Gordon Campbell on the curse of being politically moderate about everything
Nigel Farage’s initial reason for not standing in the British election – because he wanted to be a Trump adviser – never looked very convincing. […]
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Gordon Campbell on Nicola Willis and her surplus fetish
So…. according to the Treasury, we’ll have to borrow $17.1 billion by June 2028, to help fund ( among other things) a nearly $10 billion […]
Gordon Campbell on South Africa’s harsh election choices
T he ANC’s goal in Wednesday’s election will be to staunch the bleeding of its support. The ANC has reason to feel anxious. For months, […]
Gordon Campbell On Blurring The Lines Around Political Corruption
It may be a relic of a previous era of egalitarianism, but many of us like to think that, in general, most New Zealanders are […]
Gordon Campbell on the privatising of state housing provision, by stealth
The scathing “independent” review of Kāinga Ora barely hit the table before the coalition government had acted on it. The entire Kāinga Ora board will […]
Gordon Campbell On Israel’s Political Split, And The New Caledonia Crisis
The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a […]
Gordon Campbell on the psychological horror film Possession
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – […]
Gordon Campbell on ACT’s charter schools experiment
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this […]
Gordon Campbell on why anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitic
To be precise, the term “anti- Zionism” refers to (a) criticism of the political movement that created a modern Jewish state on the historical land […]
Gordon Campbell on miserly school lunches, and the banning of TikTok’s Gaza coverage
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to […]
Gordon Campbell on the Hamas Ceasefire Offer, and Mark Mitchell’s Incompetence
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would […]
Gordon Campbell on unemployment, Winston Peters’ low boiling point and music criticism
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music […]
Gordon Campbell on the coalition’s awful, not good, very bad poll results
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, […]
Gordon Campbell on Iran killing its rappers, and searching for the invisible Dr. Reti
As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. […]
Gordon Campbell on bird flu, AUKUS entry fees and Cindy Lee
Uh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling […]
Gordon Campbell on fast track powers, media woes and the Tiktok ban
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to […]
Gordon Campbell on the public sector carnage, and misogyny as terrorism
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public […]
Gordon Campbell On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? […]
Gordon Campbell On Winston Peters’ Pathetic Speech At The UN
Good grief, Winston Peters. Tens of thousands of Gazans have been slaughtered, two million are on the brink of starvation and what does our Foreign […]
Gordon Campbell on Israel’s murderous use of AI in Gaza
This may seem like a dumb question– but how come Israel has managed to kill at least 33,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including over 13,000 […]
Gordon Campbell on the death of library browsing
For many of us, the word “library” has comfortable connotations. It suggests rows of books in which to browse, make discoveries and pass them on […]
Gordon Campbell on the US opposition to mortgage interest deductibility for landlords
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s fear of commitment
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax […]
Gordon Campbell on the attack of the tax cut zombies, and a music playlist
As long ago as 2007, New Zealanders were telling pollsters that while they wanted tax cuts, a majority of the public opposed tax cuts if […]
Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) […]
Gordon Campbell on Luxon’s landlord myths, and the needless nightmare of high interest rates
During the PM’s post-Cabinet press conference yesterday, Christopher Luxon claimed that renters will be feeling “grateful” for the way the government is putting “downward pressure“ […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s fast track to trashing the environment
With Shane Jones as the watchdog, who needs predators? Mining on DOC land now seems to be a fait accompli. Plainly, New Zealand‘s conservation estate […]
Gordon Campbell on the Supreme Court’s collusion with Trump
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. In the week preceding the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, a US Supreme Court stacked with Trump appointees […]
Gordon Campbell on the flaws in anti-gang laws
Google “Christopher Luxon“ and “mojo” and you get nearly 60,000 matching responses. Over the past 18 months – here and here and again, here – […]