Claim OwnershipFree State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning
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Free State is a podcast for the curious that stimulates, provokes, challenges and entertains, while never taking itself too seriously. Free State covers topics from sport to politics, love to loss, the human condition and how to fix the world, with guests from across the planet including Nigerian princes, former Prime Ministers, ex convicts, footballers, boxers and extraordinary people from every walk of life.
Free State is presented by Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning. Brolly is a barrister, an original thinker with a fascinating backstory, who donated a kidney to a stranger and then led a crusade to transform organ donation on the island of Ireland, and Fanning is an award-winning interviewer and author.
They are not motivational gurus or life coaches. They will never try to sell you a penis scented candle. They are two people from very different worlds, with one core belief uniting them - this is not a high performance podcast.
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354 Episodes
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Professor Charles Knowles is a very smart man. He is a surgeon and clinical researcher. He is able to apply logic and reason to find solutions to most things. But logic and reason made no sense when it came to his own drinking.On Free State today Charles Knowles explains why we drink and why we drink too much.He talks to Dion about his own struggles and why there is a genetic reason for many people drinking.They discuss the line of Kurt Vonnegut that ‘Alcoholics Anonymous is America’s greatest contribution to the 20th century’ and Charles explains why modern science agrees with Vonnegut. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2When a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, 150 Iranians were believed to have been killed. ‘It thought it was safe in international waters,” Pete Hegseth the US’s self styled Secretary of War proclaimed. “Instead it was sunk by a torpedo, a quiet death.”More than a thousand civilians have been killed since the US and Israel launched their offensive. This is a campaign they are advancing ‘without mercy’ Hegseth said.On Free State today we look at what the US, Israel and Donald Trump want. Are their aims of total control in the Middle East achievable? Or will the ambitions of the US and their allies spiral out of control as they have before but not before there is endless human misery? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A few minutes before 1pm on the Saturday of the 2026 GAA Congress some protestors forced their way inside.The response to this protest may have far reaching implications for the GAA.On Free State we look at how the GAA has failed to deal with the understandable anger about the Allianz sponsorship deal.Dion and Joe argue about how they should be addressing it and Jarlath Burns’s comments on Saturday. Is this a turning point for how volunteers view the GAA, certainly the GAA as represented by Croke Park? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Labour Together was set up in the summer of 2015 as a way of uniting the UK Labour Party, but with the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader it soon became something very different. Driven by Morgan McSweeney, it became a means of destroying Jeremy Corbyn‘s leadership ‘by any means necessary. Keir Starmer was the vessel to take Labour away from Corbyn‘s politics.On Free State today, Peter Geoghegan talks to us about the extraordinary and chilling practices of Labour Together. He tells the story about the decision to hire a PR firm to investigate the motivations of journalists who were reporting on their funding. As Keir Starmer faces threats from all sides, will this be the scandal that upend him. Is this the scandal that is grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the House of Commons, a Labour minister described Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a ‘man on a constant self-aggrandising and self-enriching hustle; a rude, arrogant and entitled man who could not distinguish between the public interest, which he said he served, and his own private interest’.This is undoubtedly true but is Andrew the exception or the norm?On Free State we look how the establishment has protected the monarchy at all costs.We recall the horrific abuse in Kincora and the work done by Chris Moore to uncover Louis Mountbatten’s part in that scandal.When the future of the monarchy is discussed, is what has been revealed in the Epstein files an aberration or simply another chapter in a long history of self enriching hustle and worse? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What links Bono and Tony Blair? You may be asking, what doesn’t? Both men have made the news as U2’s new EP was released and Blair addressed the world as part of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.But what is the fervour that drives them?On Free State today we look at Blair and Bono and what happens when a man believes he can change the world.What is Blair’s goal on the Board of Peace and why is he there? Some people ask the same about U2 and their music…Let us know what you think - info@freestatepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In March 1922, a relatively unknown member of the IRA was asked by journalists if they could take from his answers that Ireland would have a military dictatorship.‘You can take it anyway you like,’ he replied.On Free State today we look at the life of Rory O’Connor who was prepared to go to any lengths for the Republic of his ideals. We talk to the author of a new biography of O’Connor Gerard Shannon about the fanaticism that drove him.O’Connor became the public face of opposition to the Treaty but he also became the most human face when he was executed in December 1922, following a decision by the Free State cabinet including his great friend Kevin O’Higgins.O’Connor had been best man at O’Higgins’s wedding a year before and now O’Higgins was part of the brutal decision to have him executed. Shannon explains too why O’Connor faded from memory after his death and the extraordinary coincidence behind the killing of O’Higgins as he walked home from Mass in 1927. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the 19th century, Manchester first began to be a destination for immigrants. It was Scottish, Welsh and Irish in huge numbers who shaped the city and made it their home.Over the next hundred years, immigrants from across the world turned Manchester into the city it was. It was this vibrant and complex city that Matt Busby loved and which saw him shape the great Manchester United sides in its image. As a lifelong supporter of Manchester United, Jim Ratcliffe might have known that. Last week the Manchester United minority owner said the U.K. had been ‘colonised by immigrants’. On Free State today we explore what drives the billionaire class to demonise the most vulnerable in society. Ratcliffe apologised if ‘my choice of language has offended some people’ but in doing so he revealed more about what drives him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When the Irish football team was drawn against Israel last week, many people in Ireland immediately hoped the game wouldn’t happen.Instead as the days have passed, the game seems more likely not less. On Free State today we look at what has stopped Israel being banned from sport while Russia have been. Dion wonders what a boycott would achieve and explains how Uefa and Fifa have failed to act.Joe disagrees and calls on the Ireland team to represent the Irish people and take a stand. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
David McCloskey says he was once a clandestine journalist. Another way of putting it is that he once worked for the CIA.McCloskey is now a spy novelist. His first book took readers inside the CIA, now he is exploring Mossad, Israel and Iran in his new novel The Persian.On Free State, he talks about the shadow war between Israel and Iran.He explains what has happened to agencies like the CIA under Trump and why as more true Trump believers are appointed, the demand is not for truthful intelligence. They do not just believe what they see, they only see what they believe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
‘Doors open at the Watergate’. Those words in June 1972 signalled a break in at the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Building. They were picked up on a police scanner by a reporter at the Washington Post. They began a chain of events which would eventually bring down a president. Last week the paper of Woodward and Bernstein, of Ben Bradlee and publisher Katharine Graham, laid off a third of its staff. The paper that stood up to the White House and took down a president now has an owner in Jeff Bezos who can’t do enough to be a supplicant.On Free State today we look at how democracy dies in the darkness. We explore how history has a lesson for what happens when oligarchs and authoritarians come together and why it isn’t only democracy that ultimately dies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When Gregory Campbell approached President Connolly in Derry last week, what was the purpose of his intervention?Was he trying to make a good faith case for Protestant and unionist people in Derry or was he just throwing some red meat to his base?On Free State today Dion and Joe look at the life and times of Gregory Campbell.Dion and Joe argue about the merits of his argument and whether who is saying it matters.Joe explains how progressive unionism has been denied oxygen while Dion offers Gregory Campbell an invitation to come dance with him in Ireland - or at least south Dublin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In Ireland, we like to think that the class system is something that dominates Britain. But it shapes this country too.RTE’s new comedy drama These Sacred Vows is a series which challenges what we believe about class, identity and religion in Ireland in 2026.On Free State today, the show’s creator John Butler talks about what he wanted to say in the series about the middle class, the priesthood and homosexuality.He explains how he was only now able to write comfortably as a gay man about Ireland and he talks with Dion about their own school days and the oppressive culture of the time. They also consider the new conformity. They wonder what has really changed and ask what it tells us about the country when the religion of old has now been replaced with saunas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the House of Commons, Keir Starmer said that Peter Mandelson had ‘betrayed our country, our parliament and my party’.But what was that betrayal and who was actually complicit?On Free State today we look at the rise and fall of Peter Mandelson. We explain why the election of a football mascot monkey as mayor in Hartlepool was an early sign of who Mandelson was. We explain how Mandelson worked to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and advance a corporate agenda where New Labour would be ‘intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich’.We also examine the link between Starmer’s right hand man Cork’s Morgan McSweeney and Mandelson. In the House of Commons Starmer said ‘if I knew then what I know now, Mandelson would never have been anywhere near government.’We show how it was impossible not to know who Peter Mandelson was. Only more details have been revealed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
‘If they showed this film on a plane, people would still walk out.’As Melania, the documentary about the US First Lady, opened at the weekend, this line seemed to capture the feelings of critics.But, like so many things in Trumpland, even this line of criticism may not be all that it appears.On Free State today Dion and Joe look at what the Melania documentary tells us about the court of Donald Trump.Amazon has invested $75 million in the documentary, money they will never get back, at least not through the box office.But what is really at play here? A movie that is panned by the critics is not the story. A movie that flatters the sun king Trump and enriches his family has other advantages. This is how America works. The question is how will anyone stop it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the Orwellian world we now live in, gaslighting is now standard. When Donald Trump creates a Board of Peace, we know that where it says one thing, the opposite is the truth.On Free State today Peter Oborne joins us to talk about how we reached this point in the Middle East.Peter’s new book Complicit looks at Britain’s role in sustaining the genocide in Gaza and why there might be consequences.He explains why the U.K. is moving from democracy to oligarchy. He also tells Dion about a book he has just finished on cricket.You can order his book here - COMPLICIT: Britain's Role in the Destruction of Gaza | Peter Oborne | OR Books.Email us your thoughts on the episode info@freestatepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When the president of the German football club St Pauli said it was "clearly time to at least discuss a boycott" of the World Cup in the US this summer, he was quickly reminded of his station. "He hasn't been with us long," the president of the German football federation said. The idea of a boycott was completely "misguided" he said.But why? On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at why the World cup could be boycotted and, more importantly, why it won't.When FIFA created a peace prize, did they think about what would happen if they entered the peace business? Did they reflect that people might seriously ask them to consider peace, especially in a country which is going to war on everyone including its own people? They also look at Allianz's ongoing sponsorship of the National Football League and wonder why the protests have been so muted? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“We have all seen the video and our eyes don’t lie,” a friend of Alex Pretti said in the aftermath of Pretti’s murder.He was speaking as Donald Trump’s administration advanced a lie, undeterred by what people had seen in the video which dismantled the story spun by ICE and their protectors.On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the rise of authoritarianism in America and what comes next.As ICE rampage as the Black and Tans once did in Ireland, they also look at the money that is going to ICE and who has benefited. As people in Minnesota protest, what is the end goal for Trump and his goons? When people take to the streets will Trump step back or is this a deliberate step towards an American dictatorship. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What would it mean to be free of financial insecurity? Why does money scare us so much?On Free State today money expert Eoin McGee talks about how we can achieve financial freedom and faces one of his greatest challenges: Dion’s attitude to money.In doing so, he talks about things far more profound than money. What do we really want from life and Dion explains why your wedding day is not the best day of your life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When Donald Trump backed down on Greenland, he tried to make it sound like a victory.But what caused him to cave? Western leaders have tried to placate Trump and continued this approach at Davos until Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney laid out the truth about the world today.‘The strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must,’ he said quoting Thucydides.This is the reality of the world and somebody naming it shook Trump.On Free State today we look at where he goes next and how Tony Blair remains part of the Gaza Peace Board.We look at Blair’s journey to the heart of power and wealth. Dion and Joe disagree on what drove him to this. Joe outlines how Blair moved closer to Israel during his time in power and why he has always sided with the strong while the weak suffer what they must. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Dion you have to stop this ...15mins.04 secs before this had any relevance...outside the curmudgeons and cute hoors in Kerry this was waffle atop waffle till 15 mins. ..
5 mins 40secs of advertising at the start of this ... was off the motorway by the time the "show " started 💰🤣
Listening to Jan 6th podcast about USA, Venezuela... Dion trying to make a point about Amorim and Manchester United (not a fan) but completely ignored by Joe Brolly who just blathers on over him saying he's not interested in.... Seems he's not interested in anything but what he wants to talk about. Love the podcast, but despair at the constant interruptions and the inability of Joe Brolly to listen to someone else. Utter disrespect on his behalf.
I am nearly sure St Finbarrs from Cork have won both hurling and football and both in the same year as well in the 80's. Cuala definitely not the only one
Christ Brolly will you stop interrupting Niall ....let him speak ffs
Sadly the lads are running on fumes now ....what started off as a must listen podcast has become a giggle fest of enormous mediocrity...
Bhoys the pods are decreasing with every episode...You need to get in a few more activists , agitators ,actors,social commentators ... have you got Paul kimmages number his piece on the horse racing industry was fascinating...keep up the good fight
Dion please come back .... no doubt clifford is a wonderful player but the fanboy cameo from brolly would churn the toughest stomach... yea he scored 9 pts ( 3 2pointers) but he was quiet for large periods and missed a open goal ... challenge for clifford is multiple medals going forward and challenge for up and coming defenders is to rise to that standard....well done Kerry derserved winners but Donegal were atrocious....
a brilliant podcast Dion with Padraic ..a terrific insight into the foundation of the state and the history of the main parties..I'll definitely buy the book as it was a real eye opener with his insights on facism
Jesus Dion I'm struggling to keep touch with your podcast ....have the fcuk do you abide Brolly and his high pitched drivel....awful shite
Hi Joe I really like the show I do not always agree but that is healthy on the Gasa issue how can a nation like Israel who was treated so badly not show compassion to another nation My thoughts on mankind is if we gave everyone one million euro there will always be people who would want some or all of the others money because they think they don't need it as much as they do
Brilliant Dion excellent and insightful
Jesus dion i feel your frustrations... Is this a brolly interview or a sexton interview ffs take a break brolly and let your guests talk 🙈
a brilliant insightful podcast ,especially of a unionist leader who has been to hell and back , involved in wars that temporarily dehumanised him ,forced up close to kill or be killed ,yet doing his best to be a decent person despite the demons that constantly haunt him This podcast introduces us to such people in an understanding, non judgemental manner. Really brilliant stuff lads
If Your talking about Captains look no further than Billy "Cesar" Mc Neill 🍀, led 11 Lads from within 30miles of Celtic Park to Rule the World, Won leagues as a Player and a Manager.
I'd love brollys rose coloured glasses for a while, the high profile assaults by hurlers footballers, not to mention the cocaine usage nor the thuggish behaviour on the pitch coupled with attacks week on week of referees, hilarious brolly...
Jesus brolly will you allow dion finish a sentence ffs...
Very little content now sadly...
Just as well the Christmas break is upon us sadly this podcast which started of famously is now a parody of itself, still to the bitter end Joe must overpower everyone and every conversation, when you reduce Roddy Collins to a mute observer you are some waffler joe... Dreaful stereotypical tripe
Very enjoyable as always! What's the music at the end, please?