The Bunker – News without the nonsense

What if the Prime Minister was corrupt, and nobody cared? As Labour steels itself for a tough election day, we look at where sleaze is and isn’t cutting through. Plus, as the COVID horror in India worsens, Ahir Shah tells us what his friends and family in India are experiencing – and the extend of Modi’s culpability.And a Wild Idea for the future: Universal Basic Capital. Rather than tinkering with inequality through a complex benefits system, why don’t we just give everyone £10,000 on their 18th birthday? “The country is so fucking broken that Johnson will put himself on sale for a pair of curtains.” – Alex Andreou “If you’re asking ‘If Labour can’t win now, when can it?’, you’re asking the wrong question.” – Ros Taylor “If someone gives you a shit-ton of money, surely you’re beholden to them?” – Ahir Shah “We’ve somehow decided that old people deserve state handouts during this pandemic, and young people don’t. That’s a really poisonous point of view.” – Ros Taylor Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison with Ahir Shah, Ros Taylor and Alex Andreou. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic . Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Enforced isolation, powerlessness, boredom, even emasculation – lockdown was the perfect petri dish to create a pandemic of online gambling which affects young people worse than most. The Director of Clean Up Gambling Matt Zarb-Cousin was a problem gambler himself and betting almost destroyed his life. He talks to Andrew Harrison about how sponsorship and ads normalise dangerous betting behaviour, how the gambling industry capitalises on toxic masculinity, his personal experience with addiction, and what we need to do about this growing problem.  “We’ve created a generation who believe that betting obsessively on football is all part of supporting your team.”  “These are highly addictive products… I found myself missing sixth form classes to go to the bookies.” “Gambling offers the illusion of control but people end up feeling subordinated to it.”   “By advertising on football shirts, gambling companies can bypass advertising laws.”  Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As votes loom in Hartlepool, Scotland, Wales and in local authorities and metro mayor regions across England, is Keir Starmer’s message on Government sleaze finally cutting through? And what will it all mean for independence in Scotland and Wales? Ros Taylor is here to start your week. “When the media just hang on the Prime Minister’s every word the result is this decrepitude of politics.”. “It’s a wonderful time for an incumbent government to have an election.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can the classics tell us the truth about Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow and the Marvel pantheon? Robert Eaglestone, Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought at Royal Holloway, University of London, uses the Marvel Cinematic Universe to explain Aristotle’s Poetics to his students. He sits down with fellow Marvelite Andrew Harrison to discuss the mythic resonances of the MCU. Face front! Warning: many spoilers here.  “What Aristotle says about Greek tragedy and drama fits the Marvel Universe perfectly.” “Captain America and Iron Man’s moral choices come right out of their characters. And Aristotle would really appreciate that.”  “Fighting Thanos is fighting the inevitability of death. We’re all going to lose – but what is a good death?” “Aristotle’s Lyceum was a kind of counter-school to Plato’s X-Men.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Britain really the hopelessly split society that we fear? The good news is that as the Brexit rubble settles, our common ground is growing, and Britain is more up for serious political change than almost any other Western democracy. Tim Dixon, co-founder of pro-consensus pressure group More In Common and former advisor to Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in Australia, talks to Ros Taylor about the weird online and offline dynamics that over-represent vocal extremes, and why Brexity nationalists agree with progressives more than you think.  “We’ve lived off the capital of past generations in terms of the glue that holds society together. Now we need to reinvest in it.” “People’s identities as Remainer or Leaver is still a lot stronger than their identification with a political party.” “We tend to forget that most people don’t see the world through a political lens.” “If politics can come back into people’s lives, and be useful again, then it can be really transformative.” Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 might be the closest the world has ever come to actual nuclear war – but do we really understand what went on between Kennedy, the USA and Kruschev’s USSR? Ukraine-born Harvard Professor of History Serhii Plokhy tells Jude Rogers about his new book Nuclear Folly: A New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis – and what this fatal moment in the confrontation between East and West can tell us about today’s unspoken second Cold War.  “Diplomatic telegrams were so slow that Kruschev thought the best way to communicate with Kennedy was openly, through Radio Moscow.” “The technology has changed since the Cuban Missile Crisis but human nature hasn’t.”  “Today we’re back in the uncharted waters of the nuclear arms race before the Cuban Crisis.” Presented by Jude Rogers. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whoever wins, we lose… As Dominic Cummings takes a wrecking ball to the Prime Minister he made, writer Emma Kennedy joins us to ask who will win this particular Battle of the Bastards. Plus, if social media is so toxic that Premier League footballers are boycotting it, should we end anonymity online? And are quiz shows to blame for the state of politics?  “Let’s all grab a sun lounger and enjoy the weapons-grade spite from Dominic Cummings.” – Emma Kennedy “My main emotional response to all of these leaks is hilarity and joy.” – Ian Dunt “Carrie Symonds’ flat decor is like a Home Counties version of Trump Tower” – Emma Kennedy “Number 10 was once our version of The West Wing. Now it’s like the Tweenies have taken over.” – Ayesha Hazarika “The old producer of HIGNFY told me that putting Boris Johnson on TV was the biggest regret of his life.” – Emma Kennedy Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison with Ayesha Hazarika and Ian Dunt. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic . Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a classic Alien vs Predator scenario as disgruntled supervillain Dominic Cummings resurfaces with the receipts on Johnson’s squalid behaviour over lockdown, leaks and the No.11 flat. What will go down worse for the embattled Prime Minister? The news that he’d rather see “bodies piled high in their thousands” than a third lockdown, or Carrie’s taste in gold wallpaper? Alex Andreou is here to start your week.  “Cummings won’t release snippets. He’ll want to make his committee appearance big box office.” “The message is, Don’t go after me, mate. I know where all the bodies are buried.” “Johnson’s glove puppet turned around and bit him in the face.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Cameron to cabinet, the Greensill Capital scandal has spiralled into corruption chaos. But now numerous instances of shady practice are joining hands. Special guests Cynthia O’Murchú and Andy Bounds who cover Greensill and more for the Financial Times join us to connect the dots between Greensill, Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG/Liberty Steel empire and the surprise approval of a new deep coal mine in Cumbria. What’s really going on and how do we fix it?  “The transparency rules don’t work. Where are you supposed to log a private drink with Matt Hancock?” – Cynthia O’Murchú “We call it the Private Eye test. Would you want to see this in the paper?” – Andy Bounds “I’ve lost count of how many inquiries there have been into Greensill’s connections with government.” – Cynthia O’Murchú “Cameron wasn’t shy about Greensill. He touted them as the future of Government finance. But his involvement has become tawdry.” – Andy Bounds “Transparency rules didn’t reveal these meetings, it was the ABSENCE of transparency.” – Cynthia O’Murchú  “If a Civil Servant is already working for a private company when they leave government, they don’t have to declare the new job. That is gobsmacking.” – Alex Andreou Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Perseverance Rover is bringing us stunningly detailed images of Mars, but do we really need to go there? Are we anywhere nearer proof of life on other worlds? And is Elon Musk’s dream of a million-person Mars base by the end of the century feasible – or desirable? Alok Jha, The Economist’s Science Correspondent and host of The Jab podcast talks space-sceptic Ros Taylor through the pros and cons of Martian exploration, and ponders whether interstellar objects are proof of extraterrestrial tech.  “If you’re interested in life on earth, you should be interested in life in Mars.”  “We’ve never sent an astronaut to Mars, let alone a million people.” “Before COVID, we didn’t think you could develop a vaccine in twelve months. It shows what you can do with willpower and money.”  “We’ve never had people sitting in a tin can to Mars for six months before. Would they just destroy one another?” “If there are one million planets in the universe, that’s a lot of opportunities for life to start.”  Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices