Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
From student priest to IRA commander. The momentous life of Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane.
Episode 196
Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane’s life could be a metaphor for The Troubles. When he was 16, Bik McFarlane left Belfast to train as a priest in North Wales for two years. But with the nationalist community u…
Published on 10 months ago
The art of the deal. Donald Trump and his Charlie’s Angels.
Episode 195
It was a week when decades happened. By the end of it, Steve Bannon was doing a Nazi salute, as Trump continued his policy of siding with the strongmen and rewarding their acts of war and aggression.…
Published on 10 months ago
The lonely death and burial of Joe Lynskey. From Cistercian monk to lover and hitman.
Episode 194
At the age of 16 Joe Lynskey joined a monastery with the intention of becoming a Cisterian monk. He spent six years in Mount Melleray monastery in Waterford but he decided to leave the order. He join…
Published on 10 months, 1 week ago
The Disappeared. From 1920 to 1998. How the memory of the murdered has become a game of whataboutery.
Episode 193
The last episode of Free State ended with Joe and Dion arguing while guest Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc kept the peace. Today, they continue the conversation about how Ireland deals with the trauma of the wa…
Published on 10 months, 1 week ago
The Restless Dead: How the Irish establishment turned the good old IRA into a propaganda opportunity with historian Padraig Óg O’Ruairc
Episode 192
The story of the disappeared in Irish history is long and murky. Why are some of the tales wrapped up in myth and others part of the barbaric recent past? On Free State today Padraig Óg Ó Ruairc join…
Published on 10 months, 1 week ago
The Shamrock My Father Wore - For God, Ulster & Elon. How the Irish far right embraced loyal Ulster.
Episode 191
As Elon Musk and Donald Trump take control in America, what is the consequence of resistance? Musk campaigns against the unelected bureaucrats even though he is unelected too. Meanwhile he delivers d…
Published on 10 months, 2 weeks ago
America’s War Game: How the Super Bowl Became a Weapon of Mass Destruction.
Episode 190
On Sunday evening, Donald Trump became the first sitting American president to attend the Superbowl. His attendance, in the eyes of many, sealed the union between American Football and American Natio…
Published on 10 months, 2 weeks ago
Conquering Hill 16. Paddy Cullen & the Dublin revolution
Episode 189
There are times when, as a great writer said, the past beats inside us like a second heart.
The death of Paddy Cullen was, for so many people, one of those moments. It transported them back to the day…
Published on 10 months, 2 weeks ago
Assassinating Peter Robinson: How an IRA hired hitman almost took out the DUP hardliner. With Unionist historian Aaron Edwards.
Episode 188
In 1981, the FBI raided the New York apartment of a 27-year-old Englishman who they believed had been commissioned by the Provisional IRA to murder a unionist politician. On Free State today, Aaron E…
Published on 10 months, 3 weeks ago
The Decline of the Loyal Family. How Ulster Protestants were sold out by their leaders. With Unionist historian Aaron Edwards.
Episode 187
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…
Published on 10 months, 3 weeks ago