Gordon Campbell on Qatar, Joyce Carol Oates and Mimi Parker
The FIFA World Cup has kicked off amid laments about Qatar’s terrible human rights record, and FIFA’s greed in awarding them the Cup hosting rights […]
Columns
Gordon Campbell on the case for universal free dental care
Like Banquo’s ghost, the issue of universal free dental care keeps hovering into sight at Labour’s top table. ‘Tis a goodly, progressive idea, but it […]
Gordon Campbell on abortion politics, Murdoch and the DeSantis surge
So the Democrats did a whole lot better than OK in the midterm elections despite the cost of living crisis and despite the President’s low […]
Gordon Campbell on the midterms, Adrian Orr and taxing the Banks
It used to be a joke, but it seems that a lot of Republicans really might have moved to Florida to escape from the gulag […]
Gordon Campbell on bank profits, and the US midterms
So far, the political response to excessive bank profits has held up a mirror to party identity. Labour thinks the level of bank profits is […]
Gordon Campbell on inflating the threat posed by social media
It has been a big week for the preachers of the social media apocalypse. During her speech on Monday to the He Whenua Taurikura hui […]
Gordon Campbell on Iran getting worse, alcohol in sport and a music playlist
So we’ve found a ledge for our Iran policy, and are now doing our best to call it a mezzanine. Yesterday, the government announced the […]
Gordon Campbell on being rich, white and detained in Iran
One admirable thing about New Zealanders is that if we blunder into the bush in bad weather without proper food, clothing or a locator beacon, […]
Gordon Campbell on Britain’s latest Prime Minister du jour
Rishi Sunak has vowed to unite his party and the country. Given the rightwards drift of the Conservative Party since David Cameron and Brexit, those […]
Gordon Campbell on why wages and jobs shouldn’t be inflation cannon fodder
Hearing Don Brash being wheeled out on RNZ as an expert on taming inflation must have caused whiplash among some listeners. Contrary to myth, Brash‘s […]
Gordon Campbell on why rugby may be a health risk
While it is old news that the men who play top level rugby union are a heavier (and taller) lot than they used to be, […]
Gordon Campbell On The Battle Over Emissions Pricing
According to the leader of the National Party, farmers are this country’s true conservationists, and tireless in their efforts to protect the environment on which […]
Gordon Campbell on the protests in Iran
The bravery of the young demonstrators in Iran is extraordinary. This is the third major wave of demonstrations to wrack the country in the past […]
Gordon Campbell on how the Christchurch Call serves Big Tech
At this point in 2022, the Christchurch Call looks like a somewhat forlorn effort to keep alive some of the political good will that PM […]
Gordon Campbell on student debt, policy turns and the Beths
It is an old point to make… But boomers did get a pretty good deal out of their free education and plentiful unionised vacation jobs. […]
Gordon Campbell on why New Zealand isn’t heavily taxed
Allegedly, New Zealand is a highly taxed country with a government prone to big spending. Supposedly, that’s why we need to scrap the top tax […]
Gordon Campbell on why nothing succeeds like failure
As predicted in this column on Tuesday, the Bank of England has finally intervened to bail Britain out of its self-inflicted economic crisis. The Bank […]
Gordon Campbell on what Britain’s tax cutting spree means for us
Well, that didn’t take long. Briefly, the pageantry of the royal funeral had made Britain look like a world power again. But last Friday’s package […]
Gordon Campbell on ram-raids as a policy outcome, not a cause
New British PM Liz Truss is giving us a useful foretaste of what a change of government here next year would deliver: tax cuts, welfare […]
Gordon Campbell on Air New Zealand’s bumpy path to Covid recovery
Air New Zealand’s new non-stop service to JFK international airport in New York recently received a ton of free publicity, even though the airline’s mishandling […]
Gordon Campbell on the regal mourning marathon
The media coverage of the mourning process for Elizabeth II seems to be as endless as the lines of people waiting patiently to pay their […]
Gordon Campbell on a fun summer, with Covid anxiety
No more traffic light alert system. No more vaccine mandates, even for those in healthcare. Masks are no longer mandatory in retail outlets or on […]
Gordon Campbell on being co-dependent on the royals
For those who do not regard King Charles III as their liege lord, these have been a difficult few days, with the promise of more […]
Gordon Campbell on what the rise of Liz Truss signals for us
True, the writing is a bit florid, but the following passages capture a few of the psychological realities that have been dawning for some time: […]
Gordon Campbell on why Chile’s experiment in direct democracy failed
In overwhelming numbers yesterday – the “no” vote was 62% – the people of Chile voted to reject a draft Constitution that would have been […]
Jeremy Rose on the grassroots struggle to create a new Constitution in Chile
Yesterday (4th September) New Zealand’s Chilean community voted overwhelmingly to approve a draft constitution in their homeland. It has been described as the world’s first […]
Gordon Campbell on King Coal’s comeback, plus a music playlist
Of late, the news bulletins have been carrying alarming images of extreme flooding in parts of Asia, and extreme drought across Europe. Pakistan has 7,000 […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s self-inflicted Kiwisaver disaster
In years to come, the Great Kiwisaver Fees Fiasco is going to be taught in schools as a lesson in political mis-management. To put it […]
Gordon Campbell on the centre-left’s reluctance to pursue radical options
The term “Overton Window” was coined by the US political scientist Joseph Overton, and it refers to the policies deemed to be politically acceptable at […]
Gordon Campbell on our paranoid policies on immigration
If only we could take one tenth of the energy we currently expend on worrying about what Ian Foster’s coaching policies are doing to the […]