The Bunker – News without the nonsense

The free school meals fiasco sends the Conservative Party right back to its happy place: being mean to poor kids. Special guest JESS PHILLIPS, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, joins us to discuss Labour’s future, Starmer’s report card so far, how Birmingham is leading the country, and Aston Villa beating Liverpool 7-2. And our panel reveal the political music that changed them. “When I first stood for election I didn’t expect hunger to be one of the most important parts of my job” – Jess Phillips “Behind the scenes, Tories are saying this is an absolute fiasco. ‘We’ve managed to turn the whole country against us.’” – Ayesha Hazarika “Because of COVID, I feel like I’m going cold turkey from the parts of being an MP that I love.” – Jess Phillips “I know Johnson wants us to lose weight, but targeting nine-year-olds is a bit harsh.” – Ayesha Hazarika “I cannot believe how little rebellion has gone on within the Conservatives” – Jess Phillips “People need to be reminded that Rishi Sunak isn’t spending his own money, he’s spending our money” – Jess Phillips Presented by Alex Andreou with Yasmeen Serhan and Ayesha Hazarika. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. 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

Nearly four years after the Referendum, are Leave vs Remain attitudes still driving our politics? Are we stuck with them forever? And how do they map onto other issues like masks, authoritarianism or social liberalism? Paula Surridge, a political sociologist at the University of Bristol, talks to Naomi Smith about what the tumult of the past half-decade has done to British politics, and whether we’re still vulnerable to a hellish US-style polarisation.“Around half of people say they have a ‘very strong’ Brexit identity… but that means that half don’t.”“The idea of ‘Culture War’ misrepresents people in the Red Wall. They don’t actually want all these cultural arguments.”Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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

Will the Special Boat Service raid on a hijacked tanker take the country’s minds off the Government’s continued mishandling of COVID? Why are we shortening quarantine periods when people aren’t even observing the existing rules? Has No.10 successfully stonewalled the free school meals fiasco? And will Dido Harding make it to Friday? Ros Taylor sets up the week ahead. 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

The last confrontation between Donald Trump and Joe Biden avoided the shame of the first debate, but did it change the dynamic of the race? And how come we didn’t discover a mute button back in 2016? Thomas Gift, Associate Professor of Political Science at UCL, gives Dorian Lynskey the verdict on the election’s final stand-off. “This was Trump’s last chance to speak to America… and he needed to flip the script.” “For Trump, some days Biden is a secret agent of the Far Left and on others, he’s Washington Establishment.” “Campaigns are poetry, but politics is prose.” “In the first debate, Donald Trump set a bar so low it’s not surprising Joe Biden cleared it.” 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

Is Wales really setting the COVID agenda for the rest of the UK? As the “firebreak” comes down, former special advisor to First Minister Mark Drakeford turned political consultant Cathy Owens talks to Jude Rogers. Is Wales responding better to lockdowns than England? What is the pandemic doing to support for Welsh nationalism? And why it’s not all about trying to keep English tourists out.Audio note: Includes sound effects live from Cardiff! “This is a time for boring competent leadership, not Churchillian speeches and promising the moon.” “We don’t want Boris and his chums to be in charge of Wales.” “Wales leading Westminster? That’s the opposite of what we see happening here.” “People in Wales voted for Ukip just like the English. We do get the Daily Mail here…” Presented by Jude Rogers. 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

Recorded before No.10 imposed a solution on Manchester. With Manchester refusing to accept Government terms to enter Tier 3, and Wales heading for a ‘circuit-breaker’, what does rebellion in the regions mean for the Government’s lockdown strategy? Have Senate Republicans left it too late to stop themselves going down with the Donald? And our panelists travel back in time to discuss their formative political experiences. “The Government doesn’t understand the needs of these communities and the people there” - Minnie Rahman “Westminster is an old boys club, and even a pandemic doesn’t seem to have changed that” - Minnie Rahman “People don’t trust Westminster to get COVID right” - Arthur Snell “Ever since Brexit, London has been out-of-kilter with the people in power” - Arthur Snell “Trump has destroyed the traditional Republican Party” - Arthur Snell Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison with Nina Schick, Arthur Snell and Minnie Rahman. Assistant producers are Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Theme tune 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

Are progressives right to get so excited about Jacinda Ardern? She’s won admiration for her handling of the COVID crisis and the massacre in a Christchurch mosque – and for crushing New Zealand’s equivalent of Ukip. Toby Manhire, editor of The Spin-Off in NZ and former Guardian comment editor, joins us from Auckland to explain what New Zealand has got right and wrong – and what Britain can learn from Ardern’s “relentlessly positive” Kiwi revolution. Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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

As Boris Johnson falls out with everyone – Manchester, Brussels, scientists, his own Northern MPs – what can we expect for the biggest crisis week since last week. Alex Andreou tells us what to expect from the EU talks-that-aren’t talks, Westminster’s stand-off with the North, and Donald Trump’s last stand. Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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 poisonous online culture of misogyny is radicalising young men to hate women – producing terrifying consequences from routine rape and death threats against female politicians to actual violence and murder. Author of Men Who Hate Women and founder of the Everyday Sexism project Laura Bates posed as a young boy to infiltrate these online worlds and discover how they groom kids as young as 11 into misogyny. She tells Naomi Smith how the paranoid worlds of Men’s Rights Activists, Incels and “MGTOW”s create a conveyor belt to the extreme right – and what we have to do about this growing threat. “This is terrorism. We just don’t call it that because the victims are women” “You can trace the paths of men who made their name through GamerGate to the extreme right.” “We need to give young men a sense of purpose and value in the real world so they don’t get it from these extremist digital communities.” Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music is "Systematic" by Lee Rosevere. 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

More bikes and fewer cars on the road has turned out to be one of the unexpected dividends of COVID. But can Britain ever get to an Amsterdam-style paradise of bikes? And will Britons ever stop raging about cyclists? Coventry’s Cycling Mayor Adam Tranter – he’s all bike chain, no gold chain – tells Justin Quirk what’s needed to get Britain into the saddle. “Most people don’t know this but Coventry practically invented the modern bicycle.” “Paris has transformed into a bike-friendly city in less than a year. If you build it, they will come.” “If we’re not careful we could lose this moment to change our streets and cities for good.” “With lockdown, people felt like they could use bike safely with the family for the first time in decades.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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