The Bunker – News without the nonsense

As Conservative Britain batters the BBC with a Diana-shaped club, is this latest attack more serious than a customary Mail-on-Broadcasting-House punishment beating? Special guest Liz Saville Roberts MP, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, explains the grim truth behind Britain’s trade future and tells us why English people should support Welsh independence. And why can’t Brexit Britain stop coming bottom in Eurovision?• “We had a huge market on our doorstep, and now we’re trying to replace it with one thousands of miles away” – Liz Saville Roberts • “If you love the BBC, you should want it to be held to a high standard than the tabloids.” – Ayesha Hazarika • “Can you imagine the headlines if Diana were around now? ‘Look at this woke virtue-signaller.’” – Justin Quirk 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

What can European countries do about Belarusian tyrant Alexander Lukashenko’s bizarre “air piracy” move to divert a RyanAir flight and make a dissident disappear? What does Dominic Cummings have in store for his Westminster appearance on Wednesday? And the BBC haters scent blood. NAOMI SMITH sets up another glorious week in politics. • “Lots of popcorn shall be consumed this week.”• “Why on earth are we having to rely on Cummings for COVID scrutiny? Where are the opposition parties?” • “The BBC row is manna from heaven for Tories who want to stoke the culture wars.” 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

A surprise weekend extra edition, because there’s just too much news… Apparently we’re doing a “gradual” tariff-free deal with Australia. What exactly does that mean? Will it really wipe out the Welsh lamb industry and Scottish hill farmers? And have Johnson and Truss given away Britain’s negotiating advantage just for a headline? International trade expert and former negotiator Dmitry Grozoubinski explains how one deal could come back to bite Brexit Britain in painful places. • “When you look at what Britain has just given away for a modest deal, the precedent is remarkable.”• “The Americans will be asking, why can’t we have the same very favourable terms as Australia? And the US is a much, much bigger and stronger economy than Australia.” 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 Labour still longing for victories past, where should the party go next? And why are the Tories so much better at dealing with defeat? Former Shadow Economic Advisor and Director of the Progressive Economy Forum James Meadway talks to Dorian Lynskey about prioritising concrete concerns over culture wars, whether Labour will ever win a majority again, and why working in the Shadow Cabinet was one of his worst jobs…• “The Tories are very good at dusting themselves down and working out what to do next.”• “Labour needs to say to voters, ‘This is how your life would be better if you voted Labour’.”• “The focus should be on how you get middle class voters to vote Labour instead of Tory.”• “If you try to reproduce policy tricks and electoral victories, you get negative returns.” 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

Why do people who consider themselves anti-racist have a blind spot when it comes to antisemitism? Why don’t we automatically think of antisemitism as racism, or Jews as an ethnic minority? Writer and comedian David Baddiel talks to Nick Cohen about his new book ‘Jews Don’t Count’, how social media nourished a new antisemitism among some progressives… and why British Jews shouldn’t have to answer for Benjamin Netanyahu.• “Israel-Palestine is a situation that most Jews are not responsible for… It’s racist to imagine that all Jews have to have an opinion either way” • “The idea that there would be no anti-Semitism without the State of Israel is a myth.” • “Our notion of identity politics just doesn’t apply to Jews.”• “My atheism has no bearing on whether or not I would have been killed by the Nazis. It’s racism. I don’t have a choice to be Jewish.” Presented by Nick Cohen. 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

Peace in Northern Ireland has not looked this fragile in decades. Violence erupted in Belfast and elsewhere with both Brexit and resurgent gangs to blame. The duped DUP have replaced their leader with a creationist evangelical. And it’s all happening against the backdrop of increasing support for a United Ireland. In a Two Naomis special, leader of the Alliance Party and MLA for East Belfast Naomi Long talks to Naomi Smith about Northern Ireland’s precarious peace – and how it might fall apart.• “Boris Johnson never listened to Northern Ireland as a collective. He only listened to the DUP”• “A United Ireland is more likely than at any point in my lifetime, and Brexit has been a big driver in that”• “Northern Ireland is like a child caught up in a very difficult divorce”• “Poots is in the soul of Paisley’s DUP… whoever leads the party, it will not be moving forwards”Presented by Naomi Smith. 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 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the Indian coronavirus variant takes a foothold, is the UK’s grand unlocking on June 21st under threat? And as foreign holidays return, will Brits head for the airports or stay grounded? Plus, we speak to solicitor and human rights activist Tawseef Khan about his new book The Muslim Problem: Why We’re Wrong About Islam and Why It Matters. Plus: Could a one-off wealth tax pay the world’s hefty COVID bill? “I hope the red list delay was for a trade deal, because at least that makes Johnson cynical rather than hopelessly incompetent.” - Ian Dunt “The crisis in India proves we need action right now, and the most obvious way is for rich countries to donate vaccines.” - Yasmeen Serhan “There is no Islam aside from the one that we choose to interpret.” - Tawseef Khan Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Ian Dunt and Yasmeen Serhan. The producer is Andrew Harrison. 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

Britain greets the latest milestone of indoor pubs and restaurants with trepidation, not celebration. Is Boris Johnson preparing to shift the blame for another surge – possibly from the India Variant – onto the public? Plus, what’s driving the terrifying violence in Israel and Palestine, and how will that play out? ARTHUR SNELL is here to start your week. • “People who gave the Government a chance will be a LOT more critical now we’re near the end of this.”• “A lot of long-term trends in Israel and Palestine have come together in this moment of combustion.”• “I’ll be holding back on going to the pub. It’s Monday. You’ve got to pace yourself…” 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

Infamous anonymous blogger FLEET STREET FOX lifted the lid on the seedy world of tabloid journalism in the Leveson years – then in 2013 unmasked herself as Mirror columnist Susie Boniface. She tells Ian Dunt how being a total pain in the arse is the way to get into journalism, where the loathing of hacks really comes from… and why the credibility of print goes all the way back to Babylonian tax inspectors. Audio note: features guest appearance by a dog.• “I started in journalism because I couldn’t stand the idea of other people doing it and getting it wrong”• “Is journalism a dying industry? It’s been dying since the first newspaper was printed!”• “The human mind has been bred to think that if something is in black and white print, it’s fact”https://www.susieboniface.comPresented 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 Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The vastly wealthy Sackler family are known as respectable patrons of the arts, but the story behind their philanthropy is a dark one. The Sacklers made their billions from OxyContin or “Hillbilly Heroin”, the $35m prescription drug that precipitated America’s opioid crisis – an epidemic that has killed half a million people.Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, tells Ros Taylor about the corruption and influence that turned a deadly addictive drug into a medical staple, how the Sacklers insulated themselves from what they’d done, and how racism in medicine – surprisingly – spared many African Americans while devastating poor whites.• “The truth has caught up with the Sacklers. I don’t know that justice ever will.”• “This story is a slow-moving disaster. It took a quarter of a century to get to a quarter of a million deaths.” • “Many people hooked on OxyContin just switched to heroin when they reformulated it in 2010.” • “The question is, What did the Sacklers know about the harm OxyContin caused? And evidence shows that they DID know.” Presented by Ros Taylor. 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