The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

Finally, it’s time to say it… Good riddance, Boris Johnson. With the egomaniac-in-chief due to leave Number 10, Ros Taylor is joined by LBC’s James O’Brien to pick through the wreckage. What will be his legacy? Could things have ever gone differently? Join us for a cathartic 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.” – James O’Brien 
• “It’s an absence of shame that I think defines him.” – James O’Brien 
• "He pursued monuments to his ego – like the Garden Bridge – but these also acted as distractions from his utter failures." – James O'Brien
• "Even on his way out of the door, he's detonating explosives that will be felt for a generation to come." – James O'Brien

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

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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Your pop culture update: We are joined by Brett Anderson and Mat Osman of resurgent rock’n’roll noir institution Suede to discuss their upcoming new album Autofiction, how it feels to return to the delinquent racket of their teenage years, and life as music’s most literate band. Plus we armour up for Amazon’s new adaptation of Lord of the Rings, and the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, now well into its run on Sky.

• “This is our punk record, not a punk record.” - Brett Anderson
• “Every few years we have to burn it all down and start again.” - Mat Osman 
• “I wanted to make the rock record of a 55 year old man. It's not a record about the arrogance of youth, but the vulnerability of being middle aged.” - Brett Anderson
• “I'm determined not to become comfortable and irrelevant.” - Brett Anderson
• “I experience just as much anxiety as a 50 year old as when I was a teenager. The problems are just different.” - Brett Anderson
• “When you're an audience member, you've got a role in the performance.” - Brett Anderson

Hear all the music on our rolling playlists.

Spotify: https://bit.ly/CultBunk

Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/77075591-255c-47eb-9062-815c4dd469ef

Presented and produced by Siân Pattenden, Andrew Harrison and Alex Andreou. Audio production by Alex Rees. Theme music: ‘Bunker Theme (Juntos Mix)’ by Kenny Dickinson. Co-produced by Jelena Sofronijevic. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. The Culture Bunker is a Podmasters production. 

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In this week’s Bunker Gold, listen back to an episode from December 2020. BBC Radio producer and author of The Ex-Men: How Our Former Presidents and Prime Ministers are Still Changing the World, Giles Edwards talked to Ros Taylor about what ex-leaders get up to when they leave office. They discussed what happens behind the closed doors of members-only clubs – and how these ex-men (and women) still shape public life without us even knowing.

• “You can get more done in fifteen minutes as Prime Minister than fifteen months as a former Prime Minister.”
• “Clinton touched something in the Democratic Party soul that Obama didn’t.”

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

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The 1970s is frequently referenced as a period of turmoil – and one we must avoid Britain returning to. But is our memory of the decade accurate? And why is it continually referenced by politicians and newspapers? Historian Lawrence Black, co-editor of Reassessing 1970s Britain, joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss why the era is so maligned.

• “For better or worse, it was much easier to go on strike in the 1970s.”
• “Thatcher won the political battles of the 1970s - but she lost the culture wars.”
• “It’s in no political, or popular press interest to change the image of the 1970s.”
• “There was a crisis in the political economy, for many the system just wasn’t working – and isn’t today.”

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Sting music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Additional sounds and music from Epidemic Sound. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. 

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With Liz Truss set to be crowned Prime Minister – who will be in the backbench Tory cabal keeping her on her toes? What will they pressure her on? Plus, we assess how Boris Johnson and his fellow journalists-turned-politicians have warped the media during his time in office. And ahead of the return to school, we discuss what education changes we’d make. This week’s guest is actress, screenwriter and author Emma Kennedy. 

• “For somebody who’s said she’s going to stand up to Putin it’s strange Truss is scared of Nick Robinson.” – Emma Kennedy 
• “The list of Truss’s failures are extensive, I can’t think of anything she has done that has improved my life.” – Gavin Esler
• “You can’t balance people who tell the truth with people who lie. The BBC has to take that seriously.” – Gavin Esler 

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Written and presented by Justin Quirk with Arthur Snell and Gavin Esler. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic . Assistant producer Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. The Bunker is a Podmasters production.

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Energy saving tips roll in ahead of a coming bill tsunami – what cost of living omens await this week? Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has warned middle earners will struggle with payments, and broke with colleagues by suggesting that people limit their usage. Plus, the latest from Ukraine, amid a counter-offensive in the Kherson region. And, back home, further strikes are due to be held. Justin Quirk and Yasmeen Serhan discuss the week ahead.

• "It feels like there hasn’t really been much of a Government the last few weeks.” – Yasmeen Serhan 
• "You put people in this precarious position where they ask, ‘Am I going to heat my flat or put it towards other groceries?’” – Yasmeen Serhan 
• “Boris Johnson made a point wanting to stay on, but in that time it hasn’t felt like he’s wanted to lead.” – Yasmeen Serhan
• “If you’re going to have a leadership contest this long, you need to have plans in place so government continues.” – Yasmeen Serhan

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

Presented by Justin Quirk with Yasmeen Serhan. Producers: Jacob Archbold, Jelena Sofronijevic 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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Is failure always bad – or should we look at it as an essential on the path to innovation? Samuel West is the director of the Museum of Failure, which exhibits unsuccessful products and services from across the world. He speaks to Ahir Shah about how accepting when things don’t work out, being brave enough to fail and going through the dustbin of history.

• “Most charities are terrified of failing at things - but the paradox is that if they don’t innovate they are probably doing the wrong things.”
• “There are thousands of solutions - many of which will fail but we must take risks to answer huge questions.”
• “Some CEOs keep projects alive through artificial respiration ,sometimes you need to know when to bail.”

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

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

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This episode was recorded prior to the Mar-a-Lago search affidavit being released on Friday... The FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort made headlines worldwide. What will the fallout be – legally and politically? Julia Azari, professor of Political Science at Marquette University, joins Justin Quirk to discuss what the raid means for Trump and US politics more widely, and why it has taken so long for the law to catch up with America’s 45th President.

• “This has somewhat overshadowed the January 6th hearings.”
• “How do we find political peace but also ensure people are equal under the rule of law?” 
• “Even if Trump is given the Nixon treatment, the debates around Trumpism won’t go away.”
• “Even if the Republicans take control of Congress, this won’t go away.”

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

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

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Our always-on digital world is changing how we read, which means it’s altering how our minds work. Literary critic Sven Birkerts, author of Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age, tells Andrew Harrison how the act of reading is fundamentally different when the printed word is just part of an ever-changing multiplex – and why the state reading puts you in is more important than the words on the page (or the screen). 

• “A book used to be an escape, but now the outside world is always insistently present.”
• “It’s harder to get inside your own head when there is so much to escape from.” 
• “Audiobooks are fine but you can’t process a literary sentence at the speed of a voice.”

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

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

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

Listen back to an edition from our archives with The Bunker Gold. This week we’ve chosen an episode from April, 2020. 

It’s the end of the world as we know it and… some people are quite into that, it seems. Why are so many people so keen on the end of everything? What do doomsday preppers, alt.right catastrophists and billionaire plutocrat antidemocrats like Peter Thiel have in common? And is the communal response to COVID proving their worst ambitions wrong? We talk to Mark O’Connell – author of book Notes From An Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back – about the dark fantasy of the End Times. 

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

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.

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