/on-air/leighton-smith-show/rss 九一星空无限 LEIGHTON SMITH SHOWThe Leighton Smith Show end by 2018, But the Podcast is coming soon. Check it here   What makes New Zealand’s number one morning talk sh Fri, 31 Jan 2025 02:33:19 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/audio/leighton-smith-this-is-not-the-end/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/leighton-smith-this-is-not-the-end/ After 33 years, Leighton Smith has signed off his morning show for the final time. The veteran broadcaster wrapped up his final show on 九一星空无限talk ZB just before midday. In a moving message, he paid tribute to his listeners, his texters, his callers, and, most importantly, his producer and wife Carolyn for all their years working together. He says he is leaving because he chose to. "Two days ago, I started to question my own wisdom, and I've still got a question mark over it. But with the podcast and the Herald, I still have an outlet, life will go on. It will not end." LISTEN ABOVE Thu, 13 Dec 2018 23:05:52 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/being-leighton-departing-radio-talk-star-on-love-luck-and-not-looking-back/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/being-leighton-departing-radio-talk-star-on-love-luck-and-not-looking-back/ Ahead of his last show, radio star Leighton Smith speaks to Phil Taylor about his long career, an outrageous punt, a dream home and finding love on the other side of the studio window. At the outset, the 九一星空无限talk ZB icon who will next week leave the building after 33 years of being the Leighton Smith Show, prepares his interviewer for disappointment. "You are about to discover," says Smith, dressed as usual in a prime white business shirt, "that I am a really boring interview. Nothing to say, terribly jealous of privacy." Smith interviews Mick Jagger in 1998. Photo / Supplied This polarising broadcaster - a climate change denier, Trump supporter and cycle lane loather - will later claim he is more a listener than a talker. So we sit on facing sofas in a bach that by a series of additions and alterations has become a sprawling spacious North Shore home comprising two storeys and many rooms. And then, Smith says, "Well, I wrote a book you know? What about? "Me of course!" Leighton Smith: Beyond the Microphone was published in 2013. "I'll give you one, we'll cancel the interview and we'll open a bottle." Hours later the interviewer leaves with both a copy of the book and a bottle of Smith's own Clevedon Hills Estate wine. Chapter 5 begins with an undertaking: "As I understand that alcoholic drinks and tobacco are harmful, and realising the importance of having my mind and body strong and healthy to do the best in life, I therefore promise with the help of God, not to drink alcohol or smoke tobacco …" The Australasian Temperance Society Junior Pledge is signed by a 14-year-old resident of Wahroonga in New South Wales named Leighton Smith. It came with the territory of being raised a Seventh Day Adventist. Though Smith shunned tobacco, that chapter is an ode to the grape, specifically the vineyard he developed near Clevedon. Clevedon Hills Estate is a homage to his favourite country. Designed by Italian architect Avio Mattiozzi, the building is modelled on the Villa Gamberaia outside Florence. He chose angles to illustrate his book that played down the grandeur. Why, when the property may be seen as a reflection of his success? "I'm not a show-off," he says. "I was raised not to use the 'I' word but I've overcome most of it. It's a different world now and doing what I have done you've got to talk about yourself. "It was a grand house. I poured everything into it but I didn't want it as a hey-look-at-me house. I wanted to build my dream and I did. "When I built it I thought I was going to die there and be buried under the lone pine down the paddock. You know, full of romantic ideas." Turned out the land, the house, the dream anchored him through a turbulent period. He bought the bare land from a dairy farmer in 1997, the year his marriage to the mother of his two sons ended, the year his father died. There had been loose talk of father and son establishing a vineyard in Australia. He could have upped sticks and gone to America where his sister lives. He had a green card. "But I couldn't leave the kids." Carolyn Leaney, the producer of his show, is his fourth wife. On air, Smith playfully refers to her as "Mrs Producer". Leaney is his fourth wife. Photo / Supplied He first married two weeks after his 19th birthday. His girlfriend was pregnant. The baby was stillborn and the "on and off" relationship ended after four years. His second marriage - to a Sydney woman - was not helped by Smith moving for radio jobs to Townsville and then Wellington. Little is said in the book about his third marriage other than it produced his sons. "Having had three divorces," Smith tells the Weekend Herald, "if it had not been for Carolyn, I have serious doubts whether I would ever have got married again." Leaney joined the show from a job as a producer at the BBC. They had worked together for 14 years and were friends before things changed in 2002. That year Leaney's relationship ended and Smith faced a health crisis. "I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and her support during that period developed into what we have got now." Leaney was one of a few people Smith told about his cancer. "That was an emotional moment that we recognised down the track a bit." "Simplest way to put it is that I realised that friendship is the most important thing in a relationship and there was a gradual realisation that this one would work." They got engaged in 2009 while holidaying in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A year later they bought the home they now share on a fulltime basis. They didn't marry until 2012 after, says Smith, friends took them in hand and said, "Okay, this is what is going to happen". Leighton Smith with his sons Charles and Christian. Photo / Supplied It wasn't a case of fourth-time shy, he says. "We were just relaxed. We have a saying, the Smiths just put one foot in front of the other." Together they make a blended family of six: Charles, 29 and Christian, 26 and Carolyn's daughters Madeleine, 26, and Charlotte, 24. For five years as husband and wife they lived much of the week separately, Smith at Clevedon and Leaney in the house on the North Shore. That changed last year with the sale of the country estate. Selling wasn't a wrench. "Carolyn will be the first to tell you I go through a period. I finish it and I move on and I don't regret. It is the same with Clevedon. I did it, I enjoyed it and I got what I wanted out of it." Will it be the same when he signs off his show for the last time next Friday? "It will be emotional." Smith began in radio 44 years ago after short stints in banking, the public service, in real estate rentals and driving a taxi. He recalls that on leaving Adelaide for Auckland more than three decades ago, his Australian producer told him he'd be "bored sh*tless in 18 months". "I didn't think I'd be here this long." He always had the love. As a boy he played with crystal radio sets and listened to radio series Tarzan and The Lone Ranger. "It was fascinating, it was theatre, theatre of the mind." His success takes much more than a voice like rich gravy. He is a strong personality who seems to relish taking unpopular positions. A commentator once described him as a "cranky uncle". Smith relaxing in a bath as appeared in the Townsville Bulletin picture. Photo / Supplied Asking Smith the key to his success doesn't help. "I never try to describe myself. I'm just me." He was relating how ratings dived - from a 19 per cent market share to 15 - within weeks of him coming to Auckland in 1985 to take over from Alice Worsley. How did he respond? "I got pissed." "People didn't like it, a popular host being bundled out, me being abrasive, rude sometimes. They weren't used to it." Still rude? "I don't know. Certainly aggressive but there's been a lot of change. You grow into things." "I'm paid to have opinions. If I didn't have opinions I wouldn't have been in the job." A thick skin comes with the territory. "Here are the current things where I'll have conflict with people. Trump, because I'm a Trump supporter. Climate change, global warming. American politics, in general, starting with the Constitution. I'm a believer in liberty, freedom, small government. I'm anti-drugs, [pro] self-responsibility." No worries, then, about the leader of the free world? Trump wasn't his first choice, he says. "I came into it as anything, anyone but Hillary. The Clintons. I detest the Clintons. Oh, don't get me going there. I think she is everything that I wouldn't want in a woman." After Trump won, Smith's faith grew. "You have to live with the failings of the guy and they all have failings. The Kennedys were worse than him when it comes to women." The hard questions Leaney and Smith with legendary musician Dr John in the studio 2004. Photo / Supplied Each opinion is a rabbit hole and as time is short Smith obliges with a round of quick-fire word association. Climate change? "Fraud. The whole climate thing is political science, not real science." Petrol or electric? "Whatever works most satisfactorily. At the moment and for the foreseeable future it is petrol. The planet is just fine thank you. Man does not control the climate, CO2 does not control the climate." Just then a noisy boy racer roars down his quiet street. "Electric!," exclaims Smith, "I want electric!" Lefties? "Once upon a time they used to be nice but now they are just vicious b**. You don't want to write that. Once upon a time, you could debate with them, we were all in the same boat wanting the same things. No longer." Solar or fossil? "Fossil." You won't find solar panels at Clevedon Hills. "Too unreliable. You haven't mentioned nuclear. It's worthy of investigation." Greenies? "Out of control. It's so old-fashioned to call them watermelons but the healthy Green movement has been captured by the political left. Control freaks. I want my plastic bags back!" Education? "Captured by the left. It's groupthink." #MeToo? "Spare me." Bike paths? "Blow them up." Mrs Producer? "Stunning. [long pause] My final destination." At one point, he says, "What I'm interested in, corny as it sounds, is truth and establishing truth isn't easy anymore because discussion has been shut down. Kiwis, and it's not undesirable, still just want to live peacefully, they don't want to get into bun fights, which gives the advantage to any aggressor." His opinions may be extreme but in person, he makes for easy company. It may be that he reserves his crusading for the studio. A quote from his book: "The only place I enjoy an argument is on the radio; between family and friends it disturbs me greatly." We talk about job satisfaction. "At one stage it was the important people I'd meet." Leighton Smith in the 九一星空无限talk ZB studio. Photo / Brett Phibbs He shushed Margaret Thatcher, back in 1983, after the Falklands War. The phone connection was so bad he couldn't hear the Iron Lady. "It was really quite weird, telling the prime minister of Great Britain to shut up." Favourite memories include times his influence helped others. After Sir Peter Leitch, aka the Mad Butcher, a longtime advertising on his show, revealed to Smith that he was fighting aggressive bladder cancer, Smith rang Sir John Key and suggested it would be timely to recognise Leitch's charity work. Smith helped bring New Orleans pianist, singer and songwriter Dr John to New Zealand and talked him up until the gig was packed. "To most people, he's not a massive star but I love him. I've got to say I felt like a little kid, it was like Christmas." Dr John, who battled alcohol and drugs, toured again six years later and over lunch said to Smith in a gravel voice, "Leighton, you are a blessing in my life." Smith included a Dr John track - Such a Night - on Makin' Whoopee, a selection of Smiths favourite songs. The CD went gold and the framed award commemorating the feat is leaning against a wall in one of the loos waiting to be hung. It's late afternoon when Leaney arrives home to find her husband and the interviewer watching horse racing. It is strictly business - evidence of Smith's astonishing good fortune. Smith paid $2000 for a quarter-share in a thoroughbred named Pharaoh that had earlier sold for $500,000. It's a long story but the horse showed talent, broke down and one of the owners wanted out. With first-time owner Smith in the team, the horse won its next two races and went on to win the Doncaster Handicap at Royal Randwick in 1994 and 1995, a race worth A$1 million then and A$3 million now. We watch a replay of Pharaoh's storming finish to grab that first Doncaster by a nostril. It still exhilarates. "Better than sex!" exclaims Smith. He backed the horse weeks before the race at odds of 100:1. On arriving home the next week Smith wrote a cheque that cleared his mortgage. There was one more horse, a quarter-share in a $100,000 purchase that never won a race and was sold for $5000. With that, Smith knew he'd had enough. He's sure it will be the same come Friday when he signs off his show for the last time. Don't look back. But it's not the last you will hear from him. Smith will contribute a regular column and podcast for the Herald. • Subscribe to the Leighton Smith podcast newstalkzb.co.nz/leighton Wed, 12 Dec 2018 23:52:08 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/livestream-simon-bridges-speaks-with-leighton-smith/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/livestream-simon-bridges-speaks-with-leighton-smith/ Watch above as National Party leader Simon Bridges joins Leighton Smith live in studio. Opposition leader Simon Bridges says he is "unfazed" by the latest tranche of internal National Party information that has been leaked to media. Speaking to RNZ this morning, Bridges called the leaked details of party policies "minor bits and pieces". An anonymous leaker, who claimed to be a National MP but did not use a parliamentary email address, leaked the information to the Weekend Herald. It detailed areas of policy National is looking at exploring before the 2020 election, including an income insurance scheme. The documents were provided to National's front bench between August 14 and September 11. Bridges said the policy papers were from several months ago and that New Zealanders can "see what's happened over the last two or three months". "New Zealanders will have a very clear sense of what's gone on in our party over that time." Asked what the leaks had to do with former National MP Jami-Lee Ross, Bridges said "ultimately, I don't know". "But I'm not concerned, I'm not fazed. I'm focusing on what Kiwis want." Ross was put on mental health leave on October 2. He was kicked out of the National Party on October 15 after a PwC investigation into leaked travel expenses revealed he was likely the leaker. A spokesman for Bridges told the Weekend Herald on Saturday that the policy papers were a number of months old and were sent to "all frontbench MPs at the time". The leak of the policy documents came after National's internal polls and media talking points, sent to MPs, were also leaked to media last week. In August, National's internal travel expenses were leaked to 九一星空无限hub and Bridges launched an inquiry to find out who the leaker was. Bridges told the AM Show this morning the inquiry was "absolutely" the right thing to do. "We had a problem, it resulted in an MP being expelled – it was the right thing to do." Sun, 09 Dec 2018 21:04:50 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/lgbt-radical-activists-face-pushback-over-increasing-demands/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/lgbt-radical-activists-face-pushback-over-increasing-demands/ Expat American and former US military serviceman Chris called into The Leighton Smith Show this morning to share his thoughts over the escalating culture wars of LGBT radical activists demanding they be referred to with the correct pronoun. He told Chris Lynch that he believes this is a dangerous situation, and exposes the hypocrisy of those wanting the rest of the public to bow down to their demands. "Look at it this way, the same people claiming a man can be a woman and a woman can be a man are the same people screaming saying science doesn't dictate biology, and that we need to believe climate change." LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOVE Sun, 25 Nov 2018 21:11:28 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/audio/the-lady-killers-perform-bohemian-rhapsody/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/the-lady-killers-perform-bohemian-rhapsody/ Leighton got a special treat this morning - sitting front row at a performance by The Lady Killers.  The trio (Tina Cross, Suzanne Lynch and Jackie Clarke) are performing at the True Colours Cabaret Gala for World Aids Day. The December 1st concert will raise funds and bring awareness to the HIV community. The Lady Killers treated Leighton's listeners to a special rendition of Queen's classic 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.  WATCH THE PERFORMANCE ABOVE Tue, 20 Nov 2018 05:10:18 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/leighton-smith-president-trump-right-to-ban-jim-acosta/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/leighton-smith-president-trump-right-to-ban-jim-acosta/ The President rightly gets to choose who asks a question, and he doesn’t need to call on Acosta. Let Acosta sit in the front row stewing and call on all of the other reporters in the room except him. Simple. But I don’t think it is that simple. Jim Acosta is of such character that he would try and assert himself and he would not stop. He might try and sit out the first day, possibly the second, but by then he wouldn’t be able to contain himself. He would be standing and speaking before any nominee could ask a question. And he would probably start with “Why are you not taking any of my questions. Seriously, he is a narcissist. LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOVE Thu, 15 Nov 2018 02:10:08 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/audio/leighton-smith-better-than-expected-result-for-republicans/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/leighton-smith-better-than-expected-result-for-republicans/ "This is a better result than what a lot of people said it would be. The number of seats gained in the Senate by the Republicans is not to be scoffed at." Listen to the audio above as Leighton Smith gives his assessment on the 2018 US Midterm elections, which saw the Democrats take back control of the House and Republicans extend their majority in the Senate. Wed, 07 Nov 2018 23:13:56 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/audio/michael-bassett-bridges-should-never-have-asked-for-inquiry/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/michael-bassett-bridges-should-never-have-asked-for-inquiry/ Michael Bassett is a former Labour Party member and cabinet minister. He joined Leighton Smith this morning to discuss the issue everyone is talking about, Jami-Lee Ross and the audio recordings of Simon Bridges. Bassett believes Ross didn't get the promotion he wanted which is why he feels like he has nothing to lose, and says Simon Bridges made a huge tactical blunder by asking for an inquiry in the first place. LISTEN ABOVE AS MICHAEL BASSETT SPEAKS WITH LEIGHTON SMITH Thu, 18 Oct 2018 01:10:21 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/bob-narev-holocaust-survivor-recounts-his-harrowing-experience-in-a-concentration-camp/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/bob-narev-holocaust-survivor-recounts-his-harrowing-experience-in-a-concentration-camp/ Holocaust survivor Bob Narev joined Leighton Smith to discuss his harrowing time spent in a Nazi concentration camp and his latest venture helping elderly Holocaust survivors. Narev spent two years and a half years in a concentration camp in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. Having survived, he made his way to New Zealand, then out of the blue, he received a payment of $15,000 from Germany, stated to be compensation for his time in the camp. At first, he was planning to give the money back, but then his wife, who is also a Holocaust survivor, reminded him about his dream to set up a support service for elderly Jewish Holocaust survivors, so he did. LISTEN ABOVE AS BOB NAREV SPEAKS WITH LEIGHTON SMITH Wed, 10 Oct 2018 23:06:58 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/audio/climate-change-ten-years-to-save-the-planet/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/climate-change-ten-years-to-save-the-planet/ This is the video which Leighton Smith was talking about on the show this morning. Mon, 08 Oct 2018 22:15:19 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/cameron-battle-over-kavanaugh-a-reflection-of-america-s-culture-war/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/cameron-battle-over-kavanaugh-a-reflection-of-america-s-culture-war/ A decision is to be made in the next few days on whether Brett Kavanuagh will be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Over the last few weeks, America has been captivated and outraged over the treatment of President Trump's nominee. Cameron called into the Leighton Smith Show this morning, and explained similarities between Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird and the current situation. "The views that one side take on this argument are almost incompatible with the framework of the other side of the argument. If you cannot see Kavanaugh as anything other than a white racist male, or anything along those lines, there is no hope for a dialogue between the two sides. This is much more than just a case, it is a reflection of a culture war in America at the moment. The woman in Harper Lee’s tale was believed purely because she was a white woman. There are certainly parallels with this case and Harper Lee’s tale.” LISTEN ABOVE AS TALKBACK CALLER CAMERON SPEAKS TO LEIGHTON SMITH Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:48:25 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/audio/sexual-abuse-counsellor-raises-doubts-on-ford-s-story/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/sexual-abuse-counsellor-raises-doubts-on-ford-s-story/ The credibility of Christine Ford is under the spotlight as the FBI begin an investigation into Judge Kavanaugh. Ford's inability to pinpoint when the alleged assault took place, her struggle to clearly identify Kavanaugh by name, and lack of key details like how she got to the party or where the party took place have many people unsure whether or not to believe her. Jim has been an ACC sexual abuse trauma counsellor for the past 25 years, and has dealt with hundreds of stories from victims. He called into the Leighton Smith Show this morning and raised doubts over Christine Ford’s testimony. LISTEN ABOVE AS JIM SPEAKS TO LEIGHTON SMITH Tue, 02 Oct 2018 00:29:12 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/peter-everatt-zbs-first-traffic-reporter-reflects-on-45-year-long-career/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/peter-everatt-zbs-first-traffic-reporter-reflects-on-45-year-long-career/ Peter Everatt - a name that means plenty to some, but some will have little clue of his long and strong history with 九一星空无限talk ZB. Everatt has been part of the ZB family for 45 years, starting as an engineer back when the station was 1ZB. He later became the station’s first traffic reporter, launching the Time Saver Traffic brand that lasts to this day. Back in the early days, he would take to the skies in a plane, ‘ZB One’, to provide breakfast and drive traffic reports direct from the air. He was the first person to refer to Auckland’s infamously complicated motorway as Spaghetti Junction. Everatt later added management duties to his position, a role he has held for the last few years. Earlier this year, Everatt received a Services to Broadcasting Award at the Radio Awards. Everatt joined long-time colleague Leighton Smith this morning to discuss the former’s career and how much has changed over nearly half a century of broadcasting. LISTEN TO PETER AND LEIGHTON TALK ABOVE Fri, 28 Sep 2018 05:52:29 Z /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/baby-neve-and-clarke-overshadowing-pm-former-labour-party-member/ /on-air/leighton-smith-show/audio/baby-neve-and-clarke-overshadowing-pm-former-labour-party-member/ Michael Bassett is a former Labour Party member and cabinet minister. He joined Leighton Smith this morning in a wide ranging interview discussing Jacinda Ardern in New York, and the celebrity culture overtaking politics. LISTEN ABOVE AS MICHAEL BASSETT SPEAKS WITH LEIGHTON SMITH Thu, 27 Sep 2018 01:55:05 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