Colm Flynn Podcast

In this edition of the podcast I cannot reveal the name of my guest or what part of Europe she is in, so as to protect her and her family's safety. She is from Iran and when she was 20 years of age, she was arrested by the country's so-called 'morality police'. She was locked into the coffee shop where she was sitting with her friends, verbally berated and humiliated, and threatened with whipping. What was her crime? She dared to show some of her hair from behind her hijab and wear red lipstick.
In September of 2022, a 20-year-old girl named Mahsa Amini was arrested by the morality police in Iran. She was reportedly beaten around the head. Her crime? Showing a small bit of her hair from behind her hijab. She went into a coma and died three days later. Her death sparked widespread protests in Iran, with government forces killing over 400 people, including 58 children. They say, they are maintaining law and order, and that these people are not protestors, but 'rioters' and 'terrorists'.
As the horror in Iran continues to unfold, my guest has agreed to share her personal story of dealing with the morality police in the help of us understanding how the system works in Iran, and what kind of future the country could be facing. It's a unique insight into a way of life that is so unfamiliar to most of us, and frightening to think it is real.
This is an issue that needs to be highlighted across the world. Please help raise awareness.

Imagine being paid to lie? Imagine having to live a lie for most of your professional career? If you forget your lies, or get them mixed up, you could be killed. This was the life that Marc Ruskin lived as a secret undercover FBI agent for almost 20 years.
The FBI generally has about 100 UC agents working full-time in the field. In the 1990s and 2000s, Marc Ruskin had the most diverse, and notorious, case list of all, and the broadest experience within the bureaucracy, including overseas. He worked ops targeting public corruption, corporate fraud, Wall Street scams, narcotics trafficking, La Cosa Nostra, counterfeiting―and gritty street-level scams and schemes.
Sometimes working three or four cases simultaneously, Ruskin switched identities by the day: Each morning he had to walk out the door with the correct ID, clothes, accessories and frame of mind for that day’s mission. Meet Alex Perez, Alejandro Marconi, and Sal Morelli, just a few of Ruskin’s undercover personas.
But what about the psychology of doing undercover work? Did Marc ever feel guilty about turning in his subjects, after getting to know them quite well over a period of time? Does he ever think he provoked them to carry out more crime in order to build his case? Do elements of these characters he had to act and live out stay with him? Listen to find out more.

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David Harper is a broadcaster from the UK, working with networks like the BBC World Service. In fact, his voice can often be heard reading news live to millions of people around the world. He also covers a wide range of stories for other TV and radio networks in the UK. He has a passion for what he does!
But his job can be very demanding and high-pressured at times, and being a freelancer the work can be unstable. But what makes David's situation a bit more difficult, is that he suffers from Bipolar Disorder. He kept his condition a secret for many years, fearing what others would think, and the possibility of losing work as looking unstable. But recently he uploaded a video to X (formerly Twitter) where he talked about his diagnoses and how that affected his life.

In this podcast, David tells me about what it's like living with extreme lows, and manic highs, and how it affects his life every day. He also talks openly about the problems bipolar disorder can have on his family and friends, and those closest to him. We discuss the medication he has tried, and what he says eventually worked for him in terms of coping with it.

instagram.com/colmflynnire

Bláithín Ennis is an incredibly talented Irish fashion designer, specialising in jewellery and accessories. Her work is sold in some of Ireland's top retail outlets, and has been worn by celebrities around the world. From Wexford in the south east of Ireland, in this episode, Bláithín tells Colm about where her love of fashion and creating came from, and how she landed a dream internship working with Diane von Furstenberg in New York. She also talks about what it's like running her own fashion business and brand in Ireland and the challenges that poses. Finally, her advice to anyone considering turning their passion into a business.

instagram.com/colmflynnire

BONUS MATERIAL
Marty Cooper is nothing more than a living legend. Back in the early 70's, he and a small team of engineers at Motorola changed the course of history forever when they developed the first every handheld portable cellphone. Motorola wasn’t a big company at the time and was up against the biggest company in the world, AT&T, who were pushing their own invention that was a car phone. It was really a case of David and Goliath as the two companies went head to head for the future of the telephone.

Marty Cooper and his invention of cellphone beat all the odds and in 1973 Marty made history by making the first-ever cellphone call in history on 6th Avenue in New York City. Who did he call? His rival Joel Engle, the head of AT&T.

In this short podcast I chat to Marty Cooper about that incredible time and how his invention went on to change the world!

instagram.com/colmflynnire