The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Donald Trump is making more money than any sitting US president in history – and his eldest son isn’t about to let Dad have all the fun… Through his investment firm 1789 Capital, Donald Trump Jr is cashing in by backing companies that often stand to benefit from government policy.  So how is he turning political access into profit? What does it reveal about the financial ties between the White House and the president's inner circle? And is it blatant corruption or is he exploiting a system with few guardrails? The New York Times’ finance reporter Maureen Farrell joins Jacob Jarvis to unpack what’s going on.  • Back us on Patreon.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

Andy Burnham is pushing his new devolution agenda and suggested it could mean we need a written constitution. How might that work? Plus, there’s a new mayor in Manchester, what did the by-election show us? Alex von Tunzelmann talks Jacob Jarvis through the news to look out for in the next few days.      • Find out if you’re owed on car finance at refundclub.co.uk/bunker • Refund Club is a trading style of Sandsford Law Limited, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA no. 8008114). Checking is free. A fee is payable only if your claim is successful. Eligibility: car finance taken out in the UK between 2007 and 2021. The average claim is around £829 per agreement; this is an average and not a guarantee of the amount you will receive. You can also claim yourself for free by contacting your lender or the Financial Ombudsman Service. refundclub.co.uk/bunker  Support us on Patreon.     Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.    

Looking back on the big stories of the past week… The Burnham bounce is driving the right completely bonkers. How long can his momentum last – and can anyone knock the PM off his pedestal? Plus: Donald Trump held talks with Zelensky and Netanyahu after delivering an unhinged eulogy for the late Senator Lindsey Graham. What did we learn from these meetings? Rafael Behr joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the biggest, strangest and most under-reported stories of the week.  • Find out if you’re owed on car finance at refundclub.co.uk/bunker• Refund Club is a trading style of Sandsford Law Limited, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA no. 8008114). Checking is free. A fee is payable only if your claim is successful. Eligibility: car finance taken out in the UK between 2007 and 2021. The average claim is around £829 per agreement; this is an average and not a guarantee of the amount you will receive. You can also claim yourself for free by contacting your lender or the Financial Ombudsman Service. refundclub.co.uk/bunkerSupport us on Patreon.Written and presented by Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk

Putin thought his war on Ukraine would restore Russia to greatness in just ten days. Instead, after four and a half years of futile slaughter and almost half a million Russian soldiers killed, the unthinkable seems to be coming true. Could Russia lose in Ukraine? Could Putin go down with it? And could defeat break up the Russian Federation – the “last empire” – itself? Russian native and professor in the Department of International Relations at the Central European University in Vienna Alexander Etkind joins Alex von Tunzelmann to discuss what happens next.  • Buy Professor Etkind’s book Russia Against Modernity 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.• Find out if you’re owed on car finance at refundclub.co.uk/bunker• Refund Club is a trading style of Sandsford Law Limited, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA no. 8008114). Checking is free. A fee is payable only if your claim is successful. Eligibility: car finance taken out in the UK between 2007 and 2021. The average claim is around £829 per agreement; this is an average and not a guarantee of the amount you will receive. You can also claim yourself for free by contacting your lender or the Financial Ombudsman Service. refundclub.co.uk/bunker • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercastWritten and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. 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

A lab accident, a bio-attack, a global pandemic. Is this how it all ends? If you weren’t worried enough about nuclear war, the next doomsday weapon is a sinister invisible threat – and it’s a living thing. After her astonishing book Nuclear War: A Scenario reignited the global conversation about the reality of nuclear weapons, Annie Jacobson’s new book Biological War: A Scenario charts how a fast-moving pathogen could bring humanity swiftly to its knees.  She spoke to US government officials, military advisers, virologists and trawled through a mountain of declassified material to build the scenario. Annie now joins Emma Kennedy to discuss the enormity of the threat.    • Buy Annie’s book Biological War: A Scenario 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. • Annie speaks about her previous book Nuclear War: A Scenario on this vintage episode of The Bunker.      • Back us on PatreonWritten and presented by Emma Kennedy. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music: Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk

Steve Gallant knows what’s wrong with Britain's prisons. He spent over 16 years in jail for murder and then – on his very first day release – he helped stop the 2019 London Bridge terror attack, an act of bravery which won him the Queen’s Gallantry Medal and a Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Now a writer, speaker and prison safety consultant, he talks to Zoë Grünewald about Britain’s prison crisis; the violence, self-harm, drug use and organised crime inside prison; the collapse of education and rehabilitation; and the jails which could run out of space by November. How quickly must the Burnham government act? • Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercastWritten and presented by Zoë Grünewald. 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

Setting up the stories of the next seven days… France and Spain suffer apocalyptic fires and mass evacuations. Will this be the tipping point for European climate policy? Andy Burnham starts to tackle the big stuff in his second week as PM, starting with an issue that has defeated successive governments: social care. Plus the aftermath of the Berlin Pride terror attack, the Greater Manchester mayoral election, the Cockroach Protests in India… and who decided the Spider-Man movie was the standard bearer of anti-woke? Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison look at the stories that will shape the week ahead.  Support us on Patreon. 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

Looking back on the big stories of the past seven days… Did Andy Burnham’s first week as PM go as planned? A raging Elon Musk says he’s going to make his own Odyssey with A.I. and it’ll be better than Christopher Nolan’s and he’s not mad, OK?? (Plus bonus Musk interview from The Economist). Donald Trump brings back his election interference claims, this time pointing fingers at China. And an OpenAI model breaks out containment to hack another A.I. on its own – has artificial intelligence already started going rogue? Seth Thévoz joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the biggest, strangest and most under-reported stories of the week.  • Elon Musk interview with Economist editor in chief Zanny Minton Beddoes courtesy of The Economist. See the whole interview here.  • Hear The Bunker on Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey here.Support us on Patreon.Written and presented by Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk 

“You can’t have a black Helen of Troy!” “You can’t have trans actors as Greek warriors!” Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of The Odyssey answered the far-right hecklers and Elon Musk fanboys with a colossal opening weekend and critical acclaim. But is it truly a masterpiece? Does it capture the essence of Homer’s epic poem or simplify and Hollywoodise it? And what does the movie leave out? Dedicated classicist Rachel Cunliffe of the New Statesman and Oh God, What Now? talks over the original hero’s journey with simple swineherd Andrew Harrison. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. 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