The Bunker – News without the nonsense

As the US Supreme Court strikes down abortion rights, what does the ruling mean for women in America? The fallout from last week’s by-elections and rail strikes continue, where next for the Tories? And G7 leaders meet in Germany this week, with Ukraine, climate change and food security on the agenda. Justin Quirk is joined by Naomi Smith to set up the week ahead. “Abortion access being limited doesn’t stop abortions, it stops safe abortions.” - Naomi Smith “The right to abortion now sits with state legislators.” - Naomi Smith “Johnson will cling on, it now depends on if the cabinet move.” - Naomi Smith “400 million people rely on Ukrainian food supplies, the world will not see an end to rising prices any time soon.” - Naomi Smith www.patreon.com/bunkercast Presented by Justin Quirk with Naomi Smith. Producers: Jacob Archbold, Jelena Sofronijevic and Alex Rees. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week is a little bit special, as we are joined by Andrew and Siân live from Glastonbury 2022! Keeping it strictly music, we went along to see Baz Luhrmann’s new biopic Elvis, with our special guest Linda Marric. Could we not help falling in love with it or did we get the G.I. blues? And, staying with the festival theme, Jelena and our producer Jade head to Margate Dreamland Leisure Festival, to catch up with its organisers and line-up stars HighSchool. Was the rollercoaster more highs than lows? “The trailers for Elvis are quite bland and dead. They do the film a great injustice” - Alex Andreou “I think Austin Butler was born to play Elvis” - Linda Marric “Elvis is the apex of Baz Lurhmann’s artistic style” - Jelena Sofronijevic “The film really tries to tell a wider story of US consumerism in music” - Jelena Sofronijevic Hear all the music on our rolling playlists.Spotify: https://bit.ly/CultBunkTidal: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/1aea7525-7891-4a88-8474-a08c45ea064bPresented and produced by Alex Andreou and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Theme music: ‘Bunker Theme (Juntos Mix)’ by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. The Culture Bunker is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Geoff Dyer talks to Dorian Lynskey about his career and new book The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings. In this, he examines the matter of final performances and pieces, through the tales of artists, sportspeople and writers. The pair also discuss how Dyer’s work takes shape, and how he reflects on his own writing. “The sense of not being ideally qualified to write about a subject has been quite enabling for me.”  “Write the book only you could write is the mantra I repeat.”  “Some genre defying stuff now feels a comfortable genre in itself.”  “I think I’ve managed to turn the lack of a readership into some sort of freedom.”  “If you can turn your weaknesses into some kind of strength, that’s a very happy outcome.”  “The writing life has gone hand in hand with the continuation of my self-education.” “If you're able to engage the reader's curiosity and interest they’ll keep on reading.“ https://www.patreon.com/bunkercastWritten and presented by Dorian Lynskey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Jade Bailey. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Productionhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Days-Roger-Federer-Endings/dp/1838855742  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can China control what its authors write as tightly as President Xi might want? Writers have found dazzling ways to sidestep the “literary president”’s clampdown on free expression. China expert and Times book desk veteran Megan Walsh tells Andrew Harrison how the Chinese are reading everything from world-beating subversive science fiction… to lurid pot-boilers with titles like ‘My Dangerous Billionaire Husband'… to anarchic works of online fiction that often run longer than the Bible. What does it tell us about the world’s rising superpower? “Xi Jinping has put himself forward as literary president.”  “People don't think that fiction from authoritarian regimes is worth reading… but they’re wrong.”  “Chinese readers are very good at reading between the lines.”  “We expect Chinese writers to always be political, but that’s not always why people write.” https://www.patreon.com/bunkercastPresented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Jade Bailey. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you heard this podcast before? Or are you experiencing Déjà vu? Catherine Loveday, neuroscience professor at the University of Westminster, joins Alex Andreou to explain the strange sensation that you've already experienced something, even when you know you never have, and why for some people it can become a serious problem.  “Déjà vu is the conflict you feel when you don’t remember something but feel that you must.” “The feeling of familiarity helps us find our way in the world. When it goes wrong it can be quite disturbing.”  ”Our brains are fantastic prediction machines.” “Déjà vu is a temporary aberration of our memory system.” https://www.patreon.com/bunkercastWritten and presented by Alex Andreou. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Assistant producer: Elina Ganatra. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From ethics to Northern Ireland to the ECHR to a mysterious disappearing story about his wife’s job prospects, Johnson is mired in legal and culture war battles. But why doesn’t anything stick to the PM? Plus, rail strikes: this is the age of the strain. And as Internet Explorer bows out, what are our fondest memories of the early Internet? Law and policy commentator David Allen Green is this week’s guest. “I don’t think law is a particularly lefty profession, but the work lawyers do is being politicised.” - David Allen Green “The only reason the Government tried to force this through was performative cruelty.” - David Allen Green “If you’re younger than 50, there isn’t that reference point that Labour equals strikes.” - Justin Quirk “I’ve decided to start calling this the Procrastination Madness Government.” - Marie Le Conte “The Government wants to create division and it wants the strikes to go ahead.” - David Allen Green “I remember the internet being a tool for checking false claims. That hasn’t quite worked out…” – David Allen Green https://www.patreon.com/bunkercastPresented by Alex Andreou with Justin Quirk and Marie Le Conte. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold, Jelena Sofronijevic and Alex Rees. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With 1970s-style strikes due this week, what can we expect the fallout to be? The Conservatives are trying to shift blame anywhere it might stick, while they also face tests in two by-elections. Plus, we look at the Ukraine latest and unpack France’s election results. Andrew Harrison is joined by Gavin Esler to chart the week ahead. "We’ve had 12 years now of Conservative government. Are we any better off?” – Gavin Esler "We are under government by slogan.” – Gavin Esler "Boris Johnson might be Nicola Sturgeon's greatest weapon." – Gavin Esler www.patreon.com/bunkercastPresented by Andrew Harrison with Gavin Esler. Producers: Jacob Archbold, Jelena Sofronijevic and Alex Rees. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Music education in the UK is in a perilous place, with the largest cuts in spending per pupil for 40 years, falling teacher recruitment numbers, and huge drops in GCSE and A-Level uptake. With a new National Plan for Music Education imminent, will it be enough to ensure music matters? Jude Rogers talks to Chrissy Kinsella, Chief Executive of the London Music Fund, about transforming under-served communities, if learning tunes are really less important than science and tech for career prospects, and why some people still think music is more a luxury than a necessity. “Classical music will always be full of elite, old, white people unless we change it.”  “The problem always is and always will be funding.” “Wouldn't it be amazing if every primary school had a music teacher?” “We often focus on academic attainment, but we should also be celebrating music for the joy of music.” “There's such a lack of joined up thinking from central government.” https://www.patreon.com/bunkercastWritten and presented by Jude Rogers. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Jade Bailey THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Your pop-culture update: Is the MCU’s first Muslim superhero saga Ms Marvel really a cape-fest or a family comedy in disguise? Will Baltimore crime drama We Own This City match up to its creator’s classic creation The Wire? DJ Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy serves up a Balearic breakfast and on the 40th birthday of ABC’s Lexicon Of Love, guest Clark Collis helps us choose THE greatest albums of all time.Hear all the music on our rolling playlists.Spotify: https://bit.ly/CultBunkTidal: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/1aea7525-7891-4a88-8474-a08c45ea064b “I had to have three vodkas before seeing The Joker. And four afterwards.” – Clark Collis “Defining Balearic is like trying to define jazz…” – Cosmo “I can very much empathise with not wanting to go to Comic Con with your parents…” – Clark Collis https://www.patreon.com/bunkercastPresented and produced by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Theme music: ‘Bunker Theme (Juntos Mix)’ by Kenny Dickinson. Co-produced by Jelena Sofronijevic. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. The Culture Bunker is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can’t discuss Turkey’s politics without mentioning its strongman president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. What does he want? Gonul Tol, founding director of the Middle East Institute's Turkey program and author of the upcoming book Erdoğan’s War, talks to Alex Andreou about Erdoğan’s journey from reformer to autocrat, how his 19 years in power have changed Turkey, and what the future holds for the country and his leadership.  “When Erdogan came to power in 2002 he was a different man, or so he said.” “Erdogan appealed to segments of the country that would traditionally be reluctant to support an Islamist leader.” “Institutions do not matter in today’s Turkey.” “Turkey is a problematic partner for the West, but important in the Ukraine crisis.” “If Turkey held free and fair elections today, Erdogan would lose.“ https://www.patreon.com/bunkercastWritten and presented by Alex Andreou. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Assistant producer: Elina Ganatra. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices