Silicon Valley presents itself as a haven for tech start-ups wanting to change the world for the better. But, beneath the facade, it has a serious fraud problem. Why do tricksters thrive among the geniuses? Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX crypto exchange is the latest high-profile example – but he’s far from being the first tech start-up founder to wind up in jail. Erin Griffith is a reporter for the New York Times specialising in tech and finance – and joins Chris Jones in The Bunker to discuss this dark phenomenon.  • “When there’s a lot of free money going around, that’s going to attract a lot of people to exploit that.” – Erin Griffith • “The venture capital investors who are backing these companies are sophisticated… but there’s also an element of FOMO because there are only so many startups that might be the next Facebook.” – Erin Griffith • “I’m not sure anything is changing apart from some of these charges for fraud that are now being prosecuted in criminal court.” – Erin Griffith We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit Support us on Patreon. Written, presented and produced by Chris Jones. Audio production: Jade Bailey. 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

The Conservative Party was once a unified force, able to steadily maintain power. But today’s Tories are in constant turmoil. How did they become the party of chaos? Since Brexit there’s been a revolving door of leaders, the rise of tribalism within the party and a series of humiliating byelection losses. Alex Andreou is joined by professor of politics at Queen Mary University Tim Bale to try and understand this shift in conservative politics.     • “Everything that top Tories say needs to be considered as part of their future leadership contest.” – Tim Bale  • “Without Brexit, we wouldn't have seen the turmoil that we've seen over the last decade.”  – Tim Bale    We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.    Support us on Patreon.   Written and presented by Alex Andreou. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editor: Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.    Instagram | Twitter  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The prospect of a new Civil War in the United States is increasingly discussed as political turmoil rips through America. How could such a conflict actually break out? Rob Hutton is joined by The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future author Stephen Marche to discuss the terrifying new film Civil War – and how the reality could be even worse.     • “Civil wars when they come are the very worst things that can happen to a country. In England, the civil war demonstrated a level of brutality that is now unthinkable to us.” – Stephen Marche   • “It’s so dangerous right now, not because the people are inherently violent, but because for those people to get power, they need hatred to get them there.” – Stephen Marche    Buy The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future 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 Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.    Support us on Patreon.      Written and presented by Rob Hutton. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Union Jack represents many things for many people, linked to historical pride – but also shame. And, unfortunately, it’s become somewhat synonymous with the political Right. So what is Labour’s relationship with the flag? Andrew Harrison asks The People's Flag and the Union Jack: An Alternative History of Britain and the Labour Party co-author Gerry Hassan if Labour can reclaim Britishness.     • “I don’t think anyone in the UK can be completely objective about the Union Jack. Flags are things we have emotional connections with. The Union Jack’s meaning has evolved over centuries.” – Gerry Hassan  • “Lots of people say we have to either identify and feel pride in it, or loathe it – but it’s important we allow for a polarity of meanings.” – Gerry Hassan  • “In our current age of culture wars, symbols really matter. And symbols like national flags are highly contested.” – Gerry Hassan  • “Flags are part of who we are as human beings.” – Gerry Hassan      Buy The People's Flag and the Union Jack: An Alternative History of Britain and the Labour Party 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 Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit.    Support us on Patreon     Written and presented by Podmasters Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sunak has lost another MP after Mark Menzies announced he’s leaving the Tories and won’t stand at the next election. What issues does this raise for the PM? Meanwhile, the Tory leader is set to head to Poland to discuss the Ukraine war with Donald Tusk. What will they talk about? Plus, will Israel go ahead with further strikes on Rafah? And can Donald Trump manage to stay awake during his hush money trial this week? Alex Andreou joins Ros Taylor to discuss the week ahead.     • “They were happy to comment on an ongoing investigation last week, life comes at you fast.” – Alex Andreou   • “The lack of any kind of compromise is part of the reason why the Lords have dug their heels in. The government has made absolutely no moves to meet them even 2% of the way, they’ve just flatly turned everything down.” – Alex Andreou  • “The legislative process shouldn’t be one of trying to ram things through a House that dislikes them.” – Alex Andreou      We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit    Support us on Patreon   Written and presented by Ros Taylor with Alex Andreou. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production: Jade Bailey. 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

We know what happened the last time Donald Trump lost – and Joe Biden wants to make sure he’s prepared for more shenanigans this time out. If Trump doesn’t win “he is willing to cheat and steal it,'' writes today’s guest Adam Rawnsley, reporter for Rolling Stone magazine. He joins Jacob Jarvis in The Bunker to discuss how President Biden is preparing for an electoral tussle with the GOP. • “The one message we keep seeing from the polls is that no one is excited for this race.” – Adam Rawnsley • “We have a uniquely dim system … the electoral college.” – Adam Rawnsley We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Chris Jones. 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

Vladimir Putin has a tight grip on information in Russia. How does he shape how his nation sees the rest of the world? And how does he actually perceive other countries? Chris Jones asks Dr. Ivan Grigoriev, lecturer in Russian politics at the King’s Russia Institute.     • “Propaganda in Russia is like a steamroller that keeps rolling over and over the population.” - Dr. Ivan Grigoriev  • “Russia’s election went just how we thought it would: It was an 87% landslide election for Vladimir Putin. And the primary goal of this election was to show that if Putin wants 87%, he will get 87%.” - Dr. Ivan Grigoriev      We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit    Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Chris Jones. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production: Jade Bailey. 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

Paris is like Marmite – you either love it or you hate it. But it’s changing. Physically, through massive expansions in social housing and transport and a €40bn shot of investment, but also politically and psychologically. People are even smiling in the streets these days. Ros Taylor talks to Simon Kuper, Financial Times columnist and author of Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century, about how the French capital is transforming in the lead up to this year’s Olympics.  • “One thing that globalisation does is it removes these weird localities – and in Paris, that locality was rudeness.” – Simon Kuper • “Paris is trying to become London with the bad bits left out.” - Simon Kuper  Buy Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century 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 Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast    Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Simon Williams. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Political drama can be tedious but we can all enjoy watching a bitter rivalry unfold. What have been the greatest personal beefs in British politics? Before Starmer and Sunak there was Thatcher and Heath, Blair and Brown, Cameron and Johnson. Seth Thévoz talks Andrew Harrison through some of the ultimate Westminster head-to-heads.   • “When the personal overrides the principle, that’s when it becomes a problem. It’s a weak spot if you’re trying to bring down a person and not forward a cause.”   • “There are tales of Brown yelling at Blair, ‘You ruined my life!’”   We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit . Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production: Jade Bailey. 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

All eyes remain on the Middle East after Iran’s drone attacks on Israel. How will Netanyahu respond? And how are Britain and the US going to react? In the UK, Parliament returns – what is on the agenda? Plus, we look at other flashpoints across the globe – and round-up the rest of the domestic news. Alex Andreou and Hannah Fearn talk through the week ahead.     • “Perhaps it is a poor choice of timing for Iran, but it feels like a febrile time for the entire region.” – Hannah Fearn  • “It feels like both sides are looking for a forever war.” – Alex Andreou  • “The attack crystallised the partnership between Israel, the US and the UK.” – Hannah Fearn  We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit  Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Alex Andreou. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Producer: Liam Tait. 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

Donald Trump needs evangelical Christian voters to back him to stand a chance in November. But can his religious rhetoric and doubling down on his supposed love of all things Jesus really help him win? Philip Bump is a national columnist for The Washington Post and says that “Trump’s appeal to Christians is more limited than he suggests”. He joins Jacob Jarvis in The Bunker to discuss whether Trump’s Christian pandering will help him.  • “There’s definitely a subset that believes that the hand of God came down and anointed Donald Trump.” – Philip Bump • “I don’t know if there’s anyone Trump could pick as his running mate to lose his support from evangelical Christians.” – Philip Bump We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Chris Jones. 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

Every party promises a growing economy as a solution for everything – but can economic expansion carry on forever? On a planet with finite resources, can growth really be infinite? Ros Taylor talks to Daniel Susskind, economic professor and author of Growth: A History and a Reckoning, about the mystery of economic growth, what “degrowthers” want, and how to balance the pros and cons of an ever-expanding economy.  • “Economic growth feels like it’s a permanent fixture, and yet for most of history there was no growth at all. Modern economic growth only really began about 200-250 years ago.” – Daniel Susskind  • “One of the great mysteries in economics is that we actually know surprisingly little about the process of economic growth.” – Daniel Susskind  • “One thing degrowthers get wrong is this idea that we cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. I think we CAN have effectively infinite growth.” – Daniel Susskind  Buy Growth: A History and a Reckoning 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 Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast       Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  Instagram | Twitter   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adolf Hitler still comes up in conversations startlingly regularly – particularly online. Why? Sir Richard J. Evans, regius professor emeritus of history at the University of Cambridge and the author of The Hitler Conspiracies: The Third Reich and the Paranoid Imagination, as well as countless other titles, tells Jacob Jarvis why we’re still so obsessed with one of the most evil people to ever live.    • “Our perspectives change - you can now look at Hitler through the eyes and experience of Donald Trump, whose relationship to the truth and hostility to democracy make us look at Hitler afresh.” - Richard J. Evans • “Seeing the worst that humanity can do, we can use that as a signpost to the more trivial decisions between good and bad.” - Richard J. Evans Buy The Hitler Conspiracies: The Third Reich and the Paranoid Imagination [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9780141991498] 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 Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and presented by Podmasters managing editor Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could you watch GB News for a whole month? Gavin Esler did, in the name of research. What he experienced was a nightmare mix of confected anger, wild conspiracy and resentment designed to make its viewers feel like victims. GB News might be a joke but its growing social media presence is spreading and detoxifying the hard right views of some very powerful people. Gavin tells Andrew Harrison why we need to start taking Britain’s most absurd TV channel much more seriously. • “I am a recovering GB News watcher. I have to say, it was an ordeal - it was awful.” - Gavin Esler • “Some of the appeal is that ‘we give voice to people who aren’t heard’… But it is an attempt to normalise things that are fundamentally linked to the far right.” - Gavin Esler • “GB News plays into our social divisions, it plays into culture wars, it plays into people who wish to create problems and not solve them. - Gavin Esler Read Gavin’s highly entertaining story GB Spews – What I learned watching Britain’s most ghastly television news channel in Prospect magazine.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast    We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. Written and presented by Podmasters Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Simon Williams. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the Israel/Gaza war reaches stalemate, are hopes of a ceasefire just wishful thinking? Are “peace talks” in Ukraine just a euphemism for giving Putin what he wants? Plus Thames Water circles the plughole, the William Wragg WhatsApp fallout, and a total eclipse of everyone’s sanity. Ros Taylor sets out the week ahead with Andrew Harrison.   • “I think we’re seeing a slow creep towards giving up some Ukrainian territory to Russia”  • “The more Putin can pick-off Ukrainian support, particularly in Eastern Europe, the less likely Ukraine will be able to fight”  • “The William Wragg honeytrap scandal could just be someone being mischievous, but it could well be something much more serious”  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast  We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Assistant producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Even if you aren’t on Tiktok, you’ll know one of its billion plus monthly users. But how many of them know how their data is being collected, by whom, and why? The US is now proposing to ban the Chinese-owned social media platform over its links to the Chinese Communist Party. Chris Jones asks leading tech journalist Will Guyatt whether this is all just a form of political warfare against China – or if we really should worry about TikTok.     • “The idea that TikTok is in whole owned by the Chinese Communist Party isn’t true. It’s a complex system of ownership spread across the world, including the U.S. and the Cayman Islands.”   • “There are rabid inconsistencies. Joe Biden is saying he’ll support the act to ban TikTok, and using it as a part of his campaign.”   • “Is this about fears over information gathering or is this purely geopolitical? Or a bigger feeling that we shouldn’t do anything to benefit China?”     Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast       Written and presented by Chris Jones. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Britain’s Miners’ Strike conjures up strong emotions to this day – despite 40 years having passed since the confrontation. But what are the common misconceptions of this period of history? And how are its effects still being felt today? Andrew Harrison asks Robert Gildea, emeritus professor of modern history at the University of Oxford, about the enduring legacy of the Miners’ Strike.       • “The slogan was ‘close a pit, kill a community’ – and there was indeed devastation across mining communities in the decade after the strikes.” – Robert Gildea   • "There was a kind of ‘alternative welfare state’ that was set up largely by the miners’ wives who sustained striking miners and their families. Women came into their own.” – Robert Gildea      Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast      Listen to the latest episode of Jam Tomorrow on the coal industry:   https://listen.podmasters.uk/JT2404coal    Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Britain’s police forces seem constantly embroiled in scandal. Where does this stem from and where is most of the corruption? Former police officer and undercover drugs operative Neil Woods, author of Good Cop, Bad War, talks to Alex Andreou about the extent of police corruption in Britain and the pressing need for drug reform to reduce the problem.   • “If the public understood the extent of corruption caused by drug policy, we would have a referendum... Drug laws in this country are not ethically sound.” – Neil Woods  • “Because criminals control the over £10 billion a year drug market, which is completely unregulated, the vastness of that wealth is what gives organised crime its power to corrupt.” – Neil Woods  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Alex Andreou. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Simon Williams. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Tories face electoral obliteration, according to the polls – can Sunak do anything about it? We reflect on the latest damning survey and the current fallouts swirling around the PM. Plus we discuss conflict in the Middle East, and the latest strikes on Gaza and Syria. And finally we look at the latest from the war in Ukraine, then the election results in Turkey. Alex Andreou joins Jacob Jarvis to discuss the week ahead.     • “This is a really high-stakes local election – if the Tories do as poorly as some of the polls predict, it might be time-up for Rishi Sunak” – Alex Andreou   • “Most Tory voters are now either sanguine about a Labour government, or actively want one.” – Alex Andreou   • “Putin’s words often have the opposite effect to what they intended.” – Alex Andreou    Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast     Written and Presented by Jacob Jarvis. Audio production: Jade Bailey. 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

Collapsing birthrates have inspired dramas from The Handmaid’s Tale to Children of Men, but it isn’t just science fiction any more. We might not realise it, but we’re living through an epidemic of infertility – and it’s getting worse. How did we get here? What does it mean when humans have fewer babies? And how do we turn it around?     Jude Rogers finds out from world-leading environmental and reproductive epidemiologist Dr Shanna Swan, author of the cheerily-entitled Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development and Imperilling the Future of the Human Race.    • “This is too fast to be merely evolution... This is a worldwide challenge, if not a catastrophe.” – Dr Shanna Swan  • “Chemicals that affect hormones are influencing the decline in birth rates. We’re the guinea pigs… People need to exert pressure on governments to bring in legislation to stop that.” – Dr Shanna Swan    Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast       Written and presented by Jude Rogers. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices