The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Yemen is suffering the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, a conflict that has killed some 100,000 people since 2015 and left 24m in peril. Now it’s dragging countries across the region into its vortex. How did we get here? Exactly how are Saudi Arabia and Iran involved? Will the election of Joe Biden make a difference? Arthur Snell talks to Laura Cretney, a PhD student at Durham University who works with charities in the region, to disentangle a nightmare confrontation between Houthi rebels, the Yemeni government and multiple foreign interests.  “For many young men, the best and most lucrative way to provide for their families is to take up arms.” “This isn’t just a proxy conflict between Saudi and Iran. There are a LOT of regional rivalries here.” Presented by Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. 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

Amid the chaos of the Capitol Invasion of January 6, keen observers could spot the iconography of Valkism, a weird confected “religion” born out of video game culture that’s now empowering QAnon and far right politics. Former Government advisor and BBC and Reuters correspondent Amil Khan tells Arthur Snell about the crossover of video games, 4Chan, 8Chan and far right politics which produced Valkism and what it means for the fight against extremism. “Some of these people want to create an alternative reality where their political fantasies can play out.” – Amil Khan “If you’re inspired by the idea of a Nazi alternative universe in a video game, you may well be attracted to far right politics.” – Arthur Snell “We like think that we’re stable, rational people and the nutters must be from somewhere else. Well, the US Capitol riots disproved that.” – Amil Khan “We tend to see extremism as a foreign problem... But this is a British problem, because it feeds off our problems at home.” – Amil Khan 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

It’s the end of an era! As parents collapse weeping to their knees in a fug of gin, has home schooling changed how we teach kids? Will in-school testing stick? And will the experience shine a light on the God-awfulness of the National Curriculum? PLUS: After that derisory nurses’ pay offer, how long ’til the U-Turn? Porklife as the Government shovels “levelling up” money to Tory constituencies. Farage retires! Again! And why can’t we stop collecting stuff?Ros Taylor, Ahir Shah and Arthur Snell join Alex Andreou for this week’s panel edition. “Perhaps forcing a young woman to dress up and endure whatever hatred the press want to throw at her is inhuman. And perhaps we should stop doing it.” – Ros Taylor “Even the most loving and caring parents are saying OK, please take this away from me, I don’t know what a quadratic is.” – Ahir Shah “It’s fair to say that parents trust the heads rather more than they trust Gavin Williamson.” – Ros Taylor “Like a lot of parents I thought, how hard can teaching be? Turns out it’s QUITE difficult…” – Arthur Snell “What’s a fronted adverbial? Trust me, you’re happier not knowing.” – Ros Taylor “If I have to do a spreadsheet for a pint, I will do a spreadsheet for a pint.” – Ahir Shah Presented by Alex Andreou with Ros Taylor, Ahir Shah 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

What does today’s International Women’s Day stand for when we’re in the middle of a new wave of feminism? What can women expect from government when its fill-in Equalities Minister thinks there ought to be a Minister for Men? Naomi Smith presents a special edition with regulars Nina Schick and Minnie Rahman plus special guest Jude Kelly, former artistic director of the Southbank Centre and founder of the WOW – Women of the World – Foundation.  “It always irritates me when a man says ‘I’m interested in feminism because of my daughter’. Well, didn’t you care before?” – Jude Kelly “It’s no good just having someone like Priti Patel in cabinet, unless there’s a matching political will for gender equality.” – Minnie Rahman “Having to persuade and listen for centuries has given women fantastic negotiating skills – and men can really learn from that.” – Jude Kelly Presented by Naomi Smith with Nina Schick and Minnie Rahman. Produced by 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

Novelist Sergei Lebedev writes forensically detailed books which uncover how Soviet history still exerts its power on modern Russians. According to the New York Review of Books he’s “the best of Russia’s younger generation of writers.” He talks to Alex Andreou about his latest novel, the COVID-relevant thriller Untraceable; precarious life in the new Russia; and how the Soviet Union might be dead but it’s never truly buried.  “I’m witnessing my country returning to its past. And I wouldn’t want to be a person who does nothing about it” 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

Why are so many minority patients rejecting the COVID vaccines and what can healthcare do about it? Vaccine hesitancy in minority communities is threatening to turn the pandemic into a specific crisis for marginalised and non-white populations. Ayesha Hazarika talks to Dr Salman Waqar, GP and General Secretary of the British Islamic Medical Association, about a problem with deep roots in the historic marginalisation of BAME people.  “When we tell BAME communities that this vaccine will save your life, many of them won’t take what you say at face value” “I’ve seen elderly vaccination patients crying because it was the first time they’d been out since March 2020” “A lot of the NHS’s non-white workforce has struggled to get its voice heard… We’re still not seeing that workforce represented in NHS management” “The biggest killer in COVID is economic deprivation – and minority communities happen to be more poor” Presented by Ayesha Hazarika. 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

Just how global can Britain be if we’re becoming ever-more insular after Brexit? Naomi Smith talks to Peter Westmacott, former ambassador to Turkey, France and the USA, about the hidden prejudices that influence international relations, whether the advent of Biden will turn back the tide of populist nationalism, and his new book They Call It Diplomacy.  “A French colleague once asked me point-blank, Why do you English hate us so much? I don’t believe we do – but there is definitely a Little Englander mindset.”  “There was an old Iranian joke that if you hold up Khomeini’s beard you’d see MADE IN ENGLAND underneath.”  “Leaving the EU was never a legitimate way of dealing with immigration from places outside the EU.” “I remember saying Be very careful when you call a referendum because you might get an answer that’s nothing to do with the question on the ballot papers.” Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. 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

Would you get get a vaccine passport if it meant you could go out to eat, drink and dance? Even if it created a two-tier Britain? Special guest Alan Rusbridger joins us to talk about his new book News And How To Use It, the crisis in journalism and how we fix it. And Frasier is coming back. Is this a good idea? Hardcore fangirl Yasmeen has thoughts.  “Journalism is as essential as ambulances or the police…” – Alan Rusbridger “Vaccine passports? This is the Government wasting time thinking of solutions to problems that don’t exist” – Ian Dunt “You don’t want Mark Zuckerberg regulating your speech. But you don’t want Government regulating your speech either.” – Alan Rusbridger Presented by Andrew Harrison with Yasmeen Serhan and Ian Dunt. 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

Will Wednesday’s Budget see the end of Sunshine Sunak or will the Chancellor put off the reckoning with financial Armageddon again? How will you spend the last week of home schooling? And what about that new Brazilian variant? Arthur Snell sets out the coming week for Andrew Harrison.“Margaret Thatcher is the divinity all the old Tories worship, but this party’s agenda couldn’t be further from hers.”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

Bully, liar, tyrant, fantasist, thief on a monumental scale – just ask the Mirror pensioners – and narcissist of an even greater magnitude, Robert Maxwell was a villain for whom the term “disgraced newspaper tycoon” seems pitifully small. Yet as former Evening Standard and Telegraph journalist John Preston’s new book Fall: The Mystery Of Robert Maxwell shows, the horror of Maxwell’s early life explains (if not excuses) the monster he became. How did Maxwell fool, and then fleece, the publishing world?  “If you worked in Fleet Street in the 80s there was no escaping Maxwell…” “You have to seen Maxwell through the prism of what happened to his family in the Holocaust. There was enormous rage and guilt there.” “Robert Maxwell was gripped by a simultaneous desire to sit at the top table, and also to kill everyone else at that top table.” “Maxwell was both ridiculed and feared, often by the same people.” Presented and 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