The Spinoff

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Channel • 6 Shows

Politics

Politics

Updated Biweekly
Politics

Politics

Updated Weekly
Comedy Fiction

Comedy Fiction

Complete Series
Politics

Politics

Weekly Series
Documentary

Documentary

Semiweekly Series
Music History

Music History

Series

3d ago

The campaign has entered its ouroboros phase

Like a self-consuming serpent, the 2026 election has begun to feed on itself. With just a few days till advance voting begins, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas gather to feast upon a lively final pair of leader debates and look at what comes next. Plus: we take a handful of questions from the smartest listeners in the podcast universe. How much do we miss printed manifestos? Is there a bias baked into different social media platforms? What is happening in Te Tai Tonga? And why have the farther excesses of rightwing populism not taken grip in New Zealand as they have elsewhere? Cast your vote for Gone By Lunchtime in the Listeners' Choice category in this year's NZ Podcast Awards: https://www.nzpodcastawards.com/nominate Watch Toby's interview with Qiulae Wong here: https://youtu.be/VX8ZOfycCa8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 16

We are all covered in ash and yearning for the ocean

Three weeks to go and Chris Hipkins has put his finger on it: this campaign does have some of the post-apocalyptic survival energy of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas gather for some group therapy, to assess the performances in the TVNZ multi-party debate and the NZME leaders' debate, the controversy over pics of Green and Te Pati Māori MPs hanging out with the Mongrel Mob, and the re-emergence of the bitter fight between Winston Peters and Christopher Luxon over the New Zealand position on the war in Iran. Cast your vote for Gone By Lunchtime in the Listeners' Choice category in this year's NZ Podcast Awards:https://www.nzpodcastawards.com/nominate Watch Toby's interview with Winston Peters here:https://youtu.be/gseBfePQzMM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
4d ago

Qiulae Wong on the backlash and the bottom lines

At its fourth time of trying, the Opportunity Party is on track for something unprecedented: making it to parliament. And a massive part of that is down to its new leader: Qiulae Wong. What is she doing differently? How does the party, with its powerful board, work? Is it really a party of change? What does she say to the allegations from former members about a “toxic” culture? And has she even met Gareth Morgan? Wong sits down with Toby for the latest At Large leader interview.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Zoe Madden-Smith and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
5d ago

The bizarre story of the Kiwibank sheep that conquered the world

Advertising campaigns are meant to capture the popular imagination, just not like this. A bank called Kiwi, a green sheep called Buck and giddy humans combined over recent days to create a strange fable for our times. Hayden Donnell joins Toby to walk us through the story that went from a pocket of the internet, via his post for the Spinoff (headline: “Kiwibank is desperately trying to stop people saying they want to f*** its sheep mascot”) and all the way to the John Oliver show.Plus: Lyric Waiwiri-Smith steps off the big pink bus to lay down the gauntlet in How Good, asking should huge campaign vehicles in fact be obligatory?At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Zoe Madden-Smith and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
6d ago

Ali Mau on Tika, and the experiences that built it

Ali Mau first appeared on New Zealand screens more than three decades ago. She went on to run, for five years, the #MeTooNZ project for Stuff. Last year she published No Words for This – an autobiography the Spinoff called “gripping and revelatory”. Last month, after years of work, Mau and lawyer Zoë Lawton pressed go on Tika: a globally pioneering online service for survivors of sexual harm that joins the dots between survivors. What are the experiences that led to creating this technology? How does Tika work? And – a few weeks in – what has been the volume of response been so far? And as images from the Cornell Seven and elsewhere flood our feeds, how does she assess the state of media and the legal system 10 years on from the advent of #MeToo? At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills, Zoe Madden-Smith and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 15

Winston Peters on a life in politics – and the moment that ‘cost me psychologically’

Winston Peters is contesting his 18th election this year; if you count a couple of by-elections, it’s his 20th campaign. He’s been giving ‘main character’ energy since he first entered politics with the National Party in 1978, and for more than three decades he’s been the talismanic figurehead of New Zealand First (who this year are polling consistently at or above 10%). Often cast in the role of Kingmaker, he’s now up against a new set of characters vying for the influential role. For our first At Large leader interview, we take a wander through the political archives to find out what drives the Right Honourable Winston Peters in 2026. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 6

Were we watching the same debate?

Round one of the Chris v Chris debate season played out last night on TVNZ. Ben Thomas was in the pundit capsule. Toby Manhire was in the studio. Annabelle Lee-Mather was in bed. The morning after, they assemble in the Spinoff pod studio to share their assessments, and at times they seem to have been watching very different events.Did Hipkins out-debate Luxon on the cost of living and the economy? Where were they on the morality of the billionaire? Who fared better on education, on health, on te tiriti? Were the real winners the parties that weren't in the room? And how about Jack Tame's wall?Plus: the scene was set for the encounter by two polls that tell a striking story: Labour and National are both going to struggle to hit 30%. Is that locked in, or can they claw their way back? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 12

‘Looming disaster’: Andrew Geddis answers your questions on enrolment and voting

With the numbers of young people registered to vote at less than two-thirds, and an enrolment period coming to a close a fortnight earlier than recent elections, there is cause for serious concern, says Professor Andrew Geddis, electoral law expert from the University of Otago. We asked you for your questions about the voting process – the rules, the rorts, the practicalities, and here Geddis answers them.Other questions include: What does “splitting your vote” mean and when should someone think about doing it? What is the “overhang strategy”, and what impact will there be if it works? How does the “overhang” work? What’s the deal with large anonymous donations? Should we move to a fairer voting system within electorates? What happens if there is a dead heat in the seats won by each bloc and neither can achieve a majority in parliament? What happens if a party doesn’t have enough names on its list to fill the seats it’s entitled to? How do you vote if you’re bed-bound? How do you vote if you turn 18 after enrolment closes on October 25? Would the Professor be known as “Geddo” if he had a similar profile in Australia? Plus: Tara Ward says forget Florence Pugh: the real star of East of Eden is north of Dunedin.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 2

The debate explosion

The Kingmakers’ Debate is the highest-profile of a burst of events in the first full-throttle week of the 2026 campaign. How did the party leaders do in the Press-Post thing, and what happened to the worm? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas gather at the roundtable to exchange their piping takes. Plus: What does new polling tell us about the way Māori are planning to vote? Now that John Key has knocked it down, is Harry Mowbray’s overhang campaign a serious thing? Who are the breakout stars of the election to date? And a word on Adrian Rurawhe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 13

Jacinda Ardern's media man on five seismic years

Andrew Campbell was chief press secretary to prime minister Jacinda Ardern through crisis after crisis: the March 15 massacre in Christchurch, the Whakaari (White Island) disaster, and the Covid pandemic. On the publication of his new book, In the Room, Campbell joins Toby to talk through what they got right, what they got wrong, and why there is such an enduring depth of feeling about Ardern today. He also recounts his own approach to the communications role, personal struggle with alcoholism, and how booze has become entwined with the political-media sphere.Plus: Emma Gleason on Che Fu’s great New Zealand album, Navigator, turning 25.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Spinoff, Aotearoa’s home for independent journalism, illuminating perspectives and good times.

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The Spinoff

Top Shows

The campaign has entered its ouroboros phase

We are all covered in ash and yearning for the ocean

Qiulae Wong on the backlash and the bottom lines

The bizarre story of the Kiwibank sheep that conquered the world

Ali Mau on Tika, and the experiences that built it

Winston Peters on a life in politics – and the moment that ‘cost me psychologically’

Were we watching the same debate?

‘Looming disaster’: Andrew Geddis answers your questions on enrolment and voting

The debate explosion

Jacinda Ardern's media man on five seismic years

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