Gordon Campbell on the rise of the far right, and battle bots
In his victory speech at the Cannes film festival this week, the British film director Ken Loach warned that the rise of far right parties […]
Race Relations
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 SIS crying wolf, the Syrian end game and Max Edwards RIP
In the wake of the Cullen/Reddy review of the security services – and the suggested extension of their powers – it seems healthy to highlight […]
Gordon Campbell on the support for the Clintons among black voters
Nevada has been conducting its politics via caucuses only since 2004, and the state’s tepid interest in this method of democratic expression still shows. Historically, […]
Gordon Campbell on the middle class anger behind the rise of Donald Trump
One of the best examples of the Alice Through The Looking Glass nature of US politics occurred on the weekend, when Donald Trump – in […]
Gordon Campbell on the Treaty/TPP overlap, and the Iowa backwash
Click for big version. The people who point out that we already have investor-state dispute settlement provisions in other trade deals and ‘so far so […]
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 Chris Brown furore
Thank goodness Dame Tariana Turia has been able to inject a bit of common sense into the Chris Brown visa issue – her argument being […]
Gordon Campbell on our response to the Syrian refugee crisis
The full scale of the New Zealand government response to the Syrian refugee crisis – reportedly, the world’s biggest humanitarian challenge since the post-war formation […]
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 plight of dairy, anti-Chinese sentiments and Pluto
Where now for dairy farmers? On RNZ this morning, Economic Development Minister Stephen Joyce was portraying the carnage of plunging global dairy prices, declining Fonterra […]
Gordon Campbell on lessons for Labour from the UK election
If the polls were right – and the pollsters kept telling us how accurate they’d been in 2010, and even Nate Silver was getting the […]
Gordon Campbell on UE pass rates and university dropout rates
Houston, there is clearly a problem with (a) the plunge in pass rates for University Entrance qualifications, which has been especially steep among Maori students […]
Gordon Campbell on the Maori “separatism” bogey
Leadership requires the leader to set aside self-interest. It is a concept that sometimes seems quite alien to Prime Minister John Key – who has […]
Gordon Campbell on the Charlie Hebdo killings and response
Now that the Kouachi brothers have made their Butch-and-Sundance dash for martyrdom, and now that the millions have marched in Paris and elsewhere to defend […]
Gordon Campbell on Winston Peters’ latest bout of immigrant bashing, and Bob Dylan in the basement (again)
So in the latest 3News-Reid Research poll, New Zealand First and the Conservatives have been the big winners. It is only one poll, but rather […]
On the UN's hypocrisy towards Richard Prosser
So the United Nations has reprimanded Richard Prosser for his “Wogistan” comments. The United Nations committee on the elimination of racial discrimination described Prosser’s comments […]
On Richard Prosser, and West Papua
Richard Prosser has been slammed for his racism by everyone except his leader. Normally, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is anxiously hyper-sensitive about what […]
On the Urewera verdicts (and Nick Smith)
While the Crown regroups and rethinks about a possible retrial of the Urewera four, the country should taking a long, hard look at how the […]
On the Maori response to the SOE asset sales
The government’s relationship with the Maori Party over the partial selldown of the state’s four energy companies is not yet terminal, but it is looking […]
On the Norway massacre
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com As the work of a homegrown right wing dissident, the Norway massacre clearly has more in common with the […]
On Don Brash’s race gambit (and Hugh Grant’s finest hour)
It must have been a grim moment indeed in the Act Party offices when the Resurrection of Orewa went up on the whiteboard as the […]
On the Te Tai Tokerau result
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com In the wake of his victory in the Te Tai Tokerau by-election, Hone Harawira has run strategic rings around […]
On the nation’s gift of a plastic waka to Ngati Whatua
Wayne Youle, ‘Often Liked, Occasionally Beaten’, 2004. From the 2006 exhibition Plastic Māori – A Tradition Of Innovation There’s a something wrong with putting the […]
On the martyrdom of Hone Harawira
The notion of a Maori Party suffering patiently for five years with an untrustworthy and disruptive Hone Harawira requires a rewrite of history that isn’t […]
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 […]
On the Paul Henry saga
So far, the penalties levied on Paul Henry’s have gone no further than a two week suspension for his on air querying of whether Kiwis […]
Gordon Campbell offers a solution to the US hostility to Islam
Bigotry has been having a bumper week, worldwide. Thankfully, the plans by the pastor of a tiny evangelical church in Florida to burn the Koran […]
Gordon Campbell on the foreshore and seabed deal, and Gaza blockade
By Gordon Campbell The Maori Party seems to have won few immediate and tangible benefits from its long awaited deal on the foreshore and seabed […]
On the rugby apology to Maori, the Gaza blockade and lying about Kiwibank
Isn’t there something truly weird about any Maori Party request to government for an apology over the exclusion of Maori players from tours to apartheid-era […]