The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

It’s December, so come open this week’s Advent Calendar of misery with Ros Taylor and Gavin Esler. Is the Mail/Telegraph frenzy over Rachel Reeves allegedly misleading the Commons over Britain’s finances just a mountain out of a molehill? How is the Budget fallout settling? Does David Lammy really want to bring trial by jury to an end for all but the most serious cases? Oh, and having failed to stop one war in Ukraine, will Trump manage to start one in Venezuela before Christmas? God bless us, every one!

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Written and presented by Ros Taylor with Gavin Esler. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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Wrapping up the stories of the week… Jacob Jarvis and Seth Thévoz dig into the media’s reaction to Rachel Reeves’s budget and what it really tells us about the state of Labour. We break down the latest twist in the Trump/Russia saga after the collapse of the so-called “peace plan”, and look at The Guardian’s continuing coverage of Nigel Farage’s racism accusations from his school days. Plus, Seth names his winners and losers of the week, we take a closer look at the power players behind AI and online moderation and so much more.

• Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included.

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Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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The US-Russia “peace plan” isn’t happening. Days after the 28-point proposal leaked, it collapsed spectacularly amid accusations that it amounted to a surrender to Putin. Is there anything left in the “amended” version? And who really wrote the proposals? Luke Harding, foreign correspondent for The Guardian and author of Invasion explains why the plan was simply a Russian foreign policy offensive with Trump as its salesman, whether the whole episode has made Zelenskyy stronger, and if peace is will ever get closer.
• Buy Luke’s book Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

• Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included.

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

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• Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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Anticipation is building around the imminent release of the “Epstein files.” With Donald Trump finally signing off, the Justice Department is expected to publish long-sealed documents on the disgraced financier, and the public is bracing for answers. But what should we actually expect? Today in The Bunker, Seth Thévoz talks to journalist and author Vicky Ward, who has reported on Epstein for over two decades, to see whether the files finally confirm any of the rumours or just pour more fuel on the conspiracy bonfire.

Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included.

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Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more

Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editors: Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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A pocket-sized device that contains all knowledge in the universe? Which makes your life better, and not a hellscape of political rancour and surveillance capitalism? Come off it! Never happen. But that’s exactly what Douglas Adams imagined as the titular device in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, the cosmic road novel that changed the minds of a generation.

As a new immersive theatre version of “HHGTTG” opens in London, its creator Arvin Ethan David tells Andrew Harrison why Douglas Adams was the digital Wodehouse who would have held back enshittification… whether Elon Musk is Zaphod Beeblebrox … and why you still need to know where your towel is. 

• Get tickets for The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London until 15 Feb 2026 at hitchhikerslive.com.

• Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included.

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Warren. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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It’s a big week for Starmer and Reeves as the Budget looms. How’s it going to go down? Plus, talks over a plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, Trump gets a new best friend and Cop30 ends on a disappointing note. Rafael Behr and Jacob Jarvis discuss the news to look out for this week. 

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• Head to ⁠nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker⁠ to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. 

Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. 

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As the Epstein walls close in on Trump, the President pulls a desperate U-turn and says he wants the release of files he tried to suppress. How will they be redacted, and to save whom? Plus Labour’s latest attempts to look tough on migration, the Cloudflare outage, Russia bombs railway lines in Poland and shines lasers at the RAF… and why Trump’s “Quiet, piggy” outburst is hurting him more than his usual slob misogyny would. Jonn Elledge and Andrew Harrison wrap up the stories that mattered this week. 

• Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included.

• We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. 

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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For years China has been cast as a climate villain, responsible for roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. But China’s emissions have begun to level off and the country has quietly become a powerhouse in clean-energy. Today on The Bunker, Gavin Esler is joined by Barbara Finamore, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and author of Will China Save the Planet to find out if China’s clean-energy model is the future everyone else will have to follow — or a path too politically uncomfortable for the rest of the world.

Buy Barbara’s book Will China Save the Planet through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included.

• We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.  

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social 

Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more.

Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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Writer-artist Joe Sacco created a new kind of journalism when he combined on-the-ground reportage with painstaking hand-drawn illustration. His award-winning books including Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde brought under-reported stories to new audiences. In his absorbing new book The Once And Future Riot he travels to Uttar Pradesh, India, to explore the causes and consequences of the bitter religious and political violence that consumed the area in the 2010s. He talks to Andrew Harrison about life as a conflict cartoonist, creativity vs A.I., and how “comics journalism” can do things the TV news never can. 

• Buy The Once And Future Riot through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

• Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included.

• We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. 

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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Next year is shaping up to be a year of uncomfortable truths. Rich countries are spending way beyond their means, the A.I. bubble could be about to burst, and global conflicts are drifting further into dangerous territory. But it may also be a turning point for the planet as we confront these challenges head-on.

Today on The Bunker, Seth Thévoz is joined by Tom Standage, deputy editor of The Economist, to take a look at The Economist’s The World Ahead 2026 issue and find out what these trends mean for politics, the global economy and the human race. 

Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included.

• We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.  

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social 

Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more.

Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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