Episodes

  • Bonus ep: Thoughts on the Jacinda Ardern film and book

    Bonus ep: Thoughts on the Jacinda Ardern film and book
    Aug 8 2025
    Hot on the heels of the publication of A Different Kind of Power comes Prime Minister, an enthralling new film that applies a genuinely gobsmacking lens on Jacinda Ardern's time in power. In this special edition of Gone By Lunchtime, Madeleine Chapman, editor of the Spinoff (and author of Jacinda Ardern: A New Kind of Leader), joins Toby Manhire to talk about the film, which has just had its New Zealand premiere at the NZ International Film Festival, and the autobiography, what they tell us about Ardern and what they don't. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    45 mins
  • It’s all fine apart from butter, Trump, netball, etc

    It’s all fine apart from butter, Trump, netball, etc
    Aug 5 2025
    Christopher Luxon took a short and sharp mindset into the National Party conference on the weekend and with good reason: there is much getting back on track still to be done. He arrived in Christchurch amid a blur of bleak headlines, focused mostly on an economic mood epitomised by butter, netball crowds, abrupt Trump tariffs, unemployment numbers, and so on. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess the state of play. But first: a trio who did school cert in fifth form look at the overhaul of NCEA and electoral reforms that would deny the vote to “deadbeats”, aka those who seek to enrol within a dozen days of the election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • ‘The one thing they could blow up the government over’

    ‘The one thing they could blow up the government over’
    Jul 16 2025
    We rattle through the regulatory standards bill, its advocates, its dissenters, and the tension it has created within the coalition. How serious is the fissure it has prodded between Act and New Zealand First Party (amplified by a cameo appearance by a United Nations special rapporteur)? Also on the agenda for Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire: the state of play in the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection, and the state of yuck in Wellington local body politics. You’ll never guess what we heard from the friend of a neighbour of a colleague about Ray Chung. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    45 mins
  • We have issues, many issues

    We have issues, many issues
    Jul 2 2025
    With an election about 15 months away, there are few better ways to get a sense of the political terrain than the Ipsos Issues Monitor, a survey that tracks the issues of greatest concern to New Zealanders, the parties they consider best equipped to deal with those issues, and how all of that has changed over time. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas assess the latest edition of the study, and the messages it sends on cost of living, health and more. Plus: Shane Jones is promoting a bill that would oblige Ngāpuhi to undertake a single commercial treaty settlement; does he have a point? And we reflect on the formidable legacy of Takutai Tarsh Kemp, Te Pati Māori MP for Tāmaki Makaurau since 2023, who died suddenly last week at the age of 50. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • New Zealand punches above its tightrope

    New Zealand punches above its tightrope
    Jun 18 2025
    Around the world, the flames of aggression and instability are burning. As Christopher Luxon arrives in China his immediate challenge is to douse the alarm from several former politicians and ensure that the relationship with leaders in New Zealand’s biggest export market are sweet. From there, the New Zealand prime minister is off to Europe and another guest spot at Nato, who are meeting in the Hague. In a new episode of Gone By Lunchtime, Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas and Annabelle Lee-Mather chew over the shifting global dynamic he’ll encounter, with escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, Trump quitting G7 early and ongoing devastation in Ukraine and Gaza. More prosaically, will Luxon welcome a chance to stride the international stage after a bit of a media flub on sick pay just before he left? Plus: a word on a sweary scrutiny week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • Polling, ex-PMs, dickheadery and a goat sacrifice

    Polling, ex-PMs, dickheadery and a goat sacrifice
    Jun 3 2025
    We're officially in the second half of the term, a milestone marked by the historic handover of the hallowed deputy prime minister amulet from Winston Peters to David Seymour. The moment comes with pageantry, a flurry of interviews and a pair of new polls, which deliver intriguing, and sometimes divergent results. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas pore over the results and what they mean for the parties and the politicians in the post-budget, post-pay-equity-reshape wash-up. Plus: Jim Bolger and Jacinda Ardern have boh been in the headlines in recent days. What do these returns tell us about the performance of their Chris-themed successors? And Chris Bishop found himself in a media moshpit after the Aotearoa Music Awards for calling the Stan Walker parade "crap" and earning the most painful denunciation imaginable: being called a dickhead by New Zealand treasure Don McGlashan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    41 mins
  • Budget special: When The Facts Change x Gone By Lunchtime

    Budget special: When The Facts Change x Gone By Lunchtime
    May 22 2025
    In the year of growth, Nicola Willis has presented a growth budget. But does the Investment Boost initiative, which speeds up depreciation for businesses, promise the kind of growth that the economy needs? In this special Spinoff pod for budget day, Toby Manhire asks Bernard Hickey for his take on the headline changes, and whether or not David Seymour’s earlier commentary that his colleague Brooke van Velden had “saved the budget” through its controversial and hurried changes to the pay equiry scheme, has been proven true. Plus: what are the cumulative impacts of the changes to KiwiSaver and Best Start, as compared to the SuperGold cohort? And how much did the global political and economic volatility influence the documents published today? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    29 mins
  • House of C****

    House of C****
    May 21 2025
    Unprecedented punishments imposed on Te Pāti Māori MPs, and the scramble to avoid banning them from the budget debate, is top of the agenda this week. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess the fallout, before rewinding to last week’s theatrical parliamentary controversy, all of which stemmed from a C-word in a newspaper column, and led Winston Peters, doyen of parliamentary decorum, to deplore a “House of Chaos” (by which he did not mean the popular monthly techno night at Firecrackers nightclub in Ashburton). All of that, plus: we exclusively read the full text of tomorrow’s 2025 budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    53 mins