The Leighton Smith Podcast

Bitcoin trail blazed the interest and development of digital money. As a result, the drive for a cashless society with fiat currency being replaced with CBDCs is being pursued by an increasing number of countries. Currently, that count is a worrying 130. The ultimate goal is a one world currency. We discuss all of this with Aaron Day, author of “The Final Countdown, the People’s Last Stand Against...

If, like me, you love venturing into unknown territory and investigating challenges that are essentially beyond us, then here’s a question.. As we know, time goes forward, but can it go back? Physicist Tom Sheahen explains how to expand human thinking and step up to a higher plane of understanding. It is a challenging but most interesting interview. You may not agree with all he says, but, in the...

After six years of being mismanaged on so many fronts, New Zealand requires firm direction. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, opens up on our relationship with the U.S., the Middle East, China and Russia. We discuss the Covid inquiry, the WHO, the state of the world and New Zealand’s place in it. And we visit the first (very full) Mailroom of the year with Mrs...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2023. Three NZ academics have recently written that NZ’s Tertiary Education Sector is in deep financial crisis, and that our universities are losing their best people. At the same time a new private institution, the University of Austin, Texas, is prepping for its opening. We speak with Jacob Howland, Director of...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2023. Ramesh Thakur, Emeritus Professor of the Crawford School of Public Policy. He has held academic appointments in Fiji, New Zealand (Otago), Canada and Australia. He has also worked at the U.N. We traverse COVID, the U.S. 2024 election, the W.H.O., climate, and the assault on liberties, freedoms and human rig...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2023. Professor James Allan returns to discuss our election, Jordan Peterson, The Voice, and Trumps legal challenges. Jim encourages any so-called conservative parties to “fight the culture wars”. Has any party in New Zealand got the required courage? Is there “weaponised collusion” between The White House and th...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2023. In a world of lies, scepticism is your friend. David Bell is a Public Health Physician and biotech consultant in global health. What he has to say should be heard by every thinking person in this country, and every other “free” state on the planet. As the World Health Organisation meets to convince countrie...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2023. Stephen Jennings is a Kiwi expat. His first job after university was with Treasury in 1984, a noted time of economic and political change. Jennings life has centred around change ever since. Working in Australia and NZ, followed by London and in 1992, Moscow until 2013. Now he’s building cities in Africa. H...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2023. Science is in trouble. Facts have taken a back seat to ideology, and political activism masquerades as scholarship. We live in an age of increasing unreason. Can science be saved? John Staddon, Professor of Biology and Psychology and “battle-scarred” by decades of experience, urges scientists to resist the...

Leighton is on summer break, so we are highlighting some of his favourite guests from 2023. AGAINST THE GREAT RESET; 18 THESES CONTRA THE NEW WORLD ORDER… In one of the most informative and enjoyable interviews, we talk with editor and contributor Michael Walsh. He and sixteen eminent writers contributed a total of eighteen chapters on the World Economic Forum. Each author wrote on a different asp...

The events in Israel on October 7 shocked the world. The differing reactions from various countries, cultures, races and religions should have shocked just as much. The lack of historical knowledge and perspective exposed the thin veneer of civilisation. The similarities and differences of AD 70 to 2023 indicate that while some things change, human nature doesn’t. Via the writing of Josephus, Simo...

Daniel Hannan sat as a Conservative MEP for 21 years. During that period he made countless speeches, usually berating the European Parliament itself. He was arguably one of the best members of the European Parliament. Daniel was keen to discuss matters Covid, the new government in NZ, and the Israeli crisis. And we finish up in The Mailroom with Mrs Producer. File your comments and complaints at L...

'The Treason of the Experts’, by Thomas Harrington, underscores the need to apply intellectual discernment on all pressing questions in a case-by-case manner. Tom suggests that having more educational credentials is no guarantee against the danger of believing in stories that seriously distort our understanding of empirical facts. We visit The Mailroom with Mrs Producer, and we conclude with post-...

The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) is the brainchild of Dr Jordan Peterson. It had its inaugural conference in London at the end of October. There were 1500 attendees from over 100 countries; including the author of “Unsettled”, Professor Steve Kooning, Viveck Ramaswamy, Michael Shellenberger, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and so many more. Nick Cater was also there, and explains the purpose and amb...

It’s not just national government that should concern us. Local government should concern us too. Auckland has spent an inordinate amount of time and money trying to become a world class city. But still, Auckland's problems seem to grow. From a growing debt issue to expanding bureaucracy and rebellious councillors. Who’s in charge? Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown opens up on Podcast 220. We reference a...

Three weeks post election, and we are still no nearer to knowing what the final make up of the government will be. We speak with Steven Joyce, in what we thought might be a half hour chat. But even after his barking dog was edited from the interview, we still had fifty minutes of discussion on the incompetence that saw Labour outed, and the rectification that is now sorely needed. We tackle the se...

In July this year we spoke with Jonathan Sumption, and we catch up with him again during his trip to New Zealand. In the interim there has been a lot of change that is worthy of his opinion - the Hamas attack, Israel’s response, and the associated reactions provide a hornet’s nest of issues. We communicate with Patrick Basham in Riyadh, attending the Future Investment Initiative, also known as “Da...

Three NZ academics have recently written that NZ’s Tertiary Education Sector is in deep financial crisis, and that our universities are losing their best people. At the same time a new private institution, the University of Austin, Texas, is prepping for its opening. We speak with Jacob Howland, Director of the Intellectual Foundation Program from the university, on how ideology has poisoned the W...

With the election over (apart from half a million votes still to be counted), we look at how the country can encourage a more positive approach to economic recovery. “Commerce beats politics, every time.” This quote comes from our guest, Earl Rattray, prominent businessman and lifetime participant in the dairy industry. We look at a different perspective on the Middle East, from Barry Brownstein “...

Is Democracy a failed idea? How badly has Ardernism damaged the country? We also discuss the failure of the judicial system with retired judge Anthony Willy, on the eve of the most important election of our lifetime. Words of warning from Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Israel and beyond, and The Mailroom with Mrs Producer. File your comments and complaints at Leighton@newstalkzb.co.nz Haven't listened to a po...

During September, London cardiologist Aseem Malhotra toured New Zealand giving talks on matters covid. Overseas, he has been tagged controversial (controversy has a place in science). We interviewed Malhotra, so you could have access to his opinions and decide for yourself. We share another submission from the former National Party MP and we make further comment on the upcoming election. And we vi...

John Banks spent 21 years in Parliament. For many of those years, he held high profile ministerial portfolios. He was also a two term Mayor of Auckland. This week, he gives us his stark and honest account of NZ’s current position. He concludes that the election must provide “the change of direction the country so desperately needs”. If you agree you’ll enjoy the discussion. If you’re happy with th...

I first met George Friedman in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1986. George was then a Professor at the War College. A few years later he established Stratfor.com and then in 2015, GeopoliticalFutures.com. He has authored a number of books and is now writing on the future of war in space. In this podcast, we delve into a plethora of geopolitical issues and crises, including Russia, China, the U.S. an...

On this week's podcast: Trust has declined at all levels at an increasing rate. Without trust we cannot operate at a successful level. With the election almost upon us, deciding who we can trust is a challenge for many. Oxford Associate Professor Thomas W. Simpson works on trust and issues at the intersection of technology and security. He is in NZ to give the 2023 Sir John Graham Lecture for the...

On this week's podcast: In what many think is the most important election we’ve ever had, there are many issues to consider. Arguably, freedom is the most important. Without liberty, we are not the masters of our own lives. New Zealanders have experienced this over the last few years. Therefore party policies that could affect our free choice need thorough examination. We talk about what is at sta...