The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Breaking up the supermarkets is hard to do... and a bad idea

   In this episode, Oliver talks with Eric Crampton, chief economist at the New Zealand Initiative, about his new paper "Breaking up the supermarkets is hard to do... and a bad idea", which finds the promised savings rest on an untested assumption about how Foodstuffs prices its supermarket banners. They run through the Newstalk ZB interviews on splitting Foodstuffs, hearing Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis in their own words and weighing their key claims against the evidence.

   September 23, 2026·38min
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2. 2
   Number 2: Better education requires better teaching

   In this episode, Michael talks to Kevin Donnelly, an Australian educator and author who co-chaired the review of Australia's national curriculum. They discuss why schools across the Anglosphere turned away from knowledge-rich teaching in the 1970s and 1980s. Donnelly argues that the knowledge-rich curricula now being developed in New Zealand and Australia will change little unless teacher training is also reformed, with the university faculties that train teachers being the source of many of the bad ideas that continue to shape classroom practice.

   September 10, 2026·40min
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3. 3
   Number 3: Nothing routine about the CIA in Moscow

   In this episode, Oliver talks to John Howard, senior fellow at the New Zealand Initiative, about the CIA director's public visit to Moscow and what it says about the security of Western Europe. They also discuss Germany's decision to name Russia over the drone attack on Leipzig Airport, the vote for Russia-friendly parties in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, the stalled Middle East conflict and its consequences for New Zealand's fuel supplies, and the new Cook Islands port deal.

   September 08, 2026·28min
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   Number 4: Free to Disagree: The social media ban National couldn't sell to its coalition

   Here is a full episode of Free to Disagree, our new weekly show with Oliver Hartwich and Damien Grant. National has introduced a bill banning under 16s from social media, and both coalition partners have refused to back it. Oliver and Damien ask whether such a ban could work, and whether the state should be involved at all. Next, Oliver reports back from a capital gains tax event at a centre-left think tank, where nobody in the room liked Labour's version of the tax. And finally, Iceland votes on Saturday on whether to resume talks about joining the European Union, and they get to the Cod Wars, a banking collapse and what a country of 400,000 people manages to do. Free to Disagree is a weekly conversation about New Zealand politics and economics with Oliver Hartwich and Damien Grant. Two friends on broadly the same side of politics who find plenty to disagree about anyway. Each week they discuss three big issues, leading up to the election. Free to Disagree lives on its own feed where you will find every episode. So if you are enjoying it, follow the show directly. Search Free to Disagree in your podcast app and follow it there. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-to-disagree/id6800933200 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/03465zUGiOtfO38Yg0wVip Produced by The New Zealand Initiative.

   September 01, 2026·32min
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   Number 5: Iran, Hormuz and New Zealand’s readiness

   In this episode, Oliver talks with retired Major General John Howard about his recent trip to Washington and what the conflict centred on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz reveals about American power and the international order. They then turn to New Zealand, where Howard argues the crisis exposed serious gaps in fuel resilience and intelligence, and a public service that struggled to match ministers' urgency.

   June 23, 2026·38min
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