At Large with Toby Manhire

With just over a week to the election, the Labour leader is in with a shot of becoming the first New Zealander since Keith Holyoake to serve non-consecutive terms as prime minister. In the latest of our leader interviews, he defends an approach criticised for its small target and lack of boldness, discusses the impact of overhang and legitimacy, and reveals how embracing the philosophy of stoicism has changed his life.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

In March 2024 Chlöe Swarbrick became co-leader of the Greens – right in the middle of what can only be described as a crisis year for the party. Today, they’ve jumped to around 15% in polling, and Swarbrick is under intense fire from Nicola Willis and the incumbent coalition. So how did they turn it around, do the Greens’ economic prescriptions hold up to scrutiny, and could they really work coherently with Labour?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

Across 12 years as Act leader, David Seymour has taken the party from 0.5% to two terms with a decent sized caucus and 18 months in the role of deputy prime minister. He goes into the 2026 election presenting as the stable leg of the coalition tripod, but how does that square with the scenes sparked by his treaty principles bill and this new focus on “one law for all”? In the latest of our leader series for At Large, Seymour tells Toby whether he still thinks people who didn’t get enrolled are “dropkicks”, Epsom and the overhang strategy, how he’s got on working with Winston Peters, whom he once called a “clown”, Adam Smith and Pharmac. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In a campaign that sometimes feels like wading through wet cement, James Nokise is attempting the Everest of stand-up challenges – finding the comedy in the election. He’s doing 33 shows from one end of the country to the other as One Night Rant, riffing on the headlines of the day and the questions the audiences ask. He joins Toby to tell us how it’s going so far. What do people think of their politicians? Should those politicians be funnier? And what is the state of political comedy in Aotearoa today? 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

The influence and ethics of political lobbying is under the spotlight in the 2026 campaign. What do lobbyists really do, what rules do they play by, and why has NZ failed time after time to do anything to tame the sinister stuff? Holly Bennett, founder and managing director of of Awhi, a kaupapa Māori government relations and communications firm in Auckland, joins Toby to talk it all through.Plus, in How Good, Alice Neville on canned margarita, and why the Mighty Mighty was judged the mightiest of them all.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

In the face of a slump in youth enrolment and a campaign that is leaving many people cold or curled up cringing, an army of independent outfits are prodding the cattle and driving engagement – some of them are telling us how to vote.Today we look at the enrolment insurgents including the Ellie Commission and On a Roll, and the tools designed to help you work out which party to vote for, such as Policy, On the Fence and Vote Compass, and talk to two of the people behind those efforts: Shanti Mathias from Policy.nz and Jean Donaldson from On the Fence.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

Three MPs, one party leader and two first-timers met last night at the Spinoff Great Mt Albert Debate. Toby Manhire is joined for a postmortem by Hayden Donnell and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith to assess the highs and lows from a fast-paced and fiery encounter featuring Labour candidate Helen White, who won the seat last time by 18 votes, Melissa Lee of National, the Greens’ Ricardo Menéndez March, Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong, Alex Price of the Act Party and NZ First’s Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri.Watch the debate in full here: https://youtu.be/LZO7gu6rhQgAt 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

It’s a milestone day for election 2026, with the pre-election fiscal update – Prefu, to you – staged in Wellington. Bernard Hickey emerges blinking from the lockup to assess the state of the accounts. The finance minister, Nicola Willis, has welcomed numbers showing the deficit this year and in years to come down by many billions of dollars. But how much of that is thanks to “fiscal drag”? Does it give Labour meaningful room to pursue its policies? And how likely is it really that the fiscal squabbles will be staunched?Plus: In How Good, Chris Schulz is utterly intoxicated by Elizabeth Holmes and Nathan Fielder in the trailer for You Can See Everything.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

The host of Q+A is typically the Q guy, but here he does the A. Jack Tame sits down with Toby to explain how he’s prepping for next week’s big debate, why Christopher Luxon has avoided his interviews for more than two years, and what the National and Labour campaign launches tell us about the way this campaign will play out.Plus, in How Good, Tara Ward on Whakaata Māori’s This is Home.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

After a flurry of speculation, Nicky Hager last night launched Dirty Work: The Taxpayers’ Union and the New Zealand Hard Right, which he called a sequel of sorts to The Hollow Men of 2006 and Dirty Politics (2014).Hager did not approach those he wrote about for comment, in keeping with what he called his “operational approach, saying that books are “uniquely vulnerable” to tactics to prevent publication. It did not take long, however, for those who are featured in the book to challenge the veracity of its contents, as well as the methodology. In an email to supporters last night, the Taxpayers’ Union’s founder and executive director, Jordan Williams, decried a "full frontal attack", charging that Hager had “ignored the most basic principles of fair journalism: put serious allegations to the people accused and give them a reasonable opportunity to respond.” We speak to Hager about the book and the case it makes, and seek his response to the rebuttals.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

The government today published a review of its approach to funding events across NZ. That includes $40m for concerts, in a programme launched a year ago like a Robbie Williams chorus. Chris Schulz, writer of the Boiler Room newsletter and Spinoff contributor, joins Toby to talk through the goals of the fund, what is has achieved and where it fell short.Plus: Emma Gleason on the pick of the political merchandise in election 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

Economists and commentators across New Zealand have their calculators out and their fingers in the air trying to tell whether the recovery is really, finally on. The latest GDP numbers are modest, but at least have a plus in front of them, but what sits underneath the headlines? With an election campaign under way, an interest rate decision imminent, international bond markets jittering, and the cost of living crisis playing out in a battle of bold supermarket restructure pledges, just where does the needle on the mojo meter sit? Simplicity economist Shamubeel Eaqub joins Toby to talk through the numbers and what it all means.Plus, in How Good, Alex Casey on the real greatest rivalry: Threeodore versus TVNZ’s Plussie.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Estimates of the potential for artificial intelligence to make humanity extinct are everywhere, and not just in the sci-fi dystopias. Exiles and employees from the AI giants are sounding the alarm – even the AI bosses are pleading for a slowdown, to which Donald Trump hollers “hoax!” Tom Barraclough of Brainbox and Syncopate joins Toby to talk through the warnings, to explain why it’s all happening now, and to discuss where New Zealand stands now in its AI policy and political debate.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a bumpy few years for the Māori language in New Zealand (or is that Aotearoa?). Liam Rātana, Ātea editor at the Spinoff Ātea, joins Toby to walk through the various measures pursued by the Act, NZ First and National parties – and what impact that has had on the broader tide.Plus: In How Good, Alex Casey gives her verdict on new NZ film Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Opportunity is pitching itself as an alternative kingmaker to Winston Peters and New Zealand First for the 2026 election. But is the kingmaker scenario really that common across 10 MMP elections? Peter Dunne, who has seen the inside of many post-election negotiations, says not. He joins Toby to talk about the role smaller parties play in our elections, the challenge that awaits Opportunity as it hovers around the 5% threshold, and whether major parties at 30% is an aberration or the new normal.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Labour Party has registered just 25.9% in a new poll for the Taxpayers’ Union by Curia. That’s lower than their calamitous result in 2023, and lower than National, who themselves fell to a low 29%. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith joins Toby to talk through the pickle that Chris Hipkins finds himself in. Is the small target strategy backfiring, are there bold visions to come, and what can they do to turn it around?Plus, in How Good, Hayden Donnell is here to share his fascination with the breeding habits of kākāpō, for it is their season…At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Stubbs once looked a lot like a finance bro – he’d made a small fortune at places like Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong. But 10 years ago, the gamekeeper turned poacher; Stubbs founded Simplicity, a KiwiSaver non-profit. In the years since it’s spawned a housing developer and now an infrastructure engine, InfraKiwi.Stubbs is rarely shy about sharing his views on politics, and so he’s paying close attention to the 2026 election, which comes at what he calls a crucial juncture for the country. He sits down with Toby to talk about KiwiSaver, about tax, and about the election campaign. Plus: given his political engagement, could he go one step further and stand for parliament?Then, in How Good, the Spinoff’s Sophie Albornett goes to hand-pulled noodle heaven at FJ Noodles and Dumplings in Wellington.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Groser was posted to Washington by John Key on the basis that the trade minister turned ambassador would likely be engaging with a US administration led by President Hillary Clinton. Instead, in came Donald Trump.The former National Party MP joins Toby to revisit those years, Trump’s approach to trade and the international order, and whether New Zealand is right to keep its head largely below the parapet in response.But wait, there’s more: Tim Groser has more stories to share, including a high-octane day in Moscow as Putin invaded Crimea, his time as a staffer for Rob Muldoon and his role in the night of the snap election, and the truly formative years, on the stage in Wellington with Sam Neill and Paul Holmes. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The annual conference for senior doctors and dentists is about to start but one person is missing: the minister of health has pulled out. In an election year, with health ranked the second top issue for voters, and countless headlines about hospitals and workforces at breaking point, what would members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists be telling Simeon Brown if he were there? We asked Sarah Dalton, executive director of the union.Plus, in How Good, Henry Oliver is hooked on Spanish football.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suddenly politicians of almost every stripe are jumping on board the rooftop solar train. But does the argument for a transformation in our energy mix really stack up? Mike Casey, the celebrated electric cherry orchardist and CEO at Rewiring Aotearoa, joins Toby to talk through the vision, the hurdles ahead, and the lessons he learned from the campaign. Where did it all go right?Plus: Emma Gleason celebrates the glories of the sporting mullet.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christopher Luxon sailed into NZ politics six years ago as a champion of localism. Since becoming prime minister, his government has fallen deeply out of love with devolution. Changes including a rates cap and National’s ruling out of a bed tax have especially irked Wayne Brown, mayor of Auckland and the most powerful local politician in New Zealand. He’s gone from denial to anger to … what exactly? Joel MacManus and Hayden Donnell – fresh from interviewing Brown – join Toby to tell the story.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new law has been drafted to ban social media for under-16s in New Zealand. Robbie Nicol joins Toby to answer all the big questions. Which platforms meet the definition of “social media”? How will it be enforced? When will the rules kick in? And is it really a government bill? Winston Peters doesn’t think so. We work through some of the objections, from NZ First, Act, the Greens and Labour. (Since this podcast was recorded, Labour has announced it will support the bill on first reading, and urged the government to proceed before the election.)Plus, in How Good, Alex Casey sings the praises of Lynda Topp on Guy Montgomery’s Spelling Bee.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After years of malaise, the economy is bouncing back – or it is, at least, in some pockets of the country. Shamubeel Eaqub joins Toby to crunch the numbers that tell us which parts of New Zealand are on the up, which parts are stuck in the doldrums, and why.Plus: In How Good, Lyric Waiwiri-Smith reports from Election Meltdown, the political comedy show at Circa Theatre in Wellington.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether it’s Woolworths’ little plastic Disney Ooshies or New World’s fancy Smeg knives, supermarket promotions have seeped into the national consciousness, prompting secondary markets and school bans. Alex Casey joins Toby to talk through the allure of these campaigns in a cost of living gloom, and to look back at some of the greatest and strangest supermarket promotions of the 21st century.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Schools and elderly care centres are getting smashed, health providers are splitting at the seams thanks to a late seasonal surge in respiratory illness. Emma Gleason joins Toby to talk through the impacts and how we can respond.Plus: Hayden Donnell continues his peanut butter passion project. Which peanut butter will take out the smooth crown? At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former National minister Tim Groser joins Toby to explain why they’re plunging a drill into the magma beneath the Taupō volcanic zone – and how supercritical geothermal success could prove a gamechanger for energy security, for climate change and for the economy as a whole.Plus: In How Good, NZ Fashion Week is under way. Emma Gleason picks her highlights.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tiki Taane has been making music since the last decade of the last millennium in Christchurch. From the early successes of Salmonella Dub through some really dark days and on to a thriving solo career, he’s seen a whole lot of changes in musical form and production, and a revolution in the music business. Today, with the 20th anniversary of Past, Present, Future just around the corner, he’s still exploring new ways of doing things. A year ago, he quit Spotify and he’s now jumped on the new NZ-based platform Lume. He sits down with Toby to reveal how that’s going for him so far. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A nightmarish fortnight has ended with the prime minister summoning MPs to Wellington for an urgent in-person National Party caucus meeting. On the agenda, not for the first time: his own leadership. Spinoff editor Veronica Schmidt joins Toby Manhire to trace the path to Christopher Luxon’s moment of truth and ask: what will the MPs be weighing as they make their way to that 9.30am showdown?Plus: Liam Ratana on an unprecedented, pulsating, potent haka at the Warriors.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we count down the days to a knife-edge election, where do the parties stand? Spinoff parliamentary reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith joins Toby for a stocktake: the headline policies, the slogans, and of course the mojo.Plus: In How Good, Alex Casey learns to sing.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At last we’ve got a date for the opening of the City Rail Link – is it really going to transform Auckland? Hayden Donnell joins Toby to talk through the decade-long, multibillion project, how it will change things from an economic and practical standpoint, who deserves the credit on the Donnell index, and where we sit on the utopian-to-sceptic spectrum.Plus: In How Good, Claire Mabey raves about the survivalist TV show Alone.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Zealand has not seen jobless numbers like this for a decade. Bernard Hickey of the Kākā joins Toby to talk through the latest quarterly numbers, the reality they reflect, whether there is something brighter on the horizon, and how they fit with the mood Christopher Luxon encountered in Rotorua the other day.Plus: In How Good, Tara Ward gives her verdict on the new NZ television drama Ms X.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The prime minister got a shock when he saw the media coverage of his breakfast meeting with Rotorua businesspeople – it talked of him scolding them about a “parent-child mentality” in government-business relations, urging “adult” behaviour and recounting his own attitude in Chicago corporate life. So his office issued a transcript of the exchange, which didn’t much help. Duncan Greive, founder of The Spinoff, joins Toby (with a cameo from Claude AI) to discuss the PM’s communication challenges, and his ongoing struggle to take any grip of the narrative.(Since this podcast was recorded, Luxon has apologised for the remarks.)Plus: In How Good, Te Aihe Butler on the old tech that is healing his brain.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nigel Farage faces a stern challenge in a Clacton byelection from an alien space warrior with a bin on his head and a manifesto packed with nonsense. New Zealand has its own history of joke political parties (most famously the McGillicuddy Serious Party) but the satirical larder looks bare today. Ben Uffindell, who led the Civilian Party to admirable failure in 2014, joins Toby to talk about the role of silly and satirical parties in democracy, where he went wrong, where he went right, and whether a return is on the cards in 2026.Plus: In praise of cinema splendour at the Civic at film festival time in Auckland.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the last election, you could enrol on election day. This time the deadline is 13 days before. University of Otago professor Andrew Geddis joins Toby to talk through the changes, who is most affected, and whether the justifications stack up.Plus: In How Good, medals at the Commonwealth Games are good, but a mascot with a cone on its bonce is better, says Madeleine Chapman.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some say the case for moving to Australia is dimming – Shamubeel Eaqub works through the data with Toby Manhire to assess the arguments for and against. Plus: In How Good, Tara Ward on scaling the Wuthering Heights in Dunedin and the world. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Māori electorates are always fascinating, but this time there’s an extra edge-of-the-seat quality. Lara Greaves, associate professor at Victoria University of Wellington, joins Toby to talk through the parties competing, the overhang potential, and why voters choose one roll ahead of the other. Plus: In How Good, Hayden Donnell is besotted by Maurice Williamson’s luscious beard.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Christopher Luxon declares he’ll “die trying” to get something done in banning social media for New Zealand children under 16, it’s a good time to ask: how is the pioneering Australian prohibition going? Hal Crawford, editorial director at Mumbrella and former boss of Newshub NZ, joins Toby to explain, seven months in, what is working, what isn’t, and what he’d say to the NZ PM if he was called into the Beehive. Plus: in How Good, Robbie Nicol goes on a journey. To the Imax. To watch Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 1990 the Reserve Bank has been tasked with taming inflation independently from the government of the day. But is the tool it uses today, the official cash rate, with its focus on hitting an inflation rate of 1%-3%, causing more pain that it’s alleviating? Bernard Hickey joins Toby to make the case. Plus, in How Good, Liam Rātana on NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A giant of the pictures, paddocks and protests, Sam Neill has died at 78. A glittering cast share their memories of an extraordinary New Zealander. Tributes from Robyn Malcolm, Oscar Kightley, Gaylene Preston, Ian Taylor, Kate Rodger, Rachel House, Lucy Lawless, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Gregory O’Brien, Peter Mullan and Paul Goldsmith.Many thanks to all who contributed. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blockades in the Strait of Hormuz have laid bare our reliance on global energy supply. Climate change keeps bursting river banks. And Young New Zealanders are drifting away. Does anyone have a big vision to take all this on? Pattrick Smellie does and he’s urging our politicians to jump on board. The BusinessDesk founder and columnist talks to Toby.Plus: In How Good, Alex Casey joins Kristen Stewart in raving about Big Girls Don’t Cry, the new film from Paloma Schneideman that opens this year’s NZ International Film Festival.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the press gallery to spin doctor for Helen Clark and chief of staff to Jacinda Ardern, Mike Munro has seen plenty of the kaleidoscope in New Zealand politics and media. He joins Toby to talk about those roles and how it all has changed through the decades.Plus: In How Good, Liam Rātana on Matariki with a bonus beat from Te Aihe on Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club, season two.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the People’s Liberation Army launched a nuclear-capable long-range missile into the Pacific Ocean, it was testing its capability, but it was also flexing its muscles. Anna Fifield joins Toby to explain who was the message for, and what it means for New Zealand. Plus: In How Good, Alex Casey heroically joins the dots from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding to the brave and never embarrassing nation of New Zealand. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emergency housing numbers have been slashed, helped by strict directives to MSD staff. But where they going to? Helen Robinson, Auckland City Missioner, says rough sleeping is worse than she’s seen in her 13 years at the organisation. She joins Toby Manhire to talk about the problem with the move-on orders around the corner, and the personal and political reality of homeless in New Zealand.Plus: In How Good, Claire Mabey on a bookshop boom in Wellington.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a new outlook putting an 80% chance on a super El Niño forming, we face a version of the phenomenon that could be as intense as anything on record. Jon Tunster from Earth Sciences NZ joins Toby to explain what this With a new outlook putting an 80% chance on a super El Nino forming, we face a version of the phenomenon that could be as intense as anything on record. Jon Tunster from Earth Sciences NZ joins Toby to explain what this weather pattern is, how bad it could get, and what it portends for the different parts of the country across the next three months and beyond. Plus: Calum Henderson reveals his five most memorable moments from the football World Cup so far. Warning: includes reference to delicate anatomy. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boom time for balloons, battle cries and bitter zingers as New Zealand’s political parties stage their jamborees with added election-year energy. Fresh from the National, Labour and Act bashes, Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Joel MacManus join Toby to recount their experiences, and deliver the critical mark on the mojo-meter.Plus: In How Good, Tara Ward on a killer scene in the new TV drama Head Girl.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Auckland, as in many places around the country, you can hardly walk down the street or open the internet without meeting grim news of another much-loved bar, restaurant, record store or live venue closing its doors. Is it really as bad as it feels? Emma Gleason had dug into the numbers and talked to people affected for The Spinoff. She tells us what she’s learned.Plus: Alex Casey explains just How Good it is to collect VHS (Video Home System) cassettes.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The GDP numbers look good. The Strait of Hormuz is (maybe) open. To find out whether that means the green shoots will bloom into great bountiful gardens, we called in economist Shamubeel Eaqub to ask: Is this cause for optimism? Will the fruits of recovery be shared fairly? How does National’s new KiwiSaver policy look to you? And just how close to the bulls**t is the Reserve Bank sailing on interest rates.Plus: Hayden Donnell tells us just How Good is the best of the crunchy peanut butter on NZ supermarket shelves.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Keir Starmer has walked out from Downing Street and said it’s all over, meaning Andy Burnham is almost certain to be the next UK PM, the seventh since 2016. Why did Starmer fail, who is Burnham, and is this all really about Nigel Farage and Reform? Toby talks to UK-based NZ journalist Richard Adams about the latest drama, and asks whether Christopher Luxon could learn anything.Plus: In How Good, Lyric Waiwiri-Smith reveals what she has learned about British romance from two powerful texts: Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Love Island UK.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael just became the highest-grossing music biopic of all time. Gens Z and Alpha have him on high-rotate. And a man who looks just like him is drawing hordes of adoring fans across the streets of Christchurch. Alex Casey, fresh from hanging with the impersonator of the moment, joins Toby to explore the Jackson revival, and ask: how did he shake off the shadows of such serious allegations? Plus: in How Good, Te Aihe Butler and Toby sing the praises of the Hurricanes and the Super Rugby champions’ superpower song. At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at thespinoff.co.nz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Staff writer Tara Ward has been writing about local TV on The Spinoff for over a decade. Today we published her Cover Story looking back at how Outrageous Fortune came to be, 20 years after the first episode aired on New Zealand TVs. Tara spoke to the creators, writers, directors and stars of one of New Zealand’s most beloved shows, and tells the behind the scenes tales of its journey to our screens. If you’ve never seen Outrageous Fortune, I’d suggest reading Tara’s feature and then pressing play on episode one. And if you’re a longtime fan, The Spinoff will have Outrageous stories running all week to celebrate its 20 year anniversary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years on from the Zoom Boom and in the middle of a cost of living crisis, Alex Casey investigates what is motivating women to get Botox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senior writer Alex Casey has always been fascinated by the multi-billion-dollar appearance industry, both as a consumer and a journalist. Today The Spinoff published a Cover from Alex, headlined “Is everyone getting Botox without me?” Alex is 33 and looks 23, or so a Botox specialist said. But she’s been thinking about injectables and how they seem to be everywhere she turns. So she spoke to dozens of women about their decisions to either get Botox or stay away from it, as well as those who’ve administered them, with mixed feelings. The story is a thoroughly researched but also deeply personal feature about the decisions women must make about their bodies every day. Alex appeared on Behind the Story to talk first-person feature writing, ageing and having your mind changed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ātea editor Liam Rātana has reported two stories recently on the same topic, a topic that is so often ignored by both media and everyday New Zealanders: veterans. Our returned or retired army personnel are at the sticky end of almost every social measure: unemployment, mental health, suicide. But without even a national register of how many veterans we have, it’s even harder to tell the stories of a community that hasn’t been quantified yet. Liam’s work covers the recent Waitangi Tribunal hearings into the treatment of Māori veterans as well as a veteran group’s call to boycott the formal ceremonies of Anzac day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Casey is a pop culture writer and expert and also an incredible investigative journalist. This week she combined the two to investigate why popular global shows in New Zealand are just a little bit shorter than overseas in ‘Mystery of the missing minutes: Why are TV shows shorter in New Zealand?’ And what happens when the answer to a question is a little bit boring but you still want to write about it? Plus, there’s wild chat about Lorde’s new album teaser and why it suggests her greatest ever work is about to come out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Sunday 23rd March, hundreds marched to parliament in support of gender-affirming care for youth. Meanwhile, Winston Peters declared a “war on woke” in his state of the nation address. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith wrapped the two together in a story we published earlier this week, calling the dichotomy “two visions of New Zealand”. She joins Gabi Lardies to talk about all the attention on trans healthcare and the so-called “woke mind virus”. A vision of two New Zealands: The ‘war on woke’ and a hīkoi for trans healthcare The Winston Peters glossary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A five-strong line-up of guests began with avid reader Courtney Johnston who discussed her passion for reading and the books she loves most; writers Carl Shuker and Duncan Sarkies joined to chat about their latest novels and how they came to be; to round off the group Unity Books manager Susanna Andrew and Unity's Aotearoa book buyer Melissa Oliver (Ngāti Porou) joined the stage to give insights on the health of our publishing sector, current trends, and some sparky views on the "Shockams". Books by the authors in the episode: Duncan Sarkies' latest novel: Star Gazers Carl Shuker's latest novel: The Royal Free Book recommendations from our guests: Courtney Johnston: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith A Touch of Mistletoe by Barbara Comyns Irma Voth by Miriam Toews Carl Shuker: Vanishing Point by David Markson Duncan Sarkies: Black Cat, White Dog by Kelly Link The Dark Dark by Samantha Hunt Doppelganger: A trip into the mirror world by Naomi Klein Susanna Andrew:  Makeshift Seasons by Kate Camp Melissa Oliver: This Ragged Grace by Octavia Bright Ash by Louise Wallace The Chthonic Cycle by Una Cruickshank Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we published a deeply researched and reported story by Liam Rātana. It takes an inside look at what many people face when they are considering starting a family – tricky ethical choices and less than ideal medical and legal systems. When Liam pitched the story in our weekly editorial meeting a few weeks ago, it was a personal experience, but he chose to focus the final article on others’ experiences and interviews with experts in the field. I wanted to know the thinking behind his approach, and what the process of reporting had been like for him. The genetic gamble: Having children when you carry a hereditary condition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While many journalists are trawling Reddit, X and TikTok for stories, Joel MacManus is browsing Papers Past, an online archive of digitised historical media. This week he may have solved the murder case of an emu that died at the Wellington Zoo in 1907 and last year he made a near definitive ruling on whether or not Te Rauparaha really did drink at the Thistle Inn. The resulting investigations make for gripping reading. Gabi Lardies takes over the mic on this week’s Behind the Story and is joined by Joel MacManus to discuss why he is so intrigued by these questions and how he sets about solving them. Windbag: The unsolved case of the Wellington emu murder Windbag: Did Te Rauparaha really drink at the Thistle Inn? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, everyone and their dog was talking Destiny Church and Man Up punching their way into a an Auckland Pride children’s event, terrifying staff and families alike. Head of audience and senior writer Anna Rawhiti-Connell wrote a column about the prime minister’s, in her view, weak response to the event and what it said about him politically.Anna joined me on Behind the Story to share how she lands on column ideas, the purpose and value of opinion alongside reporting, and what it is that turns a passing thought into a thousand written words. When protest isn’t peaceful, you don’t have to be a church mouse about condemning it Christopher Luxon’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week The Spinoff hosted a galentines party at Q Theatre in Auckland to celebrate the release of Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club, a six-part video series following two crack up comedians on their quest for love. Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester are both single and looking to change that. In Singles Club, they travel the country looking for love and speaking to all sorts of people about what it means to be single as you get older. The show is equal parts hilarious and heart-wrenching. After watching the first episode with a live audience, I spoke to Bryn and Ku for a live Behind the Story about making such a vulnerable show, the chaos of dating on camera, and whether or not the search for love was fruitful. The first episode of Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is out now on The Spinoff, Instagram and Youtube, with new episodes released every Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After more than 80 columns, Hera’s advice spanned the spectrum of human troubles. For our second live event, we revisited four problems from the archives, talked about Hera’s response, and heard updates from the callers themselves. Note: the callers emailed in their updates so the voices you hear won’t be their actual voices. Instead you’ll hear some of the greatest voice talent that works in the Spinoff offices. Recorded in September 2024. Help Me Hera: Men I haven’t seen in years keep crawling out of the woodwork Help Me Hera: My friend dumped me and I don’t know why Help Me Hera: I need my partner to eat some goddamn veges Help Me Hera: How do I stop being the nosiest person alive? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senior writer Alex Casey has a long history with cinema, both as a reviewer and as a former projectionist. This week she wrote two film-adjacent features. The first had Alex travel to Akaroa to speak to the people running a bustling local cinema and then go down a rabbit hole of South Island cinemas holding on to the movies as a third space. And the second is just a fun appreciation of our strangely high proportion of successful child actors, and what makes it possible to succeed here at 11 years old. She appeared on Behind the Story to talk local reporting, the magic of movies and the very best of our child actors. The small town cinemas holding on at the edge of the world How does New Zealand produce so many successful child actors? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zeni Gibson has been stalked and gruesomely harassed for nearly nine years by a man she rejected when she was 17. This is her story. Content warning: this story contains graphic descriptions of threatened violence, including sexual violence. Please take care. As told to Madeleine Holden. Read by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Made with support from The Spinoff Members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As homelessness hits an all-time high, New Zealand’s frontline organisations are embracing unconventional and innovative strategies. Joel MacManus takes a closer look at the crisis and meets the people who claim to have the cure. Story by Joel MacManus. Read by Te Aihe Butler. Made with support from The Spinoff Members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every other week we read reports of the rising rates of homelessness in our major cities. These stories are sometimes about homelessness itself and other times about the siblings of homelessness, like crime and welfare. Wellington editor Joel MacManus spent months speaking to those on the frontline in the fight to solve homelessness once and for all. It’s a long read, so for the first time ever we’ve made Cover Stories available in audio form. If you’d rather hear the story than read it, Te Aihe Butler has voiced Joel’s story and you can find it right here in the Behind The Story feed. Joel’s reporting covers the causes, the implications and the potential solution for homelessness in New Zealand. A comprehensive assessment of where we are at as a country in caring for our most vulnerable, and far we still have to go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, The Spinoff unveiled its top 100 New Zealand TV shows of the 21st century, sparking plenty of debate about what truly deserved the top spot. This week, The Spinoff senior writer and Top 100 listmaster Alex Casey is joined by a panel of TV fanatics – Kura Forrester, Rhiannon McCall, Stewart Sowman-Lund and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith – for a special Behind The Story recorded live event at Q Theatre in Auckland. Together, they'll unearth some beloved TV gems and make their cases for their all-time favourite local TV show, with the live audience helping choose a new winner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senior writer Alex Casey spent the past couple of months deep in local television, leading one of our most ambitious projects to date: The Spinoff top 100 NZ TV shows of the 21st century. Every day this week we have counted down 20 shows, each given its time in the sun as a crucial piece in our cultural puzzle. On Friday, we released the final 20, crowning a winner and drawing to a close more than 30,000 words published on New Zealand Television in one week. Alex joins Madeleine Chapman to discuss the complex process of judging local television, the surprise hits and the value in looking back at what we’ve produced as a country. The Spinoff top 100 NZ TV shows 100-81 80-61 60-41 40-21 20-1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bulletin editor Stewart Sowman-Lund has had a few roles in his time at the Spinoff, first as live updates editor, then reporter, and now as bulletin editor. Writing a bulletin every morning takes up plenty of his time, but he also specialises in following those random, one-off tips that every journalist gets. This week’s tip was from a man who had strangely been called by the police while driving, to tell him to stop using his phone while driving. ‘It was quite baffling’: Police call driver on motorway to say ‘stop using your phone’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week 10 years ago, a website was launched. It was a TV blog, dedicated to the most prestige and the most comforting of shows, and it had two writers on staff, founder Duncan Greive and film critic Alex Casey. The first article ever published by thespinoff.co.nz was about the return of Full House. Today, that website has an editorial team of 20, with writers and editors in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. We have podcasts, like this one, video series and live events. The Spinoff 10 years on looks very different to the little TV blog that launched in September 2014. But some names persist.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After more than 80 columns, Hera’s advice spans the spectrum of human troubles. For our live event, we revisited three problems from the archives, talked about Hera’s response, and heard updates from the callers themselves. Note: the callers emailed in their updates so the voices you hear won’t be their actual voices. Instead you’ll hear some of the greatest voice talent that works in the Spinoff offices. To find out more about The Spinoff's series of live events visit https://thespinoff.co.nz/events Help Me Hera: An acquaintance is in love with me and it’s making me uncomfortable Help Me Hera: I’m trans and my mum is a Posie Parker superfan Help Me Hera: I’m desperate to have kids but my partner is stalling Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Documentary maker Julie Zhu is the director of Takeout Kids, an observational series following five children as they work and grow up in their parents’ shops. The series is beautiful, both in the stories it tells but also literally, with a focus on scene-setting and stunning cinematography. Julie joins Madeleine Chapman this week to talk about how she finds the short stories within hours and hours of footage, and the special considerations required when filming with young people. Takeout Kids season two trailer The Ground We Won trailer Takeout Kids season one Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senior writer Alex Casey has this week written an incredible longform feature about the rising trend of young children coveting skincare. Note: this is not about makeup or wearing your mum’s lipstick. It’s about 10 year olds using serums and anti-wrinkle creams. Alex has been thinking, writing about and living the beauty industry for years, and this is likely just the first in a series of big features about a billion-dollar industry with controversial aims. She joins Madeleine Chapman this week to talk about the unique challenges of interviewing kids and her own spotty history with skincare and beauty. ‘It’s insidious and dangerous’: The kids fighting wrinkles before their 10th birthday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hera Lindsay Bird has been writing the extremely popular Help Me Hera advice column for over a year now, offering incisive, funny and wise guidance to New Zealand’s biggest and smallest problems. And soon, you’ll be able to hear her talk about that advice at some Spinoff live events. Hera joins Madeleine Chapman this week as she’s also an Olympics obsessive and has written about the games, specifically which events should be culled and which should be added. It’s surprisingly reasoned and justified for such a hot take. Help Me Hera Ten sports we should cut from the Olympic programme (and what could replace them) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabi Lardies wrote this week's Cover Story about the rise of home surveillance cameras. It’s a big piece of work that started as a simple observation of something she had seen in local Facebook groups. The feature unpicks aspects of human behaviour, crime and mass survellieance and it asks a big question about the trade-offs we make when embracing ubiquitous, convenient and cheap technology solutions to perceived problems. Gabi joins Anna Rawhiti-Connell to discuss her observational instinct as a journalist, how she substantiates those observations, and how she balances empathetic and human storytelling with very big and often morally questionable forces on a topic like this. Stories discussed:  Selling security, delivering anxiety: The rise of home surveillance cameras Yes, those are testicles hanging from my car Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lyric Waiwiri-Smith started at The Spinoff as a staff writer two weeks ago and has three stories under her belt already. Her story this week, "Remembering Suzanne Paul’s ‘cursed’ Māori Village", marked twenty years since Paul closed the doors on her Māori cultural theme park on Auckland’s North Shore. Lyric was three years old when it all went down, so used records of journalism past to piece together a current-day view of a really weird moment in our pop culture history and a venture described as “the most significant event in Paul’s demise”. Lyric joins Anna Rawhiti-Connell on Behind the Story to discuss whether the internet truly never forgets, celebrity profile writing, her love of pop culture, and live blogging while trying to buy tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras concert. Read the story: Remembering Suzanne Paul’s ‘cursed’ Māori Village Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spinoff staff writer Shanti Mathias sat down to record a test pilot episode of Behind the Story two months ago, about her recent feature “Staring down the ‘silent epidemic’ of myopia in children”. Just last week, Shanti was awarded Best Emerging Journalist at the inaugural science journalism awards, for this particular story. The judges were impressed with how ‘on-the-scene’ the reporting was, including the voices of school students and the team running the vision-checking bus. A hugely deserving win and the perfect excuse to release the tapes. Shanti joins Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to talk about what she learned, the surprising lack of data available in New Zealand around our eyes, and some practical tips to keep your eyes stronger for longer. Stories discussed: Staring down the ‘silent epidemic’ of myopia in children Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spinoff staff writer Tara Ward has loved and examined local TV for longer than any other Spinoff writer. As the longest consistent contributor to The Spinoff outside of its founder, Tara has long been the go-to voice for local matters on screen. A master of the power ranking format, Tara’s ability to both genuinely love and critique New Zealand’s most iconic (and obscure) shows is unique among journalists. More recently, she’s become the editor of pop culture newsletter Rec Room (subscribe here) and interviewer for The Spinoff’s weekend format My Life in TV. Tara joins Madeleine Chapman to talk a year of My Life in TV, getting to know her favourite screen talent, and what our local shows tell us about ourselves as a nation. Click here to read about the best things Tara and Alex have learnt after a year of My Life in TV Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Spinoff’s new Ātea editor Liam Rātana started in his role on Monday. On Thursday there were nationwide protests against government policies affecting Māori, as well as the release of the coalition government’s first budget. Rātana jumped straight in, writing a number of stories including a feature on the protests that looked more broadly at Māori activism and asked: Is protesting still the most effective way to bring about lasting change? It’s a compelling read, presenting the views of those who favour different methods of lobbying, and is a strong indication of how Liam approaches his work – with a curious mind and an interest in hearing out all perspectives. Liam joins Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to talk te ao Māori reporting and his quest to develop more Māori print journalists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wellington editor Joel MacManus appreciates that those we might not agree with can still make for an interesting and worthy story. Last weekend, he attended an anti-trans conference to hear speakers like Brian Tamaki, Posie Parker and NZ First MP Tanya Unkovich speak about the “dangers” of gender ideology. Joel’s feature was a chance to report on a culture war, rather than react to it, and prompted an intense response from the speakers themselves. Joel joins Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to talk about reporting in hostile environments and how to deal with feedback when it becomes abusive and personal. For The Spinoff editor’s thoughts on the week that was, as well as a handpicked collection of the week’s best reads, subscribe to The Weekend with Madeleine Chapman newsletter at thespinoff.co.nz/newsletters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spinoff staff writer Shanti Mathias loves to go deep on topics, in a way few people would ever consider. This week, we published her data work on food imports and exports in Aotearoa, finding out where exactly we get such everyday items as wheat, rice and bananas. Who knew Australia grew so much of our food? Shanti joins Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to talk about the extensive process of parsing massive datasets and research in order to make these stories accessible. For The Spinoff editor’s thoughts on the week that was, as well as a handpicked collection of the week’s best reads, subscribe to The Weekend with Madeleine Chapman newsletter at thespinoff.co.nz/newsletters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Friday, Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell sent her final newsletter, and took the opportunity to share what she’s learned about the news over two years of curating it for thousands of New Zealanders. Earlier in the week, she’d seen reports of Auckland dog owners discarding their pets’ turds on the ground after Auckland Council removed bins across the city. And so, the column “If you love a dog, you must also love disposing of its shit” was born. Anna joins Madeleine Chapman to talk about the power journalists have when framing a story and how to find the middle ground between boring and sensational. For The Spinoff editor’s thoughts on the week that was, as well as a handpicked collection of the week’s best reads, subscribe to The Weekend with Madeleine Chapman newsletter at thespinoff.co.nz/newsletters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices