British Thought Leaders

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with author Philip Womack to discuss his recent piece on a study that yielded concerning results regarding the cognitive abilities of young people. Womack talks about why reading is important for youngsters and the stark consequences of a post-literate generation ruled by technology.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with political strategist, author, and filmmaker M. Dane Waters to talk about his report on China’s development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its negative impact on the world. Waters explains the many areas affected—from warfare and finance to social media and international organizations such as the United Nations. He says governments need to take action to stop the spreading influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with "godfather of microplastics" professor Richard Thompson OBE to talk about the massive amounts of plastic in our oceans, how product design changes could make a significant difference to plastic pollution, and the importance of cooperation between policymakers, profit-seekers, and scientists to protect our environment.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Dr. Malcolm Kendrick for the second half of his interview. Kendrick says the world of medical research can no longer be trusted, a view echoed by editors of some of the world’s leading medical journals. He discusses how money distorts medicine, and what steps can be taken to see through the hype.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with author Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, a general practitioner who has spent decades speaking out against the idea that high cholesterol causes heart disease. Kendrick says we have been misled about the effect that eating saturated fat has on heart health. He also talks about statins, the most widely prescribed and profitable drug in the history of medicine, which he says provide very little protection against heart disease and come with the risk of considerable side effects.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with former head of UK Border Force Tony Smith to talk about enforcing our borders. Smith says the people-smuggling criminal gangs are currently winning the battle and talks about how their business model could be broken. He says those who enter illegally are not subject to the same thorough checks as legal migrants, and discusses how terrorism impacts the safety of our borders.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with anthropologist, historian, and author Charles Cornish-Dale, also known as Raw Egg Nationalist to talk about his new book 'The Last Men: Liberalism and the Death of Masculinity'. Cornish-Dale says a rapid decline in testosterone is causing existential harm to male fertility and leaving men with serious health and social problems. He talks about the causes behind the testosterone drop, including endocrine disruptors and poor diet, and whether they are putting masculinity itself under threat.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with independent energy consultant Kathryn Porter who says Britain is at severe risk of blackouts. Porter explains how the move to more and more renewables is behind this risk, as they are unstable and not as compatible with our current grid as traditional power sources. She also explains why renewable energy is the most expensive, and that the government's Clean Power 2030 plans will put even more financial pressure on the public.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with former member of Parliament Douglas Carswell to discuss his recently published set of milestones to restore Britain. Carswell talks about taking control of the machinery of state, fixing a broken legal system, securing borders, stopping mass immigration, and reducing public spending.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with male suicide researcher Dr. Susie Bennett, who says we need to pay more attention to Britain’s biggest killer of men under 50. Bennett talks about the drivers behind Britain’s suicide figures, the conversations she’s had with men who have contemplated ending their lives, and the importance of building empathy for men as well as boys.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with men’s rights expert Rick Bradford, who writes under the pen name William Collins. Bradford says identity politics has infiltrated many aspects of British life and is destroying the very fabric of our society. He talks about his research into the disadvantages faced by men and boys amid the "acceptable prejudice" of institutionalized misandry.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with journalist Lewis Brackpool to discuss the use of freedom of information requests to hold the powerful to account. Brackpool talks about his investigations into water contamination, the placing of government messaging in popular entertainment, and undocumented meetings between the government and high-profile business leaders. He says the world has entered a post-conspiracy age where citizen journalism can play an important role.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with AI safety expert professor Roman Yampolskiy, who says we are only a couple of years away from AI superintelligence that will endanger humanity. Yampolskiy says the companies developing AI are aware of the danger, but are driven by technological competition and profit. He says we have no way to predict or control intelligence that is beyond our own.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with lawyer and author Michael Reiners, who says key pieces of legislation are being used against the British public in ways that lawmakers never intended. Reiners talks about the Public Order Act and how it’s being used to prosecute people for offensive social media posts, creating a chilling effect on free speech. He also talks about the European Convention on Human Rights and its role in undermining Britain’s borders and domestic immigration laws.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association. Kill says Britain’s night time industries face existential issues as many people can no longer afford to go out. The industry employs more than 2 million people and boasts a turnover of more than 150 billion pounds, so losing its nightlife would have serious consequences for Britain’s economy and culture.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with child sexual abuse campaigner Emma Jane Taylor, who talks about the shocking statistic that 90 percent of child sexual abusers are known to their victims. Taylor questions why stranger danger is focused on in schools, and says the prevalence of sexual abuse in Britain will only change when the country's political leaders see it as a priority.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with journalist and author Alex Klaushofer, who writes the Substack "Ways of Seeing." Klaushofer talks about transhumanism and how robot replacement threatens to take away what it means to be human: emotion, spirituality, and creativity. Klaushofer says technology is being used to drive us toward authoritarianism, especially since the COVID-19 lockdowns, and talks about how we can counter this.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Charles Parton OBE, a former British diplomat who spent 22 years working in China. Parton says our politicians, academics and business people need to be more aware of the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He says the CCP sees science and technology as a key battleground and has been building dominance in areas such as cellular modules, posing a national security threat to Western nations.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Jared Madsen, master of ceremonies at Shen Yun Performing Arts. Shen Yun is the world’s premier Chinese classical dance show and has been subject to ongoing attacks from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Madsen explains how Shen Yun’s mission to revive traditional Chinese culture is directly at odds with the atheist nature of the CCP.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with James Price, commentator and former government adviser. James shares his knowledge and experience of what some people call “the Blob” or “Deep State”—the thousands of civil servants who run the country no matter who is elected. He talks about JD Vance's recent speech and how changes in America could benefit Britain, and he shares his concerns about ongoing mass immigration and the impact this will have on our nation.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Michael Kelly, professor emeritus of technology at the University of Cambridge. Kelly was a government scientist when the Climate Change Act launched in 2008, and has been researching the reduction of carbon in Britain since then. He wrote to Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Milliband to say that the Net Zero targets are an engineering fantasy—because the costs are enormously prohibitive and the workforce needed is not available. He is calling for open debate on these issues and says engineering's professional bodies are not acting responsibly in their silence.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Mark Clifford, an author and the president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. Clifford talks about Hong Kong entrepreneur Jimmy Lai's incredible rise from rags to riches, becoming a billionaire media owner and Hong Kong's most famous dissident. Clifford explains why, despite having the means to escape, Lai did not seek to avoid his sentence as a political prisoner—and how he has now spent years in solitary confinement. Clifford says Britain can do more to rescue Lai and Hong Kong from the Chinese communist regime.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Paul Birch, who recently retired after 24 years in the police force—including 16 in counterterrorism. Rank-and-file police officers don't believe in the "woke agenda," he says, but it's forced on them from above. Birch says that officers of all backgrounds know that two-tier policing exists and that many are frustrated by it. He believes that the establishment pushes public focus to the so-called far-right when the vast majority of counterterrorism work is Islamic extremism. Furthermore, he says that officers don't feel support from their seniors, leading to experienced officers leaving the force and an overall decline in policing standards.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Barry and Margaret Mizen, whose son Jimmy Mizen was murdered in 2008. They talk about teaching forgiveness and positive change to young people, the problems caused by violence in our society and culture, and the role their faith has played in overcoming hardship.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, to talk about imprisonment for public protection (IPP). The IPP sentence has seen thousands of people imprisoned for extra years after serving their sentence despite not committing any further offences. They have little chance of release, and even when they are released, they are often recalled to prison for the most minor of infractions. The IPP was introduced in 2003 by then Home Secretary David Blunkett, who calls it his greatest regret.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, to talk about research recently published about the arrests of foreign nationals. The centre’s data show that foreign nationals are twice as likely as British citizens to be arrested and more than three times as likely to be arrested for sexual offences. Bates talks about the lack of immigration protocols to stop the importation of crime into Britain.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Edward Paice, author and the director of the Africa Research Institute. Paice says that by 2050, 40 per cent of global births and 33 per cent of global workers will be African. These demographic shifts, coupled with the declining birth rates of the developed world, will see massive changes in the lives of everyone and force a rethinking of Africa’s place on the global stage.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Ben Jones, director of case management at The Free Speech Union, to discuss what he sees as a relentless war against free speech in Britain. Jones talks about the connection between authoritarianism and multiculturalism, the importance of social media when it comes to free speech, and the freedom violations that are already in the pipeline for 2025.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with veteran China journalist Ian Williams for the second half of their interview about the Chinese economy. Williams talks about China’s billionaires and why they keep disappearing, what we should learn from the Evergrande collapse, and how Chinese dissidents use humor to combat the Chinese Communist Party.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with veteran China journalist Ian Williams for the first half of their interview about China and its economy. Williams talks about the false financial figures the Chinese Communist Party presents to the world, Western companies moving their operations out of China, the Chinese criminal enclaves being set up in neighboring countries, and why China’s electric vehicles are a national security risk to the West.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Together Association co-founder Alan Miller to talk about challenges to our freedom, the importance of technological and entrepreneurial progress, and making Britain better.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with journalist, author, and sociologist Ashley Frawley for the second half of this interview. Frawley talks about falling birth rates, how modern life and institutions attack the family, and the dangers of a society that doesn’t live for the next generation.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with journalist, author and sociologist Ashley Frawley in the first of this two-part interview. Ashley talks about people she knows from her home nation of Canada who have resisted pressure to choose assisted death, what the UK can learn from the Canadian situation, and why treasuring life is what makes human beings great.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with author and theologian Jacob Phillips to talk about Englishness, British values, the culture wars, and why he believes obedience is the path to freedom.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with James Bartholomew, author, journalist and director of the Museum of Communist Terror. Bartholomew says Britain’s education system is failing children by not teaching them the horrors of communism, which has taken more than 80 million lives.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Dominic Wightman, editor of Country Squire, for the second half of this interview. Wightman talks about the massive differences between the lives of rural folk and urbanites, and why those who live in cities should try to understand how important the countryside is to their own existence.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Dominic Wightman, editor of Country Squire, to talk about the recent farmer protests, why the success of farming is crucial to everyone in Britain, and the pressures affecting the people who produce our food.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with James Woudhuysen, visiting professor of forecasting and innovation at London South Bank University, to talk about supermarket technology enforcing nanny state propaganda, whether modern forecasting has a bad reputation, and why he sees the green movement as messianic.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Chloe Lo, a former Bloomberg reporter in Hong Kong, to talk about the loss of freedoms and the unjust imprisonment of supporters of democracy after Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule. In speaking out against Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tyranny, Lo said she has lost her family, her life savings, and the city she loved.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with professor David Paton to discuss the End of Life bill and why he opposes the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Paton talks about his research into the effects of legalizing killing on suicide rates and what we can learn from other countries that have normalized euthanasia.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Professor Abhishek Saha, founding member of London Universities' Council for Academic Freedom, who explains why the currently paused Higher Education Act is crucial for academic freedom and our wider society.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with geriatric & palliative care Doctor Cajetan Skowronski to talk about assisted suicide and euthanasia. Dr. Skowronski warns that assisted death will not remain only for the terminally ill. He says the experience of other countries shows the slippery slope toward assisted death for groups such as the elderly and disabled is inevitable.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Geoff Hill, Zimbabwean author and the chief Africa correspondent at The Washington Times and The Spectator. Hill talks about elections in Africa moving in a positive direction and why the West turns a blind eye to election rigging in some states but not others.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Sam Bidwell, director of the Next Generation Centre at the Adam Smith Institute think tank. Bidwell says the idea that Britain’s youth are all woke and Left-leaning is a myth, that the broken social contract is a radicalizing force, and that young people of different political beliefs are united on many key policy issues.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Jon Moynihan, businessman, author, and member of the House of Lords. Moynihan says a return to economic growth is crucial for Britain’s future and that our move toward a social democracy has put massive obstacles in the way.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Michael Dnes, head of transport policy at Stonehaven consultancy and a former civil servant at the Department for Transport. Michael talks about the challenges of Britain’s aging infrastructure, the ever-growing red tape culture, spurious legal objections, and NIMBYism.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with energy expert David Turver to talk about how renewables pushed energy prices so high, the damage Net Zero is doing to our industry and lives, and why he’s so concerned about government powers granted in the Energy Act 2023. David writes on Substack: davidturver.substack.com

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Nick Measham, the CEO of conservation charity WildFish, to talk about industrial salmon farming, how it’s pushing wild salmon and trout toward extinction, and the damage it does to the marine environment.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Michelle Shipworth, associate professor of energy and social sciences at University College London, to talk about how the Chinese Communist Party is chipping away at academic freedom in Britain.

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the free market think tank Institute of Economic Affairs, to talk about why he opposes government intervention in alcohol, smoking, and obesity issues, and how these public health measures affect our freedoms.