The Bunker – News without the nonsense

As the Government rushes to sign trade deals with some countries (just not our nearest neighbours), special guest Bridget Phillipson, Labour MP and Shadow Treasury Secretary, joins us to work out exactly what Global Britain really means. Have we left the real EU just to join the EU of the 1970s? Plus the “Lab Leak” theory of COVID’s origins seems to be gaining credence. What does this bulletin from the conspiratorial fringe mean for those of us who believe in science and stuff?• “I don’t think any of us have any idea what the Government means by levelling up.” – Bridget Phillipson MP• “We’re being sucked into a hugely competitive trading bloc where our society can’t compete… and then we’ll spend the next 20 years trying to get out of it.” – Arthur Snell• “The Government is talking about solving problems that they themselves caused over the past 10 years.” – Bridget Phillipson MP• “There’s nothing there in Liz Truss’s Global Britain. It’s just words.” – Marie Le ContePresented and produced by Alex Andreou with Arthur Snell and Marie Le Conte. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic . Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What’s left of the Sensible Tory MPs finally, finally find something to rebel on: the Government’s decision to slash international aid and potentially leave thousands to die. Plus will Johnson get strong-armed at the G7 over Northern Ireland and the taxing of multinationals? And England go to a major football tournament for the first time since the Culture Wars were declared. What could possibly go wrong? Arthur Snell explains it all. • “If international development funds are cut, hundreds of thousands of people really could die.”• “£4bn might seem like a lot – but Dido Harding blasts through that in a week on her useless Test and Trace.”• “Neither Johnson nor Sunak want to be the man who switched off furlough.” Presented and 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 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the new populist Conservatives stoking culture wars, is identity politics becoming progressives’ self-inflicted weakness? Friend of the podcast and former editor of The Spectator, Tortoise’s Matthew d’Ancona joins Nick Cohen to discuss why populism is destined to fail, his new book, Identity, Ignorance, Innovation: Why The Old Politics Is Useless And What To Do About It, and leaving the cinema to find fifteen missed calls from Boris Johnson… “In every generation, there is a progressive moment – and this is it.” “There are always new elites, and there is going to be a Boris elite.” “The kind of conservatism I was suggesting in the 1990s doesn't really exist anymore.” Presented by Nick Cohen. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Productionhttps://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Matthew-dAncona/Identity-Ignorance-Innovation--Why-the-old-politics-is-us/25426615 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Labour lost swathes of working class votes in 2019. Is “progressive patriotism” the answer to getting them back? And what does it even look like?Dan Jarvis, Labour MP for Barnsley Central, Mayor of the Sheffield City Region and author of the memoir Long Way Home Love, Life, Death and Everything in Between, talks to Alex Andreou about why love of country could be Labour’s route back to power, why the left are so reluctant to be patriotic… and how his extraordinary life has shaped his political outlook.• “On numerous occasions in 2019 I prepared myself for a physical altercation, such was the anger on the doorstep.” • “In 100 years of the Labour Party, nobody has inherited a more difficult situation than Keir Starmer.” • “People want their MPs to have had real life experiences. I’m a better MP and Mayor because I’ve done other things.” • “COVID provides us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to for radical change. I really hope we take it” • “It’s entirely consistent to love your country, but also to want it to be better. And we haven’t reached our potential.” 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 Productionhttps://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/dan-jarvis/long-way-home/9781408710708/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the Delta Variant continues to spread, is it time for the Government to give up on a grand reopening on June 21 – and for the press to stop calling it “Freedom Day”? And if Dominic Cummings’ revelations are proving to be a bit of a damp squib in the polls, what will it take to move an electorate that’s not interested in the truth? Special guest MUSA OKWONGA – author of One Of Them: An Eton Memoir and host of the amazing Stadio football podcast – joins us to mull these matters and football’s worrying future too.• “Johnson promising fidelity? He’s probably had mistresses called Fidelity.” – Alex Andreou • “You can forgive the British public for not thinking Cummings is the most trustworthy • person.” – Yasmeen Serhan • “A lot of people are very comfortable – and happy to sit back and watch the world burn.” – Musa Okongwa • “Lord Geidt has fulfilled his job as Lord Chief Whitewasher.” – Alex Andreou Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison with Yasmeen Serhan and Alex Andreou. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic . Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As COVID cases rise again, do we need to brace for a full Third Wave? Has the Government learned anything from the disastrous consequences of their last two late lockdowns? And do we really need to rename the variants? Plus the Tories’ polling takes a post-Cummings hit, and the Pentagon prepares to reveal its UFO research. ROS TAYLOR sets up your week ahead. • “Don’t worry about mixing on beaches. Worry about mixing in homes.”• “We don't even know if the Kent variant started in Kent.”• “People will be shocked by how much travel has changed when they can travel again.” Presented and 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 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Daniel Morgan’s murder in 1987 exposed a toxic nexus between the police, private investigators, and top politicians. And over thirty years later, Priti Patel is putting her foot down on the release of the public report. Friend of the podcast and Financial Times columnist David Allen Green joins Alex Andreou to join the dots between cabinet and cop corruption, and why the Home Office’s excuses nothing but “codswallop”… "The police, private investigators, and government have all worked together since 1987." "Each of the parties involved had an ultimate weapon." "The Home Office had three motivations - delay, forewarn, retract." "The report could reveal that this goes far into the Met, and very far into Fleet Street and private industry." "This is the Home Secretary trying to bully an independent panel." "This is just government intolerance of anyone outside of the central government having power." "Conspiracies are used to cover cock-ups…the Home Office just did not like the idea of learning about this at the same time as everyone else." 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 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s an increasingly cynical, unequal, unpredictable and worrying world. So what are we going to do about it? Turkish journalist and author Ece Temelkuran, talks to Dorian Lynskey about her new book Together: 10 Choices For a Better Now, how we can rebuild faith in humankind, the journalistic experiences which shaped her worldview, and why we should focus our anger on those in power rather than on social media. “Hopelessness is a timid code for the loss of people’s faith in their own kind.” “I try to talk about politics without the political discourse, and it’s not a piece of cake.” “What you do as a journalist is to witness the extraordinary.” “Anger is a commodity on social media, and we are selling our most intimate emotions.” 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 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump’s Big Lie that Democrats stole the Presidential election is poisoning Republican minds against democracy itself. Could a future Republican Congress simply refuse to confirm an elected Democrat as President in 2024? Would Democrats willingly hand power to a victorious Republican – possibly Trump himself – who was openly committed to curtailing democracy? Georgetown public policy professor Donald Moynihan looks at these nightmare scenarios and explains why American democracy is in critical danger. • “The Big Lie is not a marginal idea… Some 55 to 70% of Republicans believe that Trump won the election.” • “If these ideas remain dominant it could lead to the end of democracy as we know it in the United States.” • “The Republican Party hasn’t bothered with a sensible autopsy like in 2012 because it’s committed to this Big Lie.” • Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison with Ayesha Hazarika and Justin Quirk. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While Labour agonises over whether it can reclaim working class votes, one question gets lost: what is work for? What do we get from it? If “good work” can give life meaning in an automated world, can Labour capture the post-working class world? Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham, talks to Ian Dunt about his new book The Dignity of Labour, why the somewhere-anywhere mantra is “wretched”, what Starmer can take from FDR… and if the dream of “automated luxury communism” is just Get Out Of Jail politics. • “Dignity today is often more about how you die than how you live.”  “The work that we value most in society – caring for one another - is the work that we value least in pay.” “I fear that the Right want the Left to choose between Somewhere and Anywhere, so they can lock in their power forever.” • “Progressive politics is being outmanoeuvred at every turn. We need to turn the tide.”Presented by Ian Dunt. 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 Productionhttps://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Jon-Cruddas/The-Dignity-of-Labour/25421083 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices