Gordon Campbell on the latest lockdown, and on Air NZ’s Saudi military sales
A three day Covid lockdown feels like the pandemic equivalent of T20 cricket. Just as T20 isn’t really cricket, this three day breathing space isn’t […]
Columns
Gordon Campbell on why the Reserve Bank won’t be spooked by inflation making a comeback
One year into the pandemic, people are still getting sick and dying at different rates according to their age, gender, ethnic background and income level […]
Gordon Campbell on leaving women out of the job creation plans, plus the current vaccine blues
Women workers have taken an unequal impact of the job losses caused by the pandemic but so far almost all the government’s job creation efforts […]
Gordon Campbell on why Matariki will be a valuable cultural counterpart to Waitangi Day
Now that Matariki has been added to the roster of national holidays, it is bound to become more meaningful than most of our other holiday […]
Gordon Campbell on the case for investing in coastal shipping
The enduring damage done by the economic reforms of the 1980/1990s is still playing out in the communities that lost thousands of well-paid full time […]
Gordon Campbell on the Climate Change Commission’s slow motion response
Good grief. An eleven to fifteen year window of adjustment to the threat from climate change is still being decried as “too ambitious” by the […]
Gordon Campbell on the GameStop saga, and Fox’s bad news
For over a decade, the stock market in the US (and everywhere else) has been utterly detached from the lives and the wellbeing of ordinary […]
Gordon Campbell on the risk of being short changed by Pfizer
Who knew that the delivery of the Covid vaccines was going to be such a headache? All the predictions had been around the likely distribution […]
Gordon Campbell on Northland’s Covid case, and Biden’s battle lines
T he South African variant at the centre of the Northland case of community transmission calls for a reset of several aspects of our Covid […]
Gordon Campbell on the demise of the Tokyo Olympics
As the Covid vaccines roll out around the world, the Tokyo Olympics are looming as a major test of when (and whether) something akin to […]
Gordon Campbell on how women are suffering the most from the Covid economic recession
Both here and abroad, the Covid-19 economic recession has been disastrous for women workers and their families. In November, young women below 30 in particular […]
Gordon Campbell on why the second Trump impeachment has to proceed
To the very end, a sizeable Congressional segment of the Republican Party has been willing to defend Donald Trump no matter what he says or […]
Gordon Campbell on the Washington riot and the Georgia results
Hong Kong and Washington DC. On the same morning, the tyrants in power in Beijing and their counterpart in the White House have shown how […]
Gordon Campbell on the Senate races in Georgia
Hi and happy New Year. Currently, the Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, the upper chamber of US Congress. If the Democrats can […]
Gordon Campbell on a few things about the year gone, and the year ahead
In October, the public rewarded the government for the way it has steered New Zealand through the Covid-19 crisis this year, and rightly so. The […]
Gordon Campbell on the Solar Winds hack, and on buying Bob Dylan
Earlier this month, the huge Solar Winds hack became public knowledge. Reportedly, the victims had been accessed over a period of months starting in March […]
Gordon Campbell on the mixed outlook for our Covid vaccine supplies
As PM Jacinda Ardern explained at yesterday’s press conference, the government has signed supply contracts for delivery of four Covid-19 vaccines, in numbers sufficient (on […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s timid uses (so far) of the power that voters have given it
Long on aims, short on delivery. Greta Thunberg is not the only person who feels that the Ardern government is better at aspirations than achievement. […]
Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission’s report into the Christchurch mosque shootings
For an 800 page monster, the Royal Commission report into the Christchurch shootings has proved to be a strangely weightless affair. Everyone – the Police, […]
Gordon Campbell on Werewolf’s best music of 2020
Sure, New Zealand’s pandemic experience hasn’t been anything like the horror show it has been elsewhere. Yet the Covid anxiety levels were still high enough […]
Gordon Campbell on the politics of why we’re not getting an inquiry into the Whakaari/White Island disaster
The Ardern government has made an art form out of reviews and inquiries- when to hold them, when to fold them, and when to shelve […]
Gordon Campbell on why Worksafe’s Whakaari/White Island prosecutions are good news
Somewhere in Heaven, Helen Kelly must be smiling about Worksafe’s criminal prosecution of 10 firms and three individuals for their roles in the lead up […]
Gordon Campbell on how America’s Middle East allies are poisoning the ground Joe Biden will inherit
As even the US mainstream media has been reporting, the prime motive for the murder of Iran’s top nuclear scientist Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (by Israeli […]
Gordon Campbell on whether we should be betting quite so heavily on Astra Zeneca’s Covid vaccine
According to this week’s Speech from the Throne, maintaining public safety during the pandemic will remain the government’s top priority. Next year will (hopefully) bring […]
Gordon Campbell on what we could do for Hong Kong, if only we dared
There has been something repulsive about PM Jacinda Ardern’s assurances that our joint 5 Eyes criticism of China’s actions over Hong Kong – and China’s […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s weekend of doing wheelies, going nowhere
Evidently, a year is not a long time in politics. The National Party for example, has just chosen to end this year much as it […]
Gordon Campbell on Stuart Nash’s plan to turn New Zealand into a playground for wealthy tourists
But first, a Covid-19 vaccine update. Early results from stage three trials on at least two Covid-19 vaccine contenders have been highly positive, at 90% […]
Gordon Campbell on Chris Liddell, the RCEP, and reviving our trade with Iran under Biden
Being nominated by US President Donald Trump to head a key international organisation should have been the kiss of death for any nominee, even before […]
Gordon Campbell on Adrian Orr’s lending scheme, the Collins reshuffle and the Trump coup
Does anyone under 50 know why “Muldoonist” is a bad word? David Seymour was one year old when Robert Muldoon lost the 1984 snap election. […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s reshuffle, Pfizer’s vaccine & Trump’s non-exit strategy
Good to hear there is at least one Covid vaccine in the pipeline, and that Pfizer is claiming a 90% level of efficacy for it. […]