The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

With all signs pointing to a recession, how will this one be different to those of the past? From strikes to sky high heating bills, we’ve begun 2023, much as we ended 2022. How long can this last, and is there any hope of our fortunes improving? Resolution Foundation’s research director James Smith joins Ahir Shah to tell us how this situation might play out. 

• “If we are pessimistic about the future and that feeds back into how [the Government] set their policies, it can become self fulfilling.”
• “The big thing here is that we are getting poorer as a country.”
• “We need to make sure the recovery from the pandemic and cost of living recession isn’t as bad as the financial crisis.”

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

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Unprecedented problems like climate change require innovative responses. Activist Natasha Walter, author of upcoming book Before the Light Fades: A Memoir of Grief and Resistance, joins Ros Taylor to explore what the histories of protest can tell us about current struggles. 

• “People forget just how radical the 1960s movements were.” 
• “To look back and remember how people stayed politically active is incredibly encouraging.” 
• “Civil disobedience is a vital part of society.”

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Presented by Ros Taylor. Producers: Jet Gerbertson and Alex Rees. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Artwork by James Parrett. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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There seem to be more authoritarian figures than ever before. But is this true? And if so, what do these leaders have in common? Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present joins Alex Andreou to explore how authoritarianism has changed over time, and why the greatest strengths of ‘strongmen’ could also be their biggest downfall. 

• “Leader personality cults often present them as omnipotent.”
• “The same instincts of these leaders to win followers domestically can cause their downfall on the international stage.” 
• “Financial networks are key to controlling people.”

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Written and presented by Alex Andreou. Producers: Jet Gerbertson, Alex Rees. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Bunker music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Artwork by James Parrett. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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With the NHS in crisis and strikes ongoing – will the Government’s New Year’s Resolution be to get a grip? Then further afield, we look to the alarming covid situation in China and a new Congress being sworn in in the United States. Plus, a few dates for your diary – there might even be some bits to look forward to… In our first show of 2023, Alex Andreou talks to Andrew Harrison to outline the year ahead. 

• “Everyone is incredibly scared, it’s not nice to live in a country and feel like if something happens to you nobody will turn up.” – Alex Andreou 
• “The government is doing so poorly it thinks a confrontation with the unions will help it.” – Alex Andreou 
• “The public has realised Brexit was a mistake, that is unshakable now.” – Alex Andreou
• “Things could get very messy on day one. There will be a lot of battles in Congress.” – Alex Andreou 

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Presented by Andrew Harrison with Alex Andreou. Producers: Jet Gerbertson and Alex Rees. 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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Ahead of NYE nights out, listen back to our ode to nightclubs… No one looks back and remembers the nights they got plenty of sleep. But beyond a mere boogie, nightclubs play a vital role in shaping our collective and individual identity. Alex Andreou assembles an all-star spinning a-roundtable to chew on how COVID closures have impacted nighttime industries, why the pandemic has deprived us from more than a good party, and how culture goes beyond theatres and museums… Mairi Mackenzie is a cultural historian and consultant curator for the V&A Dundee exhibition Night Fever: Designing Club Culture. Bay Sisouphanh is Head of Event Sales at London’s Village Underground. Mark Wood is one half of the London Readers Wifes who DJ at Vauxhall institution Duckie.

• “You find your tribe at nightclubs.” – Mark Wood
• “People will always find an outlet for that need for pleasure.” – Mairi Mackenzie
• “Forget about children going back to school. When can we send the gays back to nightclubs?” – Mark Wood
• “There's a lack of perception around the value of nightclubs to the gaiety and the mental health of the nation.” – Mark Wood

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Presented and produced by Alex Andreou. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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Here’s another throwback Bunker Gold to tide you over to next year… How do you know the world is real? How do I know I’m real? As virtual worlds expand, our concepts of reality warp. NYU philosopher David Chalmers – author of Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy – talks to Ros Taylor about the etiquette of virtual living, why video game characters deserve moral rights, and how we can know what we think we know.

• “Simulated beings could end up outnumbering non-simulated beings. So the odds that YOU are simulated could be high…”
• “If we’re living in a simulation, all this is still real – and our lives are still full of meaning.”

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Presented by Ros Taylor and Arthur Snell. 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

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Here’s another hit for the Christmas period… DANGER, SPOILERS! James Bond finally returned to cinemas in a world where questions about sexism, racism and Britishness have seldom been more pointed. Is there a place for a suave, womanising emissary of British power in the modern world? Is it time to reassess the role of Bond in British culture? Regulars and Bond fiends Ros Taylor and Arthur Snell talk to Ian Kinane, editor of the International Journal of James Bond Studies and a senior lecturer in English literature, about their first Bonds and where 007 should go next. Do not listen unless you’ve seen the film!

• “Bond offers a parallel universe in which Britain always wins.” - Arthur Snell
• “Bond probably has many fatherless children all over the world.” - Ian Kinane
• “James Bond is so far from the boring reality of intelligence work, like people staring at databases.” - Arthur Snell
• “Shirley Bassey is seen as singing an anthem of Britain's glory days of Empire.” - Ian Kinane
• “Bond seems to embody what is properly British, but more often he’s played by actors who aren't British themselves.” - Ian Kinane

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Presented by Ros Taylor and Arthur Snell. 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

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Another from our back catalogue… How did a Christian movement, founded at the turn of the century, become the fastest growing religion today? Pentecostal Christianity has 600 million followers, with 35,000 new adherents a day. So what’s behind the remarkable rise of this religious movement? Elle Hardy, author of Beyond Belief, tells Arthur Snell about her mission to report its rise across twelve different countries, from South America to Africa and Australia, how Pentecostalism provides community to the rootless and marginalised in a fragmenting world…and its toxic connection to populist authoritarianism.

• “There will be more Pentecostals than Catholics in Brazil in the next ten years.” “Anyone can become a prophet in Pentecostalism.”
• “You can fit six Vaticans in the biggest Pentecostal church in Nigeria.”
• “Pentecostalism is the ideology of the new right in America.”

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

Written and presented by Arthur Snell. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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In the first of our Christmas cracker throwbacks, listen to James O’Brien’s righteous evisceration of Boris Johnson, recorded in the aftermath of the Greased Piglet’s resignation announcement. The LBC host joined Ros Taylor to pick through the wreckage. What will be Johnson’s legacy? Could things have ever gone differently? The pair bid farewell to the man who wanted to be king – but failed resoundingly as Prime Minister.

• “In terms of personal political performance Johnsonism is very similar to Trumpism. It’s opportunism devoid of conscience.”
• “It’s an absence of shame that I think defines him.”
• "He pursued monuments to his ego – like the Garden Bridge – but these also acted as distractions from his utter failures."
• "Even on his way out of the door, he's detonating explosives that will be felt for a generation to come."

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Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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Charles Dickens wrote that Christmas is a time when Want is keenly felt, with that in mind we focus on three organisations helping people in need. Arthur Snell explains why he’s supporting the Ukrainian charity Smart Medical Aid and its CEO Iryna Rybinkina tells us about her work on the frontline. Ros Taylor hears from Honeypot’s Anthony Cummings and two of the young carers it’s helped. And Joe Bookbinder tells us how Christmas can be the loneliest time — and that the Samaritans are there to listen 24/7.

• “Honeypot gives you a chance to be free and stop worrying about things. I worry a lot.” - Holly
• “I left my children who are three and 10. My husband is a single father these days — I cannot bring them to Ukraine as it is not safe… As a mother I struggle with that thought every day. But there are children in Ukraine who do need help.” - Iryna Rybinkina, CEO of Smart Medical Aid
• “Don’t feel ashamed if you are struggling at Christmas.” - Joe Bookbinder, Samaritans

All the advertising revenue from this episode will be donated to the charities featured.

smartmedicalaid.org/

honeypot.org.uk

Samaritans.org

Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Producer and audio editor: Jade Bailey. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.