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PODCAST

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

Gold Hat Productions

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

news politics

All Episodes

45:51

They’re behind you! How the mass murder industry is...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/31

Have you locked yourself in a panic room? Have you got your tinned foods and toilet rolls in for when the Russians invade? If not, why are you so complacent? Why don’t you understand the threats Ireland faces in the modern world?On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how Ireland is being told to be afraid.Is there anything to fear or are the warnings designed to create opportunities for the defence industry?Their companies have names designed to disguise their true intentions. Are we being asked

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59:02

Superman unleashed. Can anyone stop David Clifford &...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/29

After Sunday's All Ireland final proved yet again why David Clifford is Superman in shorts, Joe wonders can any team stop a new Golden Years style reign for the Kerry footballers? On Free State today he also looks back on Knockmore Juniors' win over the weekend and explains why the All Ireland final can never quite measure up to the winning feeling with your club.Producer Cormac O'Malley drops into the hot seat while Dion is away on today's episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more

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40:50

A War Correspondent in Gaza

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/26

As a young reporter Phoebe Greenwood worked as a war correspondent in Gaza. She inhabited the world of fixers where journalists stayed at the Al Deira hotel and Israeli government spokespeople provided statements that contradicted what reporters had witnessed.Greenwood was there during the 2012 conflict and now she has written a novel, Vulture, which is described as a satire, but might as easily be described as the truth.On Free State today she talks about how journalism has failed in Gaza, a

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44:22

Can Donegal beat David Clifford? Or are 15 mortal men...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/24

How do you stop a genius? How does a genius thrive?David Clifford is the greatest Gaelic football who has ever lived but will that be enough on its own to bring Kerry an All-Ireland?On Free State today, Joe explains the different type of genius that is Jimmy McGuinness. McGuinness has taken advantage of the new rules, the way he took hold of the old but can the spirit of Clifford be contained in Croke Park?Joe and Dion also look at the princes who have taken the stage at Croke Park before. Dion

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45:07

Cork, a study in failure. Donal Og’s destructive legacy

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/22

Did Cork lose the All-Ireland hurling final at half time or was defeat guaranteed long before?On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at what a sporting humiliation does to a team and if they can ever recover.Joe identifies failings in the Cork management that led to the defeat on Sunday but it doesn’t end there. He looks at the strike action when Cork were marshalled by Donal Óg Cusack, the consequences of which are still being felt today. Only that can explain what happened in the second half

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1:04:49

The Trump Dictatorship with writer Joseph O’Neill

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/19

One of Ireland’s great writers Joseph O’Neill is today’s guest on Free State.O’Neill’s novels Netherland and Godwin have reflected the centrality of sport in people’s lives. He talks about why sport matters so much and why in Ireland it matters even more than that. He reflects on his own upbringing and how he was raised in Holland before becoming a barrister and practising law in London. He has lived in New York for a generation and he reflect on how the media and the Democrats have enabled the rise

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38:35

Blocking a cross-community cricket camp. Unionists...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/17

The Fairground Park pool in St Louis Missouri was the largest pool in America when it was built in 1919. It had enough room for 10,000 swimmers. All of them white.But when integration came to Missouri, rather than allow all races to swim, the Fairground Park pool closed.This phenomenon was explored by writer Heather McGhee and on Free State today, Joe and Dion examine the drained pool politics of unionism and the Orange order in Northern Ireland.When the North Down Cricket Club cross-community

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38:34

The Sherlock Holmes of Donegal. Jimmy McGuinness and...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/15

Jim McGuinness isn’t a pragmatist. He is, Joe says, a pragmatic extremist.On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the clash between genius and control.Through the history of sport, geniuses have always made their own way and systems have been devised to stop them. Will this be the case when David Clifford’s Kerry play McGuinness’s Donegal?We look at how McGuinness saw the opportunity in the new rules before anyone else and what that tells us about his managerial genius.Dion has been at the England-India

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1:10:23

Writer Timothy O’Grady on the trauma of war,...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/12

In January, Timothy O’Grady joined Dion and Joe on the podcast to talk about Say Nothing and what it got wrong.What stayed in people’s minds was his reading from his novel Monaghan.With the publication of that novel this summer, Tim returns to Free State to talk about what he has learned about war and killing through years talking to people involved in the Troubles. He explains how it shaped his novel and he talks about the work he’s doing with his friend Stephen Rea on the actor’s memoirs. Hosted

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41:35

Postmodernism and the Twelfth. In Moygashel, they’re...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/10

When the pictures emerged of the loyalist bonfire in Moygashel in Co Tyrone, most people were horrified at the migrant boat effigy at the top.Politicians condemned it and called for action but others insisted it was in fact an act or ‘artistic protest’.On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the celebrations around the Twelfth of July, not as the desperate acts of a lost people, but as an artistic installation.Have we failed to understand the subversive power and artistic merit of Loyalism for

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53:09

Diogo Jota and the surprising truth about people

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/08

What kind of world do you think you’re living in?Most people when asked will have one view but on Free State today, Joe explains a surprising truth.Joe was in Portugal last week when Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva died so tragically. As Joe watched the funeral he noticed things about the community of Gondomar where Jota and his brother were from.Joe and Dion talk about the times when community matters and when we lose sight of it. Dion also offers a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist:

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40:30

Life and Death in Iran: With Children of the...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/05

Sahar Delijani was born in Evin Prison in Tehran. Her mother, who had been part of the movement that toppled the Shah in Iran, had been jailed as the new regime silenced some of the coalition that brought it to power. Her uncle was subsequently one of many political prisoners executed by the regime in 1988.Sahar Delijani wrote about those experiences in her bestselling novel, Children of Jacaranda Tree.On June 23 Israel bombed Evin Prison during their attacks on Iran and 71 people including jailed

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47:42

Death Death to the IVF

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/03

In the aftermath of having their US visas revoked following their comments at Glastonbury, Bob Vylan issued a statement saying they were “a distraction from the story”.“We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people,” their statement said. “We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine … a machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.”On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at why Bob Vylan are not a distraction, it is more dangerous than that. Instead they explain

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41:36

David Clifford defeats Armagh to reach All-Ireland...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/07/01

On Sunday at Croke Park the glory belonged to Kerry but who was responsible for this victory and will Joe have to apologise?On Free State today Joe and Dion look at how Kerry beat Armagh and David Clifford‘s role in the All-Ireland champions’ downfall.Joe accuses Dion of failing to read beyond the headline of his column which was referenced in the aftermath by Kerry manager Jack O’Connor.Dion confesses to his own doubts about Clifford. But does Joe have anything to apologise for or should the world

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58:47

How AI colonised the planet. With Karen Hao

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/06/28

There are those who believe Artificial Intelligence will lead to the extinction of mankind. There are those who believe AI will save the world.On Free State today, journalist and author of the Empire of AI Karen Hao explains why AI is an imperialist project and how the colonising is already taking place.She says why she believes the doomer vs boomer debate is a distraction and how Ireland is on the frontline of this imperialist project. Water and energy resources will be drained as empires are built

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53:35

Kerry’s animals, Armagh’s bonus year & how Kilkenny...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/06/26

The world seems to be intent on tapping into humanity’s worst instincts.Tech companies ensure the algorithms keep us enraged and fearful, but is there a resistance movement?On Free State today Dion tries to persuade Joe that Test match cricket is part of a broader cultural phenomenon but will Joe buy it?Joe looks at how Kilkenny was transformed from a cricket county to the cradle of hurling.They also consider the All Ireland quarter finals and Dion’s credentials as a Kerry supporter are challenged

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48:22

Bombing Iran: It’s what God would have wanted....

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/06/24

When Donald Trump gave the order to bomb Iran, the language of war was mobilised. It is a language where death and misery means peace and love.On Free State, Joe and Dion look at how war is sold and why the language of war is hard to distinguish from erotica.The Old Testament was cited by many in America as why they stood with Israel. But did the contributions of AIPAC have more to do with than the bible? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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1:07:41

Why Israel bombed Iran (and how they will get the...

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/06/21

Fintan Drury trained as a journalist before becoming a hugely significant figure in Irish corporate life, something he has talked about previously with honesty and some regret.He returned to his journalistic roots and the tragedy in Gaza compelled him to speak out. His new book Catastrophe is the story of Nakba II.On Free State today, he explains why he had to go to the West Bank to find out the truth and why Netanyahu is running rings around the US when it comes to war with Iran. He explains why

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57:00

Kneecap and the bilingual London Magistrates

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/06/19

When Kneecap arrived at Westminster Magistrates Court, the scene was like Beatlemania if the Beatles’ fans were supporting a Free Palestine.Kneecap were in court for the first hearing in the case against Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, whose stage name is Mo Chara.On Free State today Joe explains why he isn’t part of the legal team and what will happen next.They look at the politically motivated charges and why taking a stand against genocide and Israel’s warmongering matters more than ever.Emotions are tested

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52:10

The True History of Iran (and Mayo footballers)

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning ·

2025/06/17

The world is moving closer to annihilation and still people beat the drumbeats for war.On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how Israel’s attack on Iran is a case of history repeating itself.Iran is the bogey man that allows warmongering to prosper and no matter how many times this has happened before, the noises are still the same and as bloodthirsty.Joe also explains why Mayo footballers aren’t serious people after their defeat to Donegal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more

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