Gordon Campbell On The Selling Out Of Iran
First Venezuela, then Iran. In its modern versions of gunboat diplomacy, the United States is willing to weaken a terrible regime, but not to replace […]
Columns
Gordon Campbell On The Overweening Vanity Of Winston Peters
Plainly, age had not mellowed the ability of Winston Peters to take offence on grounds not visible to ordinary mortals. Yesterday, Peters felt so miffed […]
Gordon Campbell On Frank Gehry’s Lost Vision For Te Papa
On December 5th, Frank Gehry died at the age of 96. That’s a reason to recall one of the great wasted opportunities in New Zealand’s […]
Gordon Campbell On The Uniquely Odd Aspects Of The US Attack On Venezuela
The extremely weird nature of the US assault on Venezuela is becoming more apparent by the day. This hasn’t been the usual US imperial conquest […]
Gordon Campbell On The US Attack On Venezuela
In the wake of Winston Peters lame response to the US attack on Venezuela, its almost enough to make one yearn for the good old […]
Gordon Campbell On GDP Growth, And Other Holiday Diversions
No one likes being a downer at Christmas time, so…as we look forward into 2026, we can all agree that some economic growth is better […]
Gordon Campbell On The Wisdom Of Driving Faster Up An Economic Cul De Sac, And The Bondi Aftermath
Tomorrow is a long time, as Bob Dylan once said, and while Dylan wasn’t singing about our prospects of economic recovery, the mood of frustrated […]
Gordon Campbell On Why The State Wants To Regulate How Children Play
Reportedly, the on again, off again debate between Ruth Richardson and Nicola Willis may be on again. Fabolous. Nothing can help us better understand a […]
Gordon Campbell On The Shrinking Lack Of Alternatives Here, And In The US
Nicola Willis vs Ruth Richardson? Alien vs Predator? Thankfully, everyone may now be having second thoughts. We all deserve better than a contest between these […]
Gordon Campbell On Why Christmas Spending Is Starting To Feel Like A Scam
Mother’s Day, Father’s Day…there are a couple of other occasions when shopping is mobilised to express love and appreciation. (Black Friday panders to more basic […]
Gordon Campbell On Our Reneging On Climate Change, And Labour’s Chronic Evasiveness
Politicians are often urged to reach consensus on certain issues, so that everything doesn’t just flip back again when there’s a change of government. Unfortunately, […]
Gordon Campbell On The Rates Cap Gambit, And Chile’s Dire Future
For many councils, the Luxon government’s plan to restrict the ability of local councils to increase rates to a range of between two and four […]
Gordon Campbell On The Coup Against Local Government
It’s democracy Jim, but not as we know it. In line with the plans that the government unveiled this week to reform local government, the […]
Gordon Campbell On Our Faith-Based Economic Recovery
For months, the economic recovery has been said to be imminent, and the forecasters at the banks keep promoting that message, even though the former […]
Gordon Campbell On The Ferries Fiasco, Soft Power And Gaza
Good to hear someone calling “bullshit” on Winston Peters, and on his claims to have saved the taxpayer $2.3 billion on the Cook Strait ferries. […]
Gordon Campbell On Why We Should De-Criminalise Personal Drug Use
For gangs, the Misuse of Drugs Act (1975) has been one of the best recruiting tools they’ve ever had. Criminalisation of a raft of illicit […]
Gordon Campbell On The Toxic Police Culture That Enabled Jevon McSkimming
In the wake of the IPCA report, it is easy to understand why the politicians have been so willing to endorse terms like “cover up” […]
Gordon Campbell On Asset Sales, And Targeting The Homeless
So asset sales are back on the agenda, and will be dependent only on the coalition government getting re-elected next year. Yikes. Right wing governments […]
Gordon Campbell On Mamdani, And How The Luxon Government Is Expanding The Powers Of The State
First, some good news. Zohran Mamdani has won the mayoral race in New York and as the prophet Leonard Cohen once said, taking Manhattan is […]
Gordon Campbell On How Rich People Feel Affronted By A Capital Gains Tax
But first…the “shock and awe” tactics being deployed by the government against the teaching profession are extensive. They include ramming through rushed and comprehensive curriculum […]
Gordon Campbell On Our Looming Spending Spree On Japanese Frigates
Like the Americans, maybe we should be re-naming our Ministry of Defence as the Ministry of War. The new frigates New Zealand is about to […]
Gordon Campbell On Labour’s CGT, The Government’s Mean Spirit, And Timor-Leste’s Future
Finally, Labour has released its capital gains tax policy. Labour’s CGT would levy a 28% tax on sales of commercial properties and investment housing, and […]
Gordon Campbell On The Coalition’s Peddling Of Bad News As Good News
At what point does a Cabinet minister distorting the statistics on issues in their portfolio amount to a sackable offence? Earlier this week, Children’s Minister […]
Gordon Campbell On Māori Customary Rights, And Why Trump Thinks We Don’t Need AUKUS
If something isn’t really broken, no wonder people feel suspicious when government promises to “fix” it to the potential benefit of corporate interests. In 2011, […]
Gordon Campbell On Why The Nation Seems To Be Stuck With Christopher Luxon
When you wheel out Judith Collins as your weapon of last resort, you’ve already lost the battle for public opinion, and are pitching your messages […]
Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Dodgy Claims About Reading Achievement
The spectacular improvements in reading achievement announced by Education Minister Erica Stanford on Monday were almost too good to be true – so it isn’t […]
Gordon Campbell On New Zealand’s Willing Submission To The Pentagon’s Command And Control
Decades ago, Alexander Cockburn wrote a column pointing out that the true believers in the power and precision of the defence industry’s latest weaponry tend […]
Gordon Campbell On Our Tanking Economy, And US Vigilante Justice
Imagine your house has a plumbing problem. A plumbing firm tendering for the job assures you that hey, no problem they can fix it, so […]
Gordon Campbell On Luxon Advising Young People To Get Out While They Still Can
If anyone under 35 still had mixed feelings about leaving New Zealand to build a future elsewhere, PM Christopher Luxon probably sealed the deal this […]
Gordon Campbell On The Social Media Ban For Young Kids
Young people have been going to the dogs ever since oh, 1912. The proposed social media ban for under 16 year olds (14 years is […]