Hearts of Oak Podcast

Dr Harry Benson, research director of the Marriage Foundation, joins Peter to make the case that marriage still matters. He explains why two-parent families tend to produce better outcomes for children and less pressure on the state, and why marriage itself — not just background factors like income or education — helps couples stay together.
Harry discusses the founding of the Marriage Foundation, the limits of earlier research that downplayed marriage, and the psychological mechanisms that make a public, binding commitment different from cohabitation: it removes ambiguity, signals sacrifice, and creates social accountability. He also talks about his books What Mums Want and Reliable Love, the “Taylor Swift problem” of men who won’t commit, and three practical rules for romance: decide within two years, choose someone marriageable, and ask whether he will fight for the relationship.
Dr Harry Benson is one of Britain’s leading champions for marriage. His PhD from the University of Bristol is on the psychology of marriage and commitment.His research findings for Marriage Foundation are routinely cited in the media and by politicians and have made front page news on several occasions. Formerly one of the youngest Royal Navy helicopter pilots to serve in the Falklands war, Harry has spent the last twenty years researching, writing and teaching about marriage and family. As founder of a Bristol charity, he taught hundreds of relationship courses to thousands of couples, including ‘Let’s Stick Together’, a pioneering short programme for new parents evaluated by the Department for Education and delivered mainly through NHS post-natal clinics. He also co-authored influential family policy papers for the Centre for Social Justice.Harry’s book What Mums Want And Dads Need To Know – co-authored with his wife Kate – reached number 11 on Amazon UK; in it, Harry and Kate share their own back-from-the-brink experience, demonstrating how marriages go wrong and what makes them go right.Harry’s most recent book Commit or Quit – The Two Year Rule and Other Rules for Romance is for couples starting out and covers how to choose well and how to avoid getting stuck!Harry and Kate live on a rural small holding, have been married 40 years, and have six adult children.
Connect with Harry...𝕏               @harrybenson6 https://x.com/harrybenson6                   @MarriageF  https://x.com/MarriageFWEBSITE                           https://marriagefoundation.org.uk/
BOOKS                                     https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Harry-Benson/author/B00JP1FYP6
 
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*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.
Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin

Lee Harris returns to look over a tense week in politics and media. We discuss the reported deletion of submissions to Angela Rayner’s working group on an Islamophobia / “anti-Muslim hostility” definition, questions over data protection excuses, and concerns that the proposed definition could be used to restrict speech.
We also cover the announced National Centre for Information Defence — branded by many as a “Ministry of Truth” — and whether it is a response to the government losing control of the narrative. The conversation then turns to sentencing and policing: contrasting cases that critics call two-tier justice, the arrest and charging of Danny Tommo after he slashed an abandoned dinghy in the Channel, and Tommy Robinson’s detention under counter-terrorism powers. We close with small-boat arrival numbers, police escorts for migrant transport, and the Chagos Islands sovereignty deal.
Connect with Lee...
X @LeeHarris https://x.com/LeeHarris
SUBSTACK https://www.leeharrisuk.org/
YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/@LeeHarrisMedia
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/leeharrismedia/
 
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*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.
Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin
 

Oklahoma State Senator Shane David Jett joins Peter to talk about his Cherokee heritage, Christian upbringing, and path into public service. He describes growing up in Tecumseh, the books and preachers that shaped him, his time as the first Republican elected to his House seat (2004–2010), and later service in the Navy as an intelligence officer. Shane discusses Oklahoma’s mix of tribal, state, and local politics, gaming revenue, and how tribal governments interact with the legislature. He explains how COVID-era restrictions sharpened his focus on constitutional limits and emergency powers, and how that led him to chair the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus. The conversation also covers his view that Christianity underpins Western religious and political freedom, his relationships with local Muslims, and why he sees political Islam and violent applications of Sharia as incompatible with those freedoms.
Sen. Shane Jett was first elected to the state Senate in 2020 after serving in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 2004-2010. He represents Senate District 17, which includes parts of Oklahoma and Pottawatomie counties.The Shawnee Republican grew up in Tecumseh working in his father’s auto-repair shop and later earned a degree from Oklahoma Baptist University in International Business. Shane is a former lieutenant in the U. S. Navy and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. In addition to serving as a state Senator, he is the former CEO of a financial institution that makes commercial loans for Native American businesses focusing on economic development and job creation in the state.  Shane and his wife, Ana, have three children.
Connect with Shane...X                                              @SenShaneJettOK  https://x.com/SenShaneJettOK                                                @shanejett  https://x.com/shanejettFACEBOOK                             https://www.facebook.com/SenatorShaneJett/WEBSITE                                 https://oksenate.gov/senators/shane-jett
 
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*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.
Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin

American-German journalist Collin McMahon joins Hearts of Oak to unpack the AfD’s recent state election gains in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin. He links the results to public anger over immigration, a slumping economy, high energy prices, climate policy and what he calls woke politics, and argues the party is now growing beyond the east.Collin discusses Friedrich Merz’s “firewall” against the AfD, the CDU’s collapse below the 5% threshold in Mecklenburg, Germany’s proportional system and why other parties keep forming coalitions to keep the AfD out. He also covers AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, rising figure Ulrich Siegmund, the Left’s surge in Berlin, European right-wing parties’ hesitation toward the AfD, and why he sees immigration, the economy and opposition to the war in Ukraine as the party’s core issues.
Collin McMahon is an American-German journalist, author and translator based in Munich. Born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1968 to American parents, he grew up in Munich, studied media at Pomona College in California, and has worked as a radio reporter (including from the Yugoslav wars), Disney creative supervisor, screenwriter and children’s author. He translated the first volumes of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Gregs Tagebuch) into German.After 2015 he became a prominent conservative commentator on German and American politics. He previously worked in the Bundestag office of AfD MP Petr Bystron and now reports for the Swiss-German station Kontrafunk. He also writes for The Gateway Pundit, Junge Freiheit, Jüdische Rundschau and The European Conservative.His recent German-language books with Kopp Verlag include George Soros’ Krieg, Der Zensurkomplex, Trump gegen den Deep State, Eroberung (with Irfan Peci) and Die Akte Epstein. A German book on Tommy Robinson is forthcoming.
Connect with Collin...X                                               @CollinFrMcMahon  x.com/CollinFrMcMahonRADIO                                       kontrafunk.radio  WEBSITE                                    collinmcmahon.de  BOOKS                                      kopp-verlag.de/a/trump-gegen-den-deep-state  
 
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*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.
Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin
 

The discussion covers comments on EU expansion, including suggestions that Ukraine could join the EU, which David Vance rejects as unrealistic. It also addresses criticism of the Archbishop of Canterbury over a photograph with a cleric described as having praised Osama bin Laden, which is presented as poor judgment.
A large part of the episode focuses on culture and media, including Greta Thunberg, protests at Ed Sheeran concerts, and what the speakers describe as pressure on public figures to adopt political messaging. They also criticize media language around a child sexual abuse case in Wiltshire, arguing that it obscures the suspect’s background.
 
Connect with David...WEBSITE           davidvance.net𝕏                        x.com/DVATWSUBSTACK        thedavidvance.substack.comPODCAST         vancedavidatw.podbean.com
 
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*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.
Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin
 

Bill Walton returns to Hearts of Oak to discuss the AI safety debate after Anthropic’s leadership warned that advanced systems could pose a serious risk to humanity within a decade. He argues that heavy federal regulation would entrench the biggest players, squeeze open-source development, and slow innovation, while the U.S.–China race makes a simple pause unrealistic because AI is dual-use. Bill then turns to what he sees as the more immediate threat: rising long-term Treasury yields, global government debt, and the limits of taxing, borrowing, or inflating the problem away. The conversation closes on crypto, quantum computing, financial surveillance, Europe’s safety-first regulation, and why risk-taking and free speech matter more than trying to make everything “safe.”
Bill Walton is a former Chairman and CEO of a $10 billion NYSE-traded investment company, a successful investor, renaissance man and the host of The Bill Walton Show. After decades in finance, private equity and as an entrepreneur and CEO, he now writes and speaks about the intersection of finance, policy, and culture.
Bill has served at senior levels across business, government, and the arts—ranging from Vice Chairman of CPAC and President of the Council for National Policy, to President of the National Symphony Orchestra; and National Trustee and Finance Advisor to the National Gallery of Art Trustees and Chairman of the Kelley (Indiana) School of Business. Other national board service includes Heritage, AEI, Wolf Trap, and the National Venture Capital Association.
Earlier in his career, Walton served in the U.S. Army at the Pentagon, headed strategic planning for a major commercial bank, worked in mergers and acquisitions at Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, and later advised CBS founder William S. Paley. As a feature film producer, two of Bill’s films screened at the Cannes and Tribeca Film Festivals.In 2016-2017 he led President Trump’s 2016 Financial Agency Transition Teams. He attended public schools in Indiana and is now a private investor. 
 
Connect with Bill Walton
 The Bill Walton Show | Money Culture PowerThe Bill Walton Show | SubstackThe Bill Walton Show Podcast Series – Apple PodcastsThe Bill Walton Show - YouTube
 
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*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.
Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin

Kevin Freeman returns to discuss his new book, The Four Horsemen of the American Apocalypse. He maps four forces he says are working together against the United States and the wider West: communism, political Islam, globalism, and the “yellow” horse of traitors, cowards, and fools.
Buy the Four Horsemen https://4horsemenbook.com/
Kevin Freeman is considered one of the world’s leading experts on the issues of Economic Warfare and Financial Terrorism. He has consulted for and briefed members of both the U.S. House and Senate, present and past CIA, DIA, FBI, SEC, Homeland Security, the Justice Department, as well as local and state law enforcement. His research has been presented in critical DoD studies on Economic Warfare, Iran, and Weapons of Mass Destruction presented to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense, Intelligence. He has traveled extensively with research trips to Russia and China and throughout Europe and the Americas. He is also a Contributing Editor to Tactics and Preparedness magazine. Kevin is Co-Founder of the NSIC Institute; Speaker of the Cherokee Community of North Texas; a Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy; Trustee at Oklahoma Wesleyan University; and a member of the Advisory Board of First Liberty Institute.
Connect with Kevin and Economic War Room...X                                   @KevinDFreemanX https://x.com/KevinDFreemanX                                      @economicwarroom https://x.com/economicwarroomINSTAGRAM                https://www.instagram.com/economicwarroom/WEBSITE                      https://www.economicwarroom.com/                                     https://4horsemenbook.com/
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*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.
Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin

Join us for another episode of Hearts of Oak Podcast, where we're honoured to have the return of Petr Bystron, a Member of the European Parliament representing the Alternative for Germany (AfD), as our guest.
In this episode, Petr Bystron gives the background to the AfD’s result in Saxony-Anhalt — a win so large, he says, yet the old parties still refuse to govern with them. He walks through the vote, the so-called firewall, Friedrich Merz’s deal with the Social Democrats, and why he thinks the CDU has left the ground it held under Helmut Kohl. He also talks about Merz and Trump, Giorgia Meloni in Italy, and where the AfD goes next.
Petr Bystron is the highest-ranking foreign politician of the AfD: He has been Chairman of the AfD in the Foreign Committee of the German Bundestag since 2017. Since 2021 he has been the foreign policy spokesman for his party and its representative in the Council of Europe and the Interparliamentary Union (IPU).He was the first AfD politician to be officially received by an incumbent president (Milos Zeman) and the first European to receive the „Eagle Award “ from the conservative US Phyllis Schlafly Foundation.
He was born in the USSR, from which he fled to Germany at the age of 16, where he received political asylum. Thirty years later, he faced similar persecution in Bavaria: during the 2017 election campaign, he was subjected to an illegal house search and it was announced that he was being monitored by the Bavarian secret service.In addition to these state reprisals, he is always the target of attacks by left-wing extremists.
Petr Bystron is one of the founding members of the AfD. From 2015 to 2017 he was the state leader of the party in Bavaria. He took over the party in a crisis and led it from 3.5% of the vote to the best election result of all western federal states in the 2017 federal election with 12.7%.
He founded and headed his party's National Committee for European and Foreign Policy (2013-2015). He studied political science at the University of Politics and the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich and has been working as a journalist for years. His articles on business and politics have been published in renowned daily newspapers and magazines in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
Petr is married, has two children and has lived in his constituency of Munich North for more than 30 years. 
Interview recorded 10th September 2026
Connect with Petr and The AfD...𝕏                        x.com/PetrBystronAfD                          x.com/AfDimBundestagINSTAGRAM      instagram.com/petr.bystronWEBSITE           petrbystron.de
 
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*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.
Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin