The Bunker – News without the nonsense

OpenAI chief Sam Altman once wrote that the most successful people don’t build companies, they “create religions”. Will artificial intelligence really solve humanity’s greatest problems and elevate humans to a heaven-like state like the tech bros claim – or just ruin our civilisation? Best-selling author and investigative journalist Karen Hao gained unprecedented access to OpenAI to unearth the story of what’s really going on inside a project that could transform humanity. She talks to Seth Thévoz about the disturbing story she discovered for her new book Empire of AI: Inside the Reckless Race for Total Domination.    • Buy Karen’s book Empire of AI: Inside the Reckless Race for Total Domination from our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Democratic rights and freedoms have expanded for a century or more, yet the super-rich have never been richer and wealth has never been shared less fairly. And we keep on voting to prop up systems that make a bad situation worse. Why? Political scientist and author Jeffrey Winters has a theory – that oligarchic power isn’t an unforeseen product of democracies, it’s designed into the system. So how do we fix it? He talks to Andrew Harrison about how to make democracies more… democratic.  • Buy Jeffrey’s book The Blind Spot: How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies from our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A huge dump of messages linked to Peter Mandelson are about to drop – what can we expect and who’s the most nervous? Alex von Tunzelmann joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the news to look out for in the week ahead, from domestic news and Labour fallout to the consequences of conflict across the globe.    www.patreon.com/bunkercast       Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing for The Bunker.  Tony Blair has weighed in on Labour’s direction – but what does he actually want? Plus: Pope Leo warns about the rise of AI, a major review warns Britain risks creating a “lost generation” of young people, and a buffalo that resembles Donald Trump... Jacob Jarvis is joined by Rafael Behr to unpack the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr.  Producer: James Liddell and Jake Preston. Audio production: Jade Bailey.  Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Iran’s hardline regime may have weathered Donald Trump’s onslaught for now – but behind Teheran’s defiance there are deep cracks in its hated, repressive system. They go right back to the genesis and betrayal of the 1979 Revolution, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini promised freedom, independence and prosperity only to deliver brutal Islamic law, political executions and a system of oppression that has endured for almost five decades. Award-winning journalists Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati tell the story of the Iranian people’s dogged struggle for freedom from the mullahs in Stolen Revolution: Betrayal and Hope in Modern Iran. They talk to Dorian Lynskey about what Iran’s future might hold.   • Buy Bozorgmehr and Yeganeh’s book Stolen Revolution: Betrayal and Hope in Modern Iran from our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Is time finally running out for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? The Knesset has voted to dissolve itself, the horrors of October 7th still haunt his coalition, and a newly united opposition is closing in. With right-wing Naftali Bennett and centre-left Yair Lapid joining forces and their Together party neck-and-neck with Netanyahu’s Likud in the polls, is the great survivor of Israeli politics about to meet his Waterloo? The Economist's Israel correspondent Anshel Pfeffer joins Rafael Behr to break it down.  • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Rafael Behr. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Last chance to get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.  Setting up the stories for the next seven… sorry, six days. As Britain suffers unprecedented May heatwaves, can Ed Miliband defend Net Zero from the denialists in Reform and the oil-funded PR greenwashers? Plus, Nigel Farage’s excuses for his £5m gift from a crypto baron start to catch up with him. Could Reform be outflanked in Makerfield by the even battier, Musk-funded Restore UK? The latest on social media bans for under-16s. And Richard Burgon, Labour leader? Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison set out the week ahead.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by  Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing for The Bunker.  The Makerfield by-election is heating up, with Andy Burnham officially entering the race. But what does he really stand for? As he pitches both locally and nationally, we’re a bit confused. Plus: Donald Trump granted tax immunity, the T-Rex arms race, and Keir Starmer waters down Russian oil sanctions. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Alex von Tunzelmann to unpack the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann.  Producer: James Liddell and Jake Preston. Audio production: Jade Bailey.  Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. The Doomsday crowd was once confined to fringe congregations and rural survivalists stockpiling beans and ammunition. Now it’s gone mainstream, with one in three Americans believing the world will end in their lifetimes. So why do so many people think the end is nigh? Did Ruby Ridge start it all? And is the Trump administration adding fuel to the fire? Chris Jennings, author of End of Days: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America, joins Gavin Esler to explain.   • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Donald Trump came, he saw, and left Beijing without much to show for his high-stakes summit with Xi Jinping. Behind the pomp and pageantry, tensions over trade, tech and Taiwan didn’t go away. So did two days of diplomacy actually achieve anything? And can Xi’s vision of “great rejuvenation” coexist with Trump’s “Make America Great Again”? William Hurst, Chong Hua Professor of Chinese Development at the University of Cambridge, joins Gavin Esler to break down the relationship.  • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off  a year’s Patreon backing. Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to Washington and rebuilding it in his own image. Is his architectural upheaval pure vanity, or is something more ominous at play?  Political philosopher, historian and author Professor Jan-Werner Müller joins Alex von Tunzelmann to discuss why remaking the capital is the signature move of the “aspiring autocrat” – and what they’re really trying to achieve.   • Buy Jan-Werner’s book Street, Palace, Square from our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.   Setting up the stories of the next seven days… Has Andy Burnham set Labour up for a potential extinction event by forcing a by-election in the not-very-safe seat of Makerfield? By making the about rejoining the EU, has Streeting handed Reform a golden chance to turn the vote into Referendum 2.0? Plus Reeves’ cost of living nightmare, Musk in court, and the nerve-racking climax of the football season. Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison chart the week ahead.   www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  www.podmasters.co.uk   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off  a year’s Patreon backing. Early release as the news is moving fast…  Keir Starmer’s wild week is feeling more and more disastrous. As the PM clings on to power (by the time you hear this, that may have changed), who’s waiting in the wings? Wes Streeting resigned right after we recorded the episode, so who knows what’s next… Plus, Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet for Donald Trump in Beijing – but what does each man want and will either walk away the winner? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to break down the biggest stories of the week. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Reform could well land a colossal freak victory and total power over the UK at the next General Election. Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system is struggling to cope with our new five-party system. As voters desert Labour and the Tories in droves, has proportional representation’s moment finally come? Should Labour finally embrace fair votes for fear of something worse? Who is relighting the debate and how could it happen? And would a new PM’s promise to make every vote count be big enough to convince Britain that Labour is serious about changing Britain for the better? The New Statesman’s associate political editor and Oh God, What Now? regular Rachel Cunliffe digs into the new electoral reform debate with Andrew Harrison.   • Read Rachel’s piece on proportional representation in the New Statesman here.   • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off  a year’s Patreon backing. Wars around the globe are drawing eerie comparisons with the late 19th and early 20th Century, when Great Powers clashed in an atmosphere of nationalist populism. Are we – like then – on an inevitable march toward world war, or already deep in a second Cold War?  Yale historian and Cold War expert Professor Odd Arne Westad joins Seth Thévoz and suggests we may be looking at the wrong era entirely – and why it may “not be possible to turn back” from the next chapter of history.    • Buy Arne’s book The Coming Storm from our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.  The German town of Weimar exudes a dark fascination, and not just because Hitler loved to visit it. How did Germany’s cultural capital – home of the Bauhaus, Goethe, Schiller and the doomed inter-war experiment with democracy – also become one of Nazism’s earliest strongholds and the location for the Buchenwald concentration camp? Why did the Weimar Republic fall? And can it really teach us how to hold back fascism in our time? Historian and journalist Katja Hoyer tells the story of the town and Germany through the lives of ordinary people in her riveting book Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe. She talks to Andrew Harrison about how Germany’s beacon of culture became its heart of darkness – and the lessons of Weimar for today.  • Buy Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off  a year’s Patreon backing. Keir Starmer’s position looks more precarious than ever after the local elections. How will moves against him pan out? Gavin Esler joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss this and the other news to look out for in the week ahead.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast     • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Gavin Esler. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Farage is under fire for pocketing a £5m “personal gift” from a crypto billionaire. What’s his excuse? Plus, the Hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius is finally heading to port, but will the crisis really be over when it docks? And with Trump's “Project Freedom” on ice, what on earth is happening in the Strait of Hormuz? Jacob Jarvis and Zoë Grünewald dissect the biggest stories of the week. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GLP-1s like Wegovy and Ozempic have become a huge deal. But how much do we actually know about what they do? And what pros and cons do we need to balance? Natasha Devon is joined by nutrition coach and fitness expert Michael Ulloa to discuss.  • It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Natasha Devon. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off  a year’s Patreon backing. Our double-header on everything you need to know about this week’s devolved elections… In Scotland voters are gearing up for what’s being dubbed the “meh election” and the so-called “scunner factor” is well and truly sinking in. With Reform’s English nationalists eyeing up Holyrood, the SNP faces a fight to keep Scotland’s parliament looking recognisably… Scottish. The Guardian’s Scotland correspondent Libby Brooks joins Andrew Harrison to cut through the chaos.  • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off  a year’s Patreon backing. A double-header on what you need to know about this week’s national elections: In Wales Labour could face an historic annihilation that will reverberate through the whole country. Should they blame Starmer or their own poor government? Will Plaid Cymru have to choose between the Greens and what’s left of Labour as coalition partners? And how in hell are English nationalists polling so well, even though their last leader is in prison for taking bribes to make pro-Russian speeches? Which way will Wales swing? Journalist Will Haywood, the go-to voice on Welsh politics, joins Andrew Harrison to make sense of it all. • Follow Will’s must-read Substack on Welsh politics here • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.  Setting out the stories of the week ahead… As Labour braces itself for a battering in the local, Scottish and Welsh elections, Reform have an idea to liven things up: punishing anyone who votes Green by putting migrant detention centres in their constituency. Plus: What Russia’s scaled-down, tank-and-missile-free ‘Victory Day’ tells us about the state of Putin’s power. Protesting against the antisemitism crisis. And David Attenborough turns 100. Alex von Tunzelmann and Andrew Harrison set out the next seven… sorry, six days of news.  • Get tomorrow’s Scotland and Wales election explainers TODAY when you back us at www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They wear suits, sport shades and say almost nothing. The Secret Service deliberately operates in the shadows but a third assassination attempt on Donald Trump has suddenly put them in the spotlight. So what exactly do they do all day? And what does it take to protect the president? Former agent Mike de Gues, who previously guarded Trump, gives Gavin Esler the insider story.  • It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing for The Bunker.  King Charles’ US state visit has gone well so far — but what does it really mean for the UK’s increasingly strained “special relationship” ? Plus: we discuss the horrific attack in Golders Green, Keir Starmer dodges a parliamentary enquiry into the Peter Mandelson appointment, and finally, the end of hereditary peers. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Rafael Behr to unpack the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr.  Producer: Kathleen Johnston and Jake Preston. Audio production: Simon Williams.  Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off  a year’s Patreon backing. Our op-ed obsessives are back tackling the brilliant, the baffling, and every take in between. This month’s edition is extra special: it's an American Friction takeover to mark Podmasters’ 10th birthday with Jacob Jarvis, Chris Jones and Nikki McCann Ramirez wading knee-deep into this month’s weirdest columns.  On the menu: resurfaced Donald Trump conspiracies, the Wegovy essay that broke the internet, Adrian Chiles' thoughts on, er, dog poo… and much more!  • Spotted a column we should talk about next time? Send it to [email protected]   • Stay in the loop with all things American Friction • Back us on Patreon Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis, Chris Jones and Nikki McCann Ramirez. Producer James Liddell. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Far-right politics used to mean street thugs, secretive meeting and the ever-present threat of violence. Now the far-right is in Westminster, suited, booted and hungrier than ever for power. How did a fringe ideology move to the mainstream? Author, journalist and expert on the far-right Daniel Trilling joins Zoë Grünewald to discuss how we got here – and whether we can stop Britain’s slide into extremism.   • Buy Daniel’s book If We Tolerate This: How the British Establishment Made the Far Right Respectable from our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing. Cryptocurrency has come a long way since it was a fringe enthusiasm for get-rich-quick bros and anti-state libertarian fantasists. Now “stablecoins” like Tether are on the verge of becoming a parallel banking system in the US, except much less regulated. And the moneymaking opportunities that crypto affords are corrupting American politics to a staggering degree. Why is stablecoin more potent than regular crypto? Is the Trump Administration’s crypto boosterism essentially an enrichment scheme for the Trump family? WTF is going on with “Trumpcoin” and “Melaniacoin”? How deeply are Nigel Farage and Reform UK committed to bringing all this to Britain? And what happens if a mega stablecoin falls over? The FT’s Katie Martin takes Rafael Behr on an enthralling nightmare tour of “the biggest conflict of interest in history.” www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Rafael Behr. Producer: Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Chris Jones. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.  Setting up the events of the next seven days… Another day, another assassination attempt. Will the attack on Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner overshadow King Charles’s visit to the US? Will the gun attack change anything apart from making conspiracy nutters crazier? And what were journos doing at an event to celebrate a man who hates them and says they’re enemies of the people? Plus: It’s Groundhog Day all over again as Labour agonises over Starmer’s leadership. Morgan McSweeney to be seen in public at last. And it’s Forest vs Villa in a Europa League semi-final that’s straight from 1979! Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison read the runes for the week ahead. • Don’t miss the Oh God, What Now? vs Origin Story Patreons’ Podclash this Thursday 30 April.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.  Our original podcast is back for one week only! Bigmouth AKA The Culture Bunker, the pop culture chatpod that birthed The Bunker, Oh God, What Now? and more, returns for our tenth birthday. On the agenda: Kneecap’s new album ‘Fenian’, Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, hot new tunes from the panel… and all the stuff we missed when we were off air, including Project Hail Mary and The Lowdown. With regulars Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden plus returning guests, The Guardian’s Jude Rogers (who was on the very first Bigmouth on 24 April 2016) and writer and music tech guru Michael Moran… who reveals an astonishing secret. • Hear the tunes we talk about today on the Bigmouth rolling playlist… still going!  • Hear Boots On The Ground by Massive Attack & Tom Waits, which isn’t on streaming. • And neither are The Shashashanimals.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing for The Bunker.  Starmer has had another tumultuous week amid the Peter Mandelson and Olly Robbins drama. Is there a route back and who’s really benefiting from the fallout? Plus: The Onion buys Alex Jones’s InfoWars, Donald Trump’s administration shows fresh signs of strain as the Iran ceasefire is extended, and how worried should we be about Anthropic’s new model Mythos? Jacob Jarvis is joined by Jonn Elledge to unpack the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Jonn Elledge.  Producer: Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Simon Williams.  Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Jonn Elledge.  Producer: Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Simon Williams.  Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.  Péter Magyar’s stunning victory over Hungary’s arch-populist Viktor Orbán put progressives around the world into raptures. Was this the beginning of the end for the European far-right? But behind the energy and charisma, Magyar is a complex figure – driven, ruthless, a traditional conservative and graduate of Orbán’s Fidesz movement, and maybe not exactly the centre-left’s dream date. Euronews EU Correspondent Sandor Zsiros takes Andrew Harrison on a tour of the formative years and astonishing scandals that put Péter Magyar on course to Make Hungary Sane Again.   www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Robin Leeburn and Chris Jones. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• It’s Podmasters’ 10th birthday! Get an extra 10% off a year’s Patreon backing.  The news is no longer what people in power want to hide – it’s what algorithms say will keep you clicking. And it’s become a breeding ground for misinformation. As powerful, politically-connected people tighten their grip on what we read and hear, how do you know what to trust? Eliot Higgins of the investigative journalist group Bellingcat tells Rafael Behr how the news environment is evolving, and why open-source intelligence – freely-available information that’s hiding in plain sight – can break us out of the world of managed news.  • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast           Written and presented by Rafael Behr. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The far-right “Unite The Kingdom” march in London in September 2025 was an unprecedented display of populist, xenophobic anger. It shocked the country – but it didn’t surprise Liam Byrne, the Labour MP and former minister who dissects the Age of Rage in his book, Why Populists Are Winning – And How To Beat Them. He talks to Zoe Grünewald about how mainstream politics took away ordinary people’s certainties and left them prey to unscrupulous, well-funded demagogues – and what we need to do to turn back the populist tide.  NB This episode was recorded before the defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungary.  • Buy Why Populists Are Winning through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Mandelson scandal is back and all eyes are on Starmer as he looks to once again justify the baffling and increasingly disastrous appointment. Gavin Esler joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss what could happen and what it all means, plus the latest from Trump’s war in Iran, political change in Hungary and more.  Listen to This is Not a Drill: https://linktr.ee/drillpod  Back us on Patreon:  www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Gavin Esler. Audio production: Simon Williams. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Labour and Reform battle over women’s votes – but what are either of the parties actually talking about? Plus: Tucker Carlson launches a publishing house with Russell Brand on board, Donald Trump starts a feud with the Pope, and US–Iran conflict rumbles on. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Alex von Tunzelmann to unpack the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor.  Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The stunning defeat of Viktor Orbán and his “illiberal democracy” project in Hungary appears to be a humiliating blow to Trump, Vance, Putin, Farage, and populists across the world. (Who will host their get-togethers now?) But is it really the beginning of the end for far-right authoritarianism, or something more complex? Jason Pack – host of the Disorder podcast and Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute – talks to Andrew Harrison about why Orbán fell, where the “neopopulist” go next, and what fans of democracy should learn from Peter Magyar’s victory.  • Support us on Patreon to join the Oh God, What Now vs Origin Story Podclash on Thursday 30 April.  FURTHER READING FROM JASON • Listen to the Disorder podcast with Jason Pack • Ordering the Disorder Substack: The Heart of Europe beats Stronger than ever • How Orban led to Trump. • Hungary’s Lessons for Trump’s Opponents: Viktor Orbán’s critics had to put their ideological differences aside.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor and Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who is Gavin Newsom and what does he want? Does the California Governor have the right stuff to put the Democrats back in power and wrest America back from its ruinous MAGA direction? Or is he a bit too slick and slippery to fulfil the hopes of beleaguered progressives? The Independent’s Washington Correspondent Eric Garcia talks to Dorian Lynskey about “Newsomania”, the Governor’s merciless social media game and chequered history, and the contradictions of a man who grew up poor yet who numbered the Gettys among his family friends. “He’s one of the most politically acrobatic figures I’ve ever seen… and it makes people ask, does this guy have any real beliefs?”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Trump appointed the crankish Robert F Kennedy Jr to head America’s Department of Health and Human Services, he brought paranoid, anti-science “do your own research” thinking to the centre of US health policy. Kennedy has since promoted extreme anti-vaxxers, cut cancer and vaccine research, and spread dangerous lies about autism and vaccination. Now measles is surging in the US and trust in public health institutions is collapsing. Will RFK’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda usher in a new age of mass disease? Dr Gigi Gronvall, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, talks to Emma Kennedy about the dangers of Kennedy’s misinformation agenda – and how America can rebuild its public health capabilities. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Emma Kennedy. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Setting out the news stories of the week ahead… Today, good news for once as far-right poster boy Viktor Orbán takes a crushing defeat in Hungary. Plus, Starmer takes UK closer to EU using the tools the Brexiters forged, and they do NOT like it. Trump is bored of Iran and looking for something else to wreck. And the Southport murders and COVID vaccine inquiries both report. Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison get you up to speed on the next seven days.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump’s ceasefire deal in Iran has left everyone confused. Does anyone know what’s actually happening? Plus: Kanye West being banned from the UK, Viktor Orbán faces election defeat and a £4 million donation to Reform from a crypto billionaire. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Zoë Grunewald to round up the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Zoë Grunewald. Producer: Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A culture of fear, blame, obedience and corner-cutting sets in chain a devastating course of events. Millions are displaced, many die and the effects last for decades. Sounds familiar? On 26 April 1986, reactor no.‍4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat in modern Ukraine exploded, spreading radioactive contaminants across the Soviet Union and Europe. The disaster would eventually cost $700bn and hasten the fall of the USSR. Adam Higginbotham is the author of the definitive work on the accident, Midnight in Chernobyl. He tells Andrew Harrison how the culture that led to Chernobyl wasn’t confined to Soviet Russia – and how Putin’s war on Ukraine risks stirring up Chernobyl’s radioactive poisons all over again  • Buy Midnight in Chernobyl and/or Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Tom Taylor & Dom Delargy. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The toxic stew of grievance, misogyny and self-pity known as the Manosphere isn’t just warping young men’s minds and legitimising contempt for women. It’s become big business for influencers like Andrew Tate, HSTikkyTokky and others. If disaffected young men pay enough into their “Universities” they can ascend to ever-higher levels with names like “the War Room”. There they learn that women and woke are to blame for all their problems, and they can learn how to master both… if they keep paying enough.  Debbie Ging, Professor of Digital Media and Gender at Dublin City University, talks to Zoë Grünewald about the economics of the Manosphere and how the quest for fast cars and compliant women can become a ruinously expensive pursuit.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written by Zoë Grünewald and Sophie Clark and presented by Zoe Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump is making increasingly intense threats against Iran and coming off as more and more unhinged. Alex von Tunzelmann joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss how out of the ordinary all of this is, why it’s not being stopped and how it could unfold.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump declares the war will be over soon and rambles violently in the process. Again. But should we take this seriously or is this just another wild claim? Plus: ‘bimbofication’, yes we’re not sure either, Keir Starmer calls for closer EU ties and Artemis 2 launches. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Zoë Grunewald to discuss another busy week.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Zoë Grunewald. Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The creation of Artificial General Intelligence could be the greatest gamble mankind has ever undertaken. And one of its unlikely prime movers is a working class north Londoner and chess prodigy, the son of immigrant parents, who founded the groundbreaking company DeepMind to create machine superintelligence – a goal which if achieved could transform or destroy our world. Unlike the Altmans and the Musks, Demis Hassabis has the decency to fear what he is creating. The story of this 21st Century Oppenheimer is told in The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence. Author Sebastian Mallaby talks to Emma Kennedy about Hassabis’s journey and where it could take us.   • Buy The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Sophie Clark. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Golden Apple…  From the boxy, upstart Apple II computer to the world-changing iPod and iPhone and beyond, Apple Inc. has shaped both the digital world and our own reality since it was founded on 1 April, 1976. Steve Jobs and creators like Jony Ive brought sleek consumer design to the masses, saved the music business, and created the app industry – but Apple has also grown into a corporate behemoth which kowtows to Trump. On Apple’s 50th birthday, tech journalist Craig Grannell talks to Alex von Tunzelmann about how it became the world’s most valuable brand… the disasters that happened along the way… and whether Apple can survive the age of A.I.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. Produced by Sophie Clark. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Artificial Intelligence is being touted as civilisational game-changer – and a miracle cure for Britain’s ailing economy. So far it’s all promise and no real achievement. But investors are still piling vast sums of money into a very few companies. Could that concentrated investment lay the world open to another financial crisis? Joshua Roberts, Capital Markets Correspondent for The Economist, talks to Seth Thévoz about the “apocalyptic bubble-bursting scenario.”  “We have never seen companies this highly since the DotCom boom,” he says. “And that was followed by a huge crash.”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Audio production by Robin Leeburn with thanks to Jason Hosken at The Economist. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Setting up the big stories of the next seven days… As Trump runs out of options will he take the biggest step of all: a ground invasion of at least part of Iran? And can he do it while convincing that it’s not really “boots on the ground”? Plus: The financial consequences of the Iran War land in the UK right at the start of the local, Scottish and Welsh election campaigns. Apple Computer’s 50th birthday. The decision on Trump’s nightmare ballroom. And could YOU be the next Tottenham Hotspur manager? Gavin Esler and Andrew Harrison wade through the week that’s coming.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The government is placing new limits on crypto and overseas donations — but is this about national security or is Starmer just worried about Farage’s fundraising power? Plus: Boris Johnson dubs himself the “Napoleon of Notting Hill”, and Trump’s 15-point peace plan falls flat. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Seth Thévoz to round up the biggest stories from the past week.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every day we’re swamped with weird takes on everything from the Iran war to the malevolence of pigeons. Now Paper Cuts survivors Miranda Sawyer and Jonn Elledge join Jacob Jarvis to discuss the weirdest (and occasionally best) columns of the month… so you don’t have to.  This time: Terrible Iran takes, energy bill nightmares and a loving look at Adrian Chiles’ latest offerings.  • Spotted a column we should talk about next time? Send it to [email protected]   www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  www.podmasters.co.uk   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices