Gordon Campbell on National’s rampant pandering to the farming vote
What on earth has happened to the political parties n the centre-right? Once upon a time in the US, the party of Lincoln was a […]
Columns
Gordon Campbell on last night’s leaders debate
Do political debates change voter intentions, and cause voters to switch sides? According to a 2019 Harvard Business School study conducted across 61 elections in […]
Gordon Campbell on that $4 billion hit to National’s economic cred
National released its economic and tax policy last Friday. Weirdly, the plan was announced right at the end of the news week, when whatever impact […]
Gordon Campbell on tourism’s endless sense of grievance
Sad that a once in a century pandemic should have come along before the government had a clearly thought out plan for rescuing all the […]
Gordon Campbell on the transTasman tinkering with Covid-related poverty
On September 25, the government’s Covid-19 rent freeze will expire. A fortnight ago, the Commerce Commission (in response to a complaint) sent out a letter […]
Gordon Campbell on campaign politicking
The microdoses of policy that get released on the campaign trail are not meant to be ego-shattering psychedelic events that transform our concepts of political […]
Gordon Campbell on saving small firms, and disowning Peter Thiel
According to Business NZ, over 97^ of New Zealand firms employ only 20 or fewer staff. One of the political myths about such firms is […]
Gordon Campbell on Trump’s current chances of re-election
How likely is it that the world will wake up on November 4th facing the prospect of another four years of Donald Trump? Short answer: […]
Gordon Campbell on James Shaw’s spectacular own goal
The apology by Greens co-leader James Shaw was certainly comprehensive. He’s so very sorry that he’s let down not only you, but you and you […]
Gordon Campbell on the challenges we face in securing Covid-19 vaccines
The early wave of Covid-19 vaccines appear unlikely to deliver a complete shield against getting the infection, as (say) a measles inoculation comes close to […]
Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission’s needlessly secretive inquiry into the mosque attacks
Can’t recall the author – Oscar Wilde?- but during the Victorian era there was a popular short story about a Moghul emperor who spent years […]
Gordon Campbell on kneejerk negativism, Cardi B, and Linda Manz
Yesterday, Victoria recorded 216 new Covid-19 cases and twelve deaths. An inquiry released a couple of days ago found that 90% of Victoria’s second wave […]
Gordon Campbell on the sorry plight of the international education sector
Tourism and international education have been two of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. They’re both key export industries. Yet the government response to […]
Gordon Campbell on the election delay
Hi, team. While the majority of the team of five million has gritted its teeth and obeyed the rules throughout the Covid-19 crisis, a sizeable […]
Gordon Campbell on Judith Collins’ apparent inability to read the public mood
The basic skill that a successful politician needs is the ability to “read the room” and gauge the public mood. If National Party leader Judith […]
Gordon Campbell on the new lockdowns, leadership and Lebanon
As Melbourne has shown, the webs of urban life overlap so extensively that community transmission can be very hard to trace, let alone control. Each […]
Gordon Campbell on why the Supreme Court is a bigger threat than Trump to US democracy
If you need a chilling reminder of how weirdly different the United States is to New Zealand…then abortion rights is the place to start. Last […]
Gordon Campbell on political twins, and on Labour extending its wage subsidy scheme
A quick quiz for the weekend. Which political party currently represented in Parliament issued a press release yesterday that contained these stirring passages: “[We have] […]
Gordon Campbell on the problems the pandemic is causing for Big Oil
Chances are, climate change won’t kill you overnight, and that’s got to be significant. Yet while we were all in lockdown listening to the birdsong, […]
Gordon Campbell on the virtues (and fluffed opportunities) of the Operation Burnham report
One unspoken rule of thumb in any official public inquiry is : whatever you do, don’t conclude you were made to listen to “a litany […]
Gordon Campbell on showing the Aussies how to reach a consensus on quarantine fees
Back at the dawn of time, MMP was created (a) to impose a discipline on government and (b) to prevent any one party from riding […]
Gordon Campbell on the Greens’ attempts to look like underdogs
The Greens’ opposition to homecoming New Zealanders being required to pay about $3,000 towards the cost of their two week Covid-19 quarantine, needs to be […]
Gordon Campbell on using the Army to soak up the Covid unemployed
Once the government’s wage subsidies run out and the Covid job losses really kick in, there could – conceivably – be a role for the […]
Gordon Campbell on who really deserves sympathy when stress makes people behave badly
Sex always makes people sit up and pay attention to what‘s on the news bulletins. The political circus aside…. Power (not sex) has really been […]
Gordon Campbell on why high taxes and austerity shouldn’t ruin the Covid recovery
Even before you factor in the tendency of National’s caucus to self-implode, Judith Collins should have her work cut out. Somehow, she has to convince […]
Gordon Campbell on the mainstream media’s romance with Judith Collins
Crikey. It feels like the media and Judith Collins should just get a room and be done with it. Such has been the commentariat’s love […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s Great Leap Backwards
It isn’t surprising that at the height of its disarray, National should have looked for certainty and picked the least introspective candidate on offer. With […]
Gordon Campbell on the Todd Muller resignation
Given the factions within National’s own caucus, anyone picked as the new leader of the National Party will struggle to unify their own troops, let […]
Gordon Campbell on why Todd Muller needs to own the privacy leak scandal
Whenever a political scandal breaks, party leaders have two basic options. They can confess to being in boots and all, and try to brazen it […]
Gordon Campbell on why we shouldn’t be pushed into re-opening our borders
I believe in yesterday as much as Paul McCartney, but it was bemusing to see the amount of media attention lavished last week on the […]