Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

Chris Mullin has lived a life less ordinary. He was a fearless investigative journalist who became a Labour MP determined to speak, not just truth to power, but to go in search of the truth, however uncomfortable it was. In the second part of his chat with Joe and Dion, Chris explains how the establishment were forced to confront a reality they had tried to suppress once the Guildford Four were released in 1989. Two years later the Birmingham Six were free. If the death penalty had still been in operation they would have been hanged as many other innocents were. The man who was described by The Sun as a “mouthpiece for IRA sympathisers”, explains how his doggedness helped transform the British legal system. He talks about A Very British Coup, his novel which predicted the future, as well as his friendship with Tony Benn. Chris served as a minister under Tony Blair and he talks about how a messianic fever took hold in Blair leading to the disaster that was the invasion of Iraq.Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On November 21 1974, five men were taken off a train in Heysham, Lancashire questioned as they went to catch a ferry to Belfast. Earlier that evening two IRA bombs had exploded in Birmingham killing 21 people and injuring 182. It was the largest loss of life in England since World War II. The five men who were questioned were subsequently arrested and charged, along with a sixth, Hugh Callaghan. All were innocent. All were beaten and forced into signing confessions. All were sentenced to 21 life sentences for crimes they didn’t commit. They would have remained in prison without the persistence and courage of one man. On Free State today, Chris Mullin talks to Dion and Joe. The journalist and MP whose crusading work would eventually lead to their release recalls the mood of the time and how he was demonised by the right wing media in Britain. He also talks about his extraordinary quest to find the IRA bombers who had planted the bombs. He explains why that dangerous mission was essential to proving the innocence of the Birmingham Six.Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The phrase Calm The Jets has a special meaning for Joe Brolly. So when he saw a horse with that name was racing on Friday evening, he decided to follow a hunch. On a Free State Special, Joe and Dion look at those with an independent mind and how they are needed more than ever in the media and public life. They recall the day they spent with Peter Taylor and how it led to a friendship between the great journalist and Joe.Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In two weeks, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as president in Washington. There is a new order in America but where does it leave those close to the old establishment? Many are scurrying to be onside. Meta are abandoning fact-checking, Jeff Bezos is censoring cartoonists at the Washington Post and Elon Musk might be outstaying his welcome at Mar-a-Lago. “In America, the land of the free, we saw in the past election that freedom is universally valued but not universally defined,” Bono said as he received the medal of freedom from Joe Biden.What does this even mean? On Free State, Joe and Dion look at how the world is changing and how Bono will change with it. Few serious people would claim that freedom was universally valued by everyone at the last presidential election but does this tell us something about how Bono has operated in the US and around the world? In Ireland, in Derry, there are families of those who lost loved ones in Bloody Sunday who are angry with Bono for U2’s song and who were angry again when he received the medal of freedom. But does it just prove that when it came to ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, Alan Partridge was right?Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.