The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

“Neanderthal” is a common term of abuse but should we stop feeling so superior towards our close evolutionary relatives? Did they think like us, even at the abstract level? Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of the “insanely fascinating” Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death And Art tells Ian Dunt what we know about the astonishing sophistication of Neanderthal mind, manufacturing and material culture… and why there are traces of Neanderthal in us today. 

• “If we could scan a Neanderthal brain it’s very possible we’d see they didn’t think so differently from us.”
• “We assume we’re ‘better’ than Neanderthals because we dominated them… That doesn’t fit with the idea of different human groups meeting and interbreeding.” 
• “We shouldn’t be surprised that we could breed with Neanderthals. They are another kind of human”
• “Homo sapiens are weird in the evolutionary tree, with our big balloon heads.” 
• “Neanderthal women were highly muscled. You wouldn’t want to arm-wrestle them.” 

Presented by Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. 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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The pandemic has stress-tested Britain’s tech sector for flaws and strengths. Does it have the capacity to overcome the damage caused by Brexit? Alex Andreou talks to Professor Richard A. L. Jones, Manchester University expert in Materials Physics and Innovation Policy, about whether COVID restored the value of experts, and what the NHS Digital health data sell-offs mean for our personal privacy…

• “Science is a very international industry – but Brexit and COVID have damaged that.”

• “The idea that we can visas for the superstars but nobody else doesn’t help anyone.”

• “If you don’t have an industrial strategy on purpose, you get one by accident.” 

• “Science isn’t a recipe for instant correct answers. It’s a start towards getting a better understanding.”

• “People do trust UK biotech – but the government has done a lot to erode that trust.” 

Presented and produced by Alex Andreou. 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 video series Anywhere But Westminster by John Harris and John Domokos is one of the Guardian’s most acclaimed strands and now a winner of the Orwell Prize. What makes it work? The Two Johns tell Dorian Lynskey about why we need more reportage and fewer pundits, how they talk to real voters without falling into vox pop stereotypes, the value of uncertainty… and why we are all Walsall now. 

• “I cried on camera when a group of Liverpool mums described life without a Sure Start Centre.” – John Harris 
• “We ask people about their lives, not who they're going to vote for.” – John Domokos
• “The world is full of commentary and punditry. To increase knowledge, you have to report.” – John Harris
• “I can't remember what it was like to be certain of stuff… Making this series has  changed my mind and values.” – John Domokos
• “Although I’ll never vote Conservative in my life, now I understand why people do.” – John Harris

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

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Has the heroic, nearly-there performance of Gareth Southgate’s England team shown that politics and sport do mix – if the politics is about young players stand up for what’s right? Boris Johnson sets his sights on unlocking regardless of rising COVID figures. And which politicians could we stand to go on holiday with? And who would we avoid? 

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Presented by Andrew Harrison with Marie le Conte, Ahir Shah and Yasmeen Serhan. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic . Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. Produced by Andrew Harrison. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production

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After all that, penalties again. England’s Euros end in defeat in the Final but how has this tournament changed the relationship between the team and the nation – and football itself? BBC and Premier League football journalist Lynsey Hooper of The Offside Rule podcast and Philippe Auclair, England correspondent for France Football magazine, join Andrew Harrison to commiserate and work out what it all means.  

• “Why would you go to the pub at eight in the morning? I would want to be lucid for every single minute…” – Lynsey Hooper

• “This country has a unique problem with toxic masculinity.” – Philippe Auclair

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

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What has lockdown done to Britain’s £26bn fashion business? What will the post-pandemic High Street look like? Will we all wear posh pyjamas for the rest of our lives? And what on earth is “phygital” fashion – a mix of physical and digital shopping? Guardian fashion writer Lauren Cochrane, the author of The Ten: The Stories Behind The Fashion Classics, talks to Justin Quirk about how socio-political earthquakes shape what we wear – and why jeans, Breton shirts, stilettos and the colour black never seem to go out of fashion.

• “Fast fashion moves so fast now that we should call it sprint fashion.”
• “It’s astounding how much attention the Government will pay to the comparatively tiny fishing industry while ignoring the vastly bigger fashion business.”
• “Johnson and Trump are performatively badly dressed… Their populist base is as suspicious of fashion as they are.”
• “Economics play out in what we wear. Jeans were for poor people until the Depression – then Levi’s and Wranglers made them fashion items.”
• “The closest thing we’ve had to a political statement on fashion was Carrie Symonds renting her wedding dress.”

Presented by Justin Quirk. Produced by Andrew Harrison. 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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In Operation Trojan Shield an FBI-led alliance of national security services used ANOM, a fake EncroChat-style communication network, to capture 800 criminals in possibly the biggest undercover cyber-sting ever. They netted over 32 tons of drugs and more than $148 million in cash. But why could this coup be a bit of an own goal for the authorities? International security expert Dr Binoy Kampmark of RMIT University in Melbourne tells Nina Schick what the sting means – and how US law enforcement tours the world for countries with “back doors” into private data. 

• “The problem is that these criminals will now go back to Apple – because Apple fights for privacy.” 
• “Governments want to control the tech companies – but they also like the way those companies act.” 

Presented by Nina Schick. Produced by Andrew Harrison. 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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The row over trees cut down for HS2 is trivial next to a far bigger crisis of deforestation that’s damaging Britain’s agriculture, destabilising our environment and making us vulnerable to extreme weather, says Phil Sturgeon, trustee of climate charity Protect Earth. He tells Ros Taylor about why it’s in our urgent self-interest to plant more trees, why deforestation literally means colder cows and less efficient farming… and why our fears around HS2 are wildly misplaced.

• “We need to double our woodland”
• “The things we farm and the way in which we farm them needs to change for the sake of the environment”
• “HS2 is removing just 0.01% of the UK’s ancient woodland. The figures quoted are wildly exaggerated”
• “We’re worried about 30-60 hectares being lost from HS2, yet 10-15 million hectares are lost worldwide each year”

Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. 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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Did the Batley and Spen result rescue Labour from a death spiral? The Independent’s political commentator John Rentoul joins us to ask whether Starmer really has pulled off a great escape. Meanwhile, as Sajid Javid loudly announces the end of COVID restrictions, will masks become the latest marker of the culture war? And why was that Princess Diana statue so bad?

• “Dominic Cummings' blog reads like the diary of a teenage girl scorned.” – Ayesha Hazarika
• “Boris Johnson seems like a clown on the outside but the surprise from Cummings is, he actually does have hidden depths.” – John Rentoul
• “The pandemic has shown up just how minging we were before. Nobody washed their hands!” – Ayesha Hazarika
• “Javid hasn’t said anything different from Hancock, he’s just said them in a different order.” – John Rentoul

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Presented by Andrew Harrison with Arthur Snell and Ayesha Hazarika. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic . Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. Produced by Andrew Harrison. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production

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Sajid Javid wants to “trust common sense” and tear up COVID restrictions just as we’re reaching the highest infections since January. Are Jo and Josephine Public being lined up as Third Wave fall-guys? Plus the school isolations mess, and why parasitical politicians can’t hitch themselves to the England team’s success. Alex Andreou sets out the week ahead with Andrew Harrison.  

• “The England football team are very easy to love but difficult for politicians to claim.”

• “The Government may try to individualise responsibility for COVID. But when things go wrong, the blame will lie with them.”

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

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