Gordon Campbell On This Week’s PREFU Outpouring Of Wishful Thinking
Over the past few days, Finance Minister Nicola Willis has got the dream headlines she wanted from the PREFU, Treasury’s Pre-Election Fiscal Update. “Less Debt, […]
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Gordon Campbell On The Flaccid Campaign Launches, And Despair Over Diesel Prices
The National Party’s decision to highlight “No new taxes” as a signature slogan for its campaign is an interesting choice. Since the cupboard is allegedly […]
Gordon Campbell On The Life And Works Of Arnold Lobel
The Werewolf essays on classic children’s books focusses this week on the much admired, widely mourned creator of Frog and Toad, Owl at Home and […]
Gordon Campbell On The Nicky Hager Book, Political Donations, And Another Fine Mess From Chris Hipkins
If politics in a social democracy is to be a genuine contest of ideas, those ideas have to be contested transparently, between parties with similar […]
Gordon Campbell On The Ongoing Relevance Of Jim Anderton
Long after she left office, Margaret Thatcher was asked to name her greatest accomplishment, and she famously replied: “Tony Blair, and New Labour.” Meaning: although […]
Gordon Campbell On Israel’s Extreme Responses To The Film NAZA
Last week, the documentary film NAZA by the Israeli film-makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor won the prestigious Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film […]
On How The Pentagon’s Colonisation Of Australia Affects Us
Foreign policy and national security decisions tend to feel like they’re happening at a vast distance from our day-to-day existence. The rent, the food bill […]
Gordon Campbell On The Cricket In Times Square
In the Werewolf series on classic children’s books, this week’s essay is about George Selden’s charming story of interspecies friendship There’s no logical reason for […]
Gordon Campbell On The Politics Of The R16 Social Media Ban
If political science really was a science, and the people in lab coats tried to create the perfect political issue in the lab, the end […]
Gordon Campbell On The Owl Service By Alan Garner
In this entry in the series on classic children’s books, the owls are not what they seem, but the English stay true to type. For […]
On How The US v Canada Trade War Benefits China
He’s on the blue team. He’s always making mistakes for which he needs to apologise, to the eye rolling exasperation of his colleagues. I’m talking […]
Gordon Campbell On Why New Taxes Are A Good Thing, And Dolly Parton RIP
Taxaphobes. They’re running amok in Parliament. Both the major parties have joined ACT in assuming that the voting public is as phobic about tax as […]
Gordon Campbell On Why NZ Should Be Denouncing Trump’s Appeasement Of North Korea
Labour’s pursuit of a ‘National-lite’ approach to tax and fiscal policy continues. Its painfully slow release of policy has finally revealed that alongside its anaemic […]
Gordon Campbell On The Links Between Go Dog. Go!, The 1950s Red Scare And Shakespeare’s Sonnets
This week’s essay in the series about classic children’s books features P.D. Eastman’s hymn to perpetual motion… Once read, this book is never forgotten. Like […]
Gordon Campbell On Opportunity’s Turn In The Political Spotlight
Even in their most desperate moments, it is almost impossible to imagine that either Labour or National would ever embrace a Citizens Income or a […]
Gordon Campbell On National’s Long Whimper Of Discontent
Christopher Luxon went into and came out of today’s special caucus meeting as damaged goods. If survival is to be counted as winning, it has […]
Gordon Campbell On National’s Abusive, Co-Dependent Relationship With Christopher Luxon
Correction: In this article I have mis-stated the rules around casting a vote in a place other than the electorate in which you are enrolled. […]
Gordon Campbell On Tom’s Midnight Garden By Philippa Pearce
This week’s essay on classic children’s books features Philippa Pearce’s great YA novel about memory and loss. The image of Ely Cathedral is from circa […]
Gordon Campbell On Christopher Luxon’s No Good, Very Bad Fortnight
Decades ago, the Washington Post ran a carton showing White House advisors gibbering in terror backstage as a beaming Ronald Reagan suddenly looked away from […]
Gordon Campbell On A Week Of Luxon And Peters, Unhinged
Newsflash: PM Christopher Luxon does not take any responsibility for the condition in which the New Zealand economy currently finds itself. Not his problem. He’s […]
Gordon Campbell On The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins
The Werewolf essays on classic children’s books focusses this week on Suzanne Collins’ trilogy about war’s on children True, it may seem weird to try […]
Gordon Campbell On National’s Rejection Of Opportunity
Earlier this week, when Christopher Luxon ruled out forming any government with Opportunity, it was like the ugly kid in class suddenly announcing that he’s […]
Gordon Campbell On The Americanisation Of Our Public Health System
Soaring temperatures, bigger storms, more lightning strikes hitting tinder-dry conditions. Wildfires in Canada, France, ad Spain. Could climate change possibly be to blame? Not according […]
Gordon Campbell On Homecoming By Cynthia Voigt
The Werewolf series of essays on classic children’s books focusses this week on Cynthia Voigt’s great story of a young girl’s resourcefulness, against the odds. […]
Gordon Campbell On The Centre-Right’s Attempt To Steal The Election
People with more wealth enjoy better health, and their children get a head start in life. Pretty obvious, really. Yet criticism of this state of […]
Gordon Campbell on the World Cup final, and Defence double standards in the Pacific
Well, the football World Cup is over and the good guys won, geo-politically speaking. Meaning: Spain was the first European country to officially join the […]
Gordon Campbell on Mrs Frisby and The Rats of NIMH
This week, the Werewolf series of essays on classic children’s literature turns the spotlight onto Robert C. O’Brien’s book about one family’s encounter with genetic […]
Gordon Campbell On Why Professional Sport Needs Strong Unions
True to form, US President Donald Trump has found a way to try and monetise the war he launched against Iran. Trump is proposing to […]
Gordon Campbell On Abel’s Island, By William Steig
More than anything else, Abel’s Island is a tale about love enduring through peril. It is also about the beauty of solitude. Over the course […]
Gordon Campbell On The Amoral Panic Over China’s Missile Test
Head for the basement, people! China has just tested an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead! It splashed down somewhere into international waters in […]