The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

Starmer’s position remains in question after a week of chaos and the announcement of controversial new asylum plans. Can the narrative shift? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss this and more as they outline the news to look out for this week. 

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Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. 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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Welcome back to the Weekly Wrap-Up, where we break down the biggest news, the weirdest stories, and the important bits that slipped under the radar. Today on The Bunker, Jacob Jarvis and Rafael Behr dig into Starmer’s briefing war with Wes Streeting, unpack the latest revelations from the Epstein files, and ask the big question: could the BBC survive a billion dollar lawsuit from Donald Trump?

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

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What if the incel problem is a symptom of something bigger in our society? We regularly pin misogyny on villains like Andrew Tate, the loud, memorable faces of a much darker problem. But what do we do if the real issue runs deeper than a few influencers? Today on The Bunker, Zoë Grünewald sits down with Katherine Denkinson, author of INCEL The Weaponization of Misogyny, to ask, how do we solve the incel problem?

Buy Katherine’s book Incel: The Weaponization of Misogyny 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 Zoë Grünewald. 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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Trump and Xi Jinping’s fractious relationship is one of the most important connections in the world. As each side fights for dominance, who appears to be on top at the moment – and why? And what is shaping how they behave? Seth Thévoz is joined by Elizabeth Economy, author of The World According to China and By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World, a former Senior Advisor for China at the US Department of Commerce and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

Buy By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping American Friction by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

• Head to ⁠https://www.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 Seth Thévoz.  Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  

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Amid the multi-trillion dollar stampede to build and control A.I., one question is being drowned out: Will artificial intelligence kill the entire human race, and all life on the planet? Nate Soares is president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and co-author of a chilling exploration of the race to create artificial super-intelligence, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. He tells Andrew Harrison why the concept of an omnicidal super-A.I.is not just an outside possibility from sci-fi but almost a certainty – why the A.I. boosters’ safeguards won’t work – and what we must do if we are to survive as a species. 

Buy If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies⁠ through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

• Head to https://www.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 Warren. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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The BBC’s Director General and head of news are forced to resign in a confected row about Donald Trump’s incendiary Jan 6 speech. Overdue accountability for mediocre leaders, or a successful drive-by from lifelong enemies of the BBC – and dangerous interference in British democracy from Trump? Plus, Rachel Reeves’ budget plans crystallise, COP30 shows the dire state of climate action, the junior doctors’ strike… and Somerset Dracula rises from his grave. Ros Taylor sets out the week ahead with Andrew Harrison. 

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

• Head to ⁠https://www.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: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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

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

NEW: If you like Start Your Week’s look ahead, how about a round-up of the biggest, strangest, most important stories of the week, every Friday? On today’s debut edition: What Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York really means. “Vibe coding”. The heroism of train attack defender Samir Zitouni. Rachel Reeves’ pre-budget nerves. And what the hell has Donald Trump done to the White House this week?  

• Read Spencer Ackerman’s excoriating obituary of Dick Cheney.

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

www.patreon.com/bunkercast  

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison and Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  

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John le Carré was still a working secret agent when he wrote The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, the book that shocked the Britain of 1963 with its portrait of espionage not as heroic but as sordid, morally compromised and utterly without glamour. In comparison James Bond’s escapist world of girls and gadgets seemed naive and shallow. As a new stage adaptation of The Spy opens, its playwright David Eldridge talks to Andrew Harrison about adapting le Carré’s deep, dark vision for 2025 – why he expanded the role of George Smiley – and what The Spy has to say about the West’s new Cold War with Putin.

• The Spy Who Came In From The Cold runs @sohoplace Theatre in London's West End from 17 Nov-21 Feb, ahead of a major UK tour in 2026. Tickets are available from https://spyonstage.com/

• 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 Warren. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. 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.

It's been a year since Trump’s election victory, how has US politics changed? What’s the trajectory? And is there any hope for the future? Emma Kennedy is joined by Casey Burgat, author of We Hold These "Truths": How to Spot the Myths that are Holding America Back and director of the Legislative Affairs program at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, to discuss. 

Buy We Hold These Truths: How to Spot the Myths That Are Holding America Back 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.

• 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 

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

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The MAGA cult’s idol worship is the fuel for Trump’s war on American democracy. As British politics lurches to the right, could something similar ever happen here? Could violent racist nationalism and conspiracy thinking build a know-nothing cult of personality that would threaten our society?

Prof Roger Griffin is one of the world’s top experts on the dynamics of fascism and emeritus professor in Modern History at Oxford Brookes University. He explains the crucial differences between American populism and the British far-right… why a movement doesn’t have to be strictly fascist to threaten a liberal democracy… and what ordinary citizens can do to hold back the authoritarian mob. 

• 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 Warren. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

www.podmasters.co.uk 

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

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