The Bunker – News without the nonsense

THIS PODCAST WAS RECORDED BEFORE CHELSEA AND MAN CITY LEFT THE COMPETITION: English football clubs triggered shockwaves of revulsion at the weekend when they announced their plans to join a €4bn breakaway ‘Super League’. Is the plan starting to crack, and can English football be saved? The man who broke the story, Chief Sports Reporter for The Times Martyn Ziegler, tells Andrew Harrison how a greed-fuelled vanity project came about, why the owners are unwise to discount “legacy fans”, and if there’s anything fans can do to stop it.   “This has gone beyond sabre rattling, this is civil war” “These owners simply don’t care about the tradition and community that surrounds their football clubs” “There is no doubt that the clubs have been taken aback by the reaction from fans, the media and even politicians” “The Premier League’s success is built on the fact that Leicester can win the title, and ‘Super League’ clubs can have a bad season” “In 30 years of reporting on sport I have never known the Government behave like this towards football” Produced and presented 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 Greensill scandal continues to leak dodginess like a busted fridge. Is lobbying really the issue, or is it really about the corrupt Old Boys’ Network? Joe Biden withdraws US troops from Afghanistan after 20 years: what does it mean? And we look at the new Carey Mulligan movie Promising Young Woman, an intense and provocative rape revenge fantasy, and what it says about Hollywood after #MeToo. David Aaronovitch of The Times is this week’s special guest  “People love a story of sex sleaze, but the thing is, they won’t always condemn the perpetrator for it.” – David Aaronovitch “ACOBA isn’t just toothless, it’s gumless and mouthless too.” – Arthur Snell “The problem with sleaze is that it’s easy to end up painting it on ALL politicians.” – David Aaronovitch “If you have to keep affirming that you’re a nice guy, you’re probably not.” – Yasmeen Serhan on Promising Young Woman “Why should withdrawing troops somehow mean ‘the end of America’s longest war’? The troops might be gone but the war isn’t.” – David Aaronvitch Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Yasmeen Serhan and Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. 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

As the sleaze scandal spreads, will the rising tide of corruption start lapping at Boris Johnson’s feet? Beer Garden Britain thinks COVID is done but as cases rise alarmingly in India and Brazil, will we need to think again? Alexei Navalny faces death in prison for opposing Putin. And will that revolting European Super League actually kill football? Naomi Smith is here to start your week.  “We need to stop calling this chumocracy, and start calling it corruption.” “The football terraces could be somewhere we can begin to win the culture war.” “Johnson is the master of Teflon. He’s deflected this onto the mandarins.” 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

When there’s a “heated debate” about racism on Good Morning Britain, you’ll often see Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, tussling with Toby Young and Nigel Farage and bringing uncomfortable arguments about white supremacy into Middle England’s living rooms. What does he get from it? He talks to Jude Rogers about the Sewell Report, his book The New Age Of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule The World and the value of being the “bad black guy who gets invited on TV to wind up the Daily Mail.”  “This is the most diverse cabinet, yet racist government of my lifetime.” “I can say things on Good Morning Britain that I can’t say in The Guardian.” “The reason why people love the Monarchy and the British Empire is that they don’t really understand what it is.” “The problem isn’t that black people don’t trust the police. The problem is the police.” “A culture war is going to happen whether I’m on TV or not.” “Diversity doesn’t mean that racism is over. The British Empire couldn’t have functioned without countless black and brown people helping to administer it.”  Presented by Jude Rogers. 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

What kind of person crashes a £3.6bn business, shattering the life savings of 400,000 people? When Britain’s most famous fund manager Neil Woodford went down in flames in 2019 it was a personal humiliation for a “rock star investor” that the City thought was infallible. Owen Walker, the FT’s European Banking Correspondent and author of Built On A Lie: The Rise And Fall Of Neil Woodford And The Fate Of Middle England’s Money tells Andrew Harrison how Woodford’s arrogance lost his clients millions – and asks whether the City has learned any lessons from the debacle. “This was a guy who could get the biggest CEOs to do his bidding” “Journalists loved Woodford. They could create stories around him. And yes, they’re to blame for hyping him up” “When Woodford rang up, even major CEOs would take a seat and prepare for a rollicking” Produced and presented 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 English public school is one of the country’s strangest and often most sinister institutions. James Scudamore, author of the moving and gripping novel of memory, friendship and abuse English Monsters, talks to Arthur Snell about his own experience with the mad and petty regime of the English boarding school. How did this culture spread the “profound damage” of men who’d seen true horror in war down to generations of pupils? And why do public schools produce an emotionally damaged elite?  “There’s a special toxicity in that closed world of elitism and privilege.” “That blend of extremely rigid rules and the psychopathy of the punishments… it’s incredible that these things were still going on as late as the 80s.”  “One thing you have to do to survive is to completely shut down your empathy. And another is to fall into extreme flippancy.” Presented by Arthur Snell. 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 pubs are back! Can the Great British Public drink the county back to economic health? Plus, did the deeply strange Prince Philip memorial weekend give us any pointers to the future fate of the Monarchy? Should we give up hoping for ‘normal’ politics to come back? And why shouldn’t there be a black James Bond?  “AstraZeneca? I’d have taken a North Korean vaccine if they offered me.” – Justin Quirk “Brits treat the Royal Family as both superhuman and somehow subhuman too.” – Alex Andreou “If there’s one thing that Labour hates, it’s Labour.” – Marie le Conte Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison with Alex Andreou, Marie le Conte and Justin Quirk. 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 England scratches at the doors of pubs and hairdressers like a starving cat, Yasmeen Serhan joins Andrew Harrison to set out the week’s news stories. Are we on for a retail superspreader event? Plus the Cameron-Greensill scandal gets worse, London decides to let Northern Ireland stew, Prince Philip is still dead… and Ramadan for dummies (i.e. Andrew).  “If you guys want this change to be permanent, you need to make sure your queues outside Primark are socially distanced.”  “Advice for non-Muslims: if you’re going to annoy your friends, do it today while they’re still allowed to swear.” 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

When digital artist Dan Hett tragically lost his brother Martin in the 2017 Manchester bombings, he turned to the world of interactive fiction to help him understand what had happened – and ultimately he produced the game ‘Closed Hands’, which examines the causes and effects of a terrorist attack in a fictional UK city.Dan talks to Arthur Snell about the fascinating world of interactive fiction novels, how he turned his painful experience into a piece of art, and the role it could play in tackling extremism. “There is a route through the game that reflects my reality, but I’m the only one who knows what it is” “This game is me questioning society and us as a population, rather than my individual experience” “Closed Hands was difficult to write, difficult to research, and for some people it’s difficult to play” “Sometimes the decisions you make during the game are not black and white, and there isn’t a correct way of doing things” “If can reach one person through games, who hadn’t thought about this, then I’ve succeeded” Presented by Arthur Snell. 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

Content warning: Includes discussion of sexual violence and abuse. What is it like being an “activist prosecutor” in a legal system hampered by institutional prejudice and often indifference? Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal tells The Observer’s Nick Cohen about his memoir The Prosecutor: One Man’s Pursuit for Justice for the Voiceless and what it reveals about British justice. Why are marginalised young women so badly served by our justice system? How might COVID transform that system? And is “cultural sensitivity” a cover for failures on racial and class prejudice? “Police and prosecutors often use excuses to cover the fact that ‘This is really difficult, why are we bothering?’” “The idea of ‘working in the interests of justice’ got changed to ‘working in the interest of just us’.” “Our legal system is stuck in the past and isn’t updating with any speed.” “One police station has been sold to a pizza restaurant. And do you know who owns it? Organised crime.” Presented by Nick Cohen. 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