Behind the Story
by The Spinoff
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Recent episodes
The bizarre story of the Kiwibank sheep that conquered the world
Oct 20, 2026
24m 01s
Ali Mau on Tika, and the experiences that built it
Oct 19, 2026
51m 46s
Winston Peters on a life in politics – and the moment that ‘cost me psychologically’
Oct 15, 2026
43m 59s
Jacinda Ardern's media man on five seismic years
Oct 13, 2026
48m 12s
‘Looming disaster’: Andrew Geddis answers your questions on enrolment and voting
Oct 12, 2026
40m 58s
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- 🇳🇿New Zealand · PoliticsHOME#55.8K to 31K
- 🇲🇾MY · Politics#14315 to 81
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| Date | Episode | Description | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/20/26 |  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 | 24m 01s | ||||||
| 10/19/26 |  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 | 51m 46s | ||||||
| 10/15/26 |  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 | 43m 59s | ||||||
| 10/13/26 |  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 | 48m 12s | ||||||
| 10/12/26 |  ‘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 | 40m 58s | ||||||
| 10/8/26 |  How do you make this election funny? | 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 | 25m 21s | ||||||
| 10/6/26 |  A political lobbyist on ‘reprehensible’ tactics in NZ democracy | 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 | 34m 11s | ||||||
| 10/5/26 |  The army of indies igniting election 2026 | 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 | 24m 05s | ||||||
| 10/1/26 |  Winners and losers in debate for Mt Albert, the box-office contest of election 2026 | 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 | 26m 07s | ||||||
| 9/29/26 |  The pre-election books are open – is Nicola Willis right to cheer? | 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 | 31m 53s | ||||||
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| 9/28/26 |  Jack Tame on getting ghosted by Luxon and hosting the first big debate | 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 | 37m 02s | ||||||
| 9/23/26 |  Nicky Hager and Dirty Work: the author responds to his critics | 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 | 21m 19s | ||||||
| 9/22/26 |  NZ is spending millions to lure the big acts. Is it working? | 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 | 28m 11s | ||||||
| 9/21/26 |  Is the recovery finally here in the NZ economy? | 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 | 33m 50s | ||||||
| 9/16/26 |  OK so is AI really about to wipe out the humans? (And what is NZ doing about it?) | 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 | 38m 40s | ||||||
| 9/14/26 |  The coalition v the Māori language: how has Te Reo fared this term? | 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 | 35m 10s | ||||||
| 9/10/26 | The kingmaker myth, and the hill Qiulae Wong and Opportunity must climb | 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 | 24m 07s | ||||||
| 9/8/26 | Labour falls under 26% – one bad poll or time to change course? | 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 | 26m 57s | ||||||
| 9/7/26 | How National ankle-tapped Labour on KiwiSaver, with Sam Stubbs | 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 | 33m 51s | ||||||
| 9/3/26 | ‘Freaking bizarre’: NZ’s former man in Washington on trade, Trump and a whole lot more | 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 | 42m 50s | ||||||
| 9/2/26 | Simeon Brown is a no-show at the senior doctors’ conference. What is their message for him? | 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 | 29m 28s | ||||||
| 8/31/26 | The electric election: Mike Casey on a solar revolution | 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 | 34m 35s | ||||||
| 8/27/26 | Luxon vs Brown, and how the govt fell so violently out of love with localism | 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 | 33m 08s | ||||||
| 8/25/26 | How will NZ’s under-16 social media ban work? (And why do NZ First and Act hate it?) | 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 | 29m 32s | ||||||
| 8/24/26 | Where in NZ is basking in economic recovery, where is not – and why? | 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 | 26m 50s | ||||||
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Chart history for Behind the Story
Peaked at #5 in New Zealand, top 10 in 1 of 3 tracked markets, currently #5 in New Zealand.
| Market | Genre | Peak | Current | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | — | #5 | #5 | — |
| New Zealand | — | #11 | #11 | — |
| MY | — | #143 | #143 | — |
Chart Positions
3 placements across 2 markets.
Chart Positions
3 placements across 2 markets.