The Leighton Smith Podcast

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2025. Ramesh Thakur has a world of history, literally, in international affairs. He has taught at a number of Universities including Otago and the ANU, Canberra. But his time spent at the United Nations, culminating as an Assistant Secretary General, provides a wealth of knowledge. That makes his comments on Iran...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2025. Prior to Covid-19, Dr Pierre Kory was an internationally renowned pioneer in the field of critical care ultra-sonography; equally so in other areas of medicine. In 2023 he published “The War on Ivermectin: The medicine that saved millions and could have ended the pandemic."  The challenges that were to...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2025. In 2007, Documentary maker Martin Durkin produced “The Great Global Warming Swindle”. With 17 more years of predictions, Durkin has released “Climate: The Movie, The Cold Truth”. By utilising facts, statistics and some of the world’s leading scientists, Durkin shows why the science is still not settled. (Ju...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2025. Romanians are still navigating the difficult path of building democratic institutions and a culture of transparency. At the same time, widespread perceptions of corruption and cronyism have caused many Romanians to see little change from communist leadership. Antonia Colibasanu, a lecturer on International...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2025. The term “lawfare” is getting plenty of attention; basically it represents the corruption that’s becoming more widespread in the courtrooms of the Western world. Judicial activism and the politicisation of the law and legal system makes for a duo of issues that need addressing by the legislatures of countri...

Mike Sabin has been a very busy man. He joined the NZ Police in 1996 and was stationed in Auckland and up north. He specialised in drug enforcement, especially methamphetamine, (otherwise known as P). He was one of the first specialised Clandestine Drug Laboratory task force members responsible for investigating and dismantling illicit P labs. In 2006 he established MethCon Group, concentrating on...

Dr William Happer is an American physicist, author of 200 plus peer-reviewed scientific papers and co-founder of the CO2 Coalition. Dr Happer will assure you that there is no climate emergency. If you think otherwise, “you have been misled”. Happer’s analyses of 'Net Zero’ is timely for a country where politicians perpetuate ill-informed attitudes, and reject the opportunity to meet with him. Dr H...

John Alcock updates us on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC’s) after the groundwork he laid down eighteen months ago on this podcast. Within the last couple of weeks, two of the biggest NZ Banks have implemented mandatory behavioural and device-level surveillance as a condition of online and mobile banking. The customer cannot opt out. They justify it as fraud prevention but go far beyond what...

David Wolfson (Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, KC) is one of the most sought-after commercial Silks at the Bar.  He served as Minister of Justice in the House of Lords between 2020 and 2022, and is now the shadow Attorney General in addition to his full time legal practice.   Wolfson is a man of principle, towering over so many who come up short in that department – especially in the political...

Interviewing Stephen Rowe exceeded expectations. He shines as an example of achievement, success and self belief. If you’re looking for someone to model your life on, he’s the ideal candidate. After graduating in 2015, Stephen joined Charlie Kirk’s newly founded Turning Point USA. From there, like a rocket he advanced to one success after another. He has trained more than 24,000 students and leade...

In 1971, the US dollar was backed by gold. That is until President Richard Nixon disestablished that relationship.  Since then, the US dollar has lost 87% of its value, meaning that one dollar buys only 12.5% of what it could back then.  These figures were published on Sept 29, 2024. Today it is even worse.    Multi billionaire Warren Buffet described gold as a ‘pet rock’ – goo...

Emeritus Professor Robert Clancy is a leading Australian immunologist and pioneer in the field of mucosal immunology. He is known for his research and development of therapies for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, commonly known as emphysema. “Covid through our eyes”, edited by Robert Clancy, explains how Australian governments and health systems complied with instructions from the USA, to en...

In 2013 Nick Cater published a book called  “The Lucky Culture”. In the intervening years a whole lot has changed, so he is writing a follow-up. And the essay, “Multiculturalism’s Berlin Wall Moment” (Quadrant magazine October edition) is associated with it. The essay covers the assault on western culture, beginning with Pierre Trudeau’s inability to understand the mistake he was making. And...

The US-brokered peace deal saw Hamas release the Israeli hostages on Monday – an event watched by both Israel’s CE Ambassador Alan Roth down in Wellington, and Leighton up in Auckland.  That evening, they joined up over Zoom to analyse the effects of what had taken place over the previous few days.  On Tuesday morning, Geopolitical Futures’ George Friedman approached the milestone with a...

Patrick Basham, founder of Democracy Institute in Washington DC, returns in Podcast 305 to analyse the New York mayoralty election. How could the biggest city in a country founded on freedom, be on the verge of electing a marxist muslim as its Mayor? This is a position that is claimed by some to rank second only to the Presidency. Zohran Mamdani looks set to take the mayoralty in the November 4 el...

“With the advent of postmodernism, the literal definition of truth itself has changed. THE truth has been replaced by MY truth and YOUR truth. Truth has become an opinion, no more important than how you like your steak cooked. In the past, we relied on ethical medical science to lead the way to find THE truth, but is that even possible now?" With the ‘Gene Technology Bill’ still in the hearing sta...

There’s a difference between criticising politicians just because you don’t like them, and drawing attention to a politician’s inadequacies when they are failing to deliver. The same applies to a political party. Then there’s the objection to being too negative, and effectively helping the other team win. The team that you disapprove of even more. The problem is, if you don’t express dissatisfacti...

To suggest that there is considerable turmoil across the globe is an understatement. “Nature abhors a vacuum” is constantly given new reign. Following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1989, political scientist Francis Fukuyama announced history was dead. His best selling “The End of History and the Last Man” is updated, still in print and nowhere near death. Then in 2018 Fukuyama’s book “Identity” a...

Canadian born Law Professor James Allan holds a New Zealand passport and taught at University of Otago for eleven years. He is also an Australian passport holder and professor at the University of Queensland. In this discussion we start with which Anglo based country is doing best in a difficult global climate. We discuss the legacy media (and whether it is broken), judicial activism, the threat o...

After six weeks north of the Equator, it’s good to be back. "Two years ago, New Zealanders voted for change. Not just a change of government but a change of direction. They were promised fiscal discipline, economic renewal and a productive economy. The New Zealand government has shown it can reform when it wants to. Now it must also reform what matters most: the unsustainable growth in public spen...

Two years ago my son Christian and I recorded an interview in London. Many people commented on it, and many messages requested a repeat. So, under some difficult circumstances we managed it. We have another discussion on whether London is a better place to live…. or otherwise. Next week Mrs Producer returns, along with The Mailroom and reports on our sojourn. File your comments and complaints at L...

New Zealand’s Big Climate Mistake. This interview with Prof Michael Kelly is full of logic and rationale. A kiwi, Kelly is Professor Emeritus at Cambridge University (coincidentally a place we visited a couple of weeks ago). The interview with Kelly was 200 or so podcasts ago, in number 93. The information he imparts is as relevant now as then. We thought at the time it was a stunning listen; if y...

Having recently listened to a few extracts from the last interview we had with Tom Harrington, I was reminded by just how good he is. Tom’s capacity to expose wrong think, and inspire and develop how we do think is hinted in this comment: “That having more educational credentials is no guarantee against the danger of believing in stories that seriously distort our understanding of imperial facts.”...

We are on holiday in Europe at the moment. Of course there will be a full account on return. It was almost two years ago that writer and public speaker Lord Hannan was in NZ, and we recorded an interview which provided much food for thought. Having visited the country on numerous occasions, Daniel's opinion on politics and the economy was valid. A couple of years later is a good time to check on h...

Imagine a company that has been pursuing its goal for fifteen years, with mixed progress, if you could call it that. The company, Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) has invested over $85 million toward a deep sea mining project off the South Taranaki Coast. It’s Executive Chairman Alan Eggers is a qualified geologist who gained his degree at Victoria University, Wellington. But it’s not all been plain s...