The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Wrapping up the stories of the week… Jacob Jarvis is joined by Rafael Behr to break down the stalled US–Russia peace talks, Putin’s strong-arming, and what Trump’s shaky negotiating team tells us about the state of American power. Back in Westminster, they dig into the fallout from the OBR’s budget leak and what it all means for Labour’s economic credibility. Plus: Trump’s latest embarrassing moment caught on camera, Raf’s heroes and villains, and the story that slipped under the radar this week. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social • 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Radael Behr. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Simon Williams. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Office for Budget Responsibility is supposed to be the calm, quiet body that keeps watch over Britain’s public finances. But after it accidentally released its Budget analysis before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her statement, its chair Richard Hughes resigned and the watchdog suddenly became the lead story. Today on The Bunker, Seth Thévoz is joined by economist and former Treasury adviser Giles Wilkes to ask: what exactly is the OBR, and why does this low-profile institution hold so much power over the UK economy? • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social • 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more. Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio producer: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He’s a nightmare made flesh for progressives and liberals: an anti-woke, hyper-libertarian tech billionaire who bankrolled JD Vance, supports Curtis Yarvin’s anti-democracy “Dark Enlightenment” movement, and seems to base his worldview on the worst parts of Lord Of The Rings. But lately Peter Thiel has been getting even weirder, warning of the rise of an actual Anti-Christ who wants to “end science”. What is going on? Thiel-watcher James Ball of The New World magazine joins Andrew Harrison to explain the odd philosophy of this superpowered misfit. • Now hear Thiel’s biographer Max Chafkin interviewed by Andrew on Apple and Spotify – or search “Bunker Supervillain Billionaire” on your favourite app. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Warren. 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

We usually think radicalisation is something that happens to young people. Teenagers doomscrolling in dark bedrooms, or twenty-somethings disappearing into algorithmic rabbit holes. But look around, and the picture feels very different. The loudest voices in the culture wars, the Facebook fire-starters, the men who seem permanently furious in comment sections and group chats. They’re in their 40s, 50s, even older, and they’re getting swept up in a digital storm they were never taught to navigate. Today on The Bunker, Zoë Grünewald is joined by Dr Sara Wilford, Associate Professor at De Montfort University, to explore why people in mid-life are becoming increasingly vulnerable to online radicalisation and what this shift means for the rest of us. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s December, so come open this week’s Advent Calendar of misery with Ros Taylor and Gavin Esler. Is the Mail/Telegraph frenzy over Rachel Reeves allegedly misleading the Commons over Britain’s finances just a mountain out of a molehill? How is the Budget fallout settling? Does David Lammy really want to bring trial by jury to an end for all but the most serious cases? Oh, and having failed to stop one war in Ukraine, will Trump manage to start one in Venezuela before Christmas? God bless us, every one! • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Ros Taylor with Gavin Esler. 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

Wrapping up the stories of the week… Jacob Jarvis and Seth Thévoz dig into the media’s reaction to Rachel Reeves’s budget and what it really tells us about the state of Labour. We break down the latest twist in the Trump/Russia saga after the collapse of the so-called “peace plan”, and look at The Guardian’s continuing coverage of Nigel Farage’s racism accusations from his school days. Plus, Seth names his winners and losers of the week, we take a closer look at the power players behind AI and online moderation and so much more. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social • 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more. Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The US-Russia “peace plan” isn’t happening. Days after the 28-point proposal leaked, it collapsed spectacularly amid accusations that it amounted to a surrender to Putin. Is there anything left in the “amended” version? And who really wrote the proposals? Luke Harding, foreign correspondent for The Guardian and author of Invasion explains why the plan was simply a Russian foreign policy offensive with Trump as its salesman, whether the whole episode has made Zelenskyy stronger, and if peace is will ever get closer. • Buy Luke’s book Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social • 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Design by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anticipation is building around the imminent release of the “Epstein files.” With Donald Trump finally signing off, the Justice Department is expected to publish long-sealed documents on the disgraced financier, and the public is bracing for answers. But what should we actually expect? Today in The Bunker, Seth Thévoz talks to journalist and author Vicky Ward, who has reported on Epstein for over two decades, to see whether the files finally confirm any of the rumours or just pour more fuel on the conspiracy bonfire. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editors: Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A pocket-sized device that contains all knowledge in the universe? Which makes your life better, and not a hellscape of political rancour and surveillance capitalism? Come off it! Never happen. But that’s exactly what Douglas Adams imagined as the titular device in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, the cosmic road novel that changed the minds of a generation. As a new immersive theatre version of “HHGTTG” opens in London, its creator Arvin Ethan David tells Andrew Harrison why Douglas Adams was the digital Wodehouse who would have held back enshittification… whether Elon Musk is Zaphod Beeblebrox … and why you still need to know where your towel is. • Get tickets for The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London until 15 Feb 2026 at hitchhikerslive.com. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Robin Warren. 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 a big week for Starmer and Reeves as the Budget looms. How’s it going to go down? Plus, talks over a plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, Trump gets a new best friend and Cop30 ends on a disappointing note. Rafael Behr and Jacob Jarvis discuss the news to look out for this week. Support us on Patreon for episodes ad free and early: www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Rafael Behr. 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

As the Epstein walls close in on Trump, the President pulls a desperate U-turn and says he wants the release of files he tried to suppress. How will they be redacted, and to save whom? Plus Labour’s latest attempts to look tough on migration, the Cloudflare outage, Russia bombs railway lines in Poland and shines lasers at the RAF… and why Trump’s “Quiet, piggy” outburst is hurting him more than his usual slob misogyny would. Jonn Elledge and Andrew Harrison wrap up the stories that mattered this week. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. 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

For years China has been cast as a climate villain, responsible for roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. But China’s emissions have begun to level off and the country has quietly become a powerhouse in clean-energy. Today on The Bunker, Gavin Esler is joined by Barbara Finamore, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and author of Will China Save the Planet to find out if China’s clean-energy model is the future everyone else will have to follow — or a path too politically uncomfortable for the rest of the world. Buy Barbara’s book Will China Save the Planet through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Writer-artist Joe Sacco created a new kind of journalism when he combined on-the-ground reportage with painstaking hand-drawn illustration. His award-winning books including Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde brought under-reported stories to new audiences. In his absorbing new book The Once And Future Riot he travels to Uttar Pradesh, India, to explore the causes and consequences of the bitter religious and political violence that consumed the area in the 2010s. He talks to Andrew Harrison about life as a conflict cartoonist, creativity vs A.I., and how “comics journalism” can do things the TV news never can. • Buy The Once And Future Riot through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. 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

Next year is shaping up to be a year of uncomfortable truths. Rich countries are spending way beyond their means, the A.I. bubble could be about to burst, and global conflicts are drifting further into dangerous territory. But it may also be a turning point for the planet as we confront these challenges head-on. Today on The Bunker, Seth Thévoz is joined by Tom Standage, deputy editor of The Economist, to take a look at The Economist’s The World Ahead 2026 issue and find out what these trends mean for politics, the global economy and the human race. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more. Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Starmer’s position remains in question after a week of chaos and the announcement of controversial new asylum plans. Can the narrative shift? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss this and more as they outline the news to look out for this week. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more. Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to the Weekly Wrap-Up, where we break down the biggest news, the weirdest stories, and the important bits that slipped under the radar. Today on The Bunker, Jacob Jarvis and Rafael Behr dig into Starmer’s briefing war with Wes Streeting, unpack the latest revelations from the Epstein files, and ask the big question: could the BBC survive a billion dollar lawsuit from Donald Trump? Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editors: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if the incel problem is a symptom of something bigger in our society? We regularly pin misogyny on villains like Andrew Tate, the loud, memorable faces of a much darker problem. But what do we do if the real issue runs deeper than a few influencers? Today on The Bunker, Zoë Grünewald sits down with Katherine Denkinson, author of INCEL The Weaponization of Misogyny, to ask, how do we solve the incel problem? Buy Katherine’s book Incel: The Weaponization of Misogyny through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker to get 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social 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 ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump and Xi Jinping’s fractious relationship is one of the most important connections in the world. As each side fights for dominance, who appears to be on top at the moment – and why? And what is shaping how they behave? Seth Thévoz is joined by Elizabeth Economy, author of The World According to China and By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World, a former Senior Advisor for China at the US Department of Commerce and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Buy By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping American Friction by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Head to ⁠https://www.nakedwines.co.uk/thebunker⁠ to get a £30 voucher and 6 top-rated wines from our sponsor Naked Wines for £39.99, delivery included. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. 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

Amid the multi-trillion dollar stampede to build and control A.I., one question is being drowned out: Will artificial intelligence kill the entire human race, and all life on the planet? Nate Soares is president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and co-author of a chilling exploration of the race to create artificial super-intelligence, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. He tells Andrew Harrison why the concept of an omnicidal super-A.I.is not just an outside possibility from sci-fi but almost a certainty – why the A.I. boosters’ safeguards won’t work – and what we must do if we are to survive as a species. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production by Robin Warren. Music by Kenny Dickinson. 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 BBC’s Director General and head of news are forced to resign in a confected row about Donald Trump’s incendiary Jan 6 speech. Overdue accountability for mediocre leaders, or a successful drive-by from lifelong enemies of the BBC – and dangerous interference in British democracy from Trump? Plus, Rachel Reeves’ budget plans crystallise, COP30 shows the dire state of climate action, the junior doctors’ strike… and Somerset Dracula rises from his grave. Ros Taylor sets out the week ahead with Andrew Harrison. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. 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