On RWC fever, and Obama’s Supreme Court choice
RNZ this morning carried the news that “new research” now shows that the Rugby World Cup would add an estimated $535 million to the nation’s […]
Gordon Campbell
On our unhealthy fixation with Gallipoli
Image: Selwyn Manning: ANZAC Day 2008 Dawns in NZ At the post-Cabinet press conference last Monday, Prime Minister John Key had to field a range […]
On Paula Bennett’s decidedly strange welfare panel
Last week when Social Development Minister Paula Bennett named the working group on welfare reform, she also cited in a footnote two experts that the […]
On getting a fair deal for our oil and mining resources
As the deadline approaches for public submissions on the government’s plans to open up sensitive conservation areas to mining, the likely economic returns to New […]
Gordon Campbell On Welfare Insurance
The new working group on welfare reform to be headed by former Commerce Commission head Paula Rebstock will be looking at schemes of unemployment insurance […]
On New Zealand's Anti-Nuclear Posturing
Click for big version New Zealand’s national identity is very much based on our sense of virtuous purity – and the feeling that we can […]
On the Whanau Ora scheme
At the unveiling of Whanau Ora, the government scrapped a key feature that its expert Task Force had deemed to be ‘pivotal’ – namely, that […]
On the child abuse scandal within the Catholic Church
At the school I attended as a child, any and all queries by parents about the standard of teaching or the content of the syllabus […]
On the Iraq election, and the attacks on Andrew Williams
So Iyad Allawi’s secular Sunni coalition has won the most seats in the Iraqi elections. While the mainstream media from the New York Times to […]
On the missing-in-action Jackson film review, and the new benefit policy
I know Peter Jackson is a busy guy, but where oh where is his review of the New Zealand Film Commission? There was no hard […]
On the Government’s Greenlight to the Mining Industry
Click for big version Well, we learned yesterday that Forest and Bird leaks had been right all along, and that the government is indeed planning […]
On the Waihopai Three Verdict, and East Jerusalem
2008 Image: Ploughshares Penetrate Waihopai Base Deflate Dome The acquittal of the Waihopai Three for their attack on the Waihopai spy base is as welcome […]
On the Economics of Mining DOC Land
Click to enlarge At yesterday’s Post cabinet press conference [video], Prime Minister John Key repeated the government’s current defensive position on the proposal to extend […]
On the Wellywood sign (& Education Cuts)
As the Facebook critics of the Wellywood sign have pointed out, it is pretty hard to see the logic of promoting the creativity of the […]
On fresh evidence about the gender pay gap
An appropriate newsflash yesterday for International Women’s Day. After analyzing Inland Revenue data, the Women’s Ministry has found that women almost immediately begin to be […]
On Theresa Gattung’s attack on Telecom
One hates to kick someone when they’re down – but when it is former Telecom CEO Theresa Gattung and she is peddling a book in […]
On David Garrett’s sterilisation plan, and the divisions within Hamas
David Garrett’s bizarre suggestion that people who abuse children should be given a $5,000 incentive to get themselves sterilized is so crass that one hardly […]
On the Phil Heatley saga,and more on low budget films
Image from nznationalparty’s photostream – On board the NUShip Perth Normally when there is a personal cloud over a Minister, they would stand down and/or […]
On the government’s environmental credibility problems in Canterbury, and attacks on Police
Click to enlarge Reportedly, Ronald Reagan’s aides would go into in panic mode whenever the avuncular President started to ad lib a few additional points […]
On Trevor Mallard’s big day, and the Film Commission’s new low budget film scheme
Normally, Trevor Mallard is not renowned for his subtlety, yet his stealth attack on Education Minister yesterday in the House was a stone classic. First, […]
On the looming elections in Iraq
Early next month, Iraq is due to hold an election. One of the ironic outcomes of the US/UK led invasion in March 2003 has been […]
On the problems in making the tax cuts equation stack up
Would scrapping the depreciation rules on rental residential property really deliver the $1.6 billion promised? That $1.6 billion sits on one side of the ledger […]
On John Key’s agenda for the nation
Compensate is such a slippery word. If you set out to make the elite squad in team A immensely better off with money taken from […]
On why free trade with the US is more Monty Python than Holy Grail
Perhaps we can all quietly sign a pact to forego comparing a free trade deal with the US to the quest for the Holy Grail. […]
On the government’s clueless response to unemployment and why Mike Moore shouldn’t go to Washington
Well, we’re now seeing some of the fruits of small government, and having government butt out of our lives. Unemployment rose to 7.3 % during […]
Union-bashing and the dispute over national standards
Well, it hasn’t taken long for John Key to bring the old scare word ‘unions’ – into the dispute over national standards. Yesirree, this flap […]
Gordon Campbell on the government's tolerance of white collar crime
This government takes a crush ’em and crate ’em approach to crime – unless that is, the offender happens to be wearing a tie. In […]
Gordon Campbell on the SAS in Kabul, and the media’s duty to report on their actions
The saga of media coverage of the SAS in Afghanistan took another turn on the weekend with National MP Eric Roy bizarrely blaming Helen Clark […]
On the ‘Three Strikes’ Policy and the SAS in Kabul
Click to enlarge In the Book of Leviticus, God takes a no nonsense, zero tolerance approach to offending. Curse your parents, or let your child […]
On the monarchy, and Keith Locke’s mechanism for replacing it
Click for big version Prince William And The Governor General Anand Satyanand. Photography by Woolf – www.woolf.co.nz Flexibility is an essential feature of the modern […]