Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

During the rise of Sam Bankman-Fried, Michael Lewis got closer to him than anybody else. But the fall of the crypto baby gave the Moneyball author a different story. When people turned on Bankman-Fried, Michael Lewis knew they would turn on him too. In the second part of his interview on Free State, Michael Lewis talks about why he took on the story and what kept him going.In May 2021, Michael Lewis’s daughter Dixie was killed in a car accident in California. Dixie was nineteen years old. He talks to Dion and Joe about how he struggled through the jungle of grief, why Dixie’s spirit has sustained him as his book is published and what he told Bankman-Fried’s mother about loss as they prepare for their son’s incarceration.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s Free State, Michael Lewis, the author behind Hollywood blockbusters Moneyball, The Big Short and The Blind Side, joins Dion and Joe. Michael's new book Going Infinite charts the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried who within two years of discovering crypto was worth $22 billion. In the first part of a two-part interview, Michael talks to Joe and Dion about why sport in America has become as violent as it was for gladiators in the Roman Empire and why he would give up sex before exercise. After two hours in Joe's company, Michael wants to write his next book about him. But Michael wonders who would play Joe Brolly in the movie now that Tom Cruise is too old?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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where is the way out of the horror in Gaza? When the Shankill Road bomb killed ten people in Frizzell’s fish shop 30 years ago there seemed to be no way out of violence and destruction in the north. But a year later there was a ceasefire and by 1998 a peace process that was the envy of the world. It happened because world leaders like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were resolute in working with those who wanted peace. Unfortunately today in Gaza, the leaders in the U.K. and US have turned their faces away. In a bonus 'Free State', Joe and Dion look at the relationship between Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu and how Israel’s prime minister has allowed Hamas to prosper in order to destroy Palestinian moderates. In the darkest hour, there is always a way out but leaders of courage are needed.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How much is enough? With the threat that things will worsen even more in Gaza, what will it take for those with influence to intervene. The US and President Biden are friends of Israel, as they should be, but now they need to be friends of Palestine too. What is stopping them?On this episode of Free State, Joe and Dion look at what might be needed for peace and how it was lost a generation ago with catastrophic consequences. There is also a moment of light relief when they consider the sliding doors moment which may have resulted in Sir Joseph Brolly.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world is watching as terror and suffering come to the people of Gaza once more. In this terrible war, there is also a propaganda war. This war is waged to distract and deflect from slaughter and genocide. After the savagery of Hamas on Oct 7th, there is an understandable need among Israelis for a response but indiscriminate attacks on Palestinians will not destroy Hamas. On Free State this week, Dion and Joe discuss how Israel is breaching international law, anti semitism and why Joe Biden needs to speak truth to Benjamin Netanyahu.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Israel commits war crimes in Gaza, can anyone persuade the country’s government to stop the slaughter?On part 2 of this week’s Free State, Joe and Dion recall their own trips to Israel and their experiences in the country. It is a land where fundamentalism, hatred and fear have twisted all hopes for a peaceful existence. Within the country there are voices, even after the horrors of October 7th, calling for restraint. The Hamas slaughter was their 9/11 but the lesson from history is that a need for revenge only leads to greater misery and massacre.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Israeli government - emboldened by politicians in the west - is committing war crimes. Gaza is a human catastrophe where the horrors will echo through history. There is a primal need within so many Israelis for action to avenge the horrific massacre of the innocents by Hamas. But how is the cycle of violence broken? In the bloodlust for revenge, sane voices in Israel and around the world are being drowned out.On the first part of a two-part Free State this week, Joe and Dion look at how anger and fear create the conditions for violence and why the cycle can only be broken by acts of courage. After the Holocaust, Israel wanted to create a country where it would never feel terror again but instead it is a land where fear is the one emotion both sides share. History shows us there only two options: make peace and allow people to live in dignity and without oppression. Or repeat the circle of violence forever.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second part of 'On Her Majesty’s Secret Service', Peter Taylor discusses the attempts of the British establishment to censor & intimidate him. He describes the central importance of the hunger strike and how it changed everything. He recalls a day spent locked in a cell in the dreaded H Blocks with a young Eamonn McDermott & marvelling at his book collection. “How can an IRA man read Tolstoy & Hardy?” he asked. “An IRA man is just a man like any other” said McDermott. He takes us through the landmark events: how Mrs Thatcher had to have her hand firmly guided as she signed the Anglo Irish Agreement, the meeting of Martin McGuinness & Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth & how the peace was eventually won. This episode is dedicated to all the precious lives lost in the Troubles. And to the courage & integrity of Peter Taylor.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Late in the night following Bloody Sunday, a young reporter arrived in Derry. ‘If you want to know what’s going on here,’ John Hume told him, ‘he’s the person you should be talking to you. He’s called Martin McGuinness’. It was the first time this young reporter called Peter Taylor had heard the name. For 50 years Taylor made establishing the truth in the north his goal. He talked to everyone.Peter Taylor is this week’s guest on a two-part special on Free State. From IRA leaders suspecting their fruit was poisoned to the civil servant who wanted to end the hunger strikes with M&S shirts, Taylor always got the story. It was dark and dangerous work and only a man like Peter Taylor could have done it. Peter also talks about his book Operation Chiffon and the risks that were taken for peace from a chip shop in Derry.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the end, Pat Gilroy will remember the fun more than the winning. What is sport for except those moments shared among a team that will never be forgotten? In this episode of Free State, Joe and Dion talk to Pat about what is being lost in sport as backroom teams swell and clubs and counties are being drained of finances by professional management teams who have no bond with them. Pat recalls the words of Kevin Heffernan as he reminded him of what their club St Vincent’s was all about. And he delivers exclusive news about a new association he has founded which will give the most important people in the GAA long overdue recognition.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/To get in touch with the podcast: info@freestatepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.