The Bunker – News without the nonsense

As Johnson scuttles away from the Owen Paterson debacle and fresh sleaze oozes out, will new Commons regulations mean that MPs have to get by on just the one job like some sort of cave dwellers? Plus, brace yourself for trade war as Lord Frost (no doubt with great regret) prepares to trigger the Article 16 he’s been gagging for since December. And is your poppy leaf at the right angle? Alex Andreou flags up the week ahead. • “The entire Paterson mess is simply because Johnson hates people bothering his Brexiteer mates.”• “What is there to prevent paramilitary violence flaring up in Northern Ireland?” • “Triggering Article 16 will only show that trade power lies with Europe, because it’s seven times the size of the UK.”Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

George Orwell was a keen gardener, but did his love of nature influence his politics? Inspired by her encounter with the surviving roses planted at his Hertfordshire cottage, writer Rebecca Solnit talks to Dorian Lynskey about her new book Orwell’s Roses, which looks at how Orwell’s involvement with plants was a catalyst for his work as a writer and antifascist. “When I was young non-fiction was not treated as artwork… Orwell provided a great model for essayism” “Animal farm is a book that Orwell couldn’t have written if he wasn’t aware of their behaviours” “I found 1984 very different after discovering Orwell the gardener, Orwell the cheerful even” Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hear all the music on our podcasts in full on our rolling playlist: https://bit.ly/CultBunkThe Wordsworth of Bury GUY GARVEY of Elbow joins us to talk about their transcendent new album ‘Flying Dream 1’, the remarkable story of how he and his wife nursed his mother-in-law Diana Rigg through her last months, and how music fixes everything. And JUDE ROGERS helps us examine that ABBA album, remarkable Netflix drama of racism and identity PASSING, and that weird Princess Di movie SPENCER. • “When people came back to our gigs, there was a sense of release.” – GUY GARVEY• “When I’m off to bed drunk, the band play Just A Gigolo and watch me spin on my heel.” – GUY GARVEY• “ABBA’s new album sounds like they’ve cleared out their hard drive.” – JUDE ROGERSPresented by Siân Pattenden and Alex Andreou. Assistant producer Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. Theme music: ‘Bunker Theme (Juntos Mix)’ by Kenny Dickinson. The Culture Bunker is a Podmasters production. Rolling playlist: https://bit.ly/CultBunk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The phrase ‘Net Zero’ has become increasingly prominent in our discourse around climate change, with most countries and businesses pledging to be carbon neutral by 2050. But what will a day in a net zero world look like? What sort of jobs will we be doing? What kind of food will we eat? And how will nights out change?Journalist Jonn Elledge, editor of New Food Magazine Bethan Grylls and Leeds University research fellow Andrew Sudmant join Naomi Smith for a look into our net-zero future.   “The weekly big shop is dying out because of food waste” - Bethan Grylls “We’re in this post-pandemic moment where we don’t know how much we’ll be working from home” - Jonn Elledge “Lots of foods are in danger, we’re going to see a return to seasonality” - Bethan Grylls “We could witness the end of fridges” - Bethan Grylls https://www.patreon.com/bunkercastPresented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the world banks its hopes on COP26, we talk live from the conference to the FT’s SIMON MUNDY about his astonishing and sobering book ‘Race For Tomorrow’ – a tour of the frontline of the climate struggle that reads like a thriller. Meanwhile the UK Government concentrates on the far bigger issue of fighting France over FISH. Of course he does! And we watch the BBC’s shocking documentary about the Washington insurrection of Jan 6, ‘Four Hours At The Capitol’. • “For any reporter, this is the biggest story of the century” – SIMON MUNDY• “How do you fix a country’s climate when international travel is its biggest earner – and its biggest threat?” – ALEX ANDREOU • “If you’re Johnson you make it about the French, not the deal you signed that’s now falling apart.” – MIATTA FAHNBULLEH• “The old climate war was simply denying the science. The new climate war is subtly arguing against any measures to mitigate climate change.” – SIMON MUNDYBuy ‘Race For Tomorrow’: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Simon-Mundy/Race-for-Tomorrow--Survival-Innovation-and-Profit-on-the-/25601978Watch ‘Four Hours At The Capitol’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010tffhttps://www.patreon.com/bunkercastWritten and presented by Alex Andreou with Miatta Fahnbulleh and Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER IS A PODMASTERS PRODUCTION Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As climate change becomes a bigger issue, more companies are trying to prove they’re eco-friendly, but are they actually as green as they claim? Alice Bell, climate campaigner and author of Our Biggest Experiment: A History of the Climate Crisis, tells Yasmeen Serhan about the shady practice of greenwashing, where firms mislead consumers about their climate credentials. Which companies are the worst offenders? And what can we do about it? “Greenwashing has become a developed art… it’s all designed to make the consumer feel good.” “One person’s greenwash will be someone else’s acceptable strategy.” “The oil industry has to invest in PR because their reason to exist is in question.” “The phrase ‘Net-Zero’ has offered huge opportunities to greenwashers.” “Britain talks about how we’ve stopped using coal, but we import goods made using coal.” Presented by Yasmeen Serhan. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Climate change is the existential challenge of our time – but do we fully understand the depth and complexity of human influence over the planet’s temperature? In today’s COP26 special, Dr ELLA GILBERT, climate scientist from the University of Reading, takes Justin Quirk into the aspects of global heating that the media seldom foreground, from the cataclysmic impact of the cement industry to the strange and puzzling meaning of… clouds? “The non-CO2 impacts of aviation may be up to twice as harmful as the CO2 impacts.” “Ice is melting much more slowly in Antarctica than in the Arctic.” “Adding in climate pressures can cause tensions to boil over into conflict.” “Clouds at the tropics have a different impact to those in polar regions.” “If the cement industry was a country, it would be third biggest emitter of C02.” Presented by Justin Quirk. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As COP26 kicks off in Glasgow, what do you need to know about a summit that’s being described as the “last chance” for global action on climate change? New Scientist chief reporter Adam Vaughan joins Andrew Harrison to talk all about Britain’s biggest event since the Olympics, from the key players and attendees, to the thorny issues and major sticking points. “COP is very different from other diplomatic meetings like the G7, they are quite chaotic affairs”  “We’re currently have pledges just under 3 degrees which is disastrous, we need around 1.5 degrees” “This is the biggest event the UK has hosted since the Olympics” “It would be good if Xi showed up, but the Chinese delegation will be huge, they’re taking it seriously” “Australia has become a huge outlier on climate change because it relies so heavily on fossil fuels” Produced and Presented by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hear all the music on our podcasts in full on our rolling playlist: https://bit.ly/CultBunkOriginal Essex Man BILLY BRAGG joins us to discuss how the pandemic changed pop, politics and his haircut, on the very day his new album The Million Things That Never Happened comes out. Plus film critic Linda Marric joins us to look at Edgar Wright’s bizarre West End horrorfest LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, new music from THE WAR ON DRUGS, well-aged psychedelic pop from France, and more.Presented by Siân Pattenden Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. Theme music: ‘Bunker Theme (Juntos Mix)’ by Kenny Dickinson. The Culture Bunker is a Podmasters production. Rolling playlist: https://bit.ly/CultBunk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the human race reaches new heights of scientific understanding, why then does it seem to be losing its mind? Are humans inherently irrational beings? Professor Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist and author of the new book Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters, talks to Alex Andreou about how irrationality occurs within our society, and why we need to embrace the notion that humans are naturally rational. “I wanted to explain why a species as rational as ours is vulnerable to so much nonsense” “There are stupid people who are rational and smart people who are irrational” “The reason that persuasion is still called for is that not everyone is a dyed-in-the-wool true believer” “The successful politicians are the ones that have ideas, but also know how to reach people” “If people are unaware progress has taken place, they could look to turn the clock back” Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices