The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

COVID’s impact on people with multiple sclerosis has been cruel beyond even the privations experienced by the rest of us. Our panelist Ros Taylor has never spoken about her own MS diagnosis before. In conversation with David Martin, CEO of the MS Trust, she discusses the astonishing hardships faced by people with MS during the pandemic, why all charities are facing a potential extinction event… and what listeners can do to rescue essential charities that face total ruin.

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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Donald Trump annihilates the language of democracy even as he campaigns to destroy its institutions – and in this, he’s just like Putin. In a podcast unlike any we’ve recorded (complete with live thunderstorms), the author of Surviving Autocracy MASHA GESSEN talks to Dorian Lynskey about the lies designed to purely to bully, the perils of the next Trump… and why we might come out of the populist mess better than we went in.

Produced and presented 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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As #BlackLivesMatter puts law enforcement under microscope worldwide, policing expert and former Met officer Peter Kirkham gives the view from inside British policing. Plus, what does Beijing’s draconian crackdown on free speech mean for Hong Kong citizens – and will Britain’s offer of BNO passports make any difference? And what are you going to spend your £500 government stimulus voucher on? 

Nina Shick and Arthur Snell join Dorian Lynskey for this week’s full-length Bunker podcast. 

• “Lockdown isn’t a policing issue. It’s a government and a health issue. Portraying it as a policing issue just shows how shambolic the Government’s response has been.” – Peter Kirkham 
• “Any organisation put together by white males will put the interests of white males first. We have to ask ourselves how we deal with that.” – Peter Kirkham 

Produced by Andrew Harrison. Script and assistant production by Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickenson. Logo and artwork by Mark Taylor. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters production

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From Bermondsey to Zimbabwe to Moscow and beyond, PETER TATCHELL has been fighting for human rights for over 50 years… and the LGBT rights that got him pilloried by the tabloids in 1983 are now the stuff of the mainstream. As we enter the most dangerous moment for democracies since the end of WWII, what should we be fighting for – and how? Peter talks to Andrew Harrison about populism’s crisis moment, the failure of Corbynism, and how we can still follow the COVID crisis with a once-in-a-century renewal. 

Produced and presented 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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Recorded before the Government’s announcement on support for the arts… Last Friday Naomi Smith talked to stand-up comedian and host of the Two Vegan Idiots podcast CARL DONNELLY about the battered state of comedy and the arts under the COVID onslaught. Then on Sunday Rishi Sunak announces £1.57bn of aid to the arts. Who says The Bunker doesn’t get things done, eh? Listen in as Naomi and Carl discuss what’s needed to fix crisis that has cost the arts £74bn and threatens 400,000 jobs. 

• “The arts isn’t just left-wing comedians banging on about Nigel Farage… These venues employ thousands of people.”

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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Extended culture upgrade special! Like all live music, opera has been floored by COVID-19. Can an art form that thrives on crowds and projecting your voice (and your breath) survive this game-changing crisis? Will opera houses face bankruptcy? How is the industry negotiating the nightmares of rescheduling, social distancing and insurance companies that won’t pay up? And when will audiences finally get to experience the thrill of live opera again? 

Alex Andreou raises the curtains on an all-star Corona Crisis special from the opera world, featuring Michael Moody, co-founder of the Grange Festival, Hampshire; Australian lyric soprano and multiple competition winner Kiandra Howarth; and National Symphony Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor John Andrews (whose Very Brief History of Opera on YouTube has been a blessing on lockdown). 

The music for this special edition is Kiandra performing Crepusculo at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. 

• “As sins go, bringing a respiratory disease to an opera festival is right up there.”
• “As opera buffs, we’re always dealing with tragedy…”

Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Jacob Archbold. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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GRAVE RESERVATIONS: Britain’s restaurants will unlock this weekend in a life or death moment for an industry that employs almost a million people. Will diners embrace their freedom or will FOGO keep them away? How has the COVID lockdown changed our relationship with eating out? Which restaurants will innovate their way out of trouble? And if a No Deal Brexit happens, will it all have been for nothing? The Observer’s renowned food critic JAY RAYNER joins Andrew Harrison to talk about the most momentous meals we may ever eat. 

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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Was Keir Starmer right to defenestrate Rebecca Long-Bailey and will this reset the DAYS SINCE LABOUR BUST-UP clock to zero? Special guest Philip Seargeant, author of The Art of Political Storytelling, explains how narrative crowded out truth in politics and what we can do about it. And what can everyone learn from Liverpool FC’s Jürgen Klopp – even if they hate football? Helen Lewis and Ahir Shah join Andrew Harrison for this week’s full-length Bunker podcast. 

• “The thing about the Labour Left’s anger on social media is, Twitter is what they’ve got left.” – Helen Lewis
• “It's hard to find models of masculinity that aren’t brittle or blokey. But Klopp is authoritative and also quite caring too.” – Helen Lewis

Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Script and assistant production by Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickenson. Logo and artwork by Mark Taylor. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters production

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Is there a real free speech crisis in universities or is it just another confected Culture War squabble? With people like Amber Rudd banned from speaking simply for having been in government, is No Platform overreaching itself? And how did a bunch of defrocked Marxists end up the main advocates of a very conservative vision of free speech? British-Australian academic EVAN SMITH, author of No Platform, talks to Dorian Lynskey about the tangled roots and “mission creep” inherent in the practice of shutting people up. 

• “Nigel Farage was exposed to the sunlight of debate pretty regularly. How well did that work out?”

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 pandemic an extinction event for news media, or a strange opportunity? Is trust in journalism really collapsing in the age of populism? And is the BBC still top of Dominic Cummings’ To Destroy list? Don of media analysts RAYMOND SNODDY – ex media editor at the Times and FT – talks to Andrew Harrison about the media’s COVID-born existential crisis.

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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