Olivier Norek says he has never met a killer who wasn’t eaten inside by what they’d done. Before he became a writer, Norek was a policeman in the most dangerous parts of Paris and a humanitarian worker in the former Yugoslavia.

On Free State today, Norek tells the story of Simo Hayha, the sniper known as the White Death, who fought for Finland during the Winter War when the Soviet Union invaded the country.

He tells the story of how Finland, abandoned by the world to fight alone, stood against the Red Army, fighting for their communities.

Norek researches his books the way he would investigate a crime and in preparation for the Winter Warriors, he spent a winter in Finland, experiencing the subzero temperatures in which Finns fought to defend their country.

He tells us what the Winter War meant to Finland and how it shaped the world we live in today.

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When a California court ruled that Meta and YouTube had deliberately designed addictive products, many declared that this might be the Big Tobacco moment for the tech companies.

The plaintiff was awarded $6 million damages. Meta’s revenue in three months last year was 60 billion dollars. Their share price was unaffected.

On Free State today we ask what will it take to make a difference?

If the social media companies are relaxed about the finding, is it because they know that there is no appetite to make real change?

We look at the power of the addiction and the power Big Tech utilises to enforce its position.

These powers rule the world now and one ruling may not make much difference.

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Trust the process has become one of world’s worst cliches. But what if the alternative was worse? What if ‘trusting the emotions all around’ was the other option?

On Free State today Joe and Dion wonder why Ireland lose.

The country will not be at the World Cup this summer. How much was this down to the Irish players’ inability to keep their heads and be led by the emotion that was all around them?

Are teams more susceptible to this in an age when information and anxiety are all around them?

What is the cure for the headlong rush to emotion and will Ireland ever experience it?

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