Gordon Campbell On The Budget – And Petrobras
Cartoon by Trace Hodgson While Deficit Phobia provides the rationale for the austerity and privatisation measures contained in this year’s Budget, the government’s stance is […]
Economic Policy
On the lead-up to the Budget
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Throughout his government’s first term, the role of Prime Minister John Key has been to be the bringer of […]
On the government’s latest handout to agri-business
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Given the bumper earnings from commodity prices, you might think agriculture would be the last sector in need of […]
On the government’s lead in the polls, and Labour’s response
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Now that National have gained – according to the latest TV3 poll anyway – a further huge lead in […]
On Pike River, shifting RWC games, Libya
Nearly four months after the Pike River disaster, the mine’s unpaid contractors are still waiting for the promised government support package to be unveiled. The […]
On Bill English’s attempt to politicize the earthquake response, plus the Rugby World Cup
Images: People Gather at Parliament for Moment of Silence Much of the inspirational rhetoric surrounding the Christchurch earthquake has had a genuine “We’re all in […]
On the Welfare Working Group final report
Bureaucrats and academics tend to enjoy playing God with the lives of the vulnerable – but evidently, even the Welfare Working Group members couldn’t agree […]
Gordon Campbell on the prelude to the welfare reform package
At his post-Cabinet press conference yesterday PM John Key identified the root cause of the unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya in terms that […]
On the martyrdom of Hone Harawira
The notion of a Maori Party suffering patiently for five years with an untrustworthy and disruptive Hone Harawira requires a rewrite of history that isn’t […]
On the plans for privatization
Hard to see how opening the door to greater demands for higher profits from state energy companies will result in reduced power prices – or […]
On the fiasco in overseas aid funding and the latest evidence that watching Fox News really does make you more stupid
The personal vendetta being waged by Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully against aid sector NGOs has now reached its inevitable, illogical conclusion – half of […]
On Treasury’s ideological hostility to film tax breaks
Treasury’s religious objection to tax breaks and the left wing’s objection to paying subsidies to US multinationals like Warners have converged in their joint hostility […]
On the Welfare Working Group’s latest round of welfare bashing
Well, in its Options report this week, at least the Cabinet-appointed Welfare Working Group was clear about whose interests it is there to serve: ‘The […]
Gordon Campbell on The Hobbit countdown to D-Day
At his post Cabinet press conference last week, Prime Minister John Key was asked (by me) whether the government-convened talks to keep The Hobbit in […]