Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

Few things make Irish people feel more inadequate than being told how well everything functions in Scandinavia. We are constantly told about their education systems, its welfare system and its work-life balance.But have we got it wrong?On Free State, Philip O’Connor, who has been based in Sweden since 1999, talks to us about the upcoming election in Sweden.He explains the rise of the Sweden Democrats and how a party with Neo-Nazi origins may now hold the balance of power.He also tells us how they did it, how they switched from talking about race to talking about culture even if their message is the same. And he explains why Ireland should be concerned.A reminder that on Sept 3rd, Free State will be live in Belfast with Paul Howard to talk about his brilliant new book ‘A Nation Once Again’. Book your free ticket here - https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-free-state-podcast-live-paul-howard-in-conversation-tickets-1998226075984?aff=oddtdtcreator

‘We recognise sometimes its signature is written in pencil’With these words Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney declared a trade war with its unreliable neighbour, the United States.On Free State today, we look at why so few want to assert what Carney stated so baldly, that America under Donald Trump cannot be trusted.This is a reality the world knows but the leaders instead of acknowledging it, run from it as they try and pretend the world is still the same.A reminder that on Sept 3rd, Free State will be live in Belfast with Paul Howard to talk about his brilliant new book ‘A Nation Once Again’. Book your free ticket here - https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-free-state-podcast-live-paul-howard-in-conversation-tickets-1998226075984?aff=oddtdtcreator

Annie Jacobsen deals in scenarios. As she says on today's Free State, there are other scenarios around biological war. They are worse. Jacobsen talks to Dion about the world's failure to learn from the pandemic, the Wuhan lab theory and what we can do to prepare for an even more devastating lab leak.

James McClean’s return to Derry hasn’t worked out as anticipated.But beyond the headlines, what was at stake when he was on the receiving end of abuse on social media, in the English media and from the football grounds of England?On Free State today, Dion and Joe look at how McClean was reduced to caricature and how the outrage machine shaped it. We also have some Free State news. On Sept 3rd, Free State will be live in Belfast with Paul Howard to talk about his brilliant new book ‘A Nation Once Again’. Book your free ticket here - https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-free-state-podcast-live-paul-howard-in-conversation-tickets-1998226075984?aff=oddtdtcreator

On August 14, Jason Arday was found unresponsive at his home in Battersea in London.In a statement, his family said they were "in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son".They added that the “campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone."On Free State today, we look at the life and death of Jason Arday. A man who made mistakes in his life but was pursued relentlessly by sections of the media until it became too much.Was it just sport for them or was there something more sinister at stake?

"Can you tell us how he died, where and why?" On August 9, 2025, Mo Salah tweeted this above a Uefa post which said "Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the Palestinian Pele". Salah's tweet has been viewed 140 million times. On Free State today, Melissa Reddy talks to Dion about the cultural importance of Mo Salah, how he has been held to a different standard and why his last year at Liverpool wasn't what it seemed.

Darragh McGee understands sport. As a Donegal man he understands the hold and the importance sport has across this land. So as an academic when he went to investigate the betting industry, he didn’t expect to discover all that he learned about its hold on so many individuals and on society.On Free State today. Darragh McGee talks to Joe and Dion about his book Imitation Games - How Gambling Hijacked Sport. He explains why the digital age caught everybody by surprise, but while the betting industry was quick to grasp what it could do, the legislators were asleep at the wheel and then slow to act.He explains what happens to someone who bets and why we are all sitting ducks.

David Hearn was once an Olympic canoeist. He was facing ten years in a federal prison for allegedly vandalising the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC before all the charges were dropped.‘It’s a relief, but there’s a detachment to that relief of extreme concern for other people and for our country,’ Hearn said,On Free State today we explain why the story of the Reflecting Pool is a perfect example of how Donald Trump works. We look at how Donald Trump captured the United States and what the new book by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Sean tells us about that operation.

Michael Thomas found the kind of success most writers dream of with his first novel, Man Gone Down, but his life and career took a different direction. Now he has returned with an astonishing memoir, The Broken King. On Free State, he talks to Dion about addiction, race, and retiring to Ireland.