The Bunker
Podmasters
news and politics unlocked
- 32 minutes 56 secondsIt’s P.C. gone mad – 50 years of Apple Computer
The Golden Apple… From the boxy, upstart Apple II computer to the world-changing iPod and iPhone and beyond, Apple Inc. has shaped both the digital world and our own reality since it was founded on 1 April, 1976. Steve Jobs and creators like Jony Ive brought sleek consumer design to the masses, saved the music business, and created the app industry – but Apple has also grown into a corporate behemoth which kowtows to Trump. On Apple’s 50th birthday, tech journalist Craig Grannell talks to Alex von Tunzelmann about how it became the world’s most valuable brand… the disasters that happened along the way… and whether Apple can survive the age of A.I.
Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. Produced by Sophie Clark. 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.
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1 April 2026, 3:00 am - 31 minutes 24 secondsCrashGPT – Will A.I. trigger a 2008-style financial crisis?
Artificial Intelligence is being touted as civilisational game-changer – and a miracle cure for Britain’s ailing economy. So far it’s all promise and no real achievement. But investors are still piling vast sums of money into a very few companies. Could that concentrated investment lay the world open to another financial crisis? Joshua Roberts, Capital Markets Correspondent for The Economist, talks to Seth Thévoz about the “apocalyptic bubble-bursting scenario.”
“We have never seen companies this highly since the DotCom boom,” he says. “And that was followed by a huge crash.”
Written and presented by Seth Thévoz. Audio production by Robin Leeburn with thanks to Jason Hosken at The Economist. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.
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31 March 2026, 3:00 am - 30 minutes 42 secondsSome Boots on Some Ground? – Start Your Week with Gavin Esler
Setting up the big stories of the next seven days… As Trump runs out of options will he take the biggest step of all: a ground invasion of at least part of Iran? And can he do it while convincing that it’s not really “boots on the ground”? Plus: The financial consequences of the Iran War land in the UK right at the start of the local, Scottish and Welsh election campaigns. Apple Computer’s 50th birthday. The decision on Trump’s nightmare ballroom. And could YOU be the next Tottenham Hotspur manager? Gavin Esler and Andrew Harrison wade through the week that’s coming.
Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.
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30 March 2026, 8:50 am - 38 minutes 39 secondsStarmer finds Farage's Crypto-nite – Weekly Wrap-Up with Seth Thévoz
The government is placing new limits on crypto and overseas donations — but is this about national security or is Starmer just worried about Farage’s fundraising power? Plus: Boris Johnson dubs himself the “Napoleon of Notting Hill”, and Trump’s 15-point peace plan falls flat. Jacob Jarvis is joined by Seth Thévoz to round up the biggest stories from the past week.
Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Seth Thévoz. Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.
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27 March 2026, 4:00 am - 40 minutes 23 secondsHot Take Time Machine – March’s weirdest columns with Miranda Sawyer and Jonn Elledge
Every day we’re swamped with weird takes on everything from the Iran war to the malevolence of pigeons. Now Paper Cuts survivors Miranda Sawyer and Jonn Elledge join Jacob Jarvis to discuss the weirdest (and occasionally best) columns of the month… so you don’t have to.
This time: Terrible Iran takes, energy bill nightmares and a loving look at Adrian Chiles’ latest offerings.
• Spotted a column we should talk about next time? Send it to [email protected]
Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. 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.
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26 March 2026, 4:00 am - 29 minutes 25 secondsA picture of the future – A new movie captures what George Orwell knew about 2026
George Orwell’s vision of a world of constant surveillance, where authoritarians rule by destroying the very concept of objective truth, is coming true in ways the author never predicted – and many ways he did. A new documentary film, Orwell: 2+2=5 by the acclaimed Haitian director Raoul Peck, connects the dots between 1984, Animal Farm, Big Data and mass manipulation in the digital age.
Our own Orwell correspondent Dorian Lynskey – author of The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 – talks to Andrew Harrison about what George Orwell really understood about the human mind, and why the world needs to stop misusing “Orwellian”.
• Orwell: 2+2=5 opens in selected cinemas on Fri 27 March.
• Buy The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 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.
Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.
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25 March 2026, 4:00 am - 30 minutes 12 secondsMAGA’s new plan to take Canada without firing a shot
Canada slapped down Trump’s bizarre fantasy of taking over the country when it elected Mark Carney as PM, and Canadians are still boycotting travel to the USA. But MAGA has not given up on its ambition of annexing the North. And they’re targeting the province of Alberta, known as “The Texas of the North” – a place that’s innately right-wing, suspicious of government, resentful of the rest of the country, and full of oil.
Canadian journalist John Last talks to Ros Taylor from Ottawa about the subversive campaign to MAGA-fy this chunk of Canada, and whether a mix of “useful idiots”, far-right cranks and redpilled Trump fanboys could turn Alberta into Canada’s equivalent of the Donbas. His verdict? “The core of this movement is treasonous.”
Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Sophie Clark. 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.
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24 March 2026, 4:00 am - 28 minutes 49 secondsHas Iran won the Iran War? – Start Your Week with Gavin Esler
Setting out the stories of the next seven days… Trump’s directionless assault on Iran reaches a decisive moment. Does the President declare arbitrary victory or press on? And with its regime renewed, its grip on the world economy tightening, and the US now abandoning oil sanctions, is Iran actually winning? Plus: the new BBC Director General, a possible antisemitic hate crime in Golders Green, and everybody get ready for the annual “they’re banning Easter” squabblefest. Gavin Esler and Andrew Harrison set out the week ahead.
• The Together Against The Far Right demonstration is on Sat 28 March.
Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.
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23 March 2026, 9:55 am - 36 minutes 20 secondsHere comes the Rayner again – Weekly Wrap-Up with Alex von Tunzelmann
Angela Rayner sparked speculation this week after warning Labour is “running out of time”. Is this the first sign of a leadership bid, or media overexcitement? Plus: a meningitis outbreak in Kent raises fresh public health concerns, and as the conflict in Iran enters its fourth week, is Donald Trump losing control of the narrative? Jacob Jarvis is joined by Alex von Tunzelmann to unpack a packed week.
Written and presented by: Jacob Jarvis with Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.
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20 March 2026, 4:00 am - 31 minutes 26 secondsBack the Future? – What is Europe for in the 21st Century?
With war in Ukraine, the US almost our enemy, Brexit Britain now semi-detached and Putin waiting in the wings, the continent that rebuilt itself from the ruins of two world wars now finds its founding settlement under unprecedented pressure. Does Europe need to go back to find its future? Historian Roderick Beaton, author of Europe: A New History, joins Alex von Tunzelmann to trace how Europe was forged, how it has weathered cycles of integration and disintegration, and what its future might look like in this new era of uncertainty.
• Pre-order Europe: A New History 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.
Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Andrew Harrison. Production Assistant: Jake Preston. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.
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19 March 2026, 4:00 am - 38 minutes 48 secondsThe rise of “Muskism” – Will we live in Elon Musk’s nightmare future?
Elon Musk wants much more than just a radicalised far-right population, a hotline to political power and a civil war in Britain. As Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff, authors of Muskism: A Guide For The Perplexed explain, he’s building no less than a dark new way for society to function. Under ‘Muskism’, technology envelopes every aspect of life, states and corporations are indistinguishable, and humans who disagree are just bugs in the code. But will Muskism survive its creator?
Andrew Harrison talks to the authors about the state subsidies that built Musk’s empire, the real reasons he went over the edge, and why Musk keeps drawing all the wrong conclusions from the science fiction he claims to love.
• Buy Muskism: A Guide For The Perplexed 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.
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.
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18 March 2026, 4:00 am - More Episodes? Get the App