The human cost of Russia’s war on Ukraine is staggering, yet the war continues and Vladimir Putin’s position has barely shifted. Despite mounting attrition and international pressure, Moscow shows no sign of backing down. Today on The Bunker , Chris Jones is joined by Ian Garner , historian and author of Z Generation: Into the heart of Russia's fascist youth , to examine the scale of the losses and ask what “peace” would actually look like now. • Buy Ian’ book Z Generation: Into the heart of Rus...
Jan 08, 2026•27 min•Season 1Ep. 1722
Elon Musk destroyed Twitter, tarnished the reputation of Tesla, and his financial backing of far fight politics has tipped the scales towards authoritarianism across the globe. Now he has his sights set on his next target: higher education. This week on The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by Beth Singler , assistant professor in digital religions at the University of Zurich , to examine Musk’s push to use AI as a replacement for traditional universities. What gets lost when education is s...
Jan 07, 2026•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1721
Turning around Labour’s unpopularity would be a tall enough order for the Prime Minister. But the stakes are higher than ever with a far-right government waiting in the wings, Trump and Putin shredding the international rules-based order, and the economy refusing to recover. Can Starmer turn it around in 2026? Steve Richards , political commentator and presenter of the Rock’n’Roll Politics podcast , explains the Prime Minister’s make-or-break year to Andrew Harrison . • Listen to Rock’n’Roll Pol...
Jan 06, 2026•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1720
Well, the year has started with chaos and conflict. With Trump meddling with Venezuela and beyond, how will these events play out? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the weeks and months ahead as 2026 shapes up to be another big year. www.patreon.com/bunkercast 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. ENDS Learn mor...
Jan 05, 2026•42 min•Season 1Ep. 1719
It’s the last of our Best of 2025 and the final Bunker of the year! And how better to see off/kick out the year than with the thing that’s blighted the last twelve months, crappy artificial intelligence imagery ? The far-right stuffs your feeds with blond white children at play, London as an open sewer patrolled by threatening migrants, and Trump as Superman – but why? Is A.I. slop the official art style of the new authoritarianism? New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie talks to Andrew Harrison...
Dec 31, 2025•29 min•Season 2Ep. 9
We’re bringing you some of the best Bunkers of the year to tide you over the holidays. Today: Where’s your flag???!? The Cross of St George sprouted across the lamp-posts and roundabouts of Britain this summer. Fans, boosters and grifters claimed it was simple patriotism. Imagine our surprise when it turned out that many behind “Operation Raise The Colours” had far-right associations – who’d have thought it?? Alex von Tunzelmann sat down with Jonn Elledge to find out what flags really mean today...
Dec 30, 2025•25 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In case you missed them, over Christmas we’re bringing you some of the best Bunkers of the year . “Organise before they rise,” is Max Brooks’ advice in his zombie survival guide. But are world leaders prepared enough? Jacob Jarvis speaks to Daniel Drezner , author of Theories of International Politics and Zombies and professor of international politics at Tufts University, to find out how the world might react and how governments would interact during such a catastrophe. Buy Theories of Internat...
Dec 29, 2025•26 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In case you missed them, over Christmas we’re bringing you some of the best Bunkers of the year . Today: How mobbed up is the American political establishment? From FDR to Trump, every modern president has had brushes with organised crime. So how have secret pacts, betrayals, and under-the-table deals influenced the commander-in-chief? Eric Dezenhall , author of Wiseguys and the White House , explores the not-so-hidden ties between the leader of the free world and the mob with Seth “The Consigli...
Dec 28, 2025•28 min•Season 2Ep. 6
In case you missed them, over Christmas we’re bringing you some of the best editions of the year . Our first selection: It’s February and Labour legend and former leader Neil Kinnock joins us for the FIFTEEN HUNDREDTH edition of The Bunker. On the agenda: the story Labour should be telling… what his battles against Thatcherism can teach Starmer about fighting the rising right wing… the dangers of a radicalised Conservative Party… and how to hit Reform UK where it hurts. With Andrew Harrison and ...
Dec 27, 2025•50 min•Season 2Ep. 5
The summer of Flagmania? Donald Trump’s “FIFA Peace Prize” AKA the “At Least You Tried” Award? Albania’s AI Cabinet minister? Ed Miliband, Nuclear ASMR star? The events of 2025 have defied comprehension… but which were the strangest? Regulars Gavin Esler, Alex von Tunzelmann and Jason Hazeley reconvene to complete our run-down of the most jaw-dropping events of a year from hell. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Gavin Esler with Alex von Tunzelmann and Jason Hazeley. Producer: ...
Dec 23, 2025•39 min
From Trump remodelling the White House along the fake gold New Jersey steakhouse aesthetic to the shambolic launch of Your Party (splitting the party before there’s a party to split?) 2025 has set new standards in bafflement. But which are the supreme moments of weirdness? Regulars Gavin Esler, Alex von Tunzelmann and Jason Hazeley set out the most bizarre, unnerving and occasionally enchanting moments from a year we can scarcely believe. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Gavin...
Dec 22, 2025•38 min•Season 1Ep. 1717
Wrapping up the stories of the week… Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by Jonn Elledge to examine the global response to the antisemitic Bondi Beach shooting and ask whether it signals a wider rise in the threat of terror attacks. Plus, how will resident doctor strikes affect the NHS as the flu wave intensifies? Jonn tries to work out if the unexpected drop in inflation is good or bad news for Rachel Reeves and crowns his winner and loser of the week. 🎄LAST DAY! Get 20% off a year’s support for The...
Dec 19, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1716
Not long ago, China’s pandemic response was met with deep scepticism in the West. But fast-forward just a few years, and the picture looks very different. China’s bio-pharma industry is now booming, racing from low-cost manufacturing hub to serious contender in the global battle to create the next blockbuster drugs. China is rolling out vast new pharma facilities capable of producing next-generation medicines at a scale the West is struggling to match. Today on The Bunker , Gavin Esler speaks to...
Dec 18, 2025•20 min
For more than a decade, Tommy Robinson has been written off again and again. Yet he keeps re-emerging, reshaped for the moment. From street agitator to convicted criminal to most recently, self-styled Christian crusader. Robinson has followed a familiar far-right playbook: collapse, reinvention, repeat. On The Bunker , Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by journalist Daniel Trilling to examine the staying power of Tommy Robinson and the strategy that keeps bringing him back. We look at the warning si...
Dec 17, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1714
From 9/11 and the wars that followed to the expenses scandal, the Financial Crash, austerity, Brexit and a carousel of leadership crises, Westminster has spent the last 25 years governing through upheaval. Since 2000, crisis has shifted from disruption to default setting, with governments reacting rather than governing and institutions stretched well beyond their limits. Prof. Andrew Hindmoor , author of Haywire , talks to Zoë Grünewald about how British politics got stuck in crisis mode and wha...
Dec 16, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1713
The stories that will shape the week ahead: How will the atrocity at Bondi Beach reverberate in a world where antisemitic violence is rising? Plus: the shocking murder of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife. Junior doctors decide whether to strike as Britain hits peak winter flu. Will Phase Two of the Gaza peace talks stay on the rails? And happy 250th birthday to Jane Austen. Alex von Tunzelmann and Andrew Harrison set out the week ahead. 🎄 Get 20% off a year’s support for The Bunker un...
Dec 15, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 1712
Wrapping up the stories of the week… Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by LBC host Natasha Devon to break down Keir Starmer’s latest approach to tackling the migration crisis. Across the pond, we take a look at Trump’s ongoing campaign against the EU and ask”why now”? Plus, Natasha shares her view on the proposed ban on social media for under-18s, we read your comments from the week, and finally we take a look at the stories that have gone under the radar. 🎄 Get 20% off a year’s support for The Bun...
Dec 12, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1711
Personality politics isn’t just a modern problem – it started centuries earlier with an aristocrat called Charles James Fox. You can trace the roots of modern political celebrity back to this 18th-century provocateur, whose charm, scandals and theatrics helped redefine what leadership looked like. Fox built a movement around himself rather than his policies, offering an early blueprint for the dangerous style of politics reshaping democracies today. Alex von Tunzelmann speaks with Dr Callum Smit...
Dec 11, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 1710
Nigel Farage continues to react furiously to growing allegations that he engaged in racist and antisemitic bullying when he was a pupil at Dulwich College in the late ’70s and early ’80s. But are his angry response and his attempts at diversion doing the real damage? And can you really judge an adult on what they may have done at school? Long-time Reform-watcher Michael Crick joins us to explore a crisis unlike anything Farage has faced before. His verdict? “Farage is as rattled as a baby’s pram...
Dec 10, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1709
Far fewer people are getting into relationships than they were in the past, with a major rise in the amount of single people across the world. Why are we seeing this so-called “relationship recession”? And how can it impact us all? Jonathan Rosenthal, international editor at The Economist, wrote about this for a magazine cover story recently and joins Zoë Grünewald to discuss. • Head to https://www.nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Win...
Dec 09, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 1708
Setting out the stories of the next seven days. An astonishing new US National Security Strategy says Trump plans to support far-right parties across Europe and makes the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory into official US policy. Having ruined America, does the President want to Trumpify the planet? Plus, the colossal scale of COVID waste and fraud, Reform’s record-breaking donor gift, Tommy Robinson’s Christmas carols… and Keir Starmer’s got a Substack. Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison...
Dec 08, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1707
Wrapping up the stories of the week… Jacob Jarvis is joined by Rafael Behr to break down the stalled US–Russia peace talks, Putin’s strong-arming, and what Trump’s shaky negotiating team tells us about the state of American power. Back in Westminster, they dig into the fallout from the OBR’s budget leak and what it all means for Labour’s economic credibility. Plus: Trump’s latest embarrassing moment caught on camera, Raf’s heroes and villains, and the story that slipped under the radar this week...
Dec 05, 2025•36 min•Season 1Ep. 1706
The Office for Budget Responsibility is supposed to be the calm, quiet body that keeps watch over Britain’s public finances. But after it accidentally released its Budget analysis before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her statement, its chair Richard Hughes resigned and the watchdog suddenly became the lead story. Today on The Bunker , Seth Thévoz is joined by economist and former Treasury adviser Giles Wilkes to ask: what exactly is the OBR, and why does this low-profile institution hold so...
Dec 04, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1705
He’s a nightmare made flesh for progressives and liberals: an anti-woke, hyper-libertarian tech billionaire who bankrolled JD Vance, supports Curtis Yarvin’s anti-democracy “Dark Enlightenment” movement, and seems to base his worldview on the worst parts of Lord Of The Rings. But lately Peter Thiel has been getting even weirder, warning of the rise of an actual Anti-Christ who wants to “end science”. What is going on? Thiel-watcher James Ball of The New World magazine joins Andrew Harrison to ex...
Dec 03, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1704
We usually think radicalisation is something that happens to young people. Teenagers doomscrolling in dark bedrooms, or twenty-somethings disappearing into algorithmic rabbit holes. But look around, and the picture feels very different. The loudest voices in the culture wars, the Facebook fire-starters, the men who seem permanently furious in comment sections and group chats. They’re in their 40s, 50s, even older, and they’re getting swept up in a digital storm they were never taught to navigate...
Dec 02, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 1703
It’s December, so come open this week’s Advent Calendar of misery with Ros Taylor and Gavin Esler . Is the Mail/Telegraph frenzy over Rachel Reeves allegedly misleading the Commons over Britain’s finances just a mountain out of a molehill? How is the Budget fallout settling? Does David Lammy really want to bring trial by jury to an end for all but the most serious cases? Oh, and having failed to stop one war in Ukraine, will Trump manage to start one in Venezuela before Christmas? God bless us, ...
Dec 01, 2025•22 min
Wrapping up the stories of the week… Jacob Jarvis and Seth Thévoz dig into the media’s reaction to Rachel Reeves’s budget and what it really tells us about the state of Labour. We break down the latest twist in the Trump/Russia saga after the collapse of the so-called “peace plan”, and look at The Guardian ’s continuing coverage of Nigel Farage’s racism accusations from his school days. Plus, Seth names his winners and losers of the week, we take a closer look at the power players behind AI and ...
Nov 28, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1701
The US-Russia “peace plan” isn’t happening. Days after the 28-point proposal leaked, it collapsed spectacularly amid accusations that it amounted to a surrender to Putin. Is there anything left in the “amended” version? And who really wrote the proposals? Luke Harding , foreign correspondent for The Guardian and author of Invasion explains why the plan was simply a Russian foreign policy offensive with Trump as its salesman, whether the whole episode has made Zelenskyy stronger, and if peace is ...
Nov 27, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1700
Anticipation is building around the imminent release of the “Epstein files.” With Donald Trump finally signing off, the Justice Department is expected to publish long-sealed documents on the disgraced financier, and the public is bracing for answers. But what should we actually expect? Today in The Bunker , Seth Thévoz talks to journalist and author Vicky Ward , who has reported on Epstein for over two decades, to see whether the files finally confirm any of the rumours or just pour more fuel on...
Nov 26, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1699
A pocket-sized device that contains all knowledge in the universe? Which makes your life better , and not a hellscape of political rancour and surveillance capitalism? Come off it! Never happen. But that’s exactly what Douglas Adams imagined as the titular device in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy , the cosmic road novel that changed the minds of a generation. As a new immersive theatre version of “HHGTTG” opens in London, its creator Arvin Ethan David tells Andrew Harrison why Douglas Ada...
Nov 25, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1698
