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  www.patreon.com/bunkercast    • 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.  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.  Buy If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies⁠ through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping The Bunker 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 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

NEW: If you like Start Your Week’s look ahead, how about a round-up of the biggest, strangest, most important stories of the week, every Friday? On today’s debut edition: What Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York really means. “Vibe coding”. The heroism of train attack defender Samir Zitouni. Rachel Reeves’ pre-budget nerves. And what the hell has Donald Trump done to the White House this week?   • Read Spencer Ackerman’s excoriating obituary of Dick Cheney. • We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.    www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Written and presented by Andrew Harrison and Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. 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

John le Carré was still a working secret agent when he wrote The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, the book that shocked the Britain of 1963 with its portrait of espionage not as heroic but as sordid, morally compromised and utterly without glamour. In comparison James Bond’s escapist world of girls and gadgets seemed naive and shallow. As a new stage adaptation of The Spy opens, its playwright David Eldridge talks to Andrew Harrison about adapting le Carré’s deep, dark vision for 2025 – why he expanded the role of George Smiley – and what The Spy has to say about the West’s new Cold War with Putin. • The Spy Who Came In From The Cold runs @sohoplace Theatre in London's West End from 17 Nov-21 Feb, ahead of a major UK tour in 2026. Tickets are available from https://spyonstage.com/ • 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.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been a year since Trump’s election victory, how has US politics changed? What’s the trajectory? And is there any hope for the future? Emma Kennedy is joined by Casey Burgat, author of We Hold These "Truths": How to Spot the Myths that are Holding America Back and director of the Legislative Affairs program at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, to discuss.  Buy We Hold These Truths: How to Spot the Myths That Are Holding America Back 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. • 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  Written and presented by Emma Kennedy. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editors: Robin Warren. 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

The MAGA cult’s idol worship is the fuel for Trump’s war on American democracy. As British politics lurches to the right, could something similar ever happen here? Could violent racist nationalism and conspiracy thinking build a know-nothing cult of personality that would threaten our society? Prof Roger Griffin is one of the world’s top experts on the dynamics of fascism and emeritus professor in Modern History at Oxford Brookes University. He explains the crucial differences between American populism and the British far-right… why a movement doesn’t have to be strictly fascist to threaten a liberal democracy… and what ordinary citizens can do to hold back the authoritarian mob.  • 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 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 horrific train stabbing attack at the weekend has shaken the nation. But are the media and politicians talking about it responsibly? Plus, the Andrew scandal rolls on and Trump continues to to commit violent acts across the world at will. Gavin Esler and Jacob Jarvis discuss all this and more.  We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.  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

From troops on the streets to desecrating the White House to literal sh*tposting videos, Trump’s fascistic reign is relentless and exhausting. One day it will end – but how? Will he run out of steam, lose an election the Constitution says he’s not allowed to run in anyway, succumb to age and infirmity, or what? And what lasting damage will America’s worst president leave? We discuss five ways the Trump Nightmare could end with Reed Galen, founder of anti-Trump Republicans The Lincoln Project, President of the pro-democracy campaign JoinTheUnion.us and host of The Home Front Podcast . • 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

In the 1970s, a new kind of revolutionary emerged: terrorists who used spectacle as a weapon. Plane hijackings, hostage crises and televised terror became the tools of radicals. Figures like Leila Khaled and Carlos the Jackal turned political violence into global theatre. Their stories still captivate filmmakers today, inspiring films like One Battle After Another. Today in The Bunker, Seth Thévoz speaks to Guardian international security correspondent Jason Burke, author of The Revolutionists, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2025, about how these figures reshaped global politics, and what their legacy reveals about ideology, glamour and violence. Buy Jason’s book The Revolutionists The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s 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. • 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 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

Donald Trump built his brand on the myth of the self-made billionaire. The man who turned a ‘small loan’ from his father into a global empire. But behind the gold-plated image lies a trail of bankruptcies, bailouts, and creative accounting that kept his empire afloat. Today on The Bunker, Jacob Jarvis is joined by Russ Buettner, journalist and author of Lucky Loser, to take a magnifying glass to Trump’s finances and ask how a serially failing businessman convinced millions he was the ultimate winner? Buy Russ’s book Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success 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 Jacob Jarvis. 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

The start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a disaster. But three years on, Moscow is learning fast. Behind the frontlines, the Kremlin is reshaping its military, its industry, and its people for a long war – and for others in the future. Today on The Bunker, Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by Dara Massicot, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to find out what lessons has Russia learned from its early failures? And how the West could face a more dangerous, more adaptable enemy next time. Read Dara's article How Russia Recovered online or in the November/December 2025 edition of Foreign Affairs magazine • 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 Alex von Tunzelmann. 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