furious people have signed a petition against it, and everyone from civil liberties campaigners to Nigel Farage, Zarah Sultana and Northern Ireland’s political parties say it’s a threat to privacy and a hacking disaster waiting to happen. Can a digital I.D. system ever be secure? Will it work? Are objections pointless when we voluntarily give our data to tech giants eve...
Oct 01, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1659
Andy Burnham has made it clear he’d be up for replacing Keir Starmer, if people want him to that is. And, well it feels like many people do. So, could it happen? How? When? And would it solve anything? Steve Richards of Rock & Roll Politics joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss. Listen to Steve’s podcast here: https://linktr.ee/rocknrollpolitics • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. • Claim the Naked Wines offer here: nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker ...
Sep 30, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1658
It’s the Labour Party conference and things aren’t looking great for Starmer. What’s going to keep going wrong and what positives are there to look out for? Plus, the latest from conflicts across the world and a new conspiracy theory low for Trump. Alex von Tunzelmann talks Jacob Jarvis the news to look out for in the week ahead. • Claim the Naked Wines offer here: nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreo...
Sep 29, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1657
Stephen Miller’s fascistic eulogy at the Charlie Kirk memorial rally shocked the world with its apocalyptic imagery. This cold, rage-driven and deliberately vicious right-wing operative is more than Trump’s deputy chief of staff. He’s the driving force behind the Administration’s most extreme moves, from mass disappearances to troops on the street to the clampdown on the wrong sort of free speech. Nikki McCann Ramírez of the American Friction podcast and Rolling Stone joins Andrew Harrison to ex...
Sep 26, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1656
If you look at the most recent polling data: Nigel Farage is on the rise, Keir Starmer is stumbling and the Conservatives are fading into irrelevance. Should we be worried? Today on The Bunker , Gavin Esler is joined by Ben Walker , senior data journalist at The New Statesman and founder of Britain Elects , to crunch the numbers and ask what’s next for British politics? Back us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social Claim the N...
Sep 25, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 1655
Political leaders are rewriting the rules of public debate and the media is in the firing line. This week, Jimmy Kimmel was briefly suspended after making seemingly innocuous remarks following Charlie Kirk’s death, only to be swiftly reinstated. Meanwhile, Donald Trump isn’t just undermining the press: he’s destabilising the very institutions and principles of journalism in the process. Today on The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann speaks to Dr Ayala Panievsky , author of The New Censorship , about ...
Sep 24, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1654
In recent weeks we’ve seen right wing protestors and their figureheads take to the streets – often touting conspiracy theories with no basis in fact. Increasingly these narratives are tipping into the mainstream, with GB News presenters key culprits in spreading this peculiar and damaging way of thinking. How did we get here? And is there any turning back? Writer and broadcaster Dr Matthew Sweet joins Alison Phillips to discuss. • Claim the Naked Wines offer here: nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker ...
Sep 23, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1653
Starmer announced the UK’s recognition of Palestine as a state at the weekend – what will this mean for foreign relations and the ongoing crisis in Gaza? Plus, Labour conference is coming up and Trump is on a vengeance warpath in America. Alex von Tunzelmann and Jacob Jarvis discuss the news to look out for in the week ahead. • Claim the Naked Wines offer here: nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.co...
Sep 22, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1652
On 19 September 1975, the nightmare story of a maniac who should never have been running a hotel, his tyrannical wife, their hapless Spanish waiter and a stream of eccentric guests made its debut on BBC2. Fifty years later Fawlty Towers still captures middle Britain at its most hilariously uptight – and Basil Fawlty has never been bettered as an Englishman on the verge of nervous breakdown. Comedy writer Jason Hazeley joins Andrew Harrison to explore the majesty of “Fatty Towels”… ponder whether...
Sep 19, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1651
AI promised helpful assistants. Instead, some users find “friends,” therapists, even lovers. But when bots reflect our thoughts back at us, paranoia, mania and worse can follow. Today on The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann speaks to Dr. Kate Devlin , Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Society at King's College London and Chair-Director of the Digital Futures Institute , to look at the risks that come when chatbots blur the line between fact and fiction. • Claim the Naked Wines offer here: n...
Sep 18, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1650
China is challenging decades of US global dominance. With Xi Jinping forging alliances, launching international initiatives, and pushing for superpower status, is Beijing prepared to lead the world? Today on The Bunker, Gavin Esler speaks to Professor Steve Tsang , director of SOAS’s China Institute , on China’s ambitions, America’s unpredictability, and what it means for the future of the global order. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. • Cl...
Sep 17, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1649
Charlie Kirk’s assassination has sent shockwaves through American politics. In this episode, we unpack Kirk’s legacy, his influence on the Republican grassroots, the culture wars he helped inflame and more. Seth Thévoz is joined by Charlotte McDonald-Gibson , author of Far Out:The Lives of Former Extremists and What They Teach Us to find out what Kirk's death means for America. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Fol...
Sep 16, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1648
Far right agitants caused chaos over the weekend – what do they mean for Britain and can Starmer rise to meet the moment? Plus, Trump is visiting – how will that go down? Gavin Esler and Ros Taylor discuss all this and more as they outline the news to look out for this week. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILL...
Sep 15, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 1647
This ancient Chinese military treatise by the mysterious Sun Tzu is one of the most influential books ever written. Internet shock-merchants and tech oligarchs swear by it, Dominic Cummings is a fan and it has inspired military leaders for 2,500 years. Why has ‘The Art Of War’ lasted – and is there more to it than a manual for the manosphere and a crib-sheet for vendors of management studies snake oil? Jamie Q Roberts is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Syd...
Sep 12, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1646
This is a special crossover edition with our partner podcast, This is Not a Drill . NATO jets have scrambled to shoot down Russian drones after what Polish military command has called an ‘unprecedented violation’ of its airspace. As Europe reacts to Russian aggression crossing into NATO airspace and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk invokes Article 4 of the NATO treaty, Gavin Esler is joined for the latest from Warsaw by Ian Garner, assistant professor at the Center for Totalitarian Studies at t...
Sep 11, 2025•14 min•Season 1Ep. 1645
Over summer, Saint George’s Cross flags have sprouted across Britain across lampposts, bridges, even painted onto roundabouts. Is this a wave of patriotism or simply a culture-war stunt to mark out who belongs and who doesn’t? Today in The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by Jonn Elledge to find out what flags really mean today. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/...
Sep 10, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1644
Reform UK’s conference was as weird and worrying as you might have expected. If you haven’t seen the “highlights” then we’ll spare you watching. Matthew Holehouse, The Economist ’s British politics correspondent, was there and joins Gavin Esler to discuss what went on. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION pe...
Sep 09, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1643
Angela Rayner’s departure has left Labour in turmoil as the party looks to recalibrate. Will Starmer’s changes work? Plus, Reform UK held its conference at the weekend – is there any way of stealing the spotlight back from them? Gavin Esler and Jacob Jarvis 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 Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, t...
Sep 08, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1642
As the fake news pandemic worsens, Twitter/X and Facebook are phasing out their human fact-checkers in favour of crowdsourcing the job – that is, getting the users to do it. And it turns out that the “Community Notes” system Musk loves so much doesn’t work at all as you’d expect. Are fact-checkers fighting a losing battle? Chris Morris , Chief Executive of the independent investigative charity Full Fact, talks to Andrew Harrison about the crisis of truth in news, how A.I. is making it worse, and...
Sep 05, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1641
Conspiracy theories used to be confined to fringe internet discussions and the guy you’d avoid in the pub. Now, thanks to figures like Donald Trump, they’ve gone mainstream. But where’s the line between healthy scepticism and believing the Royal Family are lizard people? Today in The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by Daniel Jolley , social psychologist and Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham , to find out how the UK embraced conspiracy theories and what we can do to sort ...
Sep 04, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1640
Blond white children playing in slightly-too-colourful fields? London as an open sewer patrolled by threatening migrants? Trump as Superman? Alligators in MAGA hats? The far-right thrives on generative artificial intelligence images and they’re all so naff. Is A.I. slop the official art style of the new authoritarianism? New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie talks to Andrew Harrison about why the radical right loves shiny, sentimental images; how they connect to Hitler’s fascist kitsch; and wha...
Sep 03, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1639
It’s been more than 1,280 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The death toll is unthinkable, peace talks are stuck and Trump’s latest “summit” in Alaska hasn’t shifted the dial. Today in The Bunker , Chris Jones is joined by journalist and This Is Not a Drill co-host Oz Katerji to ask: where does the war stand now, and how is Ukraine enduring under the relentless assault from Russia? • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credi...
Sep 02, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1638
