The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Glastonbury has been the hot zone for radical ideas since its hippy infancy. But the first Labour government in 15 years is not exactly the hitting the mark for the festival’s audience of utopians and out-of-the-box thinkers. Can Labour get back to its radical roots? The Guardian’s John Harris, who comperes the Left Field [https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/areas/left-field/] at Glastonbury, and campaigner Gracie Mae Bradley who’s guesting at the Left Field this year, come together for a pre-festival summit.  • Support us on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast] for early episodes and more. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed.com/bunker [https://indeed.com/bunker] to get your £100 sponsored credit.   Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk [http://www.podmasters.co.uk] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Britain needs  be ready to fight a war in Europe or the Atlantic in as little as two years – and we look badly underprepared. That’s the message of Labour’s sobering new Strategic Defence Review. So where are we weak, how fast could we rearm and what will it cost? And do the British people have the disposition to fight the sort of war we thought was in the past? Peter Ricketts, UK National Security Adviser from 2010 to 2012 and Britain’s former representative to NATO, explains the challenge of renewing Britain’s defences against a ticking clock. • Support us on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast] for early episodes and more. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker [https://indeed.com/bunker%20] to get your £100 sponsored credit.   Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Tom Taylor and Sara Farolfi. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production www.podmasters.co.uk [https://www.podmasters.co.uk/] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Trump’s birthday parade bored the few people who bothered watching – and offended those who actually care about the military, unlike the president himself. As protests rage across the US – can Trump keep ignoring them? Plus, the situation in the Middle East becomes increasingly terrifying – how might tensions between Iran and Israel escalate? Gavin Esler joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss this and more as we look to the week ahead.    We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker [https://indeed.com/bunker] for £100 sponsored credit.  Support us on Patreon for ad free and early episodes: www.patreon.com/bunkercast [https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast]       Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis with Gavin Esler. Audio production: Tom Taylor. 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 [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Rome conjures up strong images and ideas for many of us – but what if everything we think we know about the era is totally wrong? Alex von Tunzelmann speaks with Edward J. Watts, author of The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9780190076719]: The History of a Dangerous Idea and the upcoming The Romans: A 2,000-Year History, to discuss the falsehoods that need clearing up.  • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to https://indeed.com/bunker [https://indeed.com/bunker] for £100 sponsored credit.   www.patreon.com/bunkercast [https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast]  Follow us on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/bunkerpod.bsky.social%E2%81%A0%C2%A0]. Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. 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 [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Legendarily hot, dry and hedonistic, the Summer of ’76 burnt itself into our cultural memory as a kind of Ultimate Summer. But the record temperatures, the soul and disco classics and the sense of youth breaking free took place against a backdrop of economic collapse, political failure and barely suppressed rage. These were the Dark 70s of the Southall Riots, the Ripper and the Black Panther, police queerbashing and simmering hatreds. John L. Williams, author of Heatwave: The Summer of 1976 – Britain At Boiling Point [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9781800961715], talks to Andrew Harrison about four months of tension that birthed punk rock, Thatcherism and a more cynical Britain. • Buy Heatwave: The Summer of 1976 through our affiliate bookshop [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9781800961715] and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org [http://bookshop.org/]’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Support us on Patreon for early episodes and more [https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast]. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker [https://indeed.com/bunker] to get your £100 sponsored credit.   Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Sara Farolfi. Produced by Liam Tait. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production www.podmasters.co.uk [https://www.podmasters.co.uk/] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]