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 […]
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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 – […]
Gordon Campbell on the Newshub/Smokefree twin fiascos
Here’s a tale of two sunset industries. One has a track record of quality investigative reporting, and sound reportage of the 24/7 news cycle. The […]
Gordon Campbell on the perils of joining AUKUS Pillar Two
The lure for New Zealand to join the AUKUS military alliance is that membership of only its “second pillar” will still (supposedly) give us access […]
Gordon Campbell on National spreading panic about the economy
It is a political strategy as old as time. Scare the public with tales of disaster and stampede them into supporting your ideological agenda because […]
Gordon Campbell on National passing bad policies under urgency
If National really had faith in its welfare policies, it wouldn’t be ramming them through Parliament under urgency – a step that means the policies […]
Gordon Campbell on five of Luxon’s Gaza absurdities
Earlier this week, PM Christopher Luxon met with 48 public service CEOs to make sure they were on board with his plans to cut spending […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s misleading policy packaging
Truth in packaging can be a political rarity, but the gap between what the Luxon administration says it is doing and what its policies will […]
Gordon Campbell on the politics as a morality play
To a striking extent, the working class vote in Western societies has been going to right wing demagogues, not to left wing social democrats. Even […]
Gordon Campbell on tomorrow, and the spirit of Moana Jackson
Since ACT is sponsoring the Treaty Principles Bill, it is understandable that David Seymour should be catching most of the flak being generated by the […]
Gordon Campbell on ACT’s flat tax fever
Party on, dudes. Repeatedly, the policy adventures of Christopher Luxon and David Seymour are taking New Zealand back in time to the most excellent year […]