Podcast Episodes

Trading My Soul: The Man Who Blew Up the Financial System

Episode 86

Gary Stevenson was once the most profitable trader in the world for one of the planet’s biggest banks. He was a working class boy from east London who grew up in the shadow of Canary Wharf. He then w…

Published on 1 year, 8 months ago

MIGA: Simon Harris, Making Ireland Great Again

Episode 85

Simon Harris has risen without trace. Who is he and what he stands for are questions that have rarely been asked.

Harris has been described as ‘the white Obama’. He was called the TikTok Taoiseach and…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Politicians, pundits & parakeets. Leo Varadkar and his anticlimactic rise & fall

Episode 84

Leo Varadkar’s resignation was described as a ‘political earthquake’. Some said the political world had been turned upside down. But beyond the parlour games of the political class, does it matter at…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

‘Davy Tweed, bloody mother fucking asshole.’ Part 2

Episode 83

Davy Tweed knew exactly how to control those he abused. He did it in a million different ways, big and small.

In Part 2 of her interview on Free State, Amanda Brown recalls how Tweed would dehumanise …

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

‘Davy Tweed, bloody mother fucking asshole.’ As told by his step daughter Amanda Brown.

Episode 82

Davy Tweed was an Irish international rugby player. He was a unionist politician. He was a monster. On Free State today, his step daughter Amanda Brown talks about the hell she experienced at the han…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Dreaming of Emma Little-Pengelly

Episode 81

History is a nightmare from which Ireland is always trying to awake.

On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how the future is being grasped in the north. But this is a story about the whole island …

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Ceili dancing, cúpla focal & the clash of the sash. The conversion of the DUP

Episode 80

Northern Ireland was once a land divided by symbols. Since Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little Pengelly became First Minister and deputy First Minister it is a place energised by them.

On Free State, Joe…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

“The Bloody Protestants” Part 2: Northern Ireland’s Match of the Day…

Episode 79

As he locked up Bellaghy Wolfe Tone GAA Club in May 1997, Sean Brown was murdered by loyalist gunmen. 

The sense of injustice has deepened since the British Government passed the Legacy Act last year.…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

“The Bloody Protestants” Part 1

Episode 78

The Maze Prison is a central part of Northern Ireland’s history. But there was once a plan to make it a shared monument to a brighter future.

On Free State, Joe and Dion tell the story of the plan to …

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Ulster says No to Casement Park: Part 2

Episode 77

People were denied the truth in the north during the troubles and that denial of truth extended to sport.

The coverage of the GAA reflected the nature of Northern Ireland at the time.

On Free State, Di…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago