Gordon Campbell on the banning of a leading Iranian film-maker
For the past fortnight, New Zealand has been obsessing on the reputational risk to this country of being seen as a tax haven – despite […]
Film
Gordon Campbell on the political tokenism of the government’s response to the Panama Papers
Image by Grant Buist Prime Minister John Key could have dealt with the clamour for an independent inquiry into the Panama Papers scandal in a […]
Gordon Campbell on the tension between health and defence spending, and Batman v Superman
What is the more rational use of taxpayer money? In one instance, we have New Zealanders with orthopedic problems living in pain until they can […]
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 Phil Goff mayoral candidacy
What is about the centre right in Auckland? There they are, in the citadel of commerce, and yet they’re routinely unable to put up a […]
Gordon Campbell on copyright, the Authors Guild case and the TPP
A few days ago, Google finally and comprehensively won a very long-running case brought against it by the Authors Guild which had claimed that Google’s […]
Gordon Campbell on the TPP deal reached in Atlanta
If the TPP was the Rugby World Cup, the New Zealand team probably wouldn’t be making it out of pool play. While the final details […]
Gordon Campbell on Donald Trump, and Dr Dre
For the past few months, you, me, and Rupert Murdoch have been waiting for the wheels to fall off the Trump campaign, and for some […]
Gordon Campbell on the Sepp Blatter resignation
Any initial elation at Sepp Blatter’s resignation as the overlord of FIFA will be tempered by his declared intention to stay on until at least […]
Gordon Campbell on the Cullen Review of our security service
Whatever the conflicts and point scoring between them on other issues, National and Labour have always spoken virtually as one on free trade and the […]
Gordon Campbell on a union victory in the fast food industry
Good to have a reminder of why trade unions are still essential in the 21st century. The scrapping of zero hour contract provisions by the […]
Gordon Campbell on the dairy contamination threats, and parental policing of scary movies
The sole upside for the government in its release of a three month old threat to contaminate infant formula is that the story knocked Winston […]
Gordon Campbell on the America’s Cup, and Lee Marvin
Like the Commonwealth Games, the America’s Cup is one of those large sporting events that is struggling to find anyone foolish enough to want to […]
On the subsidies for The Hobbit
It does have a familiar Winston Peters ring to it. Peters’ proposal earlier this week that Warners should repay its Hobbit subsidies taps into (a) […]
Dark Knight of the Soul
The Batman finale, plus Alyx Duncan and Dan Salmon
Old Blighty Goes Down For The Count
Patrick Keiller’s films about his faux intellectual, Robinson. Also : Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre
On the relevance of the latest Hobbit revelations
This morning’s release by RNZ of its OIA requests on The Hobbit is not ancient history. It offers a rare glimpse into the fashion in […]
On Gerry Brownlee, the Christchurch recovery and Jafar Panahi
Famously, Winston Churchill once described one of his American political allies as being “the only bull I know who carries his own china shop around […]
On The Hunger Games and body image
Earlier this year, Next magazine published a scary survey on the body image of young New Zealand women, a story that prompted Labour MP Sue […]
Pedro Does Vertigo
Pedro Almodovar’s fresh take on the Hitchcock classic about sex, obsession and second chances
Nature’s Boy
The films of Terrence Malick, from Badlands to Tree of Life
On Peter Jackson and the West Memphis Three
At first glance, the news earlier this week that Peter Jackson has just completed a documentary on the West Memphis Three case might seem somewhat […]
On sports injury; and the West Memphis Three aftermath
[See below for The West Memphis Three aftermath] Imagine if there was a party drug known to kill a number of teenagers around the world […]
On The Release Of The West Memphis Three
Good news stories are few and far between, and the release from jail of the West Memphis Three is definitely one of those moments to […]
Why The Long Face ?
Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse, and the controversy about slow cinema
On Iran’s increasing paranoia, and its attempts to unplug from the Web
YouTube – This Is Not A Film – Teaser 1 A few months ago, Scoop ran several articles about the Iranian film director Jafar Panahi, […]
On the Brash coup attempt, and Sean Penn
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com For now, the attempt at a hostile takeover of the Act Party by former National Party leader Don Brash […]
On legal aid, and the definitive account of the Hobbit saga
For a party that made the Nanny State such a big part of its 2008 election campaign, today’s cutbacks to legal aid are merely National’s […]
On the Key government’s lame response to Jafar Panahi
Click for big version The audience goes in to a support screening of Jafar Panahi’s film ‘Offside’ in Wellington on Sunday. Down at the Ministry […]
On Hone Harawira, and Jafar Panahi at the Oscars
None of the recommendations from yesterday’s hui in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate are likely to delight the Maori Party leadership, but the one that […]