Gordon Campbell on the Australian election toss-up
The foibles of the Aussie electoral system are pretty well-known. The Lucky Country doesn’t have proportional representation. Voting for everyone over 18 is compulsory, but […]
Columns
Gordon Campbell on the Emissions Reduction Plan non-event
Clearly, the attempt to take the politics out of climate change has itself been a political decision, and one meant to remove much of the […]
Gordon Campbell on Rabuka’s possible return in Fiji
Fiji signed onto China’s Belt and Road initiative in 2018, along with a separate agreement on economic co-operation and aid. Yet it took the recent […]
Gordon Campbell on the youth crime furore
So far, the excited media response to the spike in “ram-raid” incidents is being countered by evidence that in reality, youth crime is steeply in […]
Gordon Campbell on abortion rights
So a Supreme Court stacked with ideologues selected by Donald Trump is about to make an ideological decision to ban the legal right of American […]
Gordon Campbell On Political Can-kicking, And The“ Louie Louie” Saga
One of the more infuriating aspects of the current political debate is the way the National Party says it would be more rigorous, and more […]
Gordon Campbell on Parker’s tax plan and Musk’s Twitter purchase
Such is our devotion to the ordinary Kiwi battler, we ruthlessly tax the wages they earn and the stuff they buy, while letting people who […]
Gordon Campbell on the Tame interview, and Macron’s endless challenges
National truly is the party of aspiration. Any centre-right voter who watched their champion’s trainwreck interview with Jack Tame on last Sunday’s Q & A […]
Gordon Campbell on Ukraine virtue signalling, and our inflation spike
Inflation at 6.9% is a bad sign of the rising cost of living, and hidden within the headline numbers are some even grislier figures. As […]
Gordon Campbell on the MIQ memo and France’s elections
One word has largely been missing from the coverage of the MoH advice about MIQ: Omicron. The relevant memo was written in November. It was […]
Gordon Campbell on gendered perceptions in politics
In recent weeks, barely a day has gone by without Christopher Luxon demonstrating the chasm of ability that exists between the leaders of our two […]
Gordon Campbell on sending a Hercules off to Europe
Yesterday’s decision to dispatch one of our ageing C-130 Hercules cargo planes to Europe for two months will – hopefully – help to get essential […]
Gordon Campbell on virtue signalling about Ukraine
Safe to say, not a single life will be saved in Ukraine if and when our Foreign Affairs select committee can ever make up its […]
Gordon Campbell on framing the media debate
Quite justifiably, TVNZ has got a lot of stick on social media for the bizarre framing it used in last night’s 6pm nws bulletin to […]
Gordon Campbell on our feeble contribution to Russian sanctions
As the evidence of Russian atrocities in Ukraine mounts up, the West’s rhetoric has tried to keep up with the pace. Is Putin a war […]
Gordon Campbell on the rise of vigilante “sovereign justice”
If you or I decided to exempt ourselves from the laws of the land, and -moreover- made public our intention to kidnap and murder the […]
Gordon Campbell on good riddance to the America’s Cup
So the America’s Cup defence is off to Barcelona. Supposedly, if you could drill a hole through Auckland to the other side of the world, […]
Gordon Campbell on the Oscars, and how an Iran deal could mean cheaper petrol
Uh oh. In an embarrassing case of counting chickens prematurely, the government had sent a delegation to Hollywood to capitalise on the expected Oscar coronation […]
Gordon Campbell on Christopher Luxon’s trashing of the poor
For years, Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop have been routinely described as belonging to the “liberal” wing of the National Party, as if National is […]
Gordon Campbell on how, and whether the Ukraine war might end
It is pretty safe to assume that the Kremlin did not expect Ukraine’s resistance to be as strong and effective as it has been. It […]
Gordon Campbell on new Covid research, and Jane Campion
As the Omicron wave sweeps across the land, here’s a quick overview of some of the latest vaccine news and research findings. Omicron vaccine: Over […]
Gordon Campbell on Luxon’s “cost of living crisis” gambit
Clearly, no-one should underestimate the political pulling power of a suit offering tax cuts. Last week’s rise of Christopher Luxon and the National Party in […]
Gordon Campbell on the peace flotilla and the oligarch
As the peace flotilla converges on the Northland luxury resort owned by Russian steel magnate Alexander Abramov, the government is putting in place the full […]
Gordon Campbell On Supermarket Rip-offs
If you make the land available, they will come. The cargo cult thinking behind the key recommendation of the Commerce Commission’s final report into the […]
Gordon Campbell on the flaws in the Ukraine sanctions response
The Achilles heel in the West’s punitive sanctions against Russia has always been pretty obvious. Russia may be highly dependent on its oil and natural […]
Gordon Campbell on Luxon’s tired tax plan
Like a broken record, National Party leader Christopher Luxon is offering a 40 year old formula of tax cuts that (inevitably) will be paid for […]
Gordon Campbell on the impotence of onlookers
Against its will, the world has become conditioned to driving by acts of genocide and peering at them through the window with alarm – before […]
Gordon Campbell on the protests, Putin’s Pyrrhic victory, plus a playlist
The protest encampment at Parliament long ago ceased to have any rational purpose beyond perpetuating its own existence. Social media has already condemned the way […]
Gordon Campbell on the tentative response to Putin, plus Putin’s mentor
Plainly, Russia’s war on Ukraine isn’t something Vladimir Putin dreamed up overnight, or did on impulse. With hindsight, Putin has been working for years to […]
Gordon Campbell on Ukraine, and blokes in peril
A great darkness is falling over Ukraine, and it will last for decades. In launching a full scale invasion, Russian president Vladimir Putin is doing […]