The Prodcast

Sam McBride reflects on politics in Northern Ireland and the dimensions of the discussion about Ireland’s constitutional future.

David and Simon talk to Lorraine Hall about her experience of growing up as a border Protestant and how she combines respecting the tradition in which she was brought up with life in South Dublin.

Simon and David explore how Irish Protestants came to bequeath the Gothic novel to the world, while going in search of a deep Irish identity with roots in a magical past. They ask whether the same skill for bypassing politics to find shared attachments to the natural world continues to be useful today.

Simon and David explore how Irish Protestants came to bequeath the Gothic novel to the world, while going in search of a deep Irish identity with roots in a magical past. They ask whether the same skill for bypassing politics to find shared attachments to the natural world continues to be useful today.

David and Simon talk about the Anglican choral tradition and the wider Protestant love of hymn singing – scones for the ears you might say.

David and Simon consider the events on the Garvaghy Road and what they mean for relationships across the island.

Neale Richmond is the most senior Protestant in the Irish Government. We talk to him about what motivates him, and what his Protestant identity means to him. We also lay to rest the rumour that he is in his nineties.

Simon and David ask why the Irish, famed for their gift as talkers, sometimes make a fetish of silence.

Who was really having sex in repressive 1980s Ireland? Plus the Irish government’s failed effort to woo Ulster Unionists with condoms and divorce, and David audibly blushes amid Simon’s insinuating banter.

David and Simon explore the identity-defining questions of scones, jam and tray bakes… and David makes a confession.