Episodes

  • Will Trump ruin the World Cup?

    Will Trump ruin the World Cup?
    Jun 11 2026
    Or will it arrive pre-ruined by FIFA’s oligarch-coddling sycophant president Gianni Infantino, creator of Trump’s ludicrous “FIFA Peace Prize”? The 2026 World Cup has already been called a “bonanza of sportwashing” by human rights groups. Now visiting fans fear harassment by ICE as well as the eye-watering cost of attending games at all. Politics professor, author of Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing and the FIFA Greed Machine and former footballer Jules Boykoff joins Andrew Harrison to look at the corrupt mess of international football… and what needs to happen to fix it. • Buy Red Card 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. Produced by James Liddell. 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
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    38 mins
  • What if Putin dies?

    What if Putin dies?
    Jun 10 2026
    What happens if Vladimir Putin suddenly dies – or is killed? Has the Russian dictator lined up a successor, or would a new leader rise up? And what sort of chaos would that bring? At 73, Putin is one of the longest-serving leaders in modern Russian history. No one appears likely to challenge him directly right now, but his time will have to run out eventually. Historian, author and major Russia expert Mark Galeotti joins Gavin Esler to discuss where Russia’s next leader might come from – and whether they would be anything more than Putin with a different face. • Buy the updated edition of Mark’s book We Need to Talk about Putin 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 Gavin Esler. 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
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    29 mins
  • How to stop the next Donald Trump – by a Mueller prosecutor

    How to stop the next Donald Trump – by a Mueller prosecutor
    Jun 9 2026
    Can the damage Donald Trump has wrought on America be repaired? And if another Trump emerged, could anyone stop them? Ex-FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann is a former member of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference. (Credentials: Trump labelled him “scum” and Stephen Miller called him “deranged” and a “moron”). In his new book Liar’s Kingdom: How To Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save Democracy, Weissmann offers a radical cure for America’s crisis: fight and punish political lying at every level. Would it work in a country addicted to lies and the anger they create? • Buy Andrew Weissmann’s book Liar’s Kingdom: How To Stop Trump's Deceit and Save Democracy 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 Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    41 mins
  • American idiots — Start Your Week with Rafael Behr

    American idiots — Start Your Week with Rafael Behr
    Jun 8 2026
    American politicians won’t stop wading in on British politics – what do they want and can we stop them? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss, plus the latest from Ukraine, the Middle East and the looming World Cup. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr. Audio production: Jade Bailey. 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
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    39 mins
  • Weaponising the Nowak Murder – Weekly Wrap-Up with Seth Thévoz

    Weaponising the Nowak Murder – Weekly Wrap-Up with Seth Thévoz
    Jun 5 2026
    Summing up the key stories of the past seven days… Reform and the far-right seize on the murder of student Henry Nowak to foment violent protests and provoke a national political row. Has Farage’s opportunism pushed his luck too far? Plus: What was in that a fresh batch of Mandelson files; Putin’s “Russian Davos” goes wrong; notable deaths from the past week; and who should replace Churchill and Alan Turing on banknotes: dolphins, otters or the marsh fritillary? Andrew Harrison and Seth Thévoz unpack the biggest stories from the past week. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison with Seth Thévoz. 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
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    27 mins
  • Hot Take Time Machine – Spoilt pigs, hen-dos and ‘alpine divorce’ with Miranda Sawyer and Jonn Elledge

    Hot Take Time Machine – Spoilt pigs, hen-dos and ‘alpine divorce’ with Miranda Sawyer and Jonn Elledge
    Jun 4 2026
    Hot Take Time Machine is back and our crack squad of column critics are sniffing out the weirdest, worst and occasionally the best opinions from the last month. Paper Cuts survivors Miranda Sawyer and Jonn Elledge join Jacob Jarvis to pick apart The Telegraph’s terrible take on youth unemployment, The Mail’s Liz Jones having “one big moan” and one Times writer who is fed up with tasteful hen-dos – “bring back the strippers!” Buy Jonn’s book 31 Inventions that Built Our World 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. Spotted a column we should talk about next time? Send it to info@bunkercast.co.uk • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Producer: James Liddell. 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
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    37 mins
  • The A.I. swindle – Why Sam Altman is lying to you

    The A.I. swindle – Why Sam Altman is lying to you
    Jun 3 2026
    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
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    32 mins
  • Cash Rules Everything – Why do we always vote to keep oligarchs rich?

    Cash Rules Everything – Why do we always vote to keep oligarchs rich?
    Jun 2 2026
    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
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    35 mins