It’s a big week for Starmer and Reeves as the Budget looms. How’s it going to go down? Plus, talks over a plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, Trump gets a new best friend and Cop30 ends on a disappointing note. Rafael Behr and Jacob Jarvis discuss the news to look out for this week. Support us on Patreon for episodes ad free and early: www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social www.patreon.com/bunkercast • Head to naked...
Nov 24, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1697
As the Epstein walls close in on Trump, the President pulls a desperate U-turn and says he wants the release of files he tried to suppress. How will they be redacted, and to save whom? Plus Labour’s latest attempts to look tough on migration, the Cloudflare outage, Russia bombs railway lines in Poland and shines lasers at the RAF… and why Trump’s “Quiet, piggy” outburst is hurting him more than his usual slob misogyny would. Jonn Elledge and Andrew Harrison wrap up the stories that mattered this...
Nov 21, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1696
For years China has been cast as a climate villain, responsible for roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. But China’s emissions have begun to level off and the country has quietly become a powerhouse in clean-energy. Today on The Bunker, Gavin Esler is joined by Barbara Finamore , Senior Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and author of Will China Save the Planet to find out if China’s clean-energy model is the future everyone else will have to follow — or a ...
Nov 20, 2025•16 min•Season 1Ep. 1695
Writer-artist Joe Sacco created a new kind of journalism when he combined on-the-ground reportage with painstaking hand-drawn illustration. His award-winning books including Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde brought under-reported stories to new audiences. In his absorbing new book The Once And Future Riot he travels to Uttar Pradesh, India, to explore the causes and consequences of the bitter religious and political violence that consumed the area in the 2010s. He talks to Andrew Harrison about l...
Nov 19, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1694
Next year is shaping up to be a year of uncomfortable truths. Rich countries are spending way beyond their means, the A.I. bubble could be about to burst, and global conflicts are drifting further into dangerous territory. But it may also be a turning point for the planet as we confront these challenges head-on. Today on The Bunker , Seth Thévoz is joined by Tom Standage , deputy editor of The Economist , to take a look at The Economist’s The World Ahead 2026 issue and find out what these trends...
Nov 18, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1693
Starmer’s position remains in question after a week of chaos and the announcement of controversial new asylum plans. Can the narrative shift? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss this and more as they outline the news to look out for this week. 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 https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on B...
Nov 17, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1692
Welcome back to the Weekly Wrap-Up, where we break down the biggest news, the weirdest stories, and the important bits that slipped under the radar. Today on The Bunker , Jacob Jarvis and Rafael Behr dig into Starmer’s briefing war with Wes Streeting, unpack the latest revelations from the Epstein files, and ask the big question: could the BBC survive a billion dollar lawsuit from Donald Trump? Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, d...
Nov 14, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1691
What if the incel problem is a symptom of something bigger in our society? We regularly pin misogyny on villains like Andrew Tate, the loud, memorable faces of a much darker problem. But what do we do if the real issue runs deeper than a few influencers? Today on The Bunker, Zoë Grünewald sits down with Katherine Denkinson , author of INCEL The Weaponization of Misogyny , to ask, how do we solve the incel problem? Buy Katherine’s book Incel: The Weaponization of Misogyny through our affiliate bo...
Nov 13, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1690
Trump and Xi Jinping’s fractious relationship is one of the most important connections in the world. As each side fights for dominance, who appears to be on top at the moment – and why? And what is shaping how they behave? Seth Thévoz is joined by Elizabeth Economy, author of The World According to China and By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the Worl d, a former Senior Advisor for China at the US Department of Commerce and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoo...
Nov 12, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1689
Amid the multi-trillion dollar stampede to build and control A.I., one question is being drowned out: Will artificial intelligence kill the entire human race , and all life on the planet? Nate Soares is president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and co-author of a chilling exploration of the race to create artificial super-intelligence, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies . He tells Andrew Harrison why the concept of an omnicidal super-A.I.is not just an outside possibility from sci...
Nov 11, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1688
The BBC’s Director General and head of news are forced to resign in a confected row about Donald Trump’s incendiary Jan 6 speech. Overdue accountability for mediocre leaders, or a successful drive-by from lifelong enemies of the BBC – and dangerous interference in British democracy from Trump? Plus, Rachel Reeves’ budget plans crystallise, COP30 shows the dire state of climate action, the junior doctors’ strike… and Somerset Dracula rises from his grave. Ros Taylor sets out the week ahead with A...
Nov 10, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1687
NEW: If you like Start Your Week’s look ahead, how about a round-up of the biggest, strangest, most important stories of the week, every Friday? On today’s debut edition: What Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York really means. “Vibe coding”. The heroism of train attack defender Samir Zitouni. Rachel Reeves’ pre-budget nerves. And what the hell has Donald Trump done to the White House this week? • Read Spencer Ackerman’s excoriating obituary of Dick Cheney . • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed...
Nov 07, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1686
John le Carré was still a working secret agent when he wrote The Spy Who Came In From The Cold , the book that shocked the Britain of 1963 with its portrait of espionage not as heroic but as sordid, morally compromised and utterly without glamour. In comparison James Bond’s escapist world of girls and gadgets seemed naive and shallow. As a new stage adaptation of The Spy opens, its playwright David Eldridge talks to Andrew Harrison about adapting le Carré’s deep, dark vision for 2025 – why he ex...
Nov 06, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1685
It's been a year since Trump’s election victory, how has US politics changed? What’s the trajectory? And is there any hope for the future? Emma Kennedy is joined by Casey Burgat, author of We Hold These "Truths": How to Spot the Myths that are Holding America Back and director of the Legislative Affairs program at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, to discuss. Buy We Hold These Truths: How to Spot the Myths That Are Holding America Back through our affil...
Nov 05, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1684
The MAGA cult’s idol worship is the fuel for Trump’s war on American democracy. As British politics lurches to the right, could something similar ever happen here? Could violent racist nationalism and conspiracy thinking build a know-nothing cult of personality that would threaten our society? Prof Roger Griffin is one of the world’s top experts on the dynamics of fascism and emeritus professor in Modern History at Oxford Brookes University. He explains the crucial differences between American p...
Nov 04, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1683
The horrific train stabbing attack at the weekend has shaken the nation. But are the media and politicians talking about it responsibly? Plus, the Andrew scandal rolls on and Trump continues to to commit violent acts across the world at will. Gavin Esler and Jacob Jarvis discuss all this and more. 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 Gavin Esler. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing ...
Nov 03, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1682
From troops on the streets to desecrating the White House to literal sh*tposting videos, Trump’s fascistic reign is relentless and exhausting. One day it will end – but how? Will he run out of steam, lose an election the Constitution says he’s not allowed to run in anyway, succumb to age and infirmity, or what? And what lasting damage will America’s worst president leave? We discuss five ways the Trump Nightmare could end with Reed Galen , founder of anti-Trump Republicans The Lincoln Project, P...
Oct 31, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1681
In the 1970s, a new kind of revolutionary emerged: terrorists who used spectacle as a weapon. Plane hijackings, hostage crises and televised terror became the tools of radicals. Figures like Leila Khaled and Carlos the Jackal turned political violence into global theatre. Their stories still captivate filmmakers today, inspiring films like One Battle After Another . Today in The Bunker, Seth Thévoz speaks to Guardian international security correspondent Jason Burke , author of The Revolutionists...
Oct 30, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1680
Donald Trump built his brand on the myth of the self-made billionaire. The man who turned a ‘small loan’ from his father into a global empire. But behind the gold-plated image lies a trail of bankruptcies, bailouts, and creative accounting that kept his empire afloat. Today on The Bunker , Jacob Jarvis is joined by Russ Buettner , journalist and author of Lucky Loser , to take a magnifying glass to Trump’s finances and ask how a serially failing businessman convinced millions he was the ultimate...
Oct 29, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1679
The start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a disaster. But three years on, Moscow is learning fast. Behind the frontlines, the Kremlin is reshaping its military, its industry, and its people for a long war – and for others in the future. Today on The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by Dara Massicot , senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to find out what lessons has Russia learned from its early failures? And how the West could face a more dangerous, more adap...
Oct 28, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1678
Migration madness intensifies as the fugitive sex offender is recaptured, and Labour fights fire over the ruinous cost of asylum hotels – which was created by the previous Conservative government. Will Starmer carry the can for the Tories’ complacency? Plus, Trump tours Asia. What could possibly go wrong? Oh and there’s a US war on Venezuela and a good old fashioned stock market crash a-comin’. Ros Taylor talks Andrew Harrison through the week ahead. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.co...
Oct 27, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1677
When Donald Trump questions elections or attacks the press, it can feel like America’s democracy is facing something new. But from John Adams jailing journalists, to Nixon’s enemies list, presidents have tested those limits before and citizens fought back. Today in The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by political theorist Corey Brettschneider, who joins us to explore how past crises reveal the real source of democratic strength: the people themselves. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to...
Oct 24, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1676
Is the A.I. bubble about to burst? This week, the Bank of America reported more than half of global fund managers now think A.I. stocks are overinflated. So what happens if the hype finally bursts? Today on The Bunker, Seth Thévoz is joined by Ryan Cummings, chief of staff at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policymaking , to ask whether the future of A.I. could trigger the next big economic crash. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £3...
Oct 23, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1675
Are tech bros about to disrupt death? From gene-hacked organisms to uploading consciousness to the cloud, Silicon Valley is obsessed with the idea of chasing immortality. Today on The Bunker , Zing Tsjeng sits down with Aleks Krotoski, author of The Immortalists: The Death of Death and the Race for Eternal Life , to unravel the strange, ego driven world of techno-immortality. Buy Aleks’ book The Immortalists The Death of Death and the Race for Eternal Life through our affiliate bookshop and you’...
Oct 22, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1674
America’s Christian right has reshaped politics in the United States; from overturning Roe v. Wade to fuelling culture-war battles over gender and sexuality. Now their influence is arriving in the UK, courtesy of Nigel Farage ’s ties to the evangelical group Alliance Defending Freedom and the growing presence of ‘judeo christian values’ in the messaging of Reform and the far right. Today on The Bunker , Zoë Grünewald sits down with New York Times investigative journalist Jane Bradley to find out...
Oct 21, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1673
As Americans make it clear how much they don’t want a monarchy with No Kings protests, Brits might be feeling the same as the Andrew scandal rumbles on. Alex von Tunzelmann joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the latest news from across the world and how it might play out this week. 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/bunkerc...
Oct 20, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1672
This summer, Britain’s streets have boiled with right-wing anger. From flag debates to ‘patriotic’ rallies, the far right is trying to turn frustration into a movement. But it’s not the first time the far right has tried to muscle its way into British politics. Today on The Bunker , Gavin Esler is joined by Dr. Aaron Edwards , Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester , to explore how Britain’s far right past is shaping its turbulent present, and why this time things could end very...
Oct 17, 2025•21 min•Season 1Ep. 1671
Russia once claimed to lead the world in women’s equality. But today, it’s a nation where traditional gender roles and conservative values define public life. What happened to that revolutionary promise and what does it say about how power really works in modern Russia? Today on The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by Julia Ioffe, author of Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy , about what the lives of Russian women can tell us about the country’s p...
Oct 16, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1670
Following the Labour conference, Shabana Mahmood has emerged as one of the party’s breakout stars. Some even think the Home Secretary’s confident performance has put her in the conversation as a potential future leader. Today in The Bunker , Zoë Grünewald is joined by Rajeev Syal , home affairs editor at The Guardian, to unpack Mahmood’s rapid rise and what her ascent tells us about the future of Starmer’s government. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor...
Oct 15, 2025•23 min•Season 1Ep. 1669
China is stepping up to fill the space America is leaving behind. As Washington turns inward and Donald Trump rails against “globalist institutions” like the UN, Beijing is moving fast to shape a new world order: one built around its own power and priorities. Xi Jinping is rallying allies like Putin and Modi to his side. It’s a far cry from the optimism of the 1990s, but as a global power vacuum emerges, China looks ready to step up to the plate. Today on The Bunker , Gavin Esler is joined by Je...
Oct 14, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1668
