Gordon Campbell on tobacco politicking, and the TPP death watch
Has Act leader David Seymour got the easiest job in the world, or what?
Very Important
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 the latest allegations against Helen Clark
According to former PM and UNDP leader current Helen Clark, the allegations leveled at her this week in a Foreign Policy magazine article by the […]
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on bank scandals and air crashes
Libor. It stands for the London Interbank Offered rate. Back in 2012, Libor became synonymous with a scandal involving the dodgy manipulation of how interest […]
Gordon Campbell on electricity pricing, executions, and Bob Dylan at 75
This week, New Zealand’s crisis of poverty and homelessness has been making headlines around the world. At exactly the same time, Electricity Authority has unveiled […]
Gordon Campbell on New Zealand’s support for the Kazakh dictatorship
Thanks to Sacha Baron Cohen, Kazakhstan will always seem like a bit of a jokey, ramshackle kind of place. To that end, the Stuff story […]
Gordon Campbell on the proposed media merger
Monopolies are bad for people, and bad for capitalism, too. Look at what happened in the late 1980s when a Labour government handed a state […]
Gordon Campbell on the future of conservatism
For years, observers have noted the contrast between Prime Minister John Key’s ordinary Kiwi bloke persona, and the patrician prat more commonly seen in Parliament. […]
Gordon Campbell on how class colours the reactions to the Panama Papers
Not many heroes so far in the Panama Papers saga, but any number of villains. Those villains happen to include: criminals laundering their ill gotten […]
Gordon Campbell on the govt’s token plans for cyber-security
Basically, the world is divided into two types of people: those who think the Panama Papers illustrate the bad shit that some people do, and […]
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 not crying foul, Argentina
So a couple of guys found to be criminally liable of environmental pollution in Argentina lodge an application with the Overseas Investment Office… in order […]
Gordon Campbell on having an extradition treaty with China
Reportedly, an extradition treaty with China is now on the table, although – thankfully – Prime Minister John Key has also indicated that a lot […]
Gordon Campbell On Our Fearless PM's Foray Into China
Don’t mention the South China Sea dispute. Oh, but he will! Earlier this week, the image of dauntless Prime Minister John Key not backing down […]
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on political rhetoric, and the Dark Triad
Unfortunately, the systematic use of tax avoidance strategies – by corporates and by wealthy individuals – is not occurring in a vacuum. At an accelerating […]
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 (missing) US links to the Panama Papers, and Merle Haggard
Belatedly, US complicity in the global tax avoidance systems is now trickling out into daylight. To some, one of the suspicious aspects of the scandal […]
Gordon Campbell on living in denial about the Panama Papers
So now we know why New Zealand won all those awards for being the ‘easiest place to do business.’ Evidently, foreign firms that register in […]
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 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 how Obama’s Supreme Court choice says everything (bad) about his presidency
Nothing has epitomised the presidency of Barack Obama quite like his Supreme Court nominees. Time and again, Republican presidents will blithely nominate right wing ideological […]
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 the security services review, and Bernie Sanders’ victory against the TPP
To no-one’s real surprise, the Cullen/Reddy review of the security services has recommended an extension of the powers of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), […]
Gordon Campbell on the sense of entitlement shared by Fonterra, Affco and Todd Barclay
Fonterra’s explanation for its behavior towards the small firms it engages – it has reportedly asked its suppliers to reduce their charges in order ‘to […]
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 Rubio’s last stand, and tonight’s Sleater-Kinney show
Well, it certainly was entertaining to watch Rubio succeed in getting under Donald Trump’s skin the other day, in the last debate before tomorrow’s Super […]
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 […]