Gordon Campbell On Ducking The Costs Of Climate Change
Looking for consistency in all things is said to be the hallmark of a small mind. Duly noted, but the Luxon government’s stance on climate […]
Disasters and Natural Events
Gordon Campbell on the Whakaari/White Island eruption
New Zealand itself is at risk of being seen as a tourism destination where commercial factors determine the boundary line of acceptable risk
Not Like A Hurricane
Hawai’i scares itself sick, over a no-show storm
Gordon Campbell on our underfunded Syrian refugee intake, and dairy industry carnage
Once again, our little show pony Prime Minister is prancing around the world offering to take in refugees – from Syria, from Nauru – while […]
Gordon Campbell on the bogus Syrian peace deal, and Judge Antonin Scalia
The good thing about the Syrian peace deal announced on Friday is that it might create a small space for humanitarian relief, but… the ceasefire […]
Gordon Campbell on the US pressure to expand our role in Iraq
Tomorrow, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee and Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating will be in Brussels for a ministerial meeting of the so-called […]
Gordon Campbell on why Islamic State’s growing weakness makes it more dangerous
One of the great things about writing online is that if you have a bad morning, readers will pick up on it, and take you […]
Gordon Campbell on Islam and the Paris attacks
According to polls, a third of Republican voters in Iowa want Islam to be criminalized. Unfortunately, the cornfields of middle America aren’t the only place […]
Gordon Campbell on our role in the deliberate non-defeat of Islamic State
Unlike the US and (allies like New Zealand) Russia and Iran have a very clear goal for their intervention in Syria. Russia and Iran want […]
Gordon Campbell on selecting refugees, Aussie generosity and a cat video
Now that we know how many Syrian refugees New Zealand will accept, the focus can shift onto how they’ll be selected, and the criteria in […]
Gordon Campbell on our response to the Syrian refugee crisis
The full scale of the New Zealand government response to the Syrian refugee crisis – reportedly, the world’s biggest humanitarian challenge since the post-war formation […]
Gordon Campbell on Refugees, the Flag and Bo Diddley
There’s a simple statistical reason why New Zealand should increase its refugee intake. Our UN quota has remained static – or fallen slightly – over […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s response to the refugee crisis in Europe
The government’s refusal to accept an emergency intake of refugees from the hundreds of thousands now pouring into Europe is pretty shameful. This country makes […]
Gordon Campbell on the Vanuatu cyclone and its media coverage
Having media crews in a disaster zone can help to (a) pinpoint areas of need and (b) provide some re-assurance to the victims that the […]
Gordon Campbell on the case for using air power against the Islamic State
There is an Alice Through the Looking Glass quality to the current response to the Islamic State. Everything about it seems inside out. Many people […]
Gordon Campbell on Egypt, the F-35 and Nanny National
Yesterday, this column compared events in Egypt to the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and – spookily – there is now an image to drive […]
On how the government is ducking responsibility for meeting needs in Christchurch
Like events in some 19th century Russian novel, hardship in Christchurch keeps grinding on, while the powers-that-be appear quite indifferent to the suffering occurring all […]
On Gerry Brownlee, the Christchurch recovery and Jafar Panahi
Famously, Winston Churchill once described one of his American political allies as being “the only bull I know who carries his own china shop around […]
On corporate manslaughter, and France’s upcoming elections
Yesterday, the Pike River inquiry heard renewed calls for a criminal charge of corporate manslaughter to be put on the books in New Zealand. “Some […]
On bank profits, and Gerry Brownlee’s asset sales plans for Christchurch
Click for big version. The news that the banks in New Zealand have returned to their pre-global recession levels of profit comes as no real […]
On today’s protest march in Christchurch
Reading meaning into the utterances of Christchurch mayor Bob Parker is always a risky business, but Parker’s comment to the Press the other day that […]
On the Greens’ end game this week
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Into the home stretch, and National is moving the campaign focus from one diversion (the Epsom tape) to the […]
On the death of Gaddafi and how the Rena spill relates to East Cape oil exploration
The death of Muammar Gaddafi – either from wounds inflicted by a NATO air strike, or (more likely) from summary execution on his way to […]
Gordon Campbell on who should pay for the Rena clean-up
So Transport Minister Stephen Joyce will be meeting this morning with the Mediterranean Shipping Company, the Greek firm that chartered the Rena from its Greek […]
On workplace deaths, and Italy’s threat to Europe
It has been a bad week for those who think that business can be safely left to regulate itself. Workplace safety failures have been revealed […]
On the EQC’s funding woes, and a peak oil update
So, it seems, the Greens were right all along – a special levy to fund the costs involved with the Christchurch earthquake still makes good […]
On the Christchurch rebuild, and the political abuse of the SIS
Probably, some will regard the height restriction of seven stories for the rebuild of Christchurch’s central city area as being unnecessarily arbitrary and uniform, and […]
On the riots in Britain
So far, reaction to the riots in Britain has moved beyond the initial phase of surprise and bewilderment – goodness, the New York Times wondered, […]
On the Norway massacre
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com As the work of a homegrown right wing dissident, the Norway massacre clearly has more in common with the […]
On the Christchurch deal, and sexist dinosaurs
Clearly, the deal put on the table for Christchurch yesterday by the government has to be only an opening bid, not a final resolution. Those […]