Gordon Campbell on the politics of hoping for the best
As the new daily Delta case numbers surge upwards, it is getting harder for the captains of Team Five Million to make decisions that still […]
Health Policy
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 why China’s pact with Iran is a big deal, and why a vaccination target isn’t
One of the most significant developments in global politics in a generation has flown in almost entirely beneath the radar of the Western media. On […]
Gordon Campbell on Australia’s superior ways of communicating about its vaccine rollout
It isn’t only on the cricket field that Australia performs better. The clarity and degree of detail in Australia’s published schedule of the priorities for […]
Gordon Campbell on who decides on the priority list for Covid vaccines
During the past week, the nation has gone through a range of mixed feelings about south Auckland. Understandably, there’s been a hankering in some quarters […]
Gordon Campbell on the rivals for the Covid saliva testing dollar
As the cliché goes, every crisis is an opportunity. The pandemic seems no exception. To be clear though: at any time, it is quite OK […]
Gordon Campbell on why we should extend the lockdown
As Bloomberg says, impatience can be contagious. The kids in the back seat during the lockdown – Mike Hosking, Barry Soper, David Seymour etc – […]
Gordon Campbell on why we should support the junior doctors strike
The powers that individual DHBs are seeking look like a throwback to the early 1990s. Then, as now, the rationale was that this local “flexibility” was necessary.
Gordon Campbell on Wellington’s bus experiment, and the nurses dispute
Is the result a better, safer, cheaper, quicker and more convenient service than what it replaced? You must be kidding.
Gordon Campbell on our latest trade pact dealings, and the mental health review
Jacinda Ardern is flatly, 100% wrong when she says that most countries are now chasing multilateral trade deals like the TPP 11 deal she’s due to sign in Chile on March 8.
Gordon Campbell on the funding crisis in the public health system
Much as Health Minister Jonathan Coleman may like to muddy the water, the crisis in our public health system is hardly the fault of the […]
Gordon Campbell on DHB deficits and free trade
DHBs are under intense pressure to reduce deficits within a climate of chronic underfunding.
Gordon Campbell on tobacco politicking, and the TPP death watch
Has Act leader David Seymour got the easiest job in the world, or what?
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 Pharmac’s grudging concession to reality
Is this any way to run a health system… whereby terminally ill patients are forced into public demonstrations before the government (and its funding agency […]
Gordon Campbell on Pharmac’s indefensible stance on the new melanoma drugs
One of the interesting line items in this month’s Budget will be the one that sets out the increase – if any – in Pharmac’s […]
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 Pharmac’s unequal battle over the funding of Keytruda
Sad to say, but the Key government has never showed much stomach for saying ‘No’ to corporate lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry or the film […]
Gordon Campbell on our underfunded Syrian refugee intake, and dairy industry carnage
Once again, our little show pony Prime Minister is prancing around the world offering to take in refugees – from Syria, from Nauru – while […]
Gordon Campbell on the Defence Force’s spending bonanza
It has been a fairly typical week for this government… mental health services in Christchurch slashed, further massive cuts to DHB funding, and the abdication […]
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 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. […]
Gordon Campbell on Serco’s emerging role as the government’s favourite corporate crony, and the TPP fallout
There’s no success like failure, as Bob Dylan once said, and Serco’s failures mean nothing but trouble on the horizon for ordinary New Zealanders. Unfortunately, […]
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 the TPP countdown, and Mary Margaret O’Hara
While Australia and the US have reached agreement on the patent exclusivity term for biologics – the new drugs that have been one of the […]
Gordon Campbell on New Zealand’s TPP done deal on dairy, and on investor-state disputes
For five years, the public has been denied any meaningful information about the content and progress of the TPP – on the bogus excuse that […]
Gordon Campbell on why we should still oppose investor-state dispute measures
Even in this dark hour for the TPP, the secrecy farce continues. On RNZ this morning, Trade Minister Tim Groser said he looks forward to […]
Gordon Campbell on the PM’s concessions about medicines and the TPP
So, on the eve of the last round of talks meant to finalise the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, Prime Minister John Key has conceded […]
Gordon Campbell on the 1990s retro proposals for our health system
Reviews are under way that could transform the New Zealand health system into our very own version of the Eurozone, whereby DHBs that fail to […]
Gordon Campbell on telling the poor to ask for more
The government’s “let them ask for more” response to the dilapidated, cold and unhealthy conditions faced by many families in state housing can only be […]