/on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/rss 九一星空无限 Fri, 31 Jan 2025 07:02:56 Z en /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-climate-change-alarmists-push-their-barrow-over-fires/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-climate-change-alarmists-push-their-barrow-over-fires/ When I was a boy, the family bought a newly developed section in the middle of the bush on Sydney's upper north shore. Before work began, it was attacked by a bush fire, as has so much of that part of Sydney in years since. Australia does bush fires well, especially in the southeast. Virtually every summer there were fires around the newer suburbs. Of the five deadliest fires in Australia, three were in Victoria, one in both Victoria and South Australia, and one in Tasmania. The years of the fires according to lives lost were 2009, 1983, 1939, 1967 and 1926. There were 441 deaths and 5850 homes were destroyed. I had relatives who survived two of those fires. One was the Tasmanian fire which got within two kilometres of the Hobart CBD. There were 62 deaths, 1200 houses destroyed and 60,000 farm animals killed. The Tasmanian fire, at the end of January this year, took seven houses and no deaths. But that didn't stop the man made climate change alarmists pushing their barrow in overdramatic fashion. The Guardian Australia ran a piece which included "power grids collapse, dying rivers vomit huge fish kills, while in the north in Townsville there are unprecedented floods". Really? There were massive Tasmanian fires in 1898, 1909 and 1915. As Chris Kenny wrote in The Australian, "This is no more terrifying, and no less, than it has ever been." There is nothing new in any of it. That is not to belittle what took place. But there is the hand of human stupidity in each case. Townsville. I lived and worked there in 1978 and 1979. During that summer, Cyclone Peter drowned Cairns, closed the airport and isolated the city. As for this year's "unprecedented floods" in Townsville, well, maybe. Depends what the rules of judgment are. Science writer Joanne Nova ran an informative commentary on her website in which she concluded it would be climate change if it stopped flooding in Townsville. The city has had many floods, the most dramatic being 1881, 1892, 1946, 1953. The hand of human stupidity played a major part in the damage this time round. Townsville's official flood maps approved swathes of new ground-level homes and businesses in recent years. Gone were the famous Queenslanders, built on stilts in order to allow both lots of ventilation to help cool houses, but also to defend against floodwaters. The council was using expert modelling and its flood maps relied on "exhaustive modelling of every possible scenario". Where have I heard that before? While the residents of Townsville had a couple of crocodiles in their street for a bit, pity the citizens of Belushaya Guba, on the southwest coast of Novoya Zemlya in the Eastern Berents Sea. Some 50 polar bears have become street sleepers and when pictures began appearing this week the media went mad. Global warming, global warming, climate change, they cried, and ran with the usual propaganda. No context. According to Dr Susan Crockford, there is a perfectly logical explanation. She suggests by mid December mobile pack ice temporarily contracted, which would have stranded any bears left onshore. By late January the ice was back on the south east coast, but by then it is likely the bears in Belushaya Guba were entrenched. As a polar bear expert, she says, "This incident of winter problems with polar bears and others like it reported from the Russian Arctic, almost certainly reflect the confluence of a growing human presence in the Arctic and thriving polar bear populations, not lack of sea ice due to global warming." I wrote this column with no intention of engaging in the so-called science of climate change. But the purpose was to remind those who have retained a healthy scepticism that mother nature makes her own rules, not us. Australian poet Dorothea Mackeller wrote her most famous poem in 1908, My Country. I love a sunburnt countryA land of sweeping plainsOf ragged mountain rangesOf droughts and flooding rains,I love her far horizonsI love her jewel -seaHer beauty and her terrorThe wide brown land for me. Context is everything.   Sat, 16 Feb 2019 20:20:54 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-personal-responsibility-would-fix-obesity-crisis/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-personal-responsibility-would-fix-obesity-crisis/ Does advertising contribute to obesity with kids? I cannot except any argument that says, no it doesn’t. It is a case of conditioning; you can condition people to accept anything over a period of time unless they have willpower. Willpower comes from growing up in an environment which you are aided in developing. In other terminology it is called resilience. Resilience and willpower contribute to an individual’s ability to deal with issues they may otherwise are not able to deal with. You need to recognise these problems and let to explain the onus is on them. If you bring up a child from the beginning in those conditions, children will have a far better advantage compared to other kids. That is not to say there will be failures along the way. LISTEN TO THE FULL AUDIO ABOVE Wed, 21 Nov 2018 20:21:54 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-cycleways-a-disgrace-and-waste-of-time/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-cycleways-a-disgrace-and-waste-of-time/ On the cycle lanes, I saw an e-scooter. There was one of the new e-scooters on the cycle lanes. And what is wrong with that you are asking? Nothing, but it is not built for scooters, it is built for bikes. What I noticed is that is all that was on the cycleways. There were no bikes. It was a beautiful day but there was no one out cycling.  There you have this cycleway which has been installed at a magnificent cost, by the inadequate thinkers of Auckland Transport. The same ones who used exaggerated figures to get the cycleways in the first place. Were they lies? I will happily call them lies, they were falsehoods and fake figures. We know that now, but I knew that all along. When they started building that cycleway, it was nonsense, and it is still nonsense. You hardly see anybody on it, they took away all of the parking and they took away a lane. It was all done on fake figures. Who do you think should pay for that with their job? Probably someone in the top five or ten in the hierarchy. Will we see this happen? Of course not. Tue, 13 Nov 2018 02:03:39 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-nz-hospitals-in-dire-need-of-change/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-nz-hospitals-in-dire-need-of-change/ It comes as something of a surprise to hear that Starship Children's Hospital is included in the report of hospitals which are beyond their life expectancy and 'not fit for purpose' which includes Auckland Hospital. Now Auckland Hospital is the lead training hospital in the country, now if it's facilities are as lacking as we are lead to believe then we are surely in trouble. That takes me back to root cause. Could I be so bold as to suggest the root cause for this is the way the system is structured through management? It's top heavy, too much money goes into management, there are too many people in management and they are getting paid too much money both as individuals and collectively. Which means there is less money going into what hospitals are supposed to do. Now, if you're in hospital management you might take issue with me but that's the impression I get, it's the one I've had for some time. But nevertheless, it still surprises me that this has risen to the surface at the moment and that there are a number of hospitals that don't measure up. What does it say? What it says, and I hate to say this, what it says is it confirms something someone said years and years ago...if you think New Zealand is a first world country the first place you will realise it isn't, is the health system. Mon, 22 Oct 2018 22:55:39 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-govt-fuel-tax-an-obscenity-beyond-description/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-govt-fuel-tax-an-obscenity-beyond-description/ I wish I had a list of every time a politician blamed the fuel companies, all the while wacking on more taxes and GST. It is one of the greatest cons of all time, only slightly behind man made global warming. The fact the government taxes you then taxes the tax on you is an obscenity almost beyond description. Now on the comments from the PM and oil companies on the price you pay when you fill up. I have another question which has been sitting on my mind. Tell me this. I’m listening to ads on the radio, this radio station, and one of the women is saving 60c a litre on petrol prices. Others are saving 6c, 10c or 20c depending on where you go shopping or what type of card you have, a gold card for example. How does that work? How do you save up to 60c a litre, and if you can, what is all this bitching about? Or if you look at it another way, how can you save 60c a litre and argue you shouldn’t have controlled prices. I am not in favour of price control unless it is an emergency, but this isn’t an emergency, it is a manufactured crisis. Tue, 09 Oct 2018 01:47:37 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-the-pms-extra-costs-are-adding-up/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-the-pms-extra-costs-are-adding-up/ The Prime Minister's comments with regards to the PR exercise in New York, she had no idea how much it cost. Flying the plane up and down to the Pacific, she didn't know the costs either. It was tens of thousands of dollars just for a baby, dare I mention it. I am not cheating down all of the responsibility to the PM, although she is the PM. What intrigues me is that Winston Peters is looking very good in the polls at this point in time, and people have commented to me that they are surprised at the level of effectiveness Peter's had while filling in and at other times. Let's not forget people are saying he is exercising his ego with all these new ideas in the last few days. All in all, we have got an issue. There is no question people are concerned about it. We had one percent growth for the quarter which eased of the pressure, but at the end of the day, it was only one per cent. And with the 'Mood of the Boardroom' survey, who knows where it is going. Wed, 03 Oct 2018 01:52:44 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-complaining-ceos-are-pathetic/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-complaining-ceos-are-pathetic/ Now, for those who took part in the NZ Herald's Mood of the Boardroom, I have only got one thing to say to you, did you ask for it?  Did you ask for what you're getting? Are you partly responsible? Now, I am addressing the CEOs, all 150 of them, who signed on for this and that and everything else. The whole climate change thing, you climbed on that. The whole politically correct approach to things because, I don't know, you're trying to outdo each other because you don't want to get left behind, or because you don't have the wherewithal to take a stand and say: 'we are here for our shareholders, to do business, to make profits and to serve the people who are our customers,' instead of becoming so precious. I could list some names that I have got right at the front of my mind at the moment but I will withhold. However, some of you are pathetic. Some of you need to get a grip on reality. So you have the Mood of the Boardroom now which is looking less positive than it was and I ask the question again, are you partly responsible for it? Tue, 02 Oct 2018 22:53:27 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-auckland-transport-forcing-us-out-of-our-cars/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-auckland-transport-forcing-us-out-of-our-cars/ Let's talk about the people involved with transport in Auckland. Auckland Transport, for instance, hate cars, hate you behind the wheel and want you out of them. I have been saying this for years now, they will be working their way to be forcing you out of your car, not just in the inner city area which is where this is being imposed, but anywhere. They know it, and so do a lot of others and probably you as well. If you haven't woken up yet this should be the final straw. So we have to stop the road deaths and accidents. Really? So what percentage of the bad accidents happen in the city? It is 2.2 percent. Who do you think causes the accidents? Good people like you and me who drive sensibly and safely even if we do occasionally we do go over the speed limit? It's called driving to the conditions which they used to promote dramatically. If the roads are totally empty and there is no one around and the speed limit is 50kmh and your doing 60kmh you are driving to the conditions. That is not an encouragement by the way. The accidents which occur are not because of you and me, it is because of idiots. Do you think the idiots are going to think “ooh its 30kmh, let's put the foot on the brakes? It isn't going to make any difference at all, none. Tue, 25 Sep 2018 23:37:21 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-merv-smith-was-a-superstar-before-radio-had-any/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-merv-smith-was-a-superstar-before-radio-had-any/ Yesterday evening, we were at home and the phone rang and it was the station. The news was that Merv Smith had died. Now there are a heck of a lot of people around who don’t know who Merv Smith was so I will explain. Merv Smith was a radio superstar in the days before superstars. There were nowhere near as many radio stations as there are now before FM came in. If Merv was working now, with the talent he had, he would be a superstar and he would be the highest paid in the business. No question of that in my mind. I worked alongside him for around 15 months, from the last quarter of 1985 through 1986. I was on my first visit ever to London over the Christmas period of 1986, when I got a message that Merv had quit and it was true, and it was some considerable concern. Because Merv pulled 28 to 29 per cent of the market for the breakfast programme. He quit and he left. There were reasons. He wasn’t happy with the way things were being directed and he wanted out. He went off to another station where he succeeded in becoming number one for a period of time. Here’s the important bit from my perspective Alice Worsley was doing this programme and she had been doing it for five years. They took her off air to put me on. Now, there was hell to pay for it. I was in Sydney when all of this happened, and when I came on I realised what was going on. There was even a march of women down Queen Street in black armbands to object to Alice losing her job. When I took over, I thought jeez what's the attitude going to be like here? Let me tell you that Merv, who was very close friends with Alice, couldn’t have been nicer, couldn’t have been more helpful. Not that we had a lot to do with each other – he finished, I started. But he was Mr Nice Guy. He had an attitude that was overwhelming on the basis that he could have been a nasty prick if he wanted to be. I don’t think he had it in him, but you know what I’m saying. Alice was helpful as anything. She was reading news for a little while and then she left. She was as nice as you can imagine. I last saw Merv at Barry Holland’s farewell function down at the viaduct, and I hadn’t seen him for years. I said to him, ‘I’m planning to outdo you in your time on air at ZB’. And he said, ‘Well, I did 25 years’. Well, I was at that stage at 27, and I thought he had done 30, so we had a bit of a laugh. Now, bottom line is, it’s a very, very sad passing. He was 85. He had a good life, but it was sudden, it happened within about three days as I understand. We were never close, we were never friends as such. We were acquaintances who worked under the circumstances I described. I can only say he was a man of considerable generosity and highly talented. Tue, 25 Sep 2018 03:22:59 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-if-you-want-a-robust-government-then-the-hits-will-never-stop/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-if-you-want-a-robust-government-then-the-hits-will-never-stop/ So the Prime Minister wants to develop a compassionate government. What do you think that means? Different things for different people. Different strokes for different folks probably. Ardern talked about the sort of politics she likes to practise. She said you have to have a robust democracy but rejects that it should be about egos and scoring hits against each other. Well if you want a robust government then the hits will never stop because it is part of it. Show me a democracy anywhere in the world where the hits don’t come thick and fast, you won't find one. You might find a government that is unopposed, but there is nothing compassionate about that because they have to enforce their will upon the population. And egos. You cannot be in politics without an ego, you simply can't. The last person who I recall was Bill Rowling, that is a long time ago, and he failed, nice guy but he failed. If you want to get anywhere you have to have an ego, if you want to get anywhere you have to drive things and you have to make hits. And if you don’t, the other team gets away with it. It is really that simple. Mon, 24 Sep 2018 22:41:21 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-kids-do-not-belong-in-the-workplace/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-kids-do-not-belong-in-the-workplace/ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was the annual speaker at the keynote summit recently. What on earth even is that? She told her audience there needs to be a culture change in the workplace, there needs to be an acceptance that mothers and children are part of the workplace and if that doesn’t happen nothing will change. If that is a correct summary, then I want to bang my head against something sharp. So mothers and children are part of our workplaces. The only way that could happen if we went back to an agrarian scenario when mothers were out in the fields and the children were running around on the side. Workplaces are workplaces, there is a division of labour. Kids do not belong in the workplace. That is what work is for. Does that mean they can't do it? No, it doesn’t. It means if you are an employer and you decide you want to do it, you should be free to do it. But what we are getting to is a compulsion state, and that is what we are working up to. It may not be a piece of legislation that is ever passed but in the end, the pressure will be brought on by the progressive social justice warriors who happen to be CEOs. They will move in that direction because they want to be seen to be doing the right thing, and they will pay the penalty for it. Imagine this, instead of going to pick up the kids from school, they roll into your workplace. “Hello mummy, I’m here.” Sun, 23 Sep 2018 22:36:51 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-men-also-had-to-struggle-for-voting-rights/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-men-also-had-to-struggle-for-voting-rights/ You have heard lots of things about women going places. But you go back to when women got the vote, we were the first in the world which I think is a major milestone. But men struggled to get the vote for a long time as well, for thousands of years. The world didn't work in that way. Different classes of men got to vote at different times, they had to fight for it, and they had to wait for it. Inch by inch, step by step, we got there. What bothers me more than anything else now is that we have all got the right to vote, but how many votes are wasted? How many don't bother to pay attention to what politics is all about? How many don't bother to pay attention to what philosophy of life is all about in its various forms? There are wasted votes. What bothers me is the criminality in my mind of the bribery and corruption that goes on in election time. 2005 was a prime example, I keep referring to it because it is the best example in recent times Every election year there are promises made that attract voters and win seats. It might be 125 years, but I agree with those who say there is a long way to go. There is a lot to retrieve because we have surrendered it, in a manner which shows we have discarded what we already had. I find that incredibly disappointing. While we celebrate 125 years, let's look at what we have lost along the way because we didn't value it enough. Wed, 19 Sep 2018 02:49:21 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-wrong-type-of-people-coming-to-nz/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-wrong-type-of-people-coming-to-nz/ Now to those of you who have berated me over the government policy allowing more people into the country. I agree with those people who have been harassing me with their objection to the number of people coming into the country, 60,000 to 70,000 a year.  I agree with them on one basis. There are many people who are coming into the country who shouldn't be, they are the wrong sort of people. They don't come here to serve a purpose or to fulfil a role which is needed. There are far too many of them. I don't care where they come from, what their colour or religion is, they are people who have come here when they are not needed, they just come. Many of them can't even do the jobs they are trained for, some of them highly trained, especially when it comes to engineering and medical matters. They can't get a job so they clean houses or drive taxis and ubers. It’s true. I keep getting people telling me they came to work this morning in an uber and how the drivers knew all about this and that. There are a lot of taxi and uber drivers who listen to this radio station. It’s terrific. But my question to you is this, and I don't mean to be insulting to any of you. What happened that you got here and you needed to drive a taxi? It is a fair question. And most of you would appreciate that question. Mon, 17 Sep 2018 22:26:42 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-homeless-count-is-an-exercise-in-exhibitionism/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-homeless-count-is-an-exercise-in-exhibitionism/ The Mayor of Auckland is trying to show how compassionate he is. He is going out tonight with a bunch of others, up to 1000 people or so, and they're going to go out and count the homeless, those sleeping in the streets. For what purpose? What does he have up his sleeve that he can utilise to resolve it? It doesn't matter how many there are, there's quite a few and that's all you need to know. This is an exercise in exhibitionism on the part of the Mayor. You don't have to know how many precisely, you just have to know that they're there and you then need to ask the question why? Why are there so many people street sleeping? Why are there so many people in doorways or down alleys sleeping? Why are there so many people in cars, cooking on little gas stoves outside the car doors? Why are they there? How did it happen? Why is there so much homelessness in Auckland? Is Auckland any different to somewhere else? Sun, 16 Sep 2018 23:44:27 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-the-media-has-overblown-hurricane-florence/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-the-media-has-overblown-hurricane-florence/ Hurricane Florence is, of course, getting all of the world news coverage. Florence is interesting to me. Here is why. Over a period of time now we have watched and listened and heard how devastating this is going to be, the biggest ever. In the media, this has grown more than it actually has, its reputation has exceeded its actual size. It has gone from being a level four, or a high level three and there is even to talk about when it lands it may be category one. How did that happen? If you look at the science of it, the warmth of the ocean, if you take that all into account, this hurricane is behaving in a manner which is unscientific, at least as far as the science is concerned we have been fed. It is unscientific. We know that a warm ocean is responsible for the hurricane itself and feeds it, and the warmer the ocean, the bigger the hurricane should be. But it is now behaving in an opposite manner. How is this so, and how could it be? If we have any scientists listening who could explain this or have a theory I would be delighted because it has fallen out of sync with everything that is believed. Which should tend to show us that these things are never settled. Fri, 14 Sep 2018 00:16:26 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-payout-to-murderer-shows-liberalism-is-a-mental-disorder/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-payout-to-murderer-shows-liberalism-is-a-mental-disorder/ A convicted murderer has received a government payout after he was held too long in solitary confinement at an Auckland prison. You and I are paying this murderer, this drug addict, $10,000 because the UN says you can only hold him in solitary for 15 days. The Judge, using his nous obliged the prisoner's request to be held for 21 days to help him kick his drug habit. The government is still considering an outstanding question of remedies including compensation, after the human rights committee, in April this year, found two preventive detainees had been detained for over a decade each. That is irrelevant to the story, it is just an attachment. Now I ask you, which part of me is inhuman when I say this is just madness and a prime example of a liberal approach to things, and an example of liberalism being a mental disorder? It is just nuts, a convicted murderer given life because we don't do the death penalty anymore because it is inhumane, so we give them a life sentence and then they get out in 10 years. None of this makes any rational sense, none of it. Our dealings with the UN should cease forthwith. $10,000 to this jerk. Tue, 11 Sep 2018 23:48:45 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-councils-should-forget-cycle-lanes-get-back-to-basics/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-councils-should-forget-cycle-lanes-get-back-to-basics/ This morning we found out, thanks to the taxpayers union, that there are almost 5000 people in this country working for councils and earning more than $100,000 a year. By the way, if you go a little bit higher and go to people earning more than $200,00 a year, you will find that number is a substantial percentage of that. 九一星空无限talk ZB breakfast host, Mike Hosking, is spot on. This is one of the problems with running second in the day, he gets to say what he wants and if it coincides with the way I feel I can only repeat. So let me repeat, they do not have to do all of these things. The job of a council is the basics, that is the job of a council. When you introduce the creators into the scene, that is when the absurdity sets in. That's when the programme starts, those who have a political goal but are not interested in politics, work their way into a position of influence and power and dictate to you and me how we should live. The cycle lanes are a prime example, you just cannot argue with it, the cycle lanes are a prime example of exactly that. Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:33:56 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-we-need-to-push-back-on-climate-change-hoax/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-we-need-to-push-back-on-climate-change-hoax/ The story in the news today about Wellington council discussing climate change. This is a feel good group think little get together, as they are all are. It is not a matter of if the climate is changing, it is a matter of what is causing it. Is it natural? Is it within normal variability? Every indication tells us it is. So what is causing it? Is it you or is it the cows? No, it's not. There is no evidence, only guess work and modelling, there is just no proof and they are far from it. “Leighton every time I hear fake news on climate change I feel like screaming.” Ian says how the hell do we let minority groups like the Greens have so much influence? How can an average citizen like me push back on all this BS? I live for the day we live can yell at the 'man made' climate change types I TOLD YOU SO! We just have to keep beavering away, inform yourself, arm yourself and share your knowledge and you will find plenty of people won't want to know. Thu, 06 Sep 2018 22:37:03 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-green-party-mp-is-a-waste-of-space/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-green-party-mp-is-a-waste-of-space/ As for the Nigel Farage protest last night, I have some correspondence on it. “Golriz Ghahraman is an idiot and a disgrace”, that is the opening line. "She ignores Green Party values, what a disgrace to the environmental movement.” Well that movement is a disgrace in the first place, I don't know why you would bother about it. But part of the Green Party policy is to engage respectfully with out personally attacks. So here is what Ms Golriz had to say on Facebook. "Today's the day to tell Nigel Farage he's full of sh*t! I'll be speaking to tell him we stand united against his brand outdated dangerous drivel. Profiting from hate and division ain't welcome here." And then there is a poster, "Nigel Farage if full of sh*t, protest the politics of the racist right." These people don’t deserve a great deal of attention. Ms Golriz is as far as I am concerned a waste of space, and so are a few of her fellow travellers. Tue, 04 Sep 2018 23:20:37 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-pms-baby-is-interfering-with-her-job/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-pms-baby-is-interfering-with-her-job/ The PM is going to cost us money, is that a big deal? In the greater scheme of things, No. Is it hypocritical? I would suggest it is, but that isn’t the point. The point is she had a choice to make. As a working mother you have to make choices, we all know that, every working woman who has had a child and a job knows that. Breastfeeding is to be encouraged for three months. Well the three months is up but she has decided she isn’t going to stop, and wants to keep breastfeeding. So that is interfering with her job as she chose to do it. Where am I wrong so far? This is interfering with her going to the conference in Nauru. She is going anyway for a shorter period and it is going to cost a whole lot of extra money. Is it a big deal? They say it will cost $80,000, other reports say much more than that. Does it really matter in the greater scheme of things? Then we get to Winston and the Pacific. I’ve heard it all, he knows all the players and can represent New Zealand well enough. So the question is why does she need to go? Is it because she thinks Winston will be taking the limelight? I suggest that has something to do with it. Mon, 03 Sep 2018 22:38:47 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-us-abortion-bill-shows-self-discipline-is-irrelevant-to-liberals/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-us-abortion-bill-shows-self-discipline-is-irrelevant-to-liberals/ The California abortion pill story you may be aware of this morning. I saw it over the weekend and I thought I wouldn't talk about it because it's California and it doesn't come as any great surprise. The Bill has been passed by the State Legislature which would see abortion medication available at school medial centres and allow women to terminate their pregnancy during the first 10 weeks. The legislation's now awaiting the Governor's signature before it can come into effect at the start of 2022. This is where they are going to pass the bill, and they will sign it because Governor Jerry Brown will sign anything along these lines, gosh he is a jerk. Jerry Brown will sign it and it will become law. Public universities will have to provide abortion pills to young women on demand essentially. It is free, you can get one and take it. The figures, the woman who was talking to Kate Hawkesby this morning mentioned, were quite extraordinary. There was a figure of 500 young women, on campuses per month who get pregnant. Here is the problem, self-discipline of any kind, is out the window when it comes to liberals. It's just gone, forget it. Self-discipline is irrelevant, do whatever you want and we will provide you with the answer. It is no wonder there are so many kids on drugs and opioids in America and this country. Sun, 02 Sep 2018 22:12:58 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-women-with-power-dont-run-the-world-better/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-women-with-power-dont-run-the-world-better/ Anyone who thinks the world would be run any better, or anything would be run any better if it was all governed by women is loose between the ears. That’s not a downer against women, it is just a fact. When people are put into positions of power, they do what they need or want to do depending on how much power they have got. The point being, if women ran the world, it wouldn't be any less violent than it is now. It wouldn't be run any better than it is now. And any woman with half a brain would know that is correct. Because women know better than men how women work, they don't work any differently in positions of power, once they get appointed to jobs in bureaucracy. The sexual harassment going on in parts of this country for instance, it may not be equal, nobody knows, but women are responsible for some of that sexual harassment both on males and other women depending on their sexual preference. I know its true, I have stories I cant share obviously but it is true. It is about understanding humanity and human nature, that is what all it comes down to. Thu, 30 Aug 2018 22:17:12 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-nz-deprived-of-balanced-reporting-on-american-politics/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-nz-deprived-of-balanced-reporting-on-american-politics/ The population of New Zealand continues to be deprived of any sort of balance with regard to American politics and Trump. What you get in the media here is, if you're watching television you will get CNN, in particular, or associated channels and news clips. In print media, you get the Washington Post and New York Times, one or two others maybe but they're the main ones. And you can substitute one for the other, especially with the New York Times and Washington Post, they write the same stuff. Yet this morning, there is another editorial on Trump that shows me that the people who write these stories and editorials are being fed from one source only. They know absolutely nothing or very little at best and don't want to know any more, with regard to what else is going on, on the other side. It really is quite extraordinary. This is what I know from cable television. So you go to Al Jazeera, you go to the BBC, you go to CNN, you go to Fox, there's one or to others, from the aforementioned group you will get one side of any aspect of this. You ask someone who watches CNN all the time about this or that and they won't have a clue. What you get from Fox is not balance but you will get the input from the other side. They give you another perspective. Wed, 29 Aug 2018 23:34:55 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-pc-bs-the-real-problem-for-our-police-force/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-pc-bs-the-real-problem-for-our-police-force/ We’re told that we’re going to have 1800 new cops. All districts across the country will be getting substantial numbers of increase. Really? Why the optimism of being able to find these appropriate people? Are we not we short of people for all sorts of work, all sorts of jobs? Apparently, it will be nurses and teachers that are the problem, there won’t be any real issue for cops. Why is that? I don’t believe it. There is a condition here that I’ve got. There has been for a long time an issue with getting the right people for the police force. There’s an issue with retaining people those who are good, advanced, solid cops, it’s been that way for a long time. With cops getting out because of red tape, too much paperwork, they don’t like the way the system has gone because it has become involved in things like diversity. When you are talking about law and order; when you are talking about protecting people; when you are talking about catching criminals, what the hell has diversity got to do with it? It might be fine to have a little squad to have a few people to deal with some delicate areas or whatever, but diversity across the force is bulls**t. What you need is someone who is six foot four, male or female, who accepts respect from people from the minute they walk into the room, because they are too big to tangle with. What you want are good people who can get respect and do the job in half the time. If you don’t have respect for the cops, or the cops can’t get respect, it will take them twice as long to do something. I was involved in a traffic accident where I was rear-ended, and the young kid responsible refused to talk to the female cop. She said to me ‘he won’t talk to me’. Put him in front of a six foot two, three, four sized guy, and that kid would have spilt his life story. It’s simply the way that it is, it’s human nature. It is simply becoming so politically correct in this country that public servants who want to do a good job are being prevented from joining the force because of PC matters, and when they get in, they are still subject to PC matters. LISTEN TO THE FULL EDITORIAL ABOVE Mon, 20 Aug 2018 22:01:49 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-plastic-bag-bans-taking-away-our-freedom/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-plastic-bag-bans-taking-away-our-freedom/ The reason I am talking about plastic bags, again this morning, is because it is a very important matter and to me, it keeps growing in importance. It's about how we live our lives, our freedoms, about being told what to do, and where does it stop? It is a much more important story in the scheme of things than a single plastic bag deserves to have. It has to do with being told how to live our lives. It has to do with an approach to things that not all of us agree with, and it is p***ing people off because there is far too much interference. Now there is another aspect to it, and I hit on this a long time ago and regular listeners would know it. It's something that gets dropped but a plastic bag manufacturer has touched on it. And I thought good for you. He's protecting his own business or trying to, he's trying to protect his own staff, who will lose their jobs if he goes out of business because this evergreen Government has made this ruling. Now, plenty of you are disagreeing and booing at the moment, you've seen lots of pictures of oceans and animals and fish and this that and the other. Why does it happen? It's always blown up. It's always exaggerated but nevertheless, pictures do something. Think of the polar bear on the ice cap. Fake news! Fake story! The fact is, that it is exaggerated because people do that sort of thing when they have a goal in mind and something they want to achieve. And when they know there's a bunch of suckers out there who will say: 'this is so bad, we've got to stop it'. Here's what the plastic bag manufacturer had to say: 'people are blaming plastic bags for wrecking the environment instead of taking responsibility because of their own reckless behaviour'. Wed, 15 Aug 2018 21:57:06 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-ben-stokes-case-a-lesson-in-pre-judging-people/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-ben-stokes-case-a-lesson-in-pre-judging-people/ The Ben Stokes story is an interesting one to me for a particular reason, and nothing to do with cricket. Everything to do with crime, being charged, going to court, and people’s reactions, especially the latter. Think for a moment about Ben Stokes. Picture him in your mind. What’s your impression of him when you look at him? His face, his looks, and what’s your reaction? It’s intriguing. I have been, shall we say, slightly agitated with people around me saying he’s a nasty piece of work. Guilt written all over his face. Anger written all over his face.  I have to admit while I didn’t get caught up in it, I sort of had some sympathy for what was being said. He does look a bit unpleasant, he does look a bit agro, and you could imagine him flying off the handle because he’s a sportsman and they get certain reputations across the board because they are physical people. Even on the field, they have issues, especially off the field. There’s been plenty of them involved in off-field physical activities in public. Even if you weren’t paying much attention to it, I would imagine there were plenty of people who were surprised to hear this morning he had been found not guilty. A couple of people involved in that fracas said he shouldn’t have been in court in the first place. And yet there is this guy who has a very unpleasant look about him, a very angry look, and you can see it, you can imagine it. Not guilty. What does that say, what does it tell us? Books, covers, what? I’m one who always has argued that you're entitled to judge a person by their appearance. I’m not talking about ordinary people, I’m talking about people who may have a threatening look about them, like a gang member. The old argument is your walking down the street and there’s this hulking great gang member coming towards you. It is not unwise to cross the street. It’s a natural instinct, and it’s not unwise to do so. Is it anything else? No. It might even be common sense. Would you walk past people like that and looking them in the eye? The point I’m trying to make is that we are wise to make judgements, but in this particular case it was a wrong judgement. I might have to dip my toe in the water in that regard. You could imagine Ben Stokes being violent in those circumstances, and the fact that he was charged and taken to court in the first place is indicative of the fact that this is where this guy is at. You might argue that the jury was sympathetic to him as he’s a sportsman and he represents England. You could say it’s a jury sympathetic decision. I don’t think so. I think the evidence was given, the prosecution had its day, and they lost.   Tue, 14 Aug 2018 21:29:10 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-if-kids-can-be-graded-so-can-teachers/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-if-kids-can-be-graded-so-can-teachers/ Teachers come in various shapes and sizes. The argument goes that you can't grade teachers because, well, it's too difficult, that's the argument, it's too difficult. Can teachers grade kids? Of course they can and they do it all the time. If you can grade kids why can't you grade teachers? Give me an answer to that. If you can grade kids, you can grade teachers. It's just a union cop-out that you can't. Is it easy? Well it's not that difficult, is my answer. It's not. They used to do it, is there any reason why they can't now? Now here's how you approach it, you have a principal who warrants the position, there's plenty of them around, some don't but you have a principal who warrants the position. They warrant the position because they were a good teacher, they are a natural leader and they have the right attitude to the policies that we would prefer. And I know what policies we prefer. The policies we would prefer, and I can speak for all of us, is that we want kids turned out of school intelligently with a great education and a great attitude to life and confidence and the ability to achieve. Is that so difficult? LISTEN TO LEIGHTON SMITH'S EDITORIAL ABOVE Mon, 13 Aug 2018 21:54:48 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-why-is-don-brashs-speech-considered-hate-speech-but-david-seymours-bill-isnt/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-why-is-don-brashs-speech-considered-hate-speech-but-david-seymours-bill-isnt/ Last week, the Vice-Chancellor of Massey University was talking about Don Brash. She was patently performing a service to herself, not anyone else just herself, to satisfy her own whims, wants and desires when it came to Don Brash. And she came as close to revealing it, when she commented on his Orewa speech and how that was very close to hate speech. So park that thought, don't forget it but put it to one side and consider the following. David Seymour’s private members bill to reduce the number of politicians and remove Māori seat. Do you not think, based on the precedent of the Vice-Chancellor of the University, David Seymour is treading very close to hate speech? Now you're saying, you’re being silly’, I'm not, I'm being dead serious. I'm saying that if the Vice-Chancellor has a point and can get away with it anyone can. Or alternatively, if she can be accused of relating those comments to hate speech, then anyone can accuse David Seymour because he's talking about eliminating Māori seats. That's very close to hate speech if you wish to view it that way and some people will. Sun, 12 Aug 2018 21:44:32 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-climate-change-has-nothing-to-do-with-california-fires/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-climate-change-has-nothing-to-do-with-california-fires/ Let me turn your attention to what is happening in California, where daily and nightly we are being regaled with stories and videos from the massive fires. This is where education, universities, schools and propaganda is letting everyone down. California has a big history of big fires. But there is still no evidence that the fires this year are bigger than the ones in the 1930's. READ MORE: NZ firefighters receiving special training to battle California blazes Back in the 1930's, that was the period of the dustbowl in the midwest. California has since pre European times had a history of massive fires. A commentary from a man who has been involved in the forestry service for a long time says he is sick to death of repeating his advice. He said a couple of decades ago that there would be a return to the massive fires because of the shocking fire management, which is partly due to the incompetent governance of California, and also the Greens who have the attitude you can't have fire breaks and you can't do selected burnings because it is necessary. So over a period of time, the forests of California have burnt up and become tinder dry, so when you get a period like this you find yourselves in the situation you see now.  The most surprising thing to me is that with the size of this fire, is the small number of houses which have been burnt. Wed, 08 Aug 2018 23:08:38 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-marama-davidsons-call-to-reclaim-most-offensive-word-ridiculous/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/opinion/leighton-smith-marama-davidsons-call-to-reclaim-most-offensive-word-ridiculous/ There was a story on TV last night about the most objectionable word on the broadcasting control list. We are issued with lists of words that are unacceptable, that if I used, any of the top four or five, certainly, I would be taken off air and correctly and I might not finish the year, just don't know. That's how unacceptable these words are. All be it, that this particular word, the one that has been at the top of the list for a long time, has dropped from I think 73 per cent unacceptability to something like 60, it dropped a few points. Now the story was there because the Green Party co-leader, Marama Davidson, says New Zealand must reclaim this word. What does she mean, I'm not interested in her opinion. I could say something right here that might get me into a bit of trouble. How on earth she got elected as the deputy leader of the Green Party is beyond me, well it's not really because it's a reflection on the Green Party itself.Enough said. LISTEN TO LEIGHTON SMITH'S FULL EDITORIAL ABOVE  Tue, 07 Aug 2018 21:15:48 Z