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 thinker with a fascinating backstory, who donated a kidney to a stranger and then led a crusade to transform organ donation on the island of Ireland, and Fanning is an award-winning interviewer and author. They are not motivational gurus or life coaches. They will never try to sell you a penis scented candle. They are two people from very different worlds, with one core belief uniting them - this is not a high performance podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
9 snips
Mar 26, 2026 • 40min
The Wolves of Wall Street - How Trump & Co are making billions from the Iran war
They investigate suspicious oil market trades timed to Trump’s sudden peace claims and ask who profited. They unpack Iran’s low-cost drone tactics versus expensive US defenses and how oil revenue and China reshape the balance. They explore the risks of escalating conflict, regional vulnerabilities, and how political and regulatory failures may let insiders benefit.
Mar 24, 2026 • 36min
Michael Lyster: When We Were Kings
They remember a broadcaster who shaped summers and relaxed studios with calm, effortless poise. Conversations explore the freewheeling behind-the-scenes culture of sports TV and the quiet authority that kept big personalities in check. Stories range from rally driving adventures to the power of familiar pundits and a critique of modern, corporate sports coverage.
Mar 21, 2026 • 34min
How To Make the World A Better Place
Adam Doyle, the artist known as Spicebag, achieved some notoriety when his art depicting evictions became a talking point in the national media.He is an artist of significance and he is also doing significant work.On Free State today he tells us about the project he is involved where his merchandise has funded a centre for children in Gaza The Ionad Hind Rajab is an Irish–Palestinian solidarity initiative based in Al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis, Gaza.Adam tells us the story of Hind Rajab and why art is always political. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 19, 2026 • 40min
World For Sale. The Real Truth about Oil Prices
Micheal Martin emerged from his meeting with Donald Trump on St Patrick’s Day with the commentariat purring.He had stood up for Europe, for Keir Starmer and, in part, for Winston Churchill but that didn’t matter. He had survived.On Free State today we ask does any of it matter. As oil and gas fields in Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are attacked, oil prices rise and governments insist they will protect their people. But what can they do?On Free State, we look at how commodity traders control the movement of the world’s resources. We examine the astonishing claims in the book The World for Sale. We ask in this world, what good can politicians do? Let us know what you think - info@freestatepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 17, 2026 • 42min
Poems for a world gone to shit. And Conor McGregor’s plan to end the war.
Sharp takes on US media control and threats to free speech amid wartime messaging. A romp through US oil geopolitics, Iraq’s postwar plunder and how privatization reshaped a broken state. Discussion of escalating regional tensions around Iran, Israel and Hezbollah. A darkly comic turn into poems as ironic solace for a world in chaos.
Mar 14, 2026 • 46min
Gaza. A fantasy ceasefire
Riham Jafari has heard the stories of her grandparents. The stories of a time before the Nakba when her family lived a simple existence in a village outside Jerusalem. They enjoyed farming the land and their independence.It was a “beautiful life” her grandparents said before occupation came.After the Nakba, they lived in a camp one square kilometre, crowded with nowhere for children to play.Riham was born in the Dheisheh camp near Bethlehem. Today Riham Jafari works for Action Aid and when she came to Dublin last week she spoke about the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.On Free State today she talks to us about life under occupation, why the Occupied Territories Bill has to pass and why a two-state solution with an independent Palestine could be a reality if the world was determined to see it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 12, 2026 • 49min
What Casement Park tells us about a United Ireland
The story of Casement Park is a metaphor for post conflict Northern Ireland.Once there was a dream about a shining stadium on a hill, a stadium which would benefit everyone in the north when it hosted matches at the European Championships in 2028.Two years ago, that dream ended when the British government said they would not fund the cost of the stadium which had ‘risen dramatically’ during years of obstruction and resistance. The benefit to all communities of Euro 2028 was gone but for some it mattered more that a GAA stadium would not be built. On Free State we look at what the ongoing battle to build Casement tells us about Northern Ireland. Gordon Lyons, the minister responsible, says there is a ‘funding gap’. But is the real chasm something more fundamental? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 10, 2026 • 46min
Iran's War, Trump's Peace
“Based on what I’ve seen, it was done by Iran.” When Donald Trump spoke on Air Force One about the bombing of a school in southern Iran, he was, of course, lying.That is what Trump does but in the attack on Iran he has also tapped into the American fantasy about their righteousness that can only be fully displayed through military force. When Stanley Kubrick made Dr Strangelove, he was fascinated by what he saw as ‘the delicate balance of terror’ that was part of the Cold War. To give his satire power he realised it needed ‘inspired lunacy’. That inspired lunacy now drives Trump’s military strikes where satire is meaningless and death is what happens to other people.On Free State, we look at how far America will go in Iran. What happens when Trump loses interest? What happens when Netanyahu wants something else?Let us know what you think - info@freestatepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 8, 2026 • 44min
Why We Drink Too Much
Dr. Charles Knowles, surgeon, clinical researcher and recovering alcoholic, blends personal experience with scientific insight. He discusses why intelligence cannot simply stop addiction. He explains alcohol’s brain rewards, genetic and early-life risks, habit formation, cues that trigger relapse, and why community and action-based recovery matter.
Mar 5, 2026 • 45min
Iran - How to Destroy a Country (Prayerfully). A Trump-Netanyahu production
When a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, 150 Iranians were believed to have been killed. ‘It thought it was safe in international waters,” Pete Hegseth the US’s self styled Secretary of War proclaimed. “Instead it was sunk by a torpedo, a quiet death.”More than a thousand civilians have been killed since the US and Israel launched their offensive. This is a campaign they are advancing ‘without mercy’ Hegseth said.On Free State today we look at what the US, Israel and Donald Trump want. Are their aims of total control in the Middle East achievable? Or will the ambitions of the US and their allies spiral out of control as they have before but not before there is endless human misery? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
