Gone By Lunchtime

Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee Mather and Toby Manhire kick off the year in political podcast punditry, taking on the major parties, Waitangi plans, councils, and the whopping great climate report. As news reaches Gone By Lunchtime that it’s already the second month of the year, The Spinoff’s political podcasting triumvirate sits down to study the 2021 tea leaves. On the agenda in this episode: The Nat...

Gone By Lunchtime is taking a break over summer, so we're republishing some of our favourite episodes of 2020. This week: the one where everybody was really, really tired. First released October 18, 2020. It's the morning after a very successful election night for Labour, and a pretty good one for the Greens too – especially in Auckland Central, where Chlöe Swarbrick looks to have turned the elec...

Gone By Lunchtime is taking a break over the summer holidays. We'll be back in the new year, but until then we're we're republishing some of our favourite episodes of 2020. This week: Mervmania hits the election campaign trail. First released August 11, 2020. With 39 days to go until New Zealand goes to the polls, talkback caller 'Merv' has lit up the election campaign, delivering a deeply unmell...

Gone By Lunchtime is taking a break over the summer holidays. We'll be back in the new year, but until then we're we're republishing some of our favourite episodes of 2020. This week: Simon Bridges opens up on his time as National Party leader. First released July 31, 2020. For the third Politics in Pubs event, recorded live at Meow in Wellington, former National Party leader Simon Bridges joins D...

Gone By Lunchtime is taking a break over the summer holidays. We'll be back in the new year, but until then we're we're republishing some of our favourite interviews of 2020. This week: relive the 53-day reign of Todd Muller as National Party leader. First released July 14, 2020. At 7.30am, just 53 days after he replaced Simon Bridges as leader of the National Party, Todd Muller announced his imme...

Pour yourself some eggnog and join the hosts of The Spinoff’s podcast network for our annual Superpod round up of the year that was. Representing Gone By Lunchtime, Dietary Requirements, The Real Pod, Papercuts, The Fold and On The Rag our hosts dive into the key events, issues, heroes and villains of 2020. From National’s botched election campaign to Ben Thomas’ take on TikTok, via the collapse o...

The prime minister drops in for a chat with Toby Manhire in a scoop-filled bonus episode of Gone By Lunchtime. When Jacinda Ardern looks back on the year 2020, what one day stands out in her memory? And when she slides open the lid of a dairy freezer this summer, what ice cream will she be reaching for? Find the answers to these questions and more in this end of year special. Hosted on Acast. See...

Fresh from the Press Gallery Christmas Party, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Toby Manhire and Ben Thomas convene for the final time in 2020 to recap the year in New Zealand politics.  What do Jacinda Ardern, Chlöe Swarbrick, David Seymour, Labour’s Covid-19 response, the Maori Party’s return to parliament, National’s Todd Muller era, that disastrous campaign day on Ponsonby Road, Winston Peters and the Bad...

On the eve of the opening of the 53rd parliament of New Zealand, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas dress up as Black Rod. As 120 familiar and fresh faces swarm upon the tropical paradise of Wellington for a brand new parliament, the Gone By Lunchtime trio ruminate on the politics to come. What state is the National opposition in after an AGM that saw Peter Goodfellow hang on to the...

Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee Mather and Ben Thomas return, electrolytes replenished after the election marathon, to assess the newly-announced Labour cabinet and more. It’s been 17 days since the election, and about 24 hours since the Labour announced the composition of its new cabinet. Really wanted to do a Nothing Compares 2 U reference there but just couldn't get it to work. Anyway, the importan...

Greens MP Chlöe Swarbrick joins Annabelle Lee Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire to pick over the remains of election night in a special Sunday edition of Gone By Lunchtime. It's the morning after a very successful election night for Labour, and a pretty good one for the Greens too – especially in Auckland Central, where Chlöe Swarbrick looks to have turned the electorate green for the first time...

The Bulletin's Alex Braae, fresh from his tour of Aotearoa, joins Toby Manhire to reveal what he witnessed on the road in this special pre-election bonus episode of Gone By Lunchtime. For 40 days and 40 nights (roughly, who's counting) Alex Braae packed up his Bulletin in his old kit bag, threw it in the back of a Jucy van and toured the country to take the campaign pulse. He joins Toby Manhire fo...

Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire gather around the giant orb of truth for the last time before polls close to assess the parties' campaigns, select the seats they'll be drooling over, and put their pundit reputations on the line by predicting the final election outcome.     We're leaving together. But still it's farewell. And maybe we'll come back, to earth, who can tell? After a...

Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess the Press debate in Christchurch, National's leaky redux, the advance voting surge and the rest of the big stories with a week and a half to go. In 10 short days the skies will clear and for a few blessed hours the only hint of politics will be dogs outside polling stations on The Spinoff. Can Judith Collins close the gap? Has her caucus rev...

Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee Mather, Ben Thomas and a very special guest go over what we learned from last night’s Newshub leaders’ debate between Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins.  It’s a four-person episode of Gone By Lunchtime this week as special guest Mihingarangi Forbes (The Hui, RNZ’s political podcast Party People) joins Toby Manhire and Annabelle Lee Mather, both of whom were in the audie...

Election debate season is finally upon us, and the Gone By Lunchtime trio are here to talk Tuesday night’s two big debates. The Hui’s livestreamed Waiariki candidate debate between Hannah Tamaki, Rawiri Waititi and Tamati Coffey, and TVNZ’s leaders’ debate between Judith Collins and Jacinda Ardern. One was raucous, robust, interesting and entertaining. The other was the leaders’ debate. There’s al...

Ben Thomas never attends a party without a whakataukī in his pocket, and he does not disappoint in this week's edition of Gone By Lunchtime. Along with Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire, Ben sprinkles the wisdom on everything from the Māori Party policy to jettison "New Zealand" in favour of "Aotearoa" to the Labour Party policy to suffocate the tax debate in the 2020 campaign. Are National an...

The 2020 election has risen, bleary eyed, from its slumber, and so have Annabelle, Ben and Toby. This week: Labour are promising a Matariki holiday, National are promising a health-driven response to meth addiction, and the Greens are trying to put the train back on the rails with the aid of several million apologies from James Shaw following the Green School debacle. Meanwhile, Winston Peters has...

Join the the country's most mellifluous political pod trio, the Alert Level Three, for another late night lockdown edition of Gone By Lunchtime. Covid-19 continues to dominate the political agenda, with Jacinda Ardern and cabinet having extended level three for the Auckland region until the end of the weekend. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire discuss the risks of lockdown fatigue,...

Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas forget how to record a podcast over Zoom. Most elements of life under lockdown feel a little bit easier the second time around, but not recording an episode of Gone By Lunchtime. After being held up for over an hour by a confusing tech issue (Ben’s new phone doesn’t have a headphone jack), the renowned podcasting trio finally get stuck into the wee...

Merv Lee-Mather, Merv Thomas and Merv Manhire gather to discuss the most pressing issues of election 2020. With 39 days to go until New Zealand goes to the polls, talkback caller 'Merv' has lit up the election campaign, delivering a deeply unmellow curtain-raiser to the National Party's Auckland Central candidate selection. Plus: the Labour launch, NZ First's terrible poll, and what is Gerry Brown...

Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas denounce new poll results that very slightly contradict their opinions. The scale of the summit for the National Party? A poll came out last week with Labour at 53%, and that was considered good news for Judith Collins and the Strong Team. With a month before advanced voting begins, Annabelle, Ben and Toby assess the state of the race, as well as t...

For the third Politics in Pubs event, recorded live at Meow in Wellington, former National Party leader Simon Bridges joins Danyl Mclauchlan to talk the events of 2020, what the role of the opposition leader is in a time of national crisis is, what he thinks of the election campaign so far, the challenges facing New Zealand politics... and of course baby yaks. Politics in Pubs is supported by The...

Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas dust off the bazookas scattered around New Zealand politics in this week's Gone By Lunchtime.  A new Newshub poll has put Judith Collins' National Party on 25.1%, Jacinda Ardern's Labour on 60.9%, and many jaws on the floor. Gerry Brownlee has dismissed it as a "rogue poll". Annabelle, Ben and Toby impersonate Nate Silver and assess the veracity of...

Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas on the Andrew Falloon scandal and its implications for a beleaguered National Party, a big weekend for Winston Peters and NZ First, and the chorus calling to charge arriving New Zealanders for their hotel isolation.  Less than two months out from the election, the National Party remains bedevilled by controversy. Just a few days after she became le...