Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 1]
On Dune 2, And Images Of Islam
Monday, 18 March 2024, 11:29 am | Gordon Campbell
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 the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and ... More >>
On National’s Fantasy Trip To La La Landlord Land
Thursday, 14 March 2024, 11:39 am | Gordon Campbell
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) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast ... More >>
On Luxon’s Landlord Myths, And The Needless Nightmare Of High Interest Rates
Tuesday, 12 March 2024, 11:05 am | Gordon Campbell
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“ on rents. Really. Allegedly, the coalition government is ... More >>
On The Government’s Fast Track To Trashing The Environment
Friday, 8 March 2024, 11:27 am | Gordon Campbell
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 is now open for business, regardless of the impact on the environment and on the endangered species ... More >>
On The Supreme Court’s Collusion With Trump
Wednesday, 6 March 2024, 11:49 am | Gordon Campbell
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 obligingly handed the former President a couple of huge victories. First, the Court helped Trump ... More >>
On The Flaws In Anti-gang Laws
Monday, 4 March 2024, 11:34 am | Gordon Campbell
Google “Christopher Luxon“ and “mojo” and you get nearly 60,000 matching responses. Over the past 18 months – here and here and again, here – Luxon has claimed that New Zealanders have either lost their mojo and/or are in the process ... More >>
On The Newshub/Smokefree Twin Fiascos
Thursday, 29 February 2024, 10:57 am | Gordon Campbell
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 other sunset industry peddles a deadly substance that kills and injures tens of thousands of New Zealanders ... More >>
On The Perils Of Joining AUKUS Pillar Two
Friday, 23 February 2024, 10:25 am | Gordon Campbell
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 to state of the art military technologies. As top US official Kurt Campbell said during his visit ... More >>
On National Spreading Panic About The Economy
Tuesday, 20 February 2024, 9:03 am | Gordon Campbell
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 they believe There Is No Alternative. Yet, if the NZ economy truly is as “fragile” as PM Christopher ... More >>
On National Passing Bad Policies Under Urgency
Friday, 16 February 2024, 11:10 am | Gordon Campbell
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 can’t be exposed to select committee debate, public submissions, expert commentary, media scrutiny ... More >>
On Five Of Luxon’s Gaza Absurdities
Wednesday, 14 February 2024, 11:43 am | Gordon Campbell
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 on public services so that National can proceed to give the revenue away to those New Zealanders least in need. ... More >>
On National’s Misleading Policy Packaging
Monday, 12 February 2024, 12:27 pm | Gordon Campbell
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 actually deliver is looking as wide as the Grand Canyon. Is it possible to run a government for three years purely ... More >>
On The Politics As A Morality Play
Thursday, 8 February 2024, 12:49 pm | Gordon Campbell
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 the mainstream parties on the right of the political spectrum are running the risk of being rejected ... More >>
On Tomorrow, And The Spirit Of Moana Jackson
Monday, 5 February 2024, 10:34 am | Gordon Campbell
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 Bill. National, by contrast, is offering soothing reassurances that the Bill will be allowed to progress ... More >>
On ACT’s Flat Tax Fever
Thursday, 1 February 2024, 12:04 pm | Gordon Campbell
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 of 2017. According to Chris and Dave, that’s when government spending was being restrained most righteously ... More >>
On Wasting Money On Defence, And Melanie, RIP
Tuesday, 30 January 2024, 9:56 am | Gordon Campbell
On the weekend, the government signalled once again that “ bold” and “brave” decisions were looming on Defence. That’s political code for lavish spending on weapons systems while essential social services are being cut. The rationale for ... More >>
On How Christopher Luxon Is Turning NZ Into A US Proxy
Thursday, 25 January 2024, 11:18 am | Gordon Campbell
How many students can pack into a phone booth? Surely, nowhere near as many as the double standards the Luxon government is packing into its rationale for helping to bomb the Houthis. So outraged are we at the Houthi attacks on maritime trade that ... More >>
On Treaty Principles, And Nikki Haley’s False Dawn
Tuesday, 23 January 2024, 11:18 am | Gordon Campbell
So the government wants to “debate” the principles of Te Tiriti, even though its own Māori Development Minister has been simultaneously assuring us that these principles are non-negotiable. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon appears to be delivering ... More >>
On Charter Schools, And The Ghahraman Blame Machine
Wednesday, 17 January 2024, 12:07 pm | Gordon Campbell
According to Act Party leader David Seymour, if we gave 16 year olds the vote and allowed teachers to teach civics classes in high school, the result would be… Well, let Seymour himself paint the picture: The final recommendations of the independent ... More >>
On The Gaza Genocide Hearings
Monday, 15 January 2024, 12:42 pm | Gordon Campbell
Don’t hold your breath for a final judgement from the International Court of Justice as to whether Israel is, or isn’t, committing genocide in Gaza. Since 2019, the ICJ has been mulling over whether Myanmar has committed genocide against its Rohingya ... More >>