CS Lewis wrote that there would be no better to place to live than Northern Ireland ‘if only I could deport the Ulstermen’. On Free State today Joe and Dion talk to the world-renowned historian Aaron Edwards about the predicament of unionism today. Is unionism a philosophy or an anxiety? Do unionist politicians have a strategy or are they trapped by parochialism? Edwards talks about his own upbringing on the hardline loyalist Rathcoole Estate in Belfast and why every victory gets turned to defeat.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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What were the challenges in being part of the resistance to the Nazis? What was the peculiar torment for women who took on the Reich? On a Free State Special, Dion talks to author Joseph O’Connor about his gripping new book The Ghosts of Rome. It continues the story of the Rome Escape Line, the extraordinary group that smuggled allied soldiers into the Vatican and away from the Nazis. He also looks back on the extraordinary life of the Kerryman Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who led that resistance in Rome but cared most for horses and the Kerry footballers.  It is an extraordinary interview with one of Ireland’s greatest writers.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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When President Donald Trump said he wanted to ‘clean out’ Gaza, where was the condemnation from world leaders? People might dismiss it as just another crazy thing Donald Trump says but it was more revealing that that. On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how the world is being reshaped by the response of the west to Gaza.  They consider Pankaj Mishra’s new book The World After Gaza and what it means. They also consider the response to President Higgins’ speech at the Holocaust Memorial Day and why his words were necessary and humane

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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What does giving poitín to a cow who has just calved have to do with the new rules in Gaelic football? On Free State today, Joe explains how Jim Gavin’s plans will allow Gaelic football to embrace chaos again. A game that has been coached to the brink of extinction will be reborn by a return of the skills that made people love it in the first place. Dion wonders if you can ever go back, but also offers some tactical tips to conceal his ignorance. Joe explains why the coaches who have driven risk from the game will be the ones who are punished and why original thinkers will triumph. And they wonder if the priest with the alcoholic Alsatian who could hold his drink might also have something to offer the Football Review Committee.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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Storm Eowyn swept across Ireland on Friday morning as winds of biblical force shook the nation. 32 counties were joined in a red alert and in towns, villages and cities people sheltered from the storm. But perhaps Storm Eowyn’s greatest show of force was to silence Joe Brolly, as he was among hundreds of thousands who lost electricity and internet. On Free State today, Dion looks back on episode three, the remarkable interview with  Charles Anyaegbunam about his life of privilege in Nigeria and his son the rapper Rejjie Snow.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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Who is Michael Lowry and what does he want? On Wednesday, the sitting of the Dail had to be abandoned after the opposition collectively resisted attempts to allow those supporting the new government to speak also as opposition. Micheál Martin called it a ‘subversion of the constitution’. But Micheál Martin has said many things in the Dail, especially about the effective leader of those independents, Michael Lowry. On Free State today, Dion and Joe examine the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal and what it said about Irish politics. They look at Lowry’s rise and how he operated.  They also discover how Ben Dunne confused a renovation of the Ilaac Centre with the building of a house for Michael Lowry. An accounting error anyone could make. They also answer the pressing question: how long does a crow bear a grudge?

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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As Donald Trump spoke about pursuing America’s ‘manifest destiny into the stars’ at his inauguration, Elon Musk gurned happily in the background. Trump wants to make Mars great again but what will happen to America? On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the ending of the American dream disguised as making the country great again again. They explain why this isn’t a transfer of power but a heist. The tech bros like Musk are eyeing up an entire country. They also look at what it means for Ireland if the American Empire is coming to an end.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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The success of Say Nothing has sparked a worldwide interest in the disappearance and murder of Jean McConville, the role of the Price sisters and the relationship Gerry Adams had with the IRA. It has also led people to ask questions about the Troubles, trauma and what they would have done if they had been part of a community under siege? But what if the history isn’t history at all? On Free State today novelist Timothy O’Grady joins Dion and Joe to talk about the flaws in Patrick Radden Keefe’s book. They ask what impact it has if many elements of the story are told from the perspective of people opposed to the peace process? They consider too how the TV series managed to turned the darkest act of the Troubles into a cartoon.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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Chris Mullin has lived a life less ordinary. He was a fearless investigative journalist who became a Labour MP determined to speak, not just truth to power, but to go in search of the truth, however uncomfortable it was. In the second part of his chat with Joe and Dion, Chris explains how the establishment were forced to confront a reality they had tried to suppress once the Guildford Four were released in 1989. Two years later the Birmingham Six were free. If the death penalty had still been in operation they would have been hanged as many other innocents were. The man who was described by The Sun as a “mouthpiece for IRA sympathisers”, explains how his doggedness helped transform the British legal system. He talks about A Very British Coup, his novel which predicted the future, as well as his friendship with Tony Benn. Chris served as a minister under Tony Blair and he talks about how a messianic fever took hold in Blair leading to the disaster that was the invasion of Iraq.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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On November 21 1974, five men were taken off a train in Heysham, Lancashire questioned as they went to catch a ferry to Belfast. Earlier that evening two IRA bombs had exploded in Birmingham killing 21 people and injuring 182. It was the largest loss of life in England since World War II. The five men who were questioned were subsequently arrested and charged, along with a sixth, Hugh Callaghan. All were innocent. All were beaten and forced into signing confessions. All were sentenced to 21 life sentences for crimes they didn’t commit. They would have remained in prison without the persistence and courage of one man. On Free State today, Chris Mullin talks to Dion and Joe.  The journalist and MP whose crusading work would eventually lead to their release recalls the mood of the time and how he was demonised by the right wing media in Britain. He also talks about his extraordinary quest to find the IRA bombers who had planted the bombs. He explains why that dangerous mission was essential to proving the innocence of the Birmingham Six.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

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The phrase Calm The Jets has a special meaning for Joe Brolly. So when he saw a horse with that name was racing on Friday evening, he decided to follow a hunch. On a Free State Special, Joe and Dion look at those with an independent mind and how they are needed more than ever in the media and public life. They recall the day they spent with Peter Taylor and how it led to a friendship between the great journalist and Joe.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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