Duncan Greive 
Last week Labour announced that all online purchases would – finally – incur GST. Then, almost immediately, they backed the hell away. Duncan Greive explains why they were right first time. Last week, Stuart Nash finally told New Zealand retailers what they’ve been wanting to hear for years: that this government would “absolutely” introduce GST … Read more
The contrivances of the first generation of reality shows are being overtaken by higher stakes games, writes Duncan Greive. The first season of Married at First Sight NZ is over, and I for one am an absolute wreck. For the past three years I’ve been part of ‘The Real Pod’, a podcast which has chronicled … Read more
New Zealand has been living a lie. The Washington Post today revealed that Jacinda Ardern’s Labour-led government is in fact a facade for the “far right agenda” of Winston Peters. Duncan Greive details the shocking revelations – and the legislative programme of this terrifying coalition. “A shadow is poisoning Middle-earth,” the Washington Post tells us. … Read more
After five years in which our local TV successes went largely uncelebrated, New Zealand once again has a national television awards. The full list of nominees has just been announced, along with the winners of the technical craft awards which are doled out early. Duncan Greive analyses the list and picks some winners. Incredibly strange … Read more
While TOP only managed 2.5% of the vote in the recent election, Gareth Morgan’s political ambitions are far from over. He’s just dropped $430,000 more into TOP while putting his think tank on long-term hiatus, writes Duncan Greive. The Morgan Foundation, the charitable trust set up by economist Gareth Morgan and his partner Jo, is … Read more
Duncan Greive plays the SNES Mini and recalls a time in his life when it was the one thing he wanted to be happy. When I was a child, all I wanted was Super NES. I grew up in London in the ‘80s and my mum was deeply fearful of all things that weren’t English … Read more
Will Jacinda Ardern and her new cabinet mess with our beloved remote? Duncan Greive inspects the broadcasting policies of Labour, NZ First and the Greens to find out. The elevation of Jacinda Ardern to prime minister has led to torrents of words being typed – about her youth, her gender, her impact on national sporting … Read more
Duncan Greive watches Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, a miniseries following the true 90s case that gripped the world and caused a media circus. You know the true crimewave is getting out of hand when Law & Order is getting in on the game. The franchise, of which True Crime: the Menendez … Read more
The best era in recent R&B history unites for a concert in downtown Auckland tonight. Duncan Greive reviews the Melbourne version. I don’t know what the strangest moment of the night was. Maybe the whole crowd singing Ne-Yo ‘Happy Birthday’ ahead of his vegan cake, due to his turning 38 the night prior. It could … Read more
Broadcaster and sometime TOP communications director Sean Plunket is back in the news thanks to a searingly bad Tweet on the Harvey Weinstein scandal, which he later claimed was a ‘social experiment’. But it’s far from his first offence. The Spinoff’s editor Duncan Greive details his history with Plunket and asks if he’s the right … Read more
The second season of English drama Doctor Foster might be the best thriller on television, despite its everyday subject matter, writes Duncan Greive. Doctor Foster has headed upstairs from a party and is walking around a house in silence, picking up photos and smelling cosmetics. The stakes are not much higher than her being caught … Read more
The annihilation of the Māori party shows the grim reality of MMP, and the rationality of the Greens’ refusal to engage with National under any circumstances, writes Duncan Greive. Perhaps the most affecting scene of the election was watching Te Ururoa Flavell interviewed by Paddy Gower the morning after the election. Gower asked him what … Read more
Election Night 2017: Duncan Greive scrolls down the electorates in play – including some big name potential casualties. So far tonight I have drunk three low alcohol beers and clicked ‘refresh’ on the electorate status page of the election results website approx 1000 times. It’s a very, very bad way to consume the election, please … Read more
We present the five most interesting takeaways from analysis of the vast trove of data thrown up by our Policy tool in the lead-up to this election. Since its debut on August 14, more than 120,000 people have viewed over 1.3 million pages of Policy, our tool for comparing parties’ different positions across various areas. … Read more
Duncan Greive reflects on the shambolic end to The Block 2017, and what the show has revealed to us about our housing market and crisis over that time. For the last six years – or two parliamentary terms, if you prefer to measure time in that unit – The Block NZ has been both New … Read more
Duncan Greive spends an extraordinary two days with Gareth Morgan – and his comms sidekick Sean Plunket – as he tries to will TOP back into relevance amid the chaos of the 2017 election. Gareth Morgan is not happy. He’s in a converted garage deep within the bowels of the Mediaworks organism, sandwiched between two … Read more
The best interview of the election happened today on Morning Report, when Guyon Espiner made Winston Peters look like his race was already run. Duncan Greive recounts the 10 greatest hits. Winston Peters is the most reliably unflappable interview in New Zealand politics. He should get royalties every time someone brazenly answers a completely different … Read more
This week ‘The Beerhive’ launched, a podcast which sits comfortably between the not-unrelated worlds of between beer and politics. Host Shane Cowlishaw explains the pod to Duncan Greive. Wellington has become essentially the unquestioned home of craft beer in New Zealand, helped by its weather, its geography and sensibility. The nature of their jobs means … Read more
Former radio host, current Jono and Ben man and Billy T winning comic Guy Williams has just released a half-hour stand-up special for free on the internet. He spoke with Duncan Greive about a variety of things. The first time I saw Guy Williams live was a co-headliner with Rose Matafeo at the Grey Lynn community … Read more
Bryan Bruce’s documentary Who owns New Zealand now? – which screened on Three last night in primetime – is a deeply problematic sequel to Labour’s ‘Chinese-sounding names’ fiasco of 2015, writes Duncan Greive. “There’s been about a trillion dollars that has left China in the last year or so,” intones the voice-over ominously, over flowing strings … Read more
Labour’s non-commercial RNZ+ multi-media network is a brilliant idea – but it makes no sense to keep it and retain public ownership of TVNZ, argues Duncan Greive. Labour: [We will] develop a new public digital media service… [including] a free-to-air noncommercial television service. The working title is ‘RNZ+’ Also Labour: TVNZ will remain in public … Read more
On a side street in Mt Albert, New World has opened store which attempts to deal with the arrival of both Farro and My Food Bag. But its real opponent is Amazon, which opens its first Australian distribution centre next year, writes Duncan Greive. Last week a new shop opened in Mt Albert. Huge news, … Read more
In the most obscure yet symbolically important debate of recent elections, Ardern attacked English with a pitiless fury. Duncan Greive recaps the massacre. Christchurch has lately been where Labour’s dreams go to die. Phil Goff and David Cunliffe both walked into The Press (now Stuff) debates with faint hopes and left with them in tatters, … Read more
Last night The Spinoff hosted ‘The Great Debate’ on Facebook Live. We wanted the most entertaining politicians on one stage to cause chaos, and that’s exactly what we got. Duncan Greive recounts the highlights. It was a trip. When we first started planning our debate, we envisaged something on an earth-floored barn, filmed on a … Read more
Yesterday Steven Joyce claimed there was a giant hole in Labour’s books. We asked a lot of economists and accountants whether the claim was correct. Extraordinary elections bring out extraordinary accusations. Yesterday brought the most monumental of this election so far, when National’s finance boss Steven Joyce claimed to have found a $11.7bn hole in … Read more
National’s new policy giving police powers to search gang members’ houses at any time to check for weapons shows them returning to their base with a vengeance, writes Duncan Greive. For weeks now we have watched National struggle to know how to respond to the “Jacinda Effect”. It has floated dismissing a lack of substance … Read more
Like the podcast, but a book! While that sounds boring and pointless, Duncan Greive controversially argues that it’s actually good. I found the 9th Floor “urgent and revelatory” upon its release in April and May, writing somewhat pompously that it “strips our recent political history of much of the distracting rancour which accompanied it in … Read more
The New Zealand First leader is paid almost $200,000 a year in public money. Shouldn’t he be leading the conscientious objectors rather than claiming superannuation, asks Duncan Greive. This column was written in 2017, before Winston Peters was in government. As deputy prime minister, his salary is now $334, 734. The “mother of all scandals” … Read more
For years now Sky has been the biggest force in New Zealand media, crushing everything in its path. But by ignoring digital it has found itself in a brutal squeeze between rising costs and shrinking revenue – all with thousands of customers poised to flee post-Lions tour. Duncan Greive asks if the end is now … Read more