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

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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

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After three years and eight months writing from the Auckland office, staff writer Shanti Mathias is heading south. In that time, she has eaten locusts, ranked nuts, interviewed someone while cycling, and found herself in sewage pipes. Very intrepid! Shanti joins Gabi Lardies on Behind the Story to look back on four of her most iconic stories, her particular interests in science, conservation, gambling and transport, and to get the scoop on her unfinished business.

Getting rid of predators is one thing. Keeping them gone is another

Rainbow warmth and garish colours: When did stripy polyprop disappear?

Sinking lids and rising profits: The problem with pokies

Inside the exclusive, chaotic, painful NFT party at Auckland’s Longroom

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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

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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?

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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

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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.

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Recorded on the sandy shores of the mighty North, guest hosts Liam Rātana and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (along with regular producer Te Aihe Butler) take over The Fold for a behind-the-scenes look at how the media covers Waitangi. After three days of politician stand ups, haukāinga-led forum panels and more story leads than we had time to cover, what stood out? What did we learn? And how can The Spinoff get a golf cart for Waitangi 2026?

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This week was the first week back for politicians in parliament, which meant a big week for anyone reporting in the gallery. Newly minted Spinoff political reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith spent 12 hours listening to oral submissions to the select committee on the treaty principles bill, and started her new column Echo Chamber, which recaps the lively question times in the House for those too busy to watch parliament TV.

Lyric joined Madeleine Chapman to share how she’s settling in and what her aspirations are for the next six months in the gallery.

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Behind the Story is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024:

Anna Rawhiti-Connell knows more about the internet and how it functions than probably any other journalist in New Zealand. And this week she had the perfect subject: Raygun, the Olympic breakdancing competitor from Australia.

Raygun has been many different things since she first revealed herself in the final weekend of the Paris Games. She’s been an icon, an embarrassment, a hero, and now apparently the subject of an investigation. Anna tracked her rise and fall and rise and fall in a deep dive for The Spinoff. She joins Madeleine Chapman this week to talk about the latest developments, as well as share in some lukewarm takes about New Zealand’s success in Olympic sports.

Anatomy of an Olympic internet sensation: Raygun’s fall and rise and fall and rise and…

‘That’s hip hop’

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