The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Patreon people get the podcast early… As Boris Johnson unlocks Britain for the tiniest Christmas ever, is he just admitting that the public no longer listens to government? What will hacking back the overseas development budget mean for ‘Global Britain’? (Spoiler: it’s bad). Has COVID made Universal Basic Income more likely? And why do we want a “normal” Christmas anyway? Miatta Fahnbulleh, Naomi Smith and Alex Andreou join Andrew Harrison to open the Advent Calendar of Aaaaargh.  “We’ve gone from being a country that others trust, to one eyed with suspicion.” – Naomi Smith “Good politics isn’t following the polls, it’s doing the right thing and then convincing people that it’s the right thing“ - Alex Andreou “If Covid-19 has shown anything it’s that when a human sneezes halfway around the world, the whole world coughs.” – Naomi Smith 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

Are we in for the first parliamentary crisis of the pandemic? Will Boris Johnson have to rely on Labour votes to get his post-lockdown tiers-based restrictions past rebellious Tory MPs? Is the EU deal really going to fall apart over fish, a mere 0.1% of the economy? And will these negotiations with the EU ever end? Alex Andreou sets out the week ahead.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

The climate emergency brings a nightmare threat to biodiversity, with disastrous knock-on effects to human economies as well as the natural world. Are governments doing enough to protect and restore threatened ecosystems? Ecologist and chief scientific advisor to the UN’s Trillion Tree Campaign Thomas Crowther tells Jude Rogers about the urgent need to reverse global deforestation – starting at the grassroots.  “The loss of ecosystems is not just essential for climate change. It’s essential for our ongoing livelihoods.” “It’s not just putting trees in the ground. We need to recreate and reintegrate nature.” “Global restoration does not happen from the top-down decisions. It happens from an immense bottom-up movement.” “Tree restoration is not enough… we need thousands of solutions to tackle climate change.”  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

From Israel to Iran, Donald Trump thought he could reset the Middle East. His fixation on the region defined the last four years of US foreign policy. But what will Biden’s presidency mean for America and the Middle East? Senior policy fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute Michael Stephens talks to Arthur Snell about oil, oligarchs, and outbreaks – and if Trump’s unorthodox approach has actually secured some wins… “Arab states are recognising Judaism as part of their cultural identity. You wouldn’t have seen that ten years ago.” “How Biden deals with Iran will set the tone in the Middle East for the next four years. From there, all else flows.” “Al Qaeda and ISIS have not gone away. People forget that there’s still war in Syria.” 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

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria is one of the best-known journalists on the planet, reaching 200m people weekly with Fareed Zakaria’s GPS. He talks to Ros Taylor about the aftermath of Trumpism, Biden’s prospects for changing the West’s trajectory on climate change… and why the COVID aftermath might lead to a release of hedonism on a par with the Jazz Age.  “Trump is playing brilliant politics with the small side effect of destroying democracy.” “The defence budget is the only non-controversial jobs programme in the United States. It’s a jobs programme disguised as a defence programme.”  “My fear is that the next pandemic will come from factory farming.” “It’s absolutely fair to describe what Trump is doing as an attempted coup. It’s just going to fail.” “Our biggest mistake is to imagine that nature is fond of humans.”  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

The Labour grief-fest won’t abate. What do the Labour Left actually want? Victory, or just to burn the party down? Now that we’re moving into the pick-up-the-pieces phase of COVID, what have we learned and what should we do with it? Special guest Christina Pagel of UCL and Indie SAGE has thoughts. And what should a Minister for Men look like? Long-lost regular Ahir Shah returns – with exciting dinosaur news!! – to join Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey for this week’s political crime scene reconstruction. “The more you look at the behaviour of the left, it shows a psychological process rather than a political one” – Ian Dunt “At least you can now explain that the Democrats are called the Democrats because they’re the ones who believe in democracy…” -– Dorian Lynskey “What would we do different? I don’t know, EVERYTHING?” – Christina Pagel” “I’m hesitant to get excited about vaccines until I have Pfizer in one arm, Moderna in the other, and I’m doing a line of Astra-Zeneca.” – Ahir Shah “The depressing thing about COVID is that the Government doesn’t seem to have learned anything from it at all.” – Christina Pagel Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Ahir Shah and Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. 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

With lockdown about to give way to “it’s not lockdown, it’s tiers,” is it worth another superspreader event to “save” Christmas? Will Rishi Sunak’s spending review be the free-spending Chancellor’s last hurrah? Will this Brexit deal ever be decided? Ian Dunt breaks down the week with Andrew Harrison. Presented by Ian Dunt. 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 Chancellor Rishi Sunak doled out taxpayers’ money on free Wagamamas, he failed more than 3 million people who have received no financial support from the Government whatsoever. Broadcaster turned campaigner Ellie Phillips tells Naomi Smith about the plight of PAYE freelancers who are ineligible for furlough, and the work she’s doing with campaign group Forgotten PAYE who want parity for the self employed. “This goes through every single profession in the country.” “Nearly 2.5 million have fallen through the gaps in income support.” “The Government talks about levelling-up, but this is the ultimate levelling-down” “Sunak is pushing people into poverty and punishing those who create jobs… it just makes no sense.” Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofrenijevic 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

Who’s number one in No.10? And which governmental loser is tandem inter pares? Commentator, LBC broadcaster, author and “not a fan of Boris Johnson” Iain Dale tells our own Ian Dunt what makes Prime Ministers succeed and fail – and how Boris Johnson’s Churchillian fantasies match up to reality. “Clement Attlee is among our greatest Prime Ministers but he wouldn’t have a hope in today’s intense environment.” “Boris won’t go down as the Brexit Prime Minister. He’ll go down as the COVID Prime Minister.” “Twitter is blogging on acid, isn’t it?” “Boris Johnson will enjoy being an ex-Prime Minister a lot more than being Prime Minister.” “Every Prime Minister wants to be a Churchill… but can you really compare coronavirus with 1940?” Presented by Ian Dunt. 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 last four years have seen British politics turned upside down in ways unthinkable in normal times, so much so that constitutional law has become a sticking point. Joelle Grogan, lecturer at Middlesex University and creator of StickyTrickyLaw, talks to Ros Taylor about the clash between Brexit and our courts, what COVID has done to our constitution, and if Biden’s plan to pack the Supreme Court will come off. “We don’t have the same separation of powers as the US – here, Government and Parliament are synonymous to most people”. “I found it difficult myself to navigate the laws of the tiers – I even forgot their names”.  “Covid has exposed how health is a devolved responsibility”.  “We’ve seen many governments use the guise of judicial review to strengthen their power”. Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofrenijevic 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