The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

What buttons can government push to wake up a comatose economy, and will they work this time? Will this formerly Conservative government need to go full Keynesian with a bonanza of giveaways to stimulate activity? Or if fear of persistent virus stops us returning to “normal”, might Government withdraw its support measures to force us back to work? Alex Andreou talks to DR GEMMA TETLOW, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government, about the fiendishly complex task of bringing the economy back from suspended animation. 

• “Ten years of focus on greater efficiency drove out some of the resilience that might have been there.” 
• “If we come out of this with people holding on to their money then Government may need to stimulate the economy even more.” 

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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Where does this week of chaos leave the Government’s authority? Will it affect our staggering progress towards the cliff edge of a failed negotiation with the EU? Ian Dunt talks to ANAND MENON of UK In A Changing Europe about the Johnson government’s self-inflicted problems. This podcast recorded on Tuesday 26 May. 

• “With unemployment and a recession coming, will people finally stop thinking about politics and say just fix the sodding economy?” – Anand Menon
• “When cut-through REALLY cuts through, it becomes the emotional framework that everyone remembers. And that’s what’s happened to Cummings.” – Ian Dunt
• “It suits the Government to walk from the talks in November, so that sense of outrage can carry us through the first queues at Dover.” – Anand Menon

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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Got a bonus one for you: Britain’s fishing industry has long been an emotional hot button for Brexiters and a seaborne sticking point for our trade negotiators. What exactly is going on in Britain’s coastal waters? And what would a No Deal Brexit mean for fishermen who’ve been promised so much – and used as symbols – over the past five years? Ros Taylor talks to IAIN SPEAR of Devon scallop suppliers Coombe Fisheries about the fate of the Great British Fish.

Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters production.

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Dom Under Siege, Day Five: Has the Prime Minister’s incomprehensibly immovable Rasputin done enough to save his skin? And is a 60-mile car trip really the best way to test your eyesight? Plus guest John Appleby of health think tank the Nuffield Trust joins us to scope out how the NHS will change after COVID lifts. And why does the Government’s “Cultural Renewal Taskforce” contain no-one from the music, books, museum, heritage or fashion industries? Ahir Shah and Ros Taylor join Andrew Harrison for this week’s full-length BUNKER.

• “This is not going away as long as you know what a Zoom funeral is.” – Ahir Shah
• “This won’t be what breaks the Johnson Government. But the doubts have now been sown.” – Ros Taylor
• “In terms of lockdown, anyone can cite the Cummings Caveat now.” – John Appleby

Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison with Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou. Script and assistant production by Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickenson. Logo and artwork by Mark Taylor. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters production.

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Coronavirus has provided a golden opportunity for unscrupulous online and offline retailers to jack up their prices on essential goods. Who are the worst culprits for COVID price gouging? Who are the victims? And what should government be doing to stop them? ADAM FRENCH, Senior Consumer Rights Editor at the consumer advocate Which?, talks to Andrew Harrison about pandemic profiteering.

Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production.

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Should he stay or should he go now? Audio of our Emergency Dominic Cummings podcast, recorded on Zoom at 1pm today, Sunday 24 May with Dorian Lynskey, Ros Taylor, Alex Andreou and Andrew Harrison. You can just about get it listened to before the PM’s press conference at 5pm when, gosh, who know who’ll get sacked? Video of this podcast is coming soon on our Patreon page too. Sign up for full access.

Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production.

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The Government’s emergency measures to keep public places empty are proving to be a rat’s nest. Even senior police officers and prosecutors don’t fully understand the law. Prosecutions are falling apart. And civil liberties groups are calling for a review of all penalties. Constitutional expert and Remainiacs regular DAVID ALLEN GREEN talks to Ayesha Hazarika about bad law made in haste, and what we can look forward to in the inevitable Public Inquiry.

• “We’ve enforced public health legislation as if it were public order emergency.”
• “The regulations that created perhaps the widest-ranging prohibitions in peacetime never had a parliamentary vote.” 
• “It may well be that the litigation will go on longer than the virus did.”
• “We’re supposed to nod along in a public health emergency… but how much are we nodding along?”

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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There’s only one problem with the widely-held belief that humans are fundamentally amoral and selfish, says Dutch historian RUTGER BREGMAN: it’s rubbish. His new book Humankind: A Hopeful History argues that the record shows humanity’s superpower is its unique aptitude for altruism and co-operation. He tells Andrew Harrison why everything from Lord Of The Flies to the story of the Blitz is teaching us to draw the wrong conclusions about the human race – and explains who benefits from spreading the myth of human selfishness.

• “Catastrophes bring out the best in people”
• “Individual humans are not all that smart or strong – but we can cooperate on the level no other species can match.”
• “The idea that most people are pretty decent is actually a revolutionary idea.”
• “Cynicism is a form of laziness.”

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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On this week’s full-length podcast: Keir Starmer, Donkey Farmer. Be a hero, or else: The Government frogmarches teachers to the frontline. Futurist Mark Stevenson joins us for some big ideas on how to change everything when the COVID mess starts to abate. Corona-ing up the Culture Wars. Should we give in to travel guilt? And which of the panel will defend David Cameron?

Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou join Andrew Harrison for this week’s full-length BUNKER.

• “THE WORLD HAS JUST BEEN GIVEN A CRASH COURSE IN SYSTEMS CHANGE.”
• “If you want to see real innovation, go to the places where the world is broken.”
• “Every nation has been given an exam called COVID. And the grades are coming in.”
• “Being vindicated about something you always knew was going to be a shit show is not a great feeling.” 

Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison with Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou. Script and assistant production by Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickenson. Logo and artwork by Mark Taylor. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters production.

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FROST/BARNIER: As Britain’s negotiators issue ultimatums out of thin air and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier pronounces the talks “very disappointing”, is there anything to save Britain from the catastrophic No Deal we were promised would never happen? We talk to HILARY BENN, Chair of the Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union, about the Brexit brinksmanship that could blow up in Britain’s face. 

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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