The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were supposed to overturn the tyranny of the banks and give consumers new power over their money. This financial Wild West is still plagued with fraud, scams, pyramid schemes and doomed start-ups. But as entrepreneur, investor and follower of the crypto/blockchain market PHILLIP NUNN explains, the “Internet of Money” is coming whether governments like it or not. Can it become a force for good in the economic revival? “When people say if Pablo Escobar were around now he’d be using Bitcoin, that’s just not true.” “At first crypto was kids in their bedrooms just trying stuff. Now it’s got billions and billions of market cap.” “To hack one chain of Bitcoin you’d need 30 times the power of Google’s servers.” 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

If we’re stuck with a hard right government for the next four years, how should progressives best use this time? Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation MIATTA FAHNBULLEH talks to Alex Andreou about the opportunities amid the chaos, how it’s impossible to triangulate where the Johnson government is going, and what Starmer needs to do right now to build the platform that can win in 2024.  “It’s just not clear what the ideology of Johnson is. They’re more opportunistic than anything.” “These moments come up once in a couple of generations, where everything is thrown up in the air.”  “We need to come together and say we need change. When people come together, politicians will have to listen.”  Presented by Alex Andreou. 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

Britain can’t wait for the Government’s Public Inquiry into COVID. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus is seizing the initiative and examining every aspect of the crisis. Its chair, Lib Dem MP and leadership candidate LAYLA MORAN, explains to Naomi Smith how MPs are outpacing the government in understanding the virus, why mental health is the neglected aspect of COVID, and how we can prepare for a second wave.   “I’d love Boris Johnson to come before us and answer our questions. I very much doubt that he will.” “There are some things more important than the Lib Dem leadership contest, would you believe…” 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

From unmasking suspects in the Salisbury poisoning to exposing money laundering and Russian involvement in the shooting down of flight MH-17, investigative collective Bellingcat is at the forefront of a new kind of investigative journalism. Founder ELIOT HIGGINS explains to Dorian Lynskey how “open source” investigations work – why conventional media still doesn’t understand the reach of state disinformation – and how to deal with “vicarious trauma” when you have to watch multiple videos of horrific acts in the pursuit of truth. “I’ve seen so much terrible stuff from across the world that I can prepare myself. You learn what not to look at.”Presented by Dorian Lynskey. 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

Is the summer tourist season already a write-off for Europe – and will the traditional foreign holiday become history? Are you ready to start paying more tax from the age of 40 to fund your own social care? And as COVID continues to hollow out city centres, is urban living on the way out? Ros Taylor, Ahir Shah and special guest Yasmeen Serhan of The Atlantic join Andrew Harrison for this week’s full-length Bunker. Listen closely for live interventions from Andrew’s cat.  “The summer months are the lungs of Europe.” – Yasmeen Serhan “When the people who make decisions about health and social care can opt out with private insurance, they don’t experience the consequences of their own decisions.” – Ros Taylor Produced by Andrew Harrison. Script and assistant production by Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickenson. 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

“We’ve been kettled with our own thoughts.” Comedy writer and friend of the podcast JASON HAZELEY – Screenwipe writer and co-creator of everything from the grown-up Ladybird books to Philomena Cunk – talks to Ian Dunt about what the pandemic has done to TV, the live sitcom that is Great Britain, and the dismal poverty of Boris Johnson’s terrible, feeble jokes.  “Have I Got News For You in lockdown just looks like a series of hostage videos.” “The last thing the world needs right now is a golden age of monologue.” “Boris Johnson is an ambassador of the trivial and inconsequential… but your Prime Minister should not be a figure of fun.” Presented by Ian Dunt. 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

We’re conditioned to think that economic development will get faster and faster. But it turns out that many key indicators from population growth to GDP expansion are slowing down. DANNY DORLING, social geographer and author of Slowdown: The End Of The Great Acceleration and Inequality And The 1%, talks to Ros Taylor about the coming Great Deceleration – why inequality is clearly the strongest indicator of mental wellbeing – why most of we hear about the Brexit-hungry “left behinds” is nonsense – and why our slow future was already taking shape before the COVID lockdown.  “Important indicators like population are rising – but not as fast we think they are.”  “Acceleration was so lauded in the past because we were improving living standards… but we’ve gone way past that. Simply consuming more won’t make us happier.”  “Half of the British population is on the edge of being financially insecure and in fact destitute in the near future.”  “If your told since birth that you’re the best in the world, then seeing your kids incapable of supporting or housing themselves is hard to accept.”  “We’re living under a misconception that this is an age of acceleration. Compared to our grandparents’ time, it’s an age of slowdown.” 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

A pop career is for life. Art explorer, national treasure and former Pulp frontman JARVIS COCKER talks to Andrew Harrison about his return to the music fray with new band Jarv Is… and new album Beyond The Pale. On the agenda: the musical concerns of the mature gentleman, what celebrity does to the unwary mind, the legacy of ‘Common People’, and how pop is a way of asking yourself the questions you really ought to answer.  “Celebrity is like pornography. It takes something great, like sex, and grosses it out.” “The post-war dream was a classless society… and now that seems to have totally disappeared.”  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

Can Europe really build back better after the pandemic? How does the EU’s response to COVID look when you’re one of Britain’s former MEPs? Molly Scott Cato, former Green Party MEP and the party’s current Brexit and Finance spokesperson, joins Alex Andreou to talk over plus the Russia Report, the financial conduits that make corruption possible, and what we do now that Vote Leave runs the country  “These people drove the Brexit boat and are now in government, and we don’t really know where their loyalties lie.” “In British society we hide our dirty laundry – but the laundry is still dirty.”  “The main problem of the Eurozone is that some countries can tell others how to spend their money.”  Presented by Alex Andreou. 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

“In Moscow, inquiry closes YOU.” As the Russia Report confirms the Conservatives’ wilful blind eye to Putin’s interference in UK elections, where do we go from here? If we rage about the Russians supposedly tipping the Referendum or the General Election, are we looking at the wrong things? Plus, why the left needs to stop gloating over The Guardian’s money woes… and hands off Bill Gates. Can’t a guy just be a munificent billionaire without everyone getting on his case?Naomi Smith subpoenas Helen Lewis, Ian Dunt and Alex Andreou to give evidence on this week’s full-length Bunker. Also – sirens!  “We can’t have another election with half of the country believing they’re going to be cheated” – Alex Andreou “Russia is trying to encourage wedge issues and the Vote Leave government is exacerbating that.” – Ian Dunt “The same backbenchers who are losing their shit about a Chinese wire in their phone are completely relaxed about Russia running electoral interference.” – Alex Andreou “Russian influence has become so embedded in the UK that the intelligence community can only shrug.” – Alex Andreou “The new elitism is packing the Lords with your mates.” – Ian Dunt Produced by Andrew Harrison. Script and assistant production by Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickenson. 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