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The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Some Boots on Some Ground? – Start Your Week with Gavin Esler

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

Politics, Government, Society & Culture, News

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to another start your week from the bunker where we do our level best to set out the stories that will shape the next seven days.

0:17.9

I'm Andrew Harrison and with me to explain it all, it's legend of the BBC,

0:21.7

and our presenter on This Is Not a Drill. Gavin, hello, Gavin, good morning. What ungodly hour is this?

0:27.9

I have no idea. I forgot to change the clocks yesterday for a bit, and apparently a distorted

0:32.9

sense of time leads to anxiety. So that explains it. So that's what we're blaming it on today.

0:39.2

Okay. It's nice to have a different reason. So let's get into the stories to cause that anxiety.

0:43.8

Iran is obviously going to dominate the week. And the issue is with Donald Trump in a corner

0:48.9

and Iran is showing no sign of capitulating. Will Trump deploy ground troops from 3,000 personnel since who have arrived in the region with the warship USS Tripoli,

0:58.7

but there is, as yet no order for them to move.

1:01.2

Iranian parliament speak out, Mohammed Bakke, Galibath says his forces are waiting for American soldiers

1:06.9

to enter on the ground so they can rain fire upon them.

1:13.3

Gavin, Trump's latest is,

1:18.1

he says he's considering seizing Carg Island, but a deal could be made very quickly,

1:23.6

whatever that means. Putting trips in will be a momentous step, with the caveat predicting Trump's actions is a fool's game. Where would it take us onto his next phase?

1:28.3

Well, I think we need to take a step back and remind ourselves that delusion in war is not new

1:33.4

and not confined to the White House. I mean, the charge of the light brigade, the Germans

1:37.2

thought they'd win World War I before Christmas and, you know, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan,

1:42.1

you can, the list is endless.

1:51.1

So with all those caveats and knowing, nobody really knowing anything about the inner workings of Trump's mind,

1:57.4

several thousand troops isn't enough, obviously, to invade Iran itself, which is about the size of half of Western Europe, you know, France, Germany, Spain and Britain put together.

2:01.7

Don't give him ideas.

2:05.2

Yes, I'm just saying that in the hope that it doesn't happen. Could they take Carg Island,

...

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