Gordon Campbell on why the Biden “peace plan” for Gaza is doomed
After months and months of blocking every attempt by the UN and everyone else to achieve a Gaza ceasefire, US President Joe Biden is now […]
Australia
Gordon Campbell on China, University Funding, Ukraine
Gosh. According to a tip leaked to a journalist from the Australian newspaper by an anonymous source whose identity cannot be disclosed for secret squirrel […]
Gordon Campbell on how private profits are driving Defence spending
Speak of the devil. The Australian website Crikey has just launched an investigative series about the notorious lobbying firm Crosby Textor, or C/T as it […]
Gordon Campbell on the endless spending on Defence
Defence is the one area of government spending where the politicians never, ever demand – but how on earth do we propose to pay for […]
Gordon Campbell on tax injustice, and on being prepped for war with China
The IRD’s significant research proves that the rich (on average) are taxed on their income at less than half the rate paid by ordinary wage […]
Gordon Campbell on the Aussie citizenship changes
In all likelihood, Anthony Albanese and Chris Hipkins have quite different readings of the pathway to citizenship that has just been opened up for Kiwis […]
Gordon Campbell on the reasons for opposing AUKUS
In the early 1980s, New Zealand walked out of the ANZUS pact on principle, rather than be an accomplice to nuclear war. We now seem […]
Gordon Campbell on AUKUS and Australia’s decision on nuclear subs
Update: Evidently, Reuters were correct in the major details reported below on Werewolf, prior to the official AUKUS announcement. Yes, the US will begin to […]
Gordon Campbell on King Coal’s comeback, plus a music playlist
Of late, the news bulletins have been carrying alarming images of extreme flooding in parts of Asia, and extreme drought across Europe. Pakistan has 7,000 […]
Gordon Campbell on why we should pay Kiwis living abroad
This morning, National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis managed to get top of the bulletin news coverage by pointing out that some Kiwis living abroad might […]
Gordon Campbell on the Pacific Islands Forum gathering
In recent months, China has been widely portrayed as a major strategic threat to the Pacific region, yet the Pacific states themselves beg to differ. […]
Gordon Campbell on the fate of Julian Assange
Has swapping Scott Morrison for Anthony Albanese made any discernible difference to Australia’s relations with the US, China, the Pacific and New Zealand ? Not […]
Gordon Campbell on the Penny Wong visit
Good grief. Has foreign policy commentary really devolved to the point where our diplomatic effort is being measured by how many overseas trips have been […]
Gordon Campbell on why nurses are our prime export to Australia
That giant sucking noise is the sound of the jobs of our nurses, doctors, and midwives being vacuumed up by medical recruiters from New South […]
Gordon Campbell on the lessons from Australia’s election
Australia’s new PM Anthony Albanese faces an obvious dilemma, barely before he gets his feet under the desk. Australia is the world’s leading exporter of […]
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on rapid antigen testing
National Party leader Christopher Luxon is being allowed to get away with murder. Luxon is not being challenged over his repeated assertions that the rest […]
Gordon Campbell on the ethics of Omicron treatment, plus a playlist
As the Omicron infection wave prepares to break across New Zealand, the “red” condition is likely to be more of a form of gestural politics, […]
Gordon Campbell on Australia’s failed model of Covid best practice
In decades gone by, New Zealanders tended to diss this country by comparing it to how much better things were in the States, or in […]
Gordon Campbell on fostering the culture of Covid complaint
Success can be its own worst enemy. If the plane doesn’t crash or the ship doesn’t sink, that doesn’t prove the safety measures were unnecessary, […]
Gordon Campbell on Defence’s desire to join the ”lets confront China” club
China has been put on notice by us. According to the New Zealand Defence Assessment 2021 report released on Wednesday, and set out in bold […]
Gordon Campbell on how AUKUS undermines our no-nukes cred, plus a music playlist
Yesterday’s media outings by Covid Minister Chris Hipkins demonstrated the contradictory forces at work. First, the government is being slammed for its lack of compassion […]
Gordon Campbell on why New Zealand needs to change its Defence habits
In a flashback to the military displays of days gone by, one of our frigates recently joined a Carrier Strike show of force in the […]
Gordon Campbell on living in Seymour World
So far, the horse race journalism surrounding the polling rise of the Act Party has not included much consideration of the policies an Act -influenced […]
Gordon Campbell on Canada’s election, and the AUKUS defence pact
Yesterday, Canada held an election in which everyone lost, including the voters. After holding its most expensive ( $C600 million) election campaign ever, the result […]
Gordon Campbell on our polarised attitudes to the Covid response
Thesis meets antithesis again, this time in the pages of the New Zealand Herald. A week ago, Liam Dann wrote a column pondering how in […]
Gordon Campbell On Britain’s Pathetic Trade Deal With Australia
So much for those assurances that New Zealand would be the first cab off the rank for any post -Brexit trade deal with the United […]
Gordon Campbell on why it’s getting harder to walk the tightrope between China and the US
This morning, China announced it is changing its “two child” family limit to a “three child” policy. This looks like a desperate attempt to fix […]
Gordon Campbell on whether we’re anywhere near ready for our mass vaccine rollout
As the commencement date for New Zealand’s mass vaccination rollout looms and recedes– and it has now been pushed back until late July at the […]
Gordon Campbell on bubble economics, and the new pro-gun, pro-hunting firearms panel
The travel bubble with Australia will throw a lifeline to tourism operators, who have first-hand experience that thrifty domestic tourists are no real substitute for […]