The Bunker – News without the nonsense

What really triggered the horrific race riots in Northern Ireland earlier this month? Who were the agitators of the “modern-day pogrom” in which balaclava-clad rioters chased people from their homes and torched cars and buildings in overwhelmingly loyalist areas? Belfast-based journalist Amanda Ferguson was on the ground as the violence unfolded. She gives Gavin Esler her eyewitness account of the attacks, the aftermath and the mix of far-right agitation and experienced Loyalist paramilitaries behind these appalling scenes.

• Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast
Written and presented by Gavin Esler. 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
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What connects violent anti-immigration protests with a defence secretary resigning over a funding row with Number 10? The answer is social cohesion – and Britain isn’t doing enough to protect it. A transnational campaign bringing together MAGA, Russian influence operations and the far right is actively targeting the very bonds that hold us together, says Dr Kate Ferguson, co-founder of Protection Approaches – a charity that campaigns against identity-based violence.
Is this just a community relations problem or is something far more serious at play? Do we need to treat social cohesion as a full-blown national security emergency? Kate joins Rafael Behr to discuss how malign actors are attacking British society – and what we can do about it.

• Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast

Written and presented by Rafael Behr. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

www.podmasters.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The West’s naivete towards Putin in the 2000s cost us dearly. Now Russia’s tyrant – a creature of the KGB/FSB who has returned his country to its roots as a repressive intelligence state – is attacking us with unprecedented ferocity and deviousness. Sean Wiswesser, ex-CIA station chief in the former Soviet Union, says the “reckless” activity of FSB and GRU agents has reached new heights. But can they be stopped – and can we win the intelligence war? He tells Andrew Harrison how intelligence and dirty tricks are inextricable from Putin’s power; how the old skills of “tradecraft” persist alongside new digital tactics; and what really makes Russian intelligence tick.
 
• Buy Sean’s book Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin’s Secret War 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.

• Back us on Patreon – www.patreon.com/bunkercast

Written and presented by Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Producer: James Liddell. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.
www.podmasters.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Setting out the stories of the next seven days… Labour announce far more draconian restrictions on social media for teens than anyone expected. Why are they being so hardcore now? And will the measures work? Plus: it’s Makerfield by-election week, at last. What will help Labour more: Restore splitting the far-right vote or an England victory against Croatia in the World Cup? And what does Trump’s Iran deal actually mean? Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison look into the stories of the week ahead.

www.patreon.com/bunkercast

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. 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.
www.podmasters.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Setting out the stories of the next seven days… Labour announce far more draconian restrictions on social media for teens than anyone expected. Why are they being so hardcore now? And will the measures work? Plus: it’s Makerfield by-election week, at last. What will help Labour more: Restore splitting the far-right vote or an England victory against Croatia in the World Cup? And what does Trump’s Iran deal actually mean? Ros Taylor and Andrew Harrison look into the stories of the week ahead. 

www.patreon.com/bunkercast 

Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. 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.

www.podmasters.co.uk 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices