Columns

Gordon Campbell on why the dice are loaded against women in public life

January 21, 2020 0

If they enter public life, women can expect a type of intense (and contradictory) scrutiny that is rarely applied to their male counterparts. If they […]

Gordon Campbell on the excellent new classroom materials about climate change

January 15, 2020 0

Inevitably, children hear a lot about climate change – on the news, on the street, from their friends – and a lot of that news […]

Gordon Campbell on the Iran aftermath

January 9, 2020 0

So, evidently, you can get away with murder. It looks as though a further escalation in the ongoing war between Iran and the US has […]

Gordon Campbell on the Aussie bush fires, and the killing of Qassem Suleimani

January 6, 2020 0

In popular culture, Australia is often portrayed as Western civilisation’s last unspoiled frontier, or as its final refuge from planetary disaster. In Nevil Shute’s best-selling […]

Gordon Campbell on the best music of 2019

Gordon Campbell December 19, 2019 0

In a year where so many of the highlights came from female musicians, there was one standout album…

Gordon Campbell on Scotland’s renewed battle for independence

Gordon Campbell December 18, 2019 0

While it isn’t surprising that Boris Johnson won the election, he might also have lost the United Kingdom

Gordon Campbell on what any White Island inquiry might look like

Gordon Campbel December 16, 2019 0

Presumably, if there is to be a ministerial inquiry (at the very least) into the Whakaari/White Island disaster, it will need to be a joint ministerial inquiry.

Gordon Campbell on why raising benefits is a better option than spending on infrastructure

Gordon Campbell December 12, 2019 0

If New Zealand has a pressing need to stimulate its flagging economy, it seems very weird to meet this need with a $12 billion package of infrastructure spending…

Gordon Campbell on the Whakaari/White Island eruption

Gordon Campbell December 10, 2019 0

New Zealand itself is at risk of being seen as a tourism destination where commercial factors determine the boundary line of acceptable risk

Gordon Campbell on the recent upheavals inside Iran, and Coldplay

Gordon Campbell December 5, 2019 0

In the fortnight since the Internet got switched back on in Iran, the ferocity of the crackdown on the recent demonstrations has become evident.

Gordon Campbell on stoking fears about cannabis law reform

Gordon Campbell December 4, 2019 0

It was always going to be hard to have a rational debate on cannabis reform. Far easier for politicians to win votes by stoking alarm.

Gordon Campbell on the likely role of PPPs in Labour’s infrastructural spending

Gordon Campbell December 2, 2019 0

The same argument that Robertson has made for these projects apply equally to why the government should borrow the money to build them itself

Gordon Campbell on the alleged sins of New Zealand First

Gorodn Campbell November 28, 2019 0

Be it the scandals he has uncovered (eg the Winebox) or the scandals he has featured in… Winston Peters is, as they say, good copy.

Gordon Campbell on China’s bad week, and Labour’s tribalism

Gordon Campbell November 26, 2019 0

Even before the local body election results came in from Hong Kong, China had been having a p.r. nightmare this week.

Gordon Campbell on the welcome restoration of prisoners’ right to vote

Gordon Campbell November 25, 2019 0

One one front, the government has now done the right thing, and has partially restored the right of prisoners to vote

Gordon Campbell on why New Zealand should be compensating the Afghan civilian casualties on its old firing range

Gordon Campbell November 20, 2019 0

Reportedly, there have been 17 civilian deaths and injuries (seven of the dead were children) caused by ordnance left behind on the firing range of our Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamiyan province.

Gordon Campbell on Labour’s age problem, and the battle for Port Hills

Gordon Campbell November 18, 2019 0

Labour has been steadily improving its gender balance… yet just as steadily losing the generational battle to the Greens

Gordon Campbell on why the public is losing patience with the farming sector’s persecution complex

Gordon Campbell November 14, 2019 0

The narrative that our farmers are ‘doing it tough’ plays into a number of wellworn stereotypes…

Gordon Campbell on why Sustainable NZ isn’t self-sustaining

Gordon Campbell November 12, 2019 0

Asking whether this new, environmentally focussed party can make the 5% MMP threshold may be the wrong question…

Gordon Campbell on National’s anointing of Christopher Luxon

Gordon Campbell November 7, 2019 0

Clearly, the National Party hierarchy is very, very excited about Christopher Luxon

Gordon Campbell on giving the Police unnecessary new powers, and Spain’s elections

Gordon Campbell November 5, 2019 0

Police pursuits have a track record that makes them more dangerous than the original risk. Armed police units belong in the same category. The more insidious examples have to do with terrorism.

Gordon Campbell on National’s Stone Age package of welfare proposals

October 31, 2019 0

Gordon Campbell on National’s Stone Age package of welfare proposals Bad enough that the National Party led by Simon Bridges is still aiming to run […]

Gordon Campbell on the killing of the Islamic State leader

October 29, 2019 0

Gordon Campbell on the killing of the Islamic State leader So…as a few other reports have noted, the US has now killed the Islamic State […]

Gordon Campbell on the Greens learning to love a global destroyer of native forests, and women at work

Gordon Campbell October 24, 2019 0

Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage has allowed a Japanese-owned forestry company called Pan Pac Forest Products to bypass the Overseas Investment Office, and buy thousands of hectares of New Zealand land, without prior vetting and (apparently) without conditions attached.