The Bunker – Your daily news Deep Dive

A Chinese ‘super embassy’ could be built in the heart of London – and intelligence experts say it would open the door to cyber interference at the heart of Britain’s financial system. Today on The Bunker, Gavin Esler sits down with security expert Nigel Inkster, former director of operations and intelligence MI6 and senior advisor at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, to ask if Britain is turning a blind eye to the growing threat from Beijing? With fears of espionage, tech theft and power plays rising fast, how worried should we really be about China?

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

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Follow us on BlueSky.

Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio editors: 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.

A special crossover edition from our partner podcast, This is Not a Drill.

Ukraine’s daring drone attack Operation Spiderweb has stunned Russia with its stealth, precision planning and the damage it unleashed on warplanes based deep within Russian territory.  

The Bunker regular Gavin Esler is joined from Kyiv by This Is Not A Drill co-host Oz Katerji, to discuss the impact of an operation planned meticulously over the past 18 months – and what it means both for the war and the nature of asymmetric conflict. 

• This episode of This Is Not A Drill is supported by Incogni, the service that keeps your private information safe, protects you from identity theft and keeps your data from being sold. There’s a special offer for This Is Not A Drill listeners – go to Incogni.com/notadrill to get an exclusive 60% off your annual plan. 

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

www.patreon.com/bunkercast   

Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill 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.

From memes demanding we “eat the rich” to real-world insurrections, the language of revolution is everywhere. But what does it really mean to call for one today? Zing Tsjeng is joined by Dan Edelstein, professor of political science and history at Stanford University and author of The Revolution to Come, to explore our relationship with revolutionary thought, from Ancient Greece, to the French revolution, through to the January 6th riots – and ask whether we need a revolution today.

Buy The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. https://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 Zing Tsjeng. 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.

Wes Streeting? Angela Rayner? Andy Burnham? Or someone you’ve never heard of? Starmer won’t be stepping down any time soon – but what happens when he does? Who’s most likely to win the leadership? Do they have the right combination of personality and vision to get Labour out of its rut? And will it be yet another bloke? Ava Santina of PoliticsJoe joins Andrew Harrison around the crystal ball to see who’s most likely to lead Labour when Keir disappears. 

• Listen to Why? with Emma Kennedy: How could we talk to space aliens? now. 

• Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more.

• We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker to get your £100 sponsored credit.  

Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Produced by Liam Tait. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. 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.

The defence review is the big talking point of the moment – what’s new and how will Starmer frame it? Plus, Rafael Behr and Jacob Jarvis discuss other pressures on Labour, the state of conflicts across the globe and Trump’s latest conspiracy theory thinking. 

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

Listen to the latest podcast from Podmasters, Crime Scene, the truth behind true crime with Alison Phillips and Bernard Hogan-Howe: https://linktr.ee/crimescenepodcast  

www.patreon.com/bunkercast    

Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. 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.

Donald Trump isn’t an emperor, yet – but who knows how he might change the US in the next few years. As he gets more dictatorial by the day, what lessons could we learn from Rome – and which Roman emperor is he most like? Peter Edwell is associate professor in ancient history at Macquarie University and joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss.

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

Listen to the latest podcast from Podmasters, Crime Scene, the truth behind true crime with Alison Phillips and Bernard Hogan-Howe: https://linktr.ee/crimescenepodcast   

www.patreon.com/bunkercast     

Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. 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.

Elon Musk seems to be limping off the political stage with a whimper. So was he ever the power behind the throne or just a useful idiot with a fat wallet and a massive platform for Trump to exploit? Today in The Bunker, Alex Von Tunzelmann is joined by Andrew Boujean, editor of The Washingtonian, to find out just how the richest man on earth m became the latest high profile figure to be chewed up and spat out by the Maga machine.

• 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 Alex von Tunzelmann. 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.

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

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

Why did getting pillaged by Vikings ultimately help the economies of the Middle Ages? How did a flood of silver from conquered South America end up making Spain poorer? Was Genghis Khan the father of globalisation? And why was it a terrible idea to garland Luftwaffe fighter aces with medals and fame? In an absorbing new book Blood and Treasure: The Economics of Conflict from the Vikings to Ukraine, economist and historian Duncan Weldon explains how war shapes economies and economies shape wars… and why the consequences are usually what nobody expects. 

• Pre-order Blood and Treasure 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.

• Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more.

• We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker to get your £100 sponsored credit.  

Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor and Dom Delargy. Produced by Liam Tait. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

www.podmasters.co.uk [[ LINK https://www.podmasters.co.uk/ ]]

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

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

There are reports of chaos in Downing Street – but just how bad are things really? Ros Taylor talks Jacob Jarvis through the latest from Number 10 and how Farage is upping the pressure on Starmer. Plus, we look at world news to look out for in the coming days. 

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

Listen to the latest podcast from Podmasters, Crime Scene, the truth behind true crime with Alison Phillips and Bernard Hogan-Howe: https://linktr.ee/crimescenepodcast  

www.patreon.com/bunkercast    

Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Ros Taylor. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. 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.

Forget the storybook version of British history. Churchill without Hitler would be a forgotten windbag with a record of failure. Elizabeth I and Francis Drake didn’t defeat the Spanish – bad luck and bad weather sank the Armada. And Boudicca would be remembered as a sadistic tyrant if not for the Romans. Creator of the multi-million-selling kids’ series Horrible Histories Terry Deary brings his irreverent, fact-packed style to adult readers with A History of Britain in Ten Enemies. He tells Andrew Harrison why history isn’t what it used to be. 

• Buy A History of Britain in Ten Enemies  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.

• Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more.

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

Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Produced by Liam Tait. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. 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.