The Bunker

Did Henry Dimbleby really quit his role as the Government’s food policy advisor “in disgust”? Why have its attempts to create a healthier nation through our diet proved such a failure? And what should they be doing instead? Ros Taylor talks to the founder of LEON and the author of Ravenous: How To Get Ourselves And Our Planet Into Shape about the salad shortage, changing Britain’s food culture, the dark side of Bake Off… and why we still depend on celebrity intervention to get kids eating decent school dinners.  “Politicians are out of step with the public. They really are sick of their kids being bombarded with ads for junk food.” “The term ‘Nanny State’ was coined by politicians who actually grew up with nannies…” “OK, telling people to eat turnips is funny in a downbeat Blackadder sense… but we really should be growing more vegetables in this country.” “Giving up meat can seem a bit worthy. We’re trying to create a positive ad campaign around eating less meat.” Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GB News launched with much fanfare two years ago and was swiftly mocked for the seeming ineptitude of its entire team. But, it’s still going – and getting more popular. And the questionable output is cranking up to be more extreme too… Should we be taking it more seriously? Jacob Jarvis asks William Turvill, associate editor of Press Gazette and media correspondent for New Statesman.  Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Jacob Jarvis. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brexit is done — insofar as it ever will be. But the Brexit we got was not the one most Britons wanted. Years of bad-tempered Parliamentary battling only came to an end when Boris Johnson purged his MPs and stopped the Commons from sitting, then called a general election. Ros Taylor is joined by Meg Russell and Lisa James, authors of The Parliamentary Battle over Brexit, to talk about the damage done, the legacy of those years — and whether we should ever have a referendum again.  “These terms of hard Brexit and soft Brexit only really come around after the referendum.” – Lisa James  “So much of the story of Brexit is what’s going on with the Conservative Party over these years.” – Lisa James  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Ros Taylor. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mass protests in Israel as secular members of society fear a theocratic takeover from the religious right. Will Netanyahu be forced to halt his controversial judicial reforms? Plus, the focus of violent protests in France moves from Macron’s pensions reform to the President himself. Plus, what will be on the new SNP leader’s to-fix list? And Kwasi Kwarteng and Matt Hancock get caught out touting their Westminster influence at £10,000 a day. Hannah Fearn gives Andrew Harrison the stories to look out for this week. “In unprecedented scenes, Israelis are considering leaving the Jewish state.” “Macron beware – the strikes in France have been brewing long before the pandemic.” Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Andrew Harrison with Hannah Fearn. Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we support soldiers traumatised by war? And is the public too sheltered from the reality of life during and after conflict? As the 20th anniversary of Iraq reignites questions over the experience of war and care for service personnel, Arthur Snell is joined by Louise Jones, an ex-Army Officer who served in Afghanistan and an active Labour Party member, to discuss how war changes a person. “We have treated the Afghans we served with appallingly.”  “As a country, we have let down those who have protected us.” “Veterans and active soldiers are massively under-resourced, there is a crisis in mental health.”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and Presented by Arthur Snell. Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Republican Party was once hawkish in its stance towards Russia – but now some within its ranks seem sympathetic towards Putin and his regime. What’s changed? And why is there a split? Jacob Jarvis is joined by Jackie Calmes, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, to discuss.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Jacob Jarvis. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Alex Rees. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suella Braverman’s plan to send refugees to Rwanda has been described as inhuman. But what is the country actually like? And what does the nation’s Government get out of the deal? Award winning journalist Anjan Sundaram joins Arthur Snell on a deep-dive into a country few of us know, but is rarely out of headlines. Anjan describes life after the genocide, the Western blind-spot to present human rights abuses and the political coercion at the heart of the present regime.  Anjan wrote about the persecution of journalists in Rwanda in his book ‘Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship’. His forthcoming book Breakup on the war in the Central African Republic will be published in May.  “Rwanda is a surveillance state of the highest degree.” “Kagame has ruled over Rwanda for 30 years, and he has positioned himself as a global postcolonial leader.” “Partnering with the UK paints Rwanda as a safe haven instead of the dictatorship it is.”  “During the genocide, the West did very little to intervene and Kagame has used that for his own political agenda.” https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Arthur Snell. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The UK is “muddling towards extinction”, says the Irish thinker and journalist Fintan O’Toole. Neglected by a Westminster political class that’s preoccupied by Brexit, the things that once held it together are disappearing. He tells Ros Taylor how England is embracing a nationalism it can’t articulate, why the SNP has failed to get what it wants, and why the UK is not the natural union that its supporters believe it to be. “The UK was not a natural occurrence.” “Englishness knows what it is not, but not what it is.” “With Brexit, this is always where it was going to end up — and no one in Britain cared.” “The English reluctantly accepted Scots, but only through an unequal relationship.” Fintan O’Toole’s latest book is We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland since 1958. https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NATO’s power has been thrown into sharp focus amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. How does it operate – and what has it got right and wrong of late? Alex Andreou is joined by Mark Webber, a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham who is co-authoring the book What’s Wrong with NATO and How to Fix It, to discuss the military alliance. “Whenever NATO acts it is acting as the aggregate of its members, that is its great strength.” “What NATO has done very well is it has strengthened its own defences.”  “NATO enlargement is not a project that was anti-Russian, but where things failed is that project was not successful in bringing in Russia as a partner.”  “The US is still the dominant power in Europe after the Cold War.” “There is moral clarity around the current support for Ukraine – but that longer thought is important.”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Alex Andreou. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: … Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Iraq War began 20 years ago – what lessons have been, and what must still be, learned from this invasion? Arthur Snell, the host of Doomsday Watch who served as a diplomat in Iraq, joins Alex Andreou to discuss the mistakes that were made, the human and cultural costs of the conflict, and the arguments surrounding a conflict which fundamentally reshaped global politics. “There was a lot of groupthink and clustering around a set of predetermined conclusions.”  “The human losses, the cultural losses, the rise of Isis, there are so many long term effects of this war – to keep saying it was worth it to get rid of Saddam, you have to ask ‘What level of loss overwrites that argument?’” “There is a fundamental loss in confidence… people lost confidence that the Government was telling the truth.”  “This intelligence should have never gotten that far… the people best placed to examine this were not shown it.”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Alex Andreou. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Both Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are in hot water – how will each try to wriggle their way out of trouble? The former PM faces the privileges committee for a grilling, while the ex-President has said he could be arrested this week. It’s also the twenty year anniversary of the second Iraq war, while bank Credit Suisse has been bought by UBS, and the ICC has issued an arrest warrant against Putin. Alex Andreou is joined by Gavin Esler to give you the stories to look out for this week. “We’re not talking about one lapse of judgement from Boris Johnson, we’re talking about a pattern.”  “I mean this as a compliment, Sunak and Biden are quite boring – and that gives me optimism I don’t usually have.”  “With Trump and Johnson, politics was like a transatlantic reality TV show. Hopefully it is over now.”  Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Alex Andreou with Gavin Esler. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most people consider themselves reasonable. But are they? And what rules is that notion defined by? Siân Pattenden is joined by Kirsty Sedgman, author of On Being Unreasonable, to discuss what the response to breastfeeding in public, noisy theatre audiences, neighbourhood watch indiscretions and Edward Coulston show about society today – and whether our collective rules might be wrong.  ““Being ‘reasonable’ has usually meant being a man.” “The NextDoor app shows us the dangers of thinking you are reasonable – when really you aren’t.” “We need to take acting ‘reasonably’ seriously because it involves policing and power.” “Who are the rules of ‘being unreasonable’ harming?” www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and Presented by Siân Pattenden. Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Republicans play chicken with the debt ceiling, could America suffer a Liz Truss-esque financial meltdown? Alex Andreou speaks to Neil Malhotra, a professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, to discuss this financial showdown being played out by Congress.  “Republicans see it as part of a game – this is an opportunity to extract concessions.”  “It’s like Liz Truss’ financial plans, it’s hard to know what might happen.”  “As you found in the UK – what happens first is that the markets anticipate everything.”  “If you’re willing to let the country go down, you’re in a much stronger negotiating position than if you’re not. Republicans are in a stronger position because they’re viewed as though they’d tank the whole thing.”  Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Alex Andreou. Music and Audio Production by Jade Bailey. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tax breaks for the 1%, business giveaways that won’t make a difference, free child care that turns out to be a fraction of what’s needed, and nothing for public services. Does Jeremy Hunt’s Budget make sense? Is he loading the pain onto the next government because he knows it won’t be Conservative one? And can he put the post-Truss tax-cutting headbangers back in their box? New Economics Foundation chief exec and Bunker regular Miatta Fahnbulleh takes the Budget apart for Andrew Harrison.  Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The unexpected “accidental” deaths of prominent Russians have become a dark joke in the West. But the truth about ‘Sudden Russian Death’ syndrome is even darker. Bill Browder campaigned for the Magnitsky Acts against Russian corruption and wrote Freezing Order: A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath. He tells Andrew Harrison about the chaos within wartime Russia; what turned Putin from a reformer into a despot; and why Ukraine must win this war.  You can get Bill's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freezing-Order-Laundering-Surviving-Vladimir-ebook/dp/B09RKQFJXZ “As the Russian economy grinds to a halt, anyone with assets is caught in the crossfire.” “In Russia, when money is scarce it is more important than human life.” “Oligarchs are not independently rich. They are dependent on Putin’s favour. He can take everything away in a second.” “Either Ukraine wins or Russia wins. And if Russia wins they won’t stop at Ukraine.” Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tomas Rojas. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The war in Syria began twelve years ago today. But who are the key players in this complex conflict? And how have changes of leadership in neighbouring countries and the recent earthquake changed how the war is being fought? Alex Andreou is joined by Christopher Phillips, professor of international politics at the Queen Mary University of London and author of The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East, to discuss the current status of the conflict. “Things have settled into a familiar if miserable pattern.”  “Iran and Russia propped up Assad through money and foreign mercenaries.” www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and Presented by Alex Andreou. Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are going through a polycrisis – with multiple catastrophes playing out at once. But despite fuel costs, war and climate change – many remain optimistic. Is this a sign of delusion or pragmatism? Hannah Fearn is joined by Ben Page, CEO of market research leaders Ipsos, to unpack the psychological impact of our current crises, and why some look on the brighter side. “Lots of inequalities have been exposed by the pandemic – you can’t move for crisis.” “People have a tendency towards optimism bias.” “If you’re a Western European, your mid-40s seem like the worst years of your life.” https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Hannah Fearn. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the illegal migration bill set for its second reading – how will Braverman and Sunak feel now it faces some serious scrutiny? And with the BBC in crisis over the Gary Lineker debacle, will anyone take the fall? Plus it’s budget week – we discuss why Hunt might be happy for this to be a dull announcement… Arthur Snell joins Jacob Jarvis to outline the stories to look out for this week. “The question now isn’t if Lineker broke the rules, but why the BBC can’t handle the decisions it makes.” “You can tell that Boris Johnson is seething with jealousy that Sunak gets to talk about submarines with Biden.” Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Arthur Snell. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good samaritans or narcissistic egotists: what is behind the rise in YouTube philanthropy? Ros Taylor is joined by Rhodri Davies, the founder and director of ‘Why Philanthropy Matters’, to discover why influencers like MrBeast are turning to charitable causes – and how their realm of influence could expand. “YouTube philanthropy videos generate unimaginable amounts of money.”  “Many YouTube stars have maintained their fandom through charity videos.” “We are witnessing a transformation in how philanthropists raise money.” “There is a fine line between cynicism and celebration.” Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Producer Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer Jacob Jarvis. Bunker music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Jade Bailey. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump twisted the GOP beyond recognition during his time as president. What did it stand for before this aberration – and could it ever revert to a sane, sensible and serious party again? Jacob Jarvis discusses with Julie Norman, co-director of UCL’s Centre on US Politics. “Many in the party recognise the GOP doesn’t have a strong message – so they are trying to limit the role of the state.”  “Trump’s voters are very concerned about election integrity, fears he manipulated expertly.”  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Presented by Jacob Jarvis. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production: Alex Rees. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices