Gordon Campbell on Pacific spying, Obama as Spock and Kendrick Lamar
So New Zealand has using the GCSB to spy on its friends and allies in the Pacific – and has not only been passing on […]
General Politics
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 Northland by election, and a TPP news round-up
Incredibly, Winston Peters is back at centre stage of New Zealand politics, and in the role he likes best – as the virtuous underdog, fighting […]
Gordon Campbell on the wage hike for MPs (and Paul Robeson)
Hard to tell what is more infuriating. Is it the 5.3% increase on the already bloated salaries of MPs, or their pantomime of outrage at […]
Gordon Campbell on whether NZ troops are the least of Islamic State’s problems
Given that it has been politically packaged and sold as a training mission, the Iraq deployment announced yesterday by Prime Minister John Key seemed to […]
Gordon Campbell on the drip-feeding of information about the Iraq deployment
There are two ways of framing the story of our troop deployment in Iraq. They go roughly like this: The Official Version : We are […]
Gordon Campbell on today’s announcement on sending our troops to Iraq
Click for big version. Later today, the Key government is expected to announce that New Zealand is planning to send about 100 troops on a […]
Gordon Campbell on the dangers posed by the upcoming security services review
Could the June review of New Zealand’s security and intelligence be about to bestow on our spy agencies the express right to break the laws […]
Gordon Campbell on Andrew Little’s not-so-great week
No, it hasn’t been a terrific week so far for Andrew Little. The Labour leader’s decision to exclude the Greens from the (toothless?) committee that […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s latest stance on Iraq
On RNZ this morning, Labour leader Andrew Little expressed his support for air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State – and by doing so, he […]
Gordon Campbell on the SkyCity debacle
“What is this? A centre for ants? …I don’t wanna hear your excuses! The building has to be at least three times bigger than this!” […]
Gordon Campbell on the latest arm-wrestling bout over Greece’s austerity crisis, and Father John Misty
This morning’s meeting between Greece and Europe’s finance ministers seems to have broken up without any substantial agreements being reached, beyond a bit of bridging […]
Gordon Campbell on how Iraq’s visiting Foreign Minister embodies an Iraq that’s not worth fighting for
When Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari makes a whistle-stop visit to Auckland on Friday, he will be issuing a formal invitation for New Zealand to […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s reluctance to treat the enemies of Islamic State as its friends
While the government attacks the left’s alleged reluctance to respond militarily to Islamic State, it continues to be strangely timid about another aspect of its […]
Gordon Campbell on the Maori “separatism” bogey
Leadership requires the leader to set aside self-interest. It is a concept that sometimes seems quite alien to Prime Minister John Key – who has […]
Gordon Campbell on the reluctance to support the Kurds against Islamic State
The boundary line between our troops having (a) an ‘advise and assist’ role in Iraq and (b) an actual combat role – which Prime Minister […]
On tomorrow’s speeches by John Key and Andrew Little
The Key government has already kicked off the political year on a stridently ideological note, with Environment Minister Nick Smith choosing to lay all manner […]
Gordon Campbell on whether Saudi Arabia is a bigger threat than Islamic State
So the US has been holding talks in London this week with its 21 coalition allies, on how best to co-ordinate the military response against […]
Gordon Campbell on the similarities between John Key and David Cameron
This week, Prime Minister John Key was reportedly invited to join a private birthday celebration for the young daughter of British PM David Cameron. They’re […]
Gordon Campbell on the dumping of bad news at Christmas
Gordon Campbell on the dumping of bad news at Christmas By Gordon Campbell If the government really did have good tidings of great joy you […]
Gordon Campbell on John Key’s posturing about Islamic State
One of the main achievements of the Clark government was that it kept New Zealand out of overt involvement in the 2003 Iraq invasion. It […]
Gordon Campbell on New Zealand’s response to Kiwi jihadis
When Parliament resumes on October 20, Prime Minister John Key will reportedly be making a major speech on security and intelligence issues. The speech is […]
Gordon Campbell on John Key avoiding being held accountable for the SIS and GCSB
Will the management split on security and intelligence issues that Prime Minister John Key announced yesterday serve to enhance or to reduce his public accountability […]
Gordon Campbell on the last rites for the TPP
The Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal is one of those litmus issues that has always had more to do with one’s place on the political […]
Gordon Campbell on the farcical elevation of David Seymour
With the election won, it’s time to find jobs for the boy. David Seymour is the Act Party’s latest scrounger to be rewarded by the […]
Gordon Campbell on Cunliffe’s Last Stand
Right now, embattled Labour leader David Cunliffe has three options. None of them are particularly attractive for him personally, or for the Labour Party. In […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s very bad year
While Labour leader David Cunliffe still appears to be in denial about the extent of Saturday night’s debacle, there was hardly a single redeeming feature […]
Gordon Campbell on a campaign that is ending as it began
This election campaign is getting no less strange as it heads on down to the wire. Winston Peters is still refusing to say whether a […]
Gordon Campbell on first time voting (Greens)
For the last two days, I’ve turned my column over to a couple of guest columnists who are first time voters. They’ve been asked to […]
Gordon Campbell on first time voting (centre right)
For the next two days, I’m turning my column over to two guest columnists who are first time voters. I’ve asked them to explain why […]