Gordon Campbell on why welfare reform has no champions in Parliament
Ever since Victorian times, the unemployed have been a problem for those more fortunate, wealthy and powerful. Down the ages, society has been torn between […]
Economy
Gordon Campbell on Budget 2020
Welcome to the breadline. Treasury’s best case scenario sees unemployment reaching 9.8% by September and yet… the coalition government seems to have decided it can […]
Gordon Campbell on Level Two, and Little Richard
Level Two will be life Jim, but not as we’ve known it. At 4pm today, PM Jacinda Ardern will announce the Cabinet decision on when […]
Gordon Campbell on one of the shadows over Level Two
For many New Zealanders, the imminent shift to Level Two is going to be a momentous occasion. Here’s another looming landmark likely to be just […]
Gordon Campbell on the trans-Tasman bubble, and the future of airlines
As the epidemiologists keep on saying, a trans-Tasman bubble will require having in place beforehand a robust form of contact tracing, of tourists and locals […]
Gordon Campbell on the dodgy politics of easing Level Three
As countries around the world tentatively emerge from lockdown, a lot of political noise is being generated by politically-driven arguments that (a) the safeguards need […]
Gordon Campbell on exceptions for tourism, and on the quest for a Covid-19 vaccine
As David Foster Wallace famously pointed out, each of us regard our own precious selves as the realest, most vivid and important persons in the […]
Gordon Campbell on living at Level Three with residual anxiety
Two weeks. That’s roughly the length of time the government has given itself between moving to Level Three, and making a decision on May 11 […]
Gordon Campbell on why governments are in effect, printing cash to defeat Covid-19
Part of the psychology of moving to Level Three is the sense of people heading back to work – at least 400,000 more of them […]
Gordon Campbell on living with the extension, and with Edward Hopper
In the end, it was obvious that the lockdown had to be extended. According to epidemiologist Ayesha Verrall, our tracing systems are still struggling to […]
Gordon Campbell on why we shouldn’t be trying to emulate Australia
On today’s Coronocast podcast on the ABC state broadcasting network in Australia, New Zealand’s policy of going out hard early with a stringent economic shutdown […]
Gordon Campbell on the argument over whether lives or livelihoods are more important
It is hardly business as usual, but this week is shaping up to be all about business and its needs, how the economy will emerge […]
Gordon Campbell on the changes that Covid-19 is causing, plus a Spotify playlist for y’all
Will life (and the economy) ever be the same again after the Covid-19 crisis is over? Obviously not, even leaving aside the impact on people […]
Gordon Campbell on the rationing of PPE gear, masks and everything else
From the outset, the perceived need to ration our scarce resources seems to have driven the response to Covid-19. Rationing still appears to be limiting […]
Gordon Campbell on the ethics (and some of the economics) of lifting the lockdown
As New Zealand passes the half-way mark towards moving out of Level Four lockdown, the trade-offs involved in life-after-lockdown are starting to come into view. […]
Gordon Campbell on the lockdown, masks and aerosol transmission
I ronically, our relative success in suppressing the exponential spread of Covid-19 is only increasing the pressure to ease back from those measures, on a […]
Gordon Campbell on wage cuts, and the Listener’s demise
Various levels of across the board wage cuts – 10%? 15% ?- are being mooted for workers in some of our larger firms, in order […]
Gordon Campbell on the changes hitting the economy, work, and the benefit system
The economy may be falling like a rock but it hasn’t hit the bottom of the well yet, here or anywhere else. Time is so […]
Gordon Campbell on why worrying about business confidence is a wasted effort
For reasons that amount to little more than a prolonged political sulk over last year’s election result, the corporate world is talking itself into a tantrum.
Gordon Campbell on the Peters/Ardern triumph
On the Peters/Ardern triumph by Gordon Campbell There are a lot of good reasons to feel joyful about this outcome. It is what so many […]
Ten Reasons For Not Voting National
Three more years of business as usual is the real risk.
Gordon Campbell on yesterday’s Budget
Budgies, so their Wikipedia page says, are popular pets around the world due to their small size, low cost, and ability to mimic human speech. […]
Gordon Campbell on Trump and the Madman Theory
Years ago, Richard Nixon explained to his chief adviser Bob Haldeman what has since become known as the “Madman Theory” of foreign policy. Basically, if […]
Gordon Campbell on Kiwirail’s latest stint in the dogbox
The denigration of Kiwirail continues. The latest review (based on a 2014 assessment) of the options facing the company have enabled Kiwirail to be hung […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s impotence towards the banks, and Iran
One of the defining features of this government’s political style is how often Prime Minister John Key chooses to sound like a mere observer of […]
Gordon Campbell on the Aussie banks, and patriotic death porn about the flag
If the New Zealand economy was a tennis player, it would be Maria Sharapova – a player reportedly reliant on artificial stimulants, and corporate endorsements. […]
Gordon Campbell on bribing the Saudis and Oscar racism
Does this sound familiar? In the mid 2000s, New Zealand wanted to pursue a humanitarian policy, on live sheep exports. This happened to offend a […]
On why the TPP is something we shouldn’t sign, and that Labour should oppose
So the Trans Pacific Partnership is due to be signed next week. This means very little, beyond a confirmation that the text being signed was […]
Gordon Campbell on China, Oscar racism and Kate Tempest
China, China, China… Donald Trump is not the only one obsessed with the Middle Kingdom these days. For the past year or more, countries have […]
Gordon Campbell on the myopia of the business news
Listening to the business news is a bit like eavesdropping on the radio transmissions from space aliens. There is no discernible connection between the concerns […]