The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

Extra Edition: What can a bloody, violent, horribly funny comic book cop tell us about policing in the real world? 2000AD comic’s Judge Dredd began in 1977 as a brutal satire on law and order for delinquent kids – and then Dredd’s world of militarised police started to come true. Is Dredd a warning of the future or a manual for how to oppress a society?

Lifelong Dredd fan Andrew Harrison talks to Michael Molcher, author of I Am The Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future, about Hayek, Voltaire, the Apocalypse War, policing by consent, Crime Blitzes, Stuart Hall, and Judge Death as a model for policing.

(Yes, this episode’s not for everyone. But what’s the point of having a podcast company if you can’t talk about what you love, eh?)

Image by Mike McMahon.

• “Dredd’s a Rorschach test. You can tell a lot about someone if they’re saying ‘yes, we need Dredd on our streets’.”
• “Dredd arrived at the time of Dirty Harry and The Sweeney, a time of copaganda… He’s an incredible predictive warning of the law and order endgame.”
• “The Judges are the culmination of a police state… The administer everything from welfare to warfare.”
• “The steamroller of law and order is reaching its destination… The last of those pesky rights are being eroded.”

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer Jet Gerbertson. Assistant producer Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer Jacob Jarvis. Bunker music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. “Hic! It’s Jedge Drudd!” THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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The Palace of Westminster is crumbling. There are risks of fires, floods and the walls are stacked with asbestos. Will Parliament ever get fixed? And will it take someone being hurt for movement to happen? Marie Le Conte is joined by Dr. Alexandra Meakin, a lecturer at the University of Leeds whose PhD thesis was titled Understanding the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster, to discuss the issues. 

• “Fire is a big risk, a huge one you can’t ignore.”
• “Behind the ornate beauty of the building, it’s in a bad state.” 
• “MPs believe there must be a cheaper or quicker way to do the work, and that’s why they keep asking for reviews.” 
• “Catastrophe really has only not happened out of luck so far.” 

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Presented by Marie Le Conte. Producers: Jet Gerbertson and Alex Rees. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Alex Rees. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union this week and focused on wanting to “finish the job”. Can he achieve his goals despite a split Congress? Julie Norman, co-director of UCL’s Centre on US Politics, joins Alex Andreou to discuss the US president’s standing, hopes and the limits to his power in the second half of his first term – and whether he’ll run for a second… 

• “Biden knows the political reality and he knows what’s going to win over independents as he looks to 2024.” 
• “Joe Biden seemed comfortable with the back and forth and he made Republicans look rather silly, if nothing else.” 
• “We can see the State of the Union as a mini launching and a set piece for what a Biden campaign would look like.” 

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Presented by Alex Andreou. Music and audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Artwork: James Parrett. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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During China’s Cultural Revolution, pupils murdered their teachers, children betrayed their parents and society was torn apart in the name of progress. Decades on, it inspires both horror and nostalgia — but is rarely mentioned in public. Tania Branigan, author of Red Memory, tells Ros Taylor how China’s citizens deal with the Revolution’s violent legacy – and what it can teach us about China today. 

• “There was a kind of idealism there, the inevitable joy and excitement that young people would feel in an upheaval of that kind”. 
• “Many people in China regard the Cultural Revolution with a certain nostalgia, a time when people were somehow purer and there was more meaning.”
• “I certainly don’t know how I would have behaved if I lived through that era, and I don’t think many of us can.” 

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Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Producer Jet Gerbertson. Assistant producer Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer Jacob Jarvis. Bunker music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. Group Editor Andrew Harrison.

 THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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How do we overcome opportunist strongmen leaders, who grab power while nations are in turmoil? As countries battle stagnant growth, high inflation and inept governments, we’ve seen a rise in autocracies. Charles Dunst, author of Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman joins Andrew Harrison to ask what the allure of these dictators is and why they are thriving in uncertain times. 

• “The majority of autocracies don’t work, but in the richest ones there is no yearning for democracy.” 
• “If you’re a developing country, the road to riches often leads to the Singapore model.” 
• “Meritocracy has become a dirty word.”

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Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer Jacob Jarvis. Bunker music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Jade Bailey. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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Is a deal over the Northern Ireland protocol really imminent? Due to Northern Ireland’s land border with the Republic, there were always going to need to be unique arrangements post-Brexit. A resolution of some kind is being touted, but what might this look like? Amanda Ferguson, a Belfast-based freelance journalist and commentator, joins Ros Taylor to discuss.

• “I think Boris Johnson knew exactly what he was doing, he just wanted to get Brexit done.”
• “It should be pointed out that everybody acknowledges there are issues with the protocol.”
• “We could be in a scenario where the EU and the UK have a deal, but then it’s not backed by the DUP – and then we’re back to square one.” 
• “There has to be something that satisfies everybody, it can’t be just a one way street.” 

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Presented by Ros Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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Imagine nuclear missiles are flying towards the UK and you’re in charge of our response. What do you do? It’s unlikely you’ll have to make this tough a decision – but we all face pressure and choices. How do our brains behave under tension? Moran Cerf, a neuroscientist at the Kellogg School of Management, talks to Ros Taylor about the psychological pitfalls in human decision-making.

• “Our brains are still the brains of humans who lived in a savanna with about 200 people around them.” 
• “We just face too many decisions… you have too many options and too many dimensions.” 
• “Most of life is filled with small choices that don’t really matter… if you accept that you can start making them without regret.” 

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Presented by Ros Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Alex Rees. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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Liz Truss has broken her silence, a mere 100 days after leaving office – what Tory drama will this spark in the days ahead? And with Johnson in the headlines, why do our former Prime Ministers continue to haunt us? Plus we look at the NHS strikes and the Chinese balloon mystery. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Hannah Fearn to give you the low-down on the week ahead in politics.

• “Truss's lack of self-awareness is staggering.”
• “We haven’t recovered from Covid because of Brexit and Truss.”
• “The political and moral hand has been on the side of the NHS nurses.”

Support us on Patreon:

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Presented by Jacob Jarvis with Hannah Fearn. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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The mafia conjures up images of the Sopranos rather than hardened criminals for many of us. So what is it really – and how has it changed? With the arrest of mobster Matteo Messina Denaro putting mafia violence back in the spotlight, Felia Allum, author of Camorristi, Politicians, and Businessmen: The Transformation of Organized Crime in Post-war Naples, joins Alex Andreou to discuss the changing face of criminal organisations. 

• “In Italy, the mafia is like a virus that wracks the body.”
• “The mafia was tied to the creation of the Italian state.”
• “The mafia want political leverage.”

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Written and presented by Alex Andreou. Assistant producer Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer Jacob Jarvis. Bunker music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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