Gordon Campbell on telling the poor to ask for more
The government’s “let them ask for more” response to the dilapidated, cold and unhealthy conditions faced by many families in state housing can only be […]
Gordon Campbell
Gordon Campbell on what Uber and The Hobbit have in common
Remember the Great Hobbit Fiasco of 2010 – when John Key, Gerry Brownlee etc bowed and scraped to the lords of Warners and changed our […]
Gordon Campbell on the Pope’s encyclical on climate change
The spread of market mechanisms into every facet of life – as health, education and the environment get treated as mere commodities – has seen […]
Gordon Campbell on the reasons for Southern DHB’s problems
Once again in our health system, making the books look healthy seems more important than ensuring the patients are healthy. The fact that people pay […]
Gordon Campbell on today’s showdown over Obama’s TPP trade agenda
The defeat that the White House suffered last Friday in its quest for effective ‘fast track’ authority (aka Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA) need not […]
Gordon Campbell on why the Reserve Bank has cut interest rates
All hail Graeme Wheeler. Because at some point this year, the government appears to have contracted out all the major decisions to do with running […]
Gordon Campbell on the TPP revelations about Pharmac
The health system transparency measures contained in the latest Wikileaks revelations about the TPP have been a long running concern. The fact that the Pharmac-related […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s stalling on health and safety
In the last five years, workplace accidents have killed nearly 300 workers in this country. Yesterday’s accident at a quarry in Canterbury once again demonstrates […]
Gordon Campbell on the centre-left’s quest for economic ‘credibility’
Yesterday, the Guardian published a long, fascinating account of the infighting and tactical manoeuvring within Ed Miliband’s UK Labour leadership team during the last eighteen […]
Gordon Campbell on the Sepp Blatter resignation
Any initial elation at Sepp Blatter’s resignation as the overlord of FIFA will be tempered by his declared intention to stay on until at least […]
Gordon Campbell on the Greens’ new co-leader, James Shaw
No doubt, the new Green Party co-leader James Shaw will be on the receiving end of a ton of advice in the coming weeks about […]
Gordon Campbell on the FIFA scandal , and similar dirty dealings
Face it, it has been a very, very bad week for anyone who thinks that a) FIFA is a damn fine organisation run by guys […]
Gordon Campbell on the Cullen Review of our security service
Whatever the conflicts and point scoring between them on other issues, National and Labour have always spoken virtually as one on free trade and the […]
Gordon Campbell on Budget 2015
From the outset, the slogan for yesterday’s Budget – “The Plan Is Working” – begged to be mocked. There’s actually a plan for the national […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s belated moves on property speculation
Is it a property tax on capital gains or a capital gains tax on property? The Jesuitical distinctions in the government’s spin about its latest […]
Gordon Campbell on the latest good reason for dumping the monarchy
The monarchy, the media and the masses is a threesome made in tabloid heaven, and it has seen a lot of action during this past […]
Gordon Campbell on the death knell for the TPP
It is unusual for anyone to vote for an early execution, but that’s effectively what President Barack Obama’s friends in the US Senate have just […]
Gordon Campbell on lessons for Labour from the UK election
If the polls were right – and the pollsters kept telling us how accurate they’d been in 2010, and even Nate Silver was getting the […]
Gordon Campbell on the token boost to elective surgery
Political tokenism comes in many shapes and sizes, but the $98 million boost in elective surgery is a cynical example of it. The pre-Budget package […]
Gordon Campbell on why Miliband will be the next British PM
The Britain that goes to the polls on Thursday looks awfully familiar to anyone from New Zealand. In Britain too, a smooth but vacuous technocrat […]
Gordon Campbell Key’s abuse of secrecy over Iraq & The TPP
Gordon Campbell on John Key’s abuse of secrecy over Iraq, and the TPP For the past week or so we’ve been hearing a lot about […]
Gordon Campbell on Indonesia’s latest round of executions
Gordon Campbell on Indonesia’s latest round of executions To no-one’s real surprise, Indonesia has carried out its second wave of executions this year. Given the […]
Gordon Campbell on the hair-pulling finale and Gallipoli
Don’t know about you, but when hi-jinks and horsing around are going on, my understanding is that everyone involved is supposed to be having a […]
Gordon Campbell on the PM's Hair-Pulling Power Trip
There have been striking differences between (a) the account of the waitress involved in the hair-pulling incidents, and (b) the account being given by Prime […]
Gordon Campbell on the key battle Obama is waging over the TPP
For the past two and a half years, this column has been arguing that the fate of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal will hinge […]
Gordon Campbell on the Reserve Bank’s call to arms about the Auckland housing crisis
The ‘crisis – what crisis?’ response by the government to the Auckland housing price bubble is no longer acceptable. So says Reserve Bank governor Grant […]
Gordon Campbell on UE pass rates and university dropout rates
Houston, there is clearly a problem with (a) the plunge in pass rates for University Entrance qualifications, which has been especially steep among Maori students […]
Gordon Campbell on the demise of Campbell Live
The imminent axeing of Campbell Live has been the inevitable outcome of a mindset which considers only (a) declining ratings which impact on (b) advertising […]
Gordon Campbell on a union victory in the fast food industry
Good to have a reminder of why trade unions are still essential in the 21st century. The scrapping of zero hour contract provisions by the […]
Gordon Campbell on dollar parity with Australia, and disarming Israel
As the New Zealand dollar edges towards parity with the Aussie dollar, it seems facile to treat this as some game of Transtasman arm-wrestling that […]