Why does Jim Gavin want to be president? 

What does a man in the prime of his life with a record of success and achievement gain from going to the Aras?

On Free State today Joe explains what makes his friend Jim Gavin tick. He explains his gift of leadership and how he serves his ego by giving power to others.

Dion offers a reason that a Jim Gavin presidency would be important.

They also look at the campaign to discredit Catherine Connolly and wonder what the grown ups have ever done for us.

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Last Monday night, Newcastle United played Liverpool in a game which told the story of the Premier League.

One club is owned by Saudi Arabia, the other belongs to an American multisports holding conglomerate.It was played at St James’ Park in front of 50,000 frothing Newcastle supporters who were enraged that their best player had gone on strike because he wants to play for Liverpool.

This was a show staged in one of the great cities of industrial England for the benefit of television and with the supporters simply as extras.

On Free State today, the great football historian David Goldblatt talks about how football explains so much of where England is today in society.

He looks at how the kitsch of poppy commemorations became an opportunity to demonstrate militaristic credentials with Millwall playing a game in a camouflage kit.

It has led to the demonisation of someone like James McClean. This Goldblatt says shows that these people, who are also raising flags across England today, are living in “fantasy land” when it comes to England’s history.

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"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s." In Donald Trump’s America you can render unto Donald Trump what is God’s as well.

On Free State today, Dion and Joe look at the gangsterism that is taking over Britain and America and how the media fail to challenge it.

Trump is intimidating and seizing power in America while Nigel Farage is being elevated by a media that knows what it’s doing.

The consequences of this are obvious but still so many deny what is happening. Why?

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‘Northern Ireland,’ Margaret Thatcher said once, ‘is as British as Finchley’

But what if Britain is as Northern Irish as Ballymena? 

On Free State today we look at what unites the right wing Tories and the unionist parties. Is it the racism? Is it the punching down on minorities? And what is it about the genocide in Gaza that they admire so much? 

In Britain Operation Raise the Colours is distracting people with arguments about flags. Where have we heard this before?

But what does the Ulsterisation of Britain mean? Why are we being sucked into these wars that have no meaning when the really dangers are all around us?

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First there was the music. Keith Donald was always looking to escape. 

Music offered the first exit. Then came drink.

Keith Donald was abused as a child by his headmistress. He found that jazz had the power to transform his existence.

As a teenager he began to play music wherever he could. He played for a band on the Twelfth and toured the country with showbands.

On Free State today Keith Donald talks about the music and the mayhem and how he found peace. He speaks about founding Moving Hearts and why even now music has the power to transform.

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Why does Michael Flatley want to be president? Why would anyone want him to be president?

On Free State today, Joe and Dion reluctantly engaged with the Irish presidential debate.

They look at Michael Flatley and Heather Humphreys as candidates and ask if the country can do better than this.

Is Joe in listening mode? What are his own intentions? Dion tries to put Joe on the spot

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Volodymyr Zelensky put on suit for his meeting with Donald Trump in the White House. During his row with Trump and JD Vance last February, a reporter asked him why he wasn’t wearing a suit.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov turned up wearing a CCCP sweatshirt, an obvious challenge to Trump. A challenge he failed. Easy to bully Zelensky. Not Russia.

This time Zelensky didn’t take any chances. But is there another way of handling Donald Trump’s malignant narcissism?

On Free State today Joe and Dion look at the attacks on Trump by California governor Gavin Newsom and why they offer a template for opposition.

While the media has tried to report on Trump as if he is a serious person who just could do with the occasional fact check, Newsom is mocking him. 

This may the only way to defeat a narcissist. And it may be a lesson for all those like Keir Starmer, Micheal Martin and Ursula von der Leyen who have bent the knee.

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Would you vote for an AI politician or Simon Harris? Or a robot or Donald Trump?

Thomas R Weaver’s dystopian fiction Artificial Wisdom: A Novel imagines a world where by 2050 people are choosing between a human and an AI politician?

On Free State we talk to him about the reality of AI and what science fiction can tell us about the world in 25 years’ time. 

People would never vote for AI to rule them we believe, but is that realistic? Is it any more preposterous than the idea of Donald Trump as president was ten years ago?

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When you go out to get a pint of milk, do you bring your essential survival kit in case of attack from rampaging gangs or immediate societal breakdown? If not, why not?

On Free State today, Joe and Dion are afraid and have recorded from their panic rooms. Maybe they have been watching too much Fox News.

Last week the channel asked ‘What Happened to Dublin?’ and rolled out questionable statistics about rising crime in the city.

We look at why these stories resonate. Why are so many people determined, not just to believe the worse, but to believe things that aren’t happening at all?

But in this climate of fear, opportunists prowl. Men like Conor McGregor are hoping that if people feel lost, they will look for salvation where they have never looked before. On Free State today, Dion and Joe tell us why, actually everything is going to be ok.

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“If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.” These words were published on Anas Al-Sharif’s X account after his death. Sharif was a journalist with Al Jazeera and he was killed by Israel while in a tent for journalists outside a hospital in Gaza.

The headlines said that ‘global outrage’ was mounting over the killing of Sharif and six others, but what does that mean?

How is that outrage has become so pointless, lacking as it does nothing but the weasel words of support from western governments?

On Free State today, Dion and Joe ask if words can help at this point? They look at the post on X from Mo Salah and the impact it had and they consider the statements from Bono and U2.

Why does one have the power to make a difference and the other does nothing except salve the conscience of a rock star activist who has stayed silent for too long?

Why do the words of Anas Al-Sharif haunt us and the words from Bono remind us of how the west has failed?

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