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
Gordon Campbell on Paula Bennett’s fantasy politics and Iran
We seem to be living in an era of virtual government, where governments promote only an illusion of policy kapow! rather than the sort of […]
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on making the media pay for OIA requests
Click for big version. So it seems that since November, the Reserve Bank has been quietly enacting a policy of charging the media for Official […]
Gordon Campbell on Clinton, Sanders, Trump and Cruz
Come November, the world will have a new US president-elect and the least unlikely winner still looks to be Hillary Clinton. Right now though, the […]
Gordon Campbell on David Bowie
With hindsight, this last week must have been a race to get David Bowie’s final album Blackstar out – and reviewed – before his death […]
Gordon Campbell on Podemos, and Spain’s election stalemate
The events of 2015 taught us a lot about the potential ( and the limits) of left wing populism. Syriza in Greece had started the […]
Gordon Campbell on our Feeble Response to Atrocities in SA
With an ally like Saudi Arabia, who needs enemies? In the past 15 years, the West can thank the House of Saud for • Providing […]
Gordon Campbell on the Dotcom extradition decision
Inevitably – and with justification – Kim Dotcom has already lodged an appeal against yesterday’s District Court decision that he is eligible for extradition to […]
Gordon Campbell on the rejection of a Pakistani polio worker
Too bad that the New Zealand Immigration and Protection (hah!) Tribunal don’t know how to use Google. If they did, their bizarre decision to send […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s endorsement of a combat role
Normally, it is governments that drop their unpalatable measures in the shadow of Christmas, but this time the Labour Opposition is doing so. Apparently, if […]
Gordon Campbell on the Police harassment of Nicky Hager
So now we know. If you’ve done something to really annoy the Establishment – hello, Kim Dotcom, Heather Du Plessis Allen, Nicky Hager and teapot […]
Gordon Campbell on how the Republicans just buried the TPP
In case you were still holding your breath about the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, you can relax. For months, it has seemed increasingly unlikely […]
Gordon Campbell on MP pay rises, and the Paris agreement
Somehow, the ‘need” for belt tightening – or of stemming the rise in income inequality – just goes right out the window at this time […]
Gordon Campbell on Tim Groser’s new job in Washington
If you ever played word association games with the name “ Tim Groser” it would normally take a long, long time for anyone to suggest […]
Gordon Campbell on the view from Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
Sorry for being out of radio contact overseas for much of this week, even as the Cunliffe/Mahuta duo were being deep-sixed by that feisty Labour […]
Gordon Campbell On Turkey And Russia
So why did Turkey shoot down that Russian plane? According to the Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, it was all about Turkey (a) being hand in […]
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 why Islamic State’s growing weakness makes it more dangerous
One of the great things about writing online is that if you have a bad morning, readers will pick up on it, and take you […]
Gordon Campbell on Islam and the Paris attacks
According to polls, a third of Republican voters in Iowa want Islam to be criminalized. Unfortunately, the cornfields of middle America aren’t the only place […]
Gordon Campbell on John Key’s do’s and don’ts list when it comes to detainees
Since Prime Minister John Key plainly has trouble with the leadership thing, maybe we should keep it simple for him. So, here’s a list of […]
Gordon Campbell on the John Key smear attack, Russia’s sports doping and Allen Toussaint
The rationale behind Prime Minister John Key’s smear attack against Labour yesterday (and the subsequent walkout from Parliament) was obvious enough. When you’re in a […]
Gordon Campbell on being accountable, and holding the powerful to account
Don’t know how you feel about it, but the selective unavailability of Ministers and senior public servants to media scrutiny seems to be a growing […]
Gordon Campbell on Malcolm Turnbull, and rugby mania
When Malcolm Turnbull took over as PM across the Tasman, much was made of him citing the populist touch of Prime Minister John Key – […]
Gordon Campbell on our role in the deliberate non-defeat of Islamic State
Unlike the US and (allies like New Zealand) Russia and Iran have a very clear goal for their intervention in Syria. Russia and Iran want […]
Gordon Campbell on the gender pay gap
Column – Gordon Campbell Care to know what Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence thinks about the gender wage gap? No? Well, I suppose she is […]
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 lessons of the Canada election result for the Labour Party
So Canada has delivered a resounding goodbye and good riddance to Stephen Harper and his Conservative government. Yesterday’s ‘landslide’ victory for Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s refusal to tax sugar drinks and tackle obesity
True to form, the government seems more concerned about the financial health of the food industry than the actual physical health of New Zealand children. […]