Jun 15, 2026 · 1 hr 11 min · 11 segments
On this week's episode of The Long Game podcast, Ben and Jason discuss the reaction to last week's scenes in Belfast, and react themselves to news of a long-awaited peace deal between the US and Iran…
Jason OsborneHost
Ben ScallanHost
[laughs] With that said, I suppose we'll move to our issues of the day, which is of course the, uh, vicious, horrific stabbing that occurred in Belfast last week and the subsequent disorder that followed and the media reaction to that.
We're gonna be talking about Trump's deal in the, uh, Iran war and how he's celebrating this as a victory, but is it really? And we're gonna be talking about the World Cup and the controversy surrounding that.
And, uh, no doubt I'll look incredibly out of touch as I try to talk about a sport I don't have much interest in.
But, uh, for starters, did we wanna kick off with our domestic affairs closer to home as far as the fact that cities on our island have been erupting in flames as people almost get their heads chopped off in the streets? I presume that's-
And I mean, we kind of got screwed time-wise on this topic last week, um, because obviously it happened, if I remember correctly, on Monday night.
So we'd obviously recorded on Monday, and then on Tuesday, this is all anyone was talking about.
So, and everyone's, you know, familiar with the details at this stage of both the incident itself and the, the rioting that ensued, so I don't think there's too much point in devoting, uh, that much attention to that at this stage.
I mean, people can read Gripped! for opinion on that and, you know, I'm sure people, people can, uh, gather our opinion on sort of, uh, more and more, uh, beheadings and attempted beheadings appearing on the island.
I mean, it doesn't take, doesn't take a genius to figure out what both of us think about that.
But what I found most, not most, but one aspect of it that I feel like hasn't received enough discussion, uh, is the absolutely insane response to it from sort of mainstream media, which was essentially that over and above the attempted beheading, what people are really annoyed about is the video of the beheading, the attempted beheading, I should say.
No, I should say, and the, uh, people sharing it on social media and the people amplifying it like Elon Musk.
Virgin Media, the day after it took place, had Sinead Gibney on, Minister of State Charlie McConalogue, and who was the third person they had on that evening? I can't remember now off the top of my head.
Oh yeah, it was, uh, it was, um, one of the Irish Independent, Mary Regan, a political, I think political editor or political, uh, reporter with the Irish Independent.
So largely on the same page about all of this, and it was obviously hosted by Shane Coleman.
And only a few minutes into the thing, like if you did a drinking game with these, you'd be absolutely hammered by the time you got five minutes into the show because Elon Musk was name-dropped, Nigel Farage name-dropped, Tommy Robinson name-dropped, Rupert Lowe of Restore Britain name-dropped.
Uh, and then if you were, again, if one of your stipulations in this drinking game was every time they mention regulate social media, you'd have been absolutely black out by about 15 minutes into the, into the segment.
And it is just astonishing to me the willful blindness around all of this because we won't beat around the bush.
You're an idiot if you think it's anything other than the attempted beheading in the street of Belfast that people were outraged by.
[laughs] With that said, I suppose we'll move to our issues of the day, which is of course the, uh, vicious, horrific stabbing that occurred in Belfast last week and the subsequent disorder that followed and the media reaction to that.
We're gonna be talking about Trump's deal in the, uh, Iran war and how he's celebrating this as a victory, but is it really? And we're gonna be talking about the World Cup and the controversy surrounding that.
And, uh, no doubt I'll look incredibly out of touch as I try to talk about a sport I don't have much interest in.
But, uh, for starters, did we wanna kick off with our domestic affairs closer to home as far as the fact that cities on our island have been erupting in flames as people almost get their heads chopped off in the streets? I presume that's-
And I mean, we kind of got screwed time-wise on this topic last week, um, because obviously it happened, if I remember correctly, on Monday night.
So we'd obviously recorded on Monday, and then on Tuesday, this is all anyone was talking about.
So, and everyone's, you know, familiar with the details at this stage of both the incident itself and the, the rioting that ensued, so I don't think there's too much point in devoting, uh, that much attention to that at this stage.
I mean, people can read Gripped! for opinion on that and, you know, I'm sure people, people can, uh, gather our opinion on sort of, uh, more and more, uh, beheadings and attempted beheadings appearing on the island.
I mean, it doesn't take, doesn't take a genius to figure out what both of us think about that.
But what I found most, not most, but one aspect of it that I feel like hasn't received enough discussion, uh, is the absolutely insane response to it from sort of mainstream media, which was essentially that over and above the attempted beheading, what people are really annoyed about is the video of the beheading, the attempted beheading, I should say.
No, I should say, and the, uh, people sharing it on social media and the people amplifying it like Elon Musk.
Virgin Media, the day after it took place, had Sinead Gibney on, Minister of State Charlie McConalogue, and who was the third person they had on that evening? I can't remember now off the top of my head.
Oh yeah, it was, uh, it was, um, one of the Irish Independent, Mary Regan, a political, I think political editor or political, uh, reporter with the Irish Independent.
So largely on the same page about all of this, and it was obviously hosted by Shane Coleman.
And only a few minutes into the thing, like if you did a drinking game with these, you'd be absolutely hammered by the time you got five minutes into the show because Elon Musk was name-dropped, Nigel Farage name-dropped, Tommy Robinson name-dropped, Rupert Lowe of Restore Britain name-dropped.
Uh, and then if you were, again, if one of your stipulations in this drinking game was every time they mention regulate social media, you'd have been absolutely black out by about 15 minutes into the, into the segment.
And it is just astonishing to me the willful blindness around all of this because we won't beat around the bush.
You're an idiot if you think it's anything other than the attempted beheading in the street of Belfast that people were outraged by.
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