Gordon Campbell on Ardern, Davos, and the wellbeing schtick
The ‘wellbeing budget’ sounds like a marketing slogan… It’s just as easy to forget that GDP – the common measure of how well an economy is performing – is also a marketing device
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Gordon Campbell on why shipping is New Zealand’s big new trade problem
Brexit is not the only concern for New Zealand’s Shipping Trade.
Gordon Campbell on the Brexit Vote Aftermath
Normally when a major policy like this gets so crushingly rejected – by 230 votes – the PM would resign and/or a fresh election called.
Gordon Campbell on the ongoing carnage in Gaza
The past month has devoted a lot of space to the best music and films of 2018, and far less to the past year’s human rights violations.
Gordon Campbell on MBIE’s social media scam
Given the ambit of MBIE’s work, almost any form of social activity could qualify as being part of MBIE’s brief, so the privacy threats posed by this training programme are extensive.
Gordon Campbell on our history of selling out the Kurds
For the past 100 years, the West has sold out the Kurds over and over again.
Gordon Campbell on the reactionary politics of fear
Fear has become such a routine part of the political toolkit that it hardly gets noticed anymore, for what it is.
Gordon Campbell on why Thompson+ Clark are just the tip of the iceberg
It seems naive to bemoan how state agencies spy on ordinary citizens without addressing how those agencies came to be the hired hands of the policies of the government of the day.
Gordon Campbell on the best music tracks of 2018
Oliver Godji, who records as Octavian, is a French/British/Angolan rapper based in London. As someone born in Lille, France, he didn’t qualify for welfare in Britain…
Gordon Campbell on whether Trump is likely to be impeached
‘Tis the season to be jolly, and for wrapping a plea bargain under the Christmas tree for all ye formerly merry, Trump-connected gentlemen.
Gordon Campbell on the Brexit & Huawei clusterfudges
Come December 2019, the West’s social democracies could be gone through quite a few changes at the top.
Gordon Campbell on Judgment Day for Theresa May
Crunch time is looming on Tuesday night in Britain, amid every sign that May’s compromise deal for Brexit is headed for a heavy defeat.
Gordon Campbell on whether the Pope of Parliament can ever be anything other than a Catholic
’Tis the season of goodwill towards all humankind… except it would seem, towards the Speaker of Parliament.
Gordon Campbell on why we politely fake the obituaries for politicians
One unfortunate side effect of “personality politics” is that when prominent politicians die, the niceties we observe at the death of private individuals get extended to them as well.
Gordon Campbell on five lingering questions about the Huawei ban
The ban on Spark using Huawei technology within their planned 5G phone and Internet network continues to raise more questions than answers.
Gordon Campbell on how banning Huawei fits into our new hostility towards China
Consumers will probably have to pay more for 5G services, as a result of the decision to invoke national security concerns to ban Huawei technology from our new 5G networks.
Gordon Campbell on Emmanuel Macron’s no good, very bad year
Earlier this year, PM Jacinda Ardern’s harmonious meeting with Emmanuel Macron was deemed to be the most important political coup of her entire trip to Europe.
Gordon Campbell on the meningococcal vaxing, and NZ’s response to Brexit
The government has announced a vaccination programme to help combat an outbreak of the deadly W strain of meningococcal disease in Northland…
Quiz: Advice for National on a Judith Collins Leadership Bid, or Quote from My Unpublished Indiana Jones Fan Fic?
Judith Collins is, as they say of aspiring leaders and infected sores everywhere, running.
Gordon Campbell on New Zealand’s complicity in Africa’s last great neo-colonial dispute
If David Parker really wants to hone his crisis-managing chops, he maybe should be turning his attention to the Western Sahara
Gordon Campbell on how Malaysia has exposed our dodgy policies towards China
Mahathir Mohamad has exposed how New Zealand is trying to make a virtue out of sitting on the fence over the South China Sea dispute
Gordon Campbell on the latest roll of the Brexit dice, and prisoner voting
Brexit has left the British public looking like a nation of Wellington bus commuters.
Gordon Campbell on why the Royal Commission into child abuse needs to change its timeframe
Obviously, it is good news that the coalition government has broadened the scope of its Royal Commission into the abuse of children, beyond its previous focus on children in state care.
Gordon Campbell on why the Democratic leadership could now make fatal compromises with Trump
In the end, the Democratic Party won a clear victory in the House, and lost as expected in the Senate…
Gordon Campbell on the Aussie banks and their profits
You will land in big trouble if you try to rob a bank. (Don’t do it people.) But when banks rob us, we will worry about whether they might have an attitude problem.
Gordon Campbell on maximizing the gains from the Avatar sequels
Theoretically, the screen industry should have all the talent at its fingertips to communicate the socio-economic value of what it does. To date, it hasn’t done much to do so.
Gordon Campbell on ministerial transparency, presidential lies (and Bob Dylan)
Minister gets inadequate advice from departmental officials, gets caught out. That’s embarrassing, but hardly of lasting impact…
Gordon Campbell on (finally) changing the abortion law
As many observers have noted, New Zealand has a very conservative abortion law in place that has always been interpreted liberally in practice…
Gordon Campbell on why deportation decisions should be transparent
Kicking the problematic cases upstairs for the Minister to operate as some kind of ‘last chance saloon’ is to turn the deportation decision into a lottery.
Gordon Campbell on our addiction to the monarchy
Of all the major outposts of Empire, New Zealand has always been the very last to shed its fascination with the British royals.