Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

The great Michael Lewis is one of our favourite ever guests on Free State.On an October morning at the end of a long book tour, he asked us to talk about anything at all, not just his latest book. In this timeless piece he talks about life, love, loss, and the pain of losing his daughter Dixie in a car crash.(Originally aired in two parts - October 31st/November 2nd 2023) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2012, while swimming in the Galapagos Islands, Delphine Kelly suffered an aortic aneurysm and drowned.On Free State today, Julia Kelly talks about her extraordinary memoir Still which is a conversation to her mother, built around the cold and austere language of the post mortem.She talks about her troubled relationship with her father the Fine Gael politician John Kelly who died when she was 21 and how to repair relationships after death.Julia explains too how, during the book’s most difficult stage, she used microdosing to sharpen her focus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Donald Trump right for once? Is this the deal to end all deals? And could anyone else have pulled it off?On Free State today, Donald Trump’s role as the last American emperor is examined.Is his Gaza peace deal an example of how his ego and self interest drive people to achieve things normal politicians couldn’t? Is this his great legacy or will it fall apart because like so many things in Trump world, it isn’t built to last? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian Paisley Jr says he might be open to persuasive arguments over a United Ireland. The DUP says it is not interested in engaging or being persuaded on ‘the so called merits’ of a United Ireland.On Free State today, we ask what does this tell us about the worthy concept of reconciliation and is it now effectively a unionist veto on a United Ireland? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is there any point to the presidential election anymore? Maria Steen who failed to get on the ballot has called for the presidential election to be cancelled and run again following Jim Gavin’s withdrawal.On Free State today, we ask why Maria thinks democracy has failed? Joe and Dion disagree on her chances of getting elected if she’d been a candidate. But she isn’t, so does it matter?Dion explains using a football analogy he’s pretty sure neither Joe nor Maria Steen will understand Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What was Jim Gavin thinking? What was going through his head when he decided he would like to be Fianna Fail’s candidate for president.On Free State today Joe talks about the conversations he has had with Jim Gavin and why he was a good man, going for the wrong role with the wrong people. Joe and Dion look at what brought Gavin down and why the campaign was doomed even before the weekend revelations. And Dion reveals the secret of Catherine Connolly’s success at keepy uppies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In January 2025, Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist, running for mayor of New York had an eight per cent chance of winning the race. Today, he has an 83 per cent chance and Donald Trump calls him a “100 per cent communist lunatic.The story of how Mamdani has defied not only the odds but the establishment is a story of how many are rejecting the media narratives.Mamdani spoke out against the genocide in Gaza, people said he could not win in a city like New York. He was demonised by the Murdoch media and the people of the city were told to be afraid.Instead they have embraced his message, including saying he would order the NYPD to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he arrived in the city.On Free State today, Ted Hamm, author of a new book on Mamdani, explains how it has been done and the lengths the establishment went to stop him. In the weeks before the election he looks at what could derail his candidacy and what it means for politics around the world.Ted’s book can be ordered here - https://orbooks.com/catalog/run-zohran-run/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where did Catherine Connolly’s belief in social justice come from? If she is elected president, how will she use the presidency to advance those beliefs?On a Free State special, Catherine Connolly talks to Dion and Joe about the truth about her presidential bid.She explains why her comments about Hamas only reflected the reality of life for people in Gaza and why the media search for sensationalism is undermining the democratic process.She talks about her belief in a different more substantial role for Ireland in the world and what she really felt as she applauded Volodymyr Zelensky in the Dáil. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Freedom Flotilla is reaching a critical point in its journey to Gaza. In the next 24 hours, those aboard the 50 ships will reach what is believed to be the danger zone for interception by the Israelis. Nobody knows what will happen next.On Free State today, Joe and Dion talk to Caoimhe Butterly, one of those on one of the ships in the flotilla. She explains the serenity that those on board the boats experience even with the uncertainty of what is coming next. And she talks about the extraordinary people from around the world who are part of this mission. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“He wasn’t the kind of person who ever greeted you,” Ireland’s former president Mary McAleese says of David Trimble, who was a law student at Queen’s University when Trimble was a lecturer.But on this day he did. He was seeking people out and telling them it was a “wonderful day”. The day was the Monday after Bloody Sunday and McAleese believed she knew why. “It wasn’t actually a reference to the day at all but a reference to the day before.”On Free State today, the real David Trimble is revealed by Stephen Walker, who has just published a biography of the man.How did Trimble move from the figure who was “nakedly sectarian” and celebrating Bloody Sunday to the man who did so much to deliver peace? What happened to him in, as McAleese told Walker, “the hot-red forge of life” to change how he viewed the world? And what lessons can be learned from him today? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.