Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

Anne Cadwallader covered the Drumcree events in the late 1990s. She remembers the tension of those days and the work Rosemary Nelson did at that time. On Free State today she talks to Joe and Dion about Rosemary Nelson's murder. She talks too about Lethal Allies her book about collusion and the Glennane Gang. She explains how she first arrived in Northern Ireland and how as a 'well brought up girl' from London, she had one view of what was happening which changed with time and experience. She also tells us how Tina Turner's intervention led to her receiving death threats from loyalists.
Anne's novel Crossing Over is available here - https://www.mercierpress.ie/books/crossing-over/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“This man's issue and the reason why he did what he did changes the world,” Ben MacIntyre says. “He changed the world that we now live in. Without this person we would probably be living in a different world.”
On today’s Free State we learn the story of Vladimir Kuzichkin, a Soviet spy working in Iran whose codename was ‘Redwood’.
Redwood had a problem, a sexual problem and the author Ben Macintyre tells us of this problem and why this spy and what he did might have changed the course of history. He explains what drew him to the story and the key ingredient in delivering a book as compelling as this.
More details on Redwood can be found here https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/739964/redwood-by-ben-macintyre/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drumcree is now a peace dividend. Where once the attempt to march led to violence, destruction and death, now it leads to court wranglings, endless negotiations and the support for the Garvaghy Road residents from Noel Gallagher.

On Free State, Dion and Joe look at this death rattle for anachronistic unionism and what it means for a new Ireland. Joe and Dion argue about whether calling a border poll would help.

Let us know what you think, email info@freestatepodcast.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thousands gathered on Garvaghy Road determined that there would be no going back. A new generation, confident and assured, are determined that the north chooses a different road.
But what is it about a parade of elderly orange men that causes these emotions?
On Free State today Joe explains why Garvaghy Road represents a new and confident community.
Joe and Dion discuss what it means for a United Ireland. What that Ireland would look like might be even more important than a border poll.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Louise Kennedy's first novel Trespasses was a beautiful and heartbreaking story of the Troubles. In her new novel Stations she deals with the loss and sacrifice of emigration. Louise talks to Dion about moving from the north to Naas when she was 12 and the truth about emigration and why Ireland has yet to acknowledge it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.