The Bunker – News without the nonsense

As Britain zealously unlocks its shops and zoos (but not its schools), are we knocking over the norms that we’ll need to deal with a second wave of COVID? What are we going to do after the pandemic when AI and automation take all the jobs? Guest Daniel Susskind, author of A World Without Work, joins us to look at what all these people are going to do all day. Plus the torrid secret life of George Eliot. “Defending” statues with the Jacamo Freikorps. And who’s really behind the purging of problematic TV comedy?Ahir Shah and Helen Lewis join Andrew Harrison for this week’s full-length BUNKER. “The Government are like, Exercise your judgment… but not like THAT.” – Ahir Shah “History is a process. It’s about what we choose to remember. It’s not an objective science at all.” – Helen Lewis Presented by Andrew Harrison. Script and assistant production by Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickenson. Logo and artwork by Mark Taylor. Audio production by Alex Rees. Produced by Andrew Harrison. 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

Emmanuel Macron continues to suffer from France’s traditional disdain for its leader. How has the pandemic affected France’s notorious febrile politics? Why is France so unhappy with Macron? Will Black Lives Matter finally force change on the notoriously racist French police? And whatever happened to the Gilets Jaunes? JOHN LICHFIELD, former France correspondent for the Independent, explains all to Ros Taylor.  “In my 20 years in France, every French leader has been instantly unpopular.”  “It’s the fate of centrists everywhere to be hated by both sides.” “Everyone’s claiming to be De Gaulle without ever stopping to consider how De Gaulle would have reacted to today’s problems.” “There’s a visceral dislike of Macron in France that in many ways is unfair. But that’s normal French politics.” Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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 country’s hunger for football has become desperate during lockdown – but will we even recognise the game when it returns this week? What have ten weeks of isolation done to the minds and bodies of top players? And will the game’s elite finally accept that they need to support the game’s desperately-threatened grassroots? France Football’s England correspondent PHILIPPE AUCLAIR talks to strung-out Liverpool fan Andrew Harrison as we enter the riskiest and most unpredictable weeks in football’s history.  “If we don’t ensure that the world outside of the Premier League is taken care of, the consequences could be really dire.” “We don’t know how players’ bodies will react to an enforced rest of three months – which they have never, ever done.” “The whole fabric of English football is in danger now. The whole fabric.”  Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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 British Government’s COVID response has been assessed as literally the joint-worst in the world. How did we get here? DR SARAH WOLLASTON, former Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee and ex-Conservative, TIG and Liberal Democrat MP for Totnes, gives Naomi Smith a righteous take on the Government’s stubborn refusal to accept it could have done anything wrong… on the streams of misleading data… the looming medical supplies crisis… and what needs to happen to restore public trust. “There’s no sign of the Government admitting that anything could have been done differently.”Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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 nine-year civil war in Syria is among the most atrocious yet misunderstood and neglected conflicts in human history, with many westerners flatly ignorant of what happened and why. Writer, film-maker and Middle East expert OZ KATERJI explains how deliberate misinformation, Western complacency and realpolitik created a humanitarian catastrophe – and where we go from here. Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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 Washington to Whitehall to Bristol harbour, Black Lives Matter protests are dramatically reshaping politics across the world before our eyes. Former Obama homeland security advisor and US senate counsel AMY POPE joins us to discuss what this tumultuous fortnight means for Trump, Biden, American policing and American democracy. Plus, Britain grows a spine in its dealings with China. With a No Deal Brexit looking, is Johnson storing up trouble for our free-booting free trade future? Ian Dunt and Arthur Snell join Dorian Lynskey for this week’s full-length BUNKER. “It’s hard to observe social distancing when you’re pushing a statue into a harbour.” – Dorian Lynskey “I’ve prosecuted cases across the United States and I can tell you that the problem of police brutality is endemic.” – Amy Pope “Trump isn’t interested in solutions. He’s interested in abuse.” – Arthur Snell Presented by Dorian Lynskey with Arthur Snell and Ian Dunt. Script and assistant production by Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickenson. Logo and artwork by Mark Taylor. Audio production by Alex Rees. Produced by Andrew Harrison. 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’s it like to actually have COVID-19? Stand-up comedian SINDHU VEE tells Ian Dunt about the experience of being laid out by the virus – how to be an “Indian Mum Bad Cop” in trying circumstances – and what she learned along the way.  “When you can’t really breathe, your body is like, HOLY SHIT.” “I totally reached my target weight with COVID, though. And it lasted about two weeks.” “When you’re Indian, you have doctor friends coming out of your ears.” Presented by Ian Dunt. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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

Which businesses could dig Britain out of the COVID recession? What will industry need to do to adapt to a new, socially-distanced reality? What are all those people involved in hospitality, services and entertainment going to do for a living? And is this a good time to start a business? Entrepreneur, investor and original mother of dragons DEBORAH MEADEN talks to Alex Andreou about the blank slate that is post-COVID business. “There are very few moments in business where everything changes. And this is one of them.” “We might find that we’ve changed forever how we go out and socialise in pubs or restaurants.” “My businesses have been through a scary moment. But now it’s become an exciting moment for us.” “You NEVER do everything at once in business. And with Brexit the Government is trying to do exactly that.”  “There’s no point in having your money sitting in the bank right now. Get it out. Get it working.”  Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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 death of George Floyd has triggered an outpouring of protest in the US and a surge of unprecedented violence from police. Could these astonishing events really change the direction of politics and race in America? Journalism teacher and ex-Washington Post writer and editor MARCIA DAVIS reported on Ferguson and the nascent Black Lives Matter movement. From Washington DC she talks to Dorian Lynskey about a tumultuous week in the United States – and what needs to happen next.  “It’s got to be more than a hashtag this time.”  “This has been time of fear and worry but also joy and excitement for many of us – because maybe things are changing”  “There’s nothing good about the death of George Floyd… but it has galvanised people of all races in an unprecedented way.”  “Many young people are saying yes, Biden IS better than Trump… but they want more.”  Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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

We love Parris in the springtime. Times columnist, much-admired old school Tory and now Conservative exile MATTHEW PARRIS talks to Ros Taylor about the extraordinary place the Government has got itself into. What’s left of old-fashioned Toryism? Have we got to a place where people are happy for Government to make their decisions for then? And will the existential shock of the pandemic finally draw the Brexit poison out of Britain?  “It’s going to be harder and harder to make the case that there isn’t a magic money tree.” “Boris Johnson is afraid of Parliament. I think he suffers from imposter syndrome.”  “Boris Johnson is having to behave like a schoolmaster when he doesn’t even do his own homework.”  Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer 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