The Good Listener Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Kevin Meagher's book "What A Bloody Awful Country" examines the creation of the state we know as Northern Ireland and how the 100 plus years of existence as gone. We discuss the reasons for partition in the first place, the sectarian violence during the state's early years, the anti-catholic discrimination built into Northern Ireland's governing system, th...

Send us Fan Mail Rob Millington, ex-british army trooper, spent 6 months in Belfast during the final decade of the conflict that gripped the lives of anyone in the 6 counties. Rob talks to us almost getting caught in an IRA b*mb which was set up to blow up security forces responding to sh*oting, the impact that first seeing dead bodies had on him and aftermath of the 1993 Shankill Road b*mbing. Ro...

Send us Fan Mail John Nixon, ex-Offical IRA and INLA member begins this episode at the start of his second prison term in Long Kesh during which he would volunteer for the IRA/INLA Hunger Strike of 1980, led by Brendan “The Dark” Hughes. John speaks about the horrors and trauma of years in prison, beatings and torture from the guards and his account of the hunger strike that preceded the 1981 Hung...

Send us Fan Mail Ralph Brooker served in the British army touring Fermanagh, Derry and the infamous South Armagh, better known as "Bandit Country". Having spent the majority of his time in rural, border areas Ralph recounts the British army's constant attempts to counteract the IRA's ever evolving methods and tactics. Ralph speaks to us about being on the receiving end of IRA m...

Send us Fan Mail ****Q&A COMING SOON SO PLEASE SUBMIT ANY QUESTIONS YOU'D LIKE ANSWERED IN THE COMMENTS**** In a recent episode David Burke re-joined us to talk about the mysterious case of Garda Patrick Crinnion, a spy within the Garda Special Branch (Intel dept) who passed information to the British intel network. The release of David's book on the subject has prompted the unearthi...

Send us Fan Mail David Burke’s most recent book “Puppet Masters” shines a light on mysterious case of Patrick Crinnion, the garda (Irish police officer) who was passing information to Mi6 while he was in the Gardai’s secretive intel department.  David, joining me for the third time, tells us about the state of the Republican movement in the years prior to the outbreak of “the troubles”, the resour...

Send us Fan Mail In part 2 of my interviews with ex-official IRA & INLA member, John Nixon. In this episode we discussed some of the INLA’s most prolific operations as well as some of the organizations most well known members including Seamus Costello and Dessie O’ Hare. (Part 1 - https://youtu.be/9YOpiW1jU6c?si=81DqiPlwIAz4HOHQ) I asked John about second prison term in Long Kesh where he took...

Send us Fan Mail My guest for this week is James Durney, historian and author of “Jailbreak” which details the various “great escapes” perpetrated by Irish Republican prisoners from 1865 onwards into the 1980s. James tells us about the most daring and dangerous prison escapes, both successful and otherwise, of the troubles-era including the story of the Crumlin Kangaroos, the HMS Maidstone escape,...

Send us Fan Mail Hilton McCabe served in the RUC in both East Tyrone and Belfast during the second half of the conflict we know as “the troubles”.  Hilton tells us about policing rural East Tyrone and the horror of cleaning up body-parts after the one of the IRA’s most deadly roadside b*mb attacks, the Ballygawley Bus Ambush.  Hilton shares with us his stories of riots, threats to his life, his nu...

Send us Fan Mail Ex-FRU agent handler "Will Britten" (alias) actively ran and recruited agents in South Armagh, one of the most dangerous places to be a British soldier during the conflict, in the 80s and is the author of "The Deadly Game". We speak in depth about the recruitment methods of the FRU, how to successfully run an agent in such a dangerous area, the legacy of Robert...

Send us Fan Mail In a recent episode I interviewed author Dan Lawton about his book focusing on the fallout from the murder of dept Governor, Albert Miles, of the infamous Maze Prison in November 1978 in which an innocent man was convicted. Alan Miles witnessed his father’s brutal murder as a young man at the hands of the IRA but almost immediately got to a place in his mind where he was not inter...

Send us Fan Mail Jonathan Trigg’s book “Death In The Fields” examines, in great detail, the infamous East-Tyrone IRA and how this rural group complied some of the republican’s biggest wins and conversely, their most devastating losses. We examine the early days of the unit and how they were formed, the autonomy they enjoyed, the Jim Lynagh “A-Team” era and their deadly attacks, the Loughall ambush...

Send us Fan Mail William Matchett is an ex-RUC officer who spent years working in the secretive and murky world of informants and agents during his time in Special Branch while “the troubles” raged on. William shares with us his motivations for joining the RUC during such dangerous times, the techniques they utilized to recruit informants, death threats he’s received over the years and his encount...

Send us Fan Mail **Sorry for the late upload my good people.. feel free to follow on YouTube where I'm a bit more on top of things** Fr Sean McManus hails from Co. Fermanagh but was sent, by his superiors in the Catholic, to America early in his career where he continued his fight for Irish freedom. Fr McManus’ tells us about his early life, his older brother who was killed during the IRA’s b...

Send us Fan Mail Mick Hawkes is an ex-SAS soldier and 14th intel company (the Det.) operator who worked against the IRA and Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland as part of his military career.  Mick tells us about the daily ins and outs of carrying out surveillance on dangerous insurgents, the differences between republican and loyalist paramilitaries, how he helped to prevent a mortar atta...

Send us Fan Mail My guest this week is Dr Michael Flavin, child to Irish parents who grew up in Birmingham, England during the IRA’s bombing campaign in England during the troubles. Michael speaks to us about being a part of the Irish diaspora in England, anti-Irish discrimination at the time as well Michael’s writings on IRA leadership and INLA splits. 00:00 “NO BLACKS NO DOGS NO IRISH” sign- was...

Send us Fan Mail For this episode I’m joined by author and lecturer, Thomas Leahy, whose book “The Intelligence War against the IRA” gives a through and detailed account of Britain’s attempts to disrupt and defeat the IRA by way of intel gathering. We discuss the various methods of intel collection, what “intel” is and can be used for in this context, the various times of ceasefire during the conf...

Send us Fan Mail Dan Lawton’s thrilling new book “The Hunted” explores the story of Kevin Barry Artt and how he was false-convicted of the IRA murder of deputy Maze prison governor, Albert Miles.  We speak about the so-called “confession factory” Castlereagh, Long Kesh’s Maze prison, the horrors of the “blanket”/“no-wash” protests and how Kevin Barry Artt took part in one of N.I’s biggest jailbrea...

Send us Fan Mail Harry McCallion is an ex-paratrooper and SAS solider who served in the north during some of the troubles’ most violent years. Harry tells us about the brutal training regime they underwent before deployment, his thoughts on the mistakes that the British army made, his views on the “Ballymurphy Massacre”, his emotional state while policing violent riots and the effects that the job...

Send us Fan Mail Author, lawyer and past guest of the show, David Burke reveals a previously unreleased statement from ex-Tara member and close-friend of Robin 'the jackal" Jackson, Charlie Simpson uncovering Jackson and the British Army's involvement in one of the trouble's most heinous attacks. We talk through the events of the tragic day, the logistics of the UVF operation a...

Send us Fan Mail Brendan Hughes (not to be confused with the deceased Brendan ‘The Dark” Hughes) shares his truly extraordinary life story, a life shaped by his membership of the East-Tyrone PIRA in the early days of the conflict in the North.   Brendan tells us about his time ambushing British soldiers in the countryside and robbing banks to fund raise for the IRA and his thoughts on having to ta...

Send us Fan Mail My guest this week is ex-b*mb disposal man, Steve Smith. Steve worked as a EOD officer in Belfast during the early 80s and worked to rid the city of IRA & Loyalist b*mbs. Steve gives us his insight into the various types of explosives used throughout the conflict, the differences between IRA & Loyalist b*mb-makers, how it feels to put on the b*mb-suit & approach an exp...

Send us Fan Mail Graham Cousins grew up protestant in East Belfast and spent his late-teen years and early 20s in the Ulster Defense Association better known as the UDA, a loyalist paramilitary group formed in the early 70s. He has since become close friends with ex-paramilitaries from the other side including my last guest, ex-b*mb-maker Packy McMahon (https://youtu.be/R5XJQrUCeMk?si=zCipaXh0uMIK...

Send us Fan Mail Patrick “Packy” McMahon is a former provisional IRA bomb maker who was jailed after being caught in the act of manufacturing a 1,500 LB bomb. Packy tells us about growing up as the conflict raged and how his life-long battle with British soldiers began. We spoke about the in and outs of how the IRA manufactured its bombs/explosive devices from beginning to end, the materials used,...

Send us Fan Mail Ian Hurst, better known to some as “Martin Ingram” was a member of the Force Research Unit, an intel gathering and spy-handling British security forces group and spent time as a handler in Derry during which time he worked with Frank Hegarty. Ian is best known for co-authoring the book ’Stakeknife” which exposed the exploits of one of the North’s most notorious informants, Freddie...