The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

Some good stuff DID get done during the chaotic COVID Parliament that’s just ended. Walthamstow MP STELLA CREASY tells Ayesha Hazarika about her fight to get misogyny reclassified as a hate crime as part of the Domestic Abuse Bill, why women have been left out of the Government’s COVID response… and all the gigs that the Right Honourable Member for Indie Rock missed because of the Pandemic. 

• “The Chancellor hasn’t got a Scooby about how COVID affects pregnant women. He started telling me about self-employment instead.”
• “We’re trying to get people back into pubs, but we’re not getting three-year olds back into childcare.”
• “One MP told me not to worry about coming back to work after having a baby because there’ll be a nanny. Well there ain’t.” 

Presented by Ayesha Hazarika. 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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When JOHN HUME died earlier this week, presidents and political leaders across the spectrum eulogised him as nothing less than the father of peace in Northern Ireland. How did this quiet, determined man find a way to bring about the impossible, and sideline violence within Irish nationalism? South Belfast MP Claire Hanna tells Naomi Smith why John Hume is her political hero, and what we can still learn from him.  

• “People used to joke about John Hume’s ‘single transferable speech’… but he used to say the problem hasn’t changed so the solution hasn’t changed.”

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

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With the Grand Reopening leading inevitably to the Great Re-Locking, is No.10’s rule-by-snappy-slogan no longer fit for purpose? Has Boris Johnson’s back-scratching Dissolution Honours finally made Lords Reform inevitable – and should we fear a shake-up if it happens? And our special guest, former minister and rebellious leader of the Gaukward Squad David Gauke, gives perhaps the most entertaining account of losing an election we’ve heard… and speculates if we’ll ever see one-nation Conservatism ever again. 

• “On COVID, the British public seem to be far more sanguine than writers for mid-market tabloids.” – Ian Dunt
• “If you’re a Muslim, your mum starts cooking for Eid three days ahead… And that late lockdown made Muslims feel really unvalued.” – Ayesha Hazarika
• “There’s been too many occasions where the Prime Minister has been too keen to deliver good news that turns out not to be correct… and that undermines trust.” – David Gauke
• “Everybody talks about Lords reform until they become leader.” - Ayesha Hazarika
• “Even as an ex-MP I was bombarded with angry emails saying Dominic Cummings should go.” – David Gauke

Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Ayesha Hazarika and 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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“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.

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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.

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