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 […]
Articles
Gordon Campbell on the new rules for Christchurch’s Earthquake Recovery
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Last year, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee was endowed with god-like powers to over-ride existing law by the […]
Gordon Campbell on Earthquake Welfare and Libya
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com The decision to phase out the government’s support package for Christchurch business seems to have been plucked from the […]
On the intervention in Libya
Click for big version Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Was the intervention in Libya justified – and if so, does that mean the invasion […]
On Japan’s nuclear crisis, and more welfare rumblings
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com The nuclear crisis in Japan is a textbook example of why government regulation is essential for public safety. According […]
On Pike River, shifting RWC games, Libya
Nearly four months after the Pike River disaster, the mine’s unpaid contractors are still waiting for the promised government support package to be unveiled. The […]
On the Simon Power resignation
2009 image: werewolf » Doing the Transtasman tango Reportedly, the decision by Justice Minister Simon Power to quit politics at the next election has stunned […]
On Bill English’s attempt to politicize the earthquake response, plus the Rugby World Cup
Images: People Gather at Parliament for Moment of Silence Much of the inspirational rhetoric surrounding the Christchurch earthquake has had a genuine “We’re all in […]
On New Zealand’s links with Muammar Ghaddafi
As Libya’s dictator Muammar Ghadaffi continues to murder and terrorise his people in an attempt to cling onto power, surely Education Minister Anne Tolley will […]
On the Welfare Working Group final report
Bureaucrats and academics tend to enjoy playing God with the lives of the vulnerable – but evidently, even the Welfare Working Group members couldn’t agree […]
Gordon Campbell on the prelude to the welfare reform package
At his post-Cabinet press conference yesterday PM John Key identified the root cause of the unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya in terms that […]
On taxing purchases from Amazon, and Egypt
The current problems facing the retail book trade – and music stores – in New Zealand will increase the pressure on Revenue Minister Peter Dunne […]
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 the ongoing saga of prisoners' right to vote
Last year, and despite the objections of its own Attorney-General, the Key government removed the right of all prisoners to vote. That puts us outside […]
Gordon Campbell on the Winston Peters veto (plus Egypt, Haiti)
So if voters return Winston Peters in government, the National Party will not work with him in any governing coalition. Fair enough. It is up […]
On Mubarak’s divide and rule tactics, and David Farrar
Click for big version If regime change does eventually occur in Egypt, a truly representative government in Cairo would be less pro-American, and less likely […]
On John Key’s feeble response to events in Egypt
All very well that John Key is New Zealand’s third Jewish prime minister, as the Jerusalem Post described him at the time of his election. […]
On the Key government’s lame response to Jafar Panahi
Click for big version The audience goes in to a support screening of Jafar Panahi’s film ‘Offside’ in Wellington on Sunday. Down at the Ministry […]
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 plans for privatization
Hard to see how opening the door to greater demands for higher profits from state energy companies will result in reduced power prices – or […]
On the options facing Hone Harawira
Image Gordon Campbell interviews Hone Harawira In the immediate aftermath of the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960s, US Secretary of State Dean Rusk issued […]
On the campaign to free Jafar Panahi, and Julian Assange
Credit: Cine del Sur Just before Christmas, Scoop reported on the silencing of Iran’s leading film-maker, Jafar Panahi. Panahi has been imprisoned by the authorities […]
On Economic Reporting, & The Assange Sex Charges
Judging by the Christmas retail figures for electronic card transactions the New Zealand economy is still in traction, with consumers still reluctant and/or unable to […]
Gordon Campbell Reviews The General Response To Wikileaks
Article – Gordon Campbell Surprisingly, there still seem to be a few liberals out there who regard Wikileaks as operating in a morally fraught, grey […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s war with itself
Article – Gordon Campbell All hands in the crew steering the good ship NZ Inc are supposed to be (a) pulling their own weight and […]
Gordon Campbell on Helen Clark’s sob story, and the persecution of Jafar Panahi
So former Prime Minister Helen Clark is ‘incensed’ at US diplomatic cables that suggests her real reason for sending New Zealand engineers into Iraq, was […]
On the fiasco in overseas aid funding and the latest evidence that watching Fox News really does make you more stupid
The personal vendetta being waged by Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully against aid sector NGOs has now reached its inevitable, illogical conclusion – half of […]
On faster (pricier) broadband, and our ongoing Afghan delusions
As the government gradually releases the detail of its ultrafast broadband package, it is becoming clear that this initiative will not be the boon for […]
On disenfranchising prisoners, and 'Desperate Housewives' as a Saudi tool of oppression
The pre-Christmas period is traditionally a time for dumping politically noxious material on the public, in the hope they’ll be too distracted to notice. Certainly, […]
On the Wongs, and more on Police pursuits
Surprise surprise. Sammy Wong may not have told Lockwood Smith’s appointed Parliamentary Services investigator all of the relevant truth relating to one of Wong’s taxpayer […]