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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 1]
On Tom’s Midnight Garden By Philippa Pearce
Friday, 7 August 2026, 1:13 pm | Gordon Campbell
This week’s essay on classic children’s books features Philippa Pearce’s great YA novel about memory and loss. More >>
On Christopher Luxon’s No Good, Very Bad Fortnight
Wednesday, 5 August 2026, 1:10 pm | Gordon Campbell
Calamity awaits whenever Christopher Luxon begins to speak off the cuff. It is like a horror movie. The speech patterns can be almost human, but it is the eerie sound of a suit without a soul. More >>
On A Week Of Luxon And Peters, Unhinged
Monday, 3 August 2026, 1:23 pm | Gordon Campbell
Newsflash: PM Christopher Luxon does not take any responsibility for the condition in which the New Zealand economy currently finds itself. Not his problem. He’s done his bit. More >>
On The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins
Friday, 31 July 2026, 1:18 pm | Gordon Campbell
The Werewolf essays on classic children’s books focusses this week on Suzanne Collins’ trilogy about war’s on children. More >>
On National’s Rejection Of Opportunity
Wednesday, 29 July 2026, 1:08 pm | Gordon Campbell
Earlier this week, when Christopher Luxon ruled out forming any government with Opportunity, it was like the ugly kid in class suddenly announcing that he’s not going to the birthday party if that charismatic new kid in school is going to be there. More >>
On The Americanisation Of Our Public Health System
Monday, 27 July 2026, 1:15 pm | Gordon Campbell
The US health system is widely seen to be the most expensive and least efficient model for public health delivery in the world – yet our own health system is steadily being Americanised without much in the way of a public debate. More >>
On Homecoming By Cynthia Voigt
Friday, 24 July 2026, 1:15 pm | Gordon Campbell
The Werewolf series of essays on classic children’s books focusses this week on Cynthia Voigt’s great story of a young girl’s resourcefulness, against the odds. More >>
On The Centre-Right’s Attempt To Steal The Election
Wednesday, 22 July 2026, 4:09 pm | Gordon Campbell
We hear a whole lot less about the politics of contempt, although that seems to have driven the recent changes to our voting laws. For no good reason, the right of citizens to both enrol and vote on election day has been abolished. More >>
On The World Cup Final, And Defence Double Standards In The Pacific
Monday, 20 July 2026, 4:08 pm | Gordon Campbell
The football World Cup is over and the good guys won, geo-politically speaking. The sporting triumph opens the door to a much larger debate about diplomacy, shifting power and alliances in the Pacific. More >>
On Mrs Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH
Friday, 17 July 2026, 1:44 pm | Gordon Campbell
This week, the Werewolf series of essays on classic children’s literature turns the spotlight onto Robert C. O’Brien’s book about one family’s encounter with genetic engineering. More >>
On Why Professional Sport Needs Strong Unions
Wednesday, 15 July 2026, 12:52 pm | Gordon Campbell
Sport is big business; a virtual religion for 100s of millions of people. Yet interestingly, the workplaces of professional sport do not follow the neo-liberal model of labour relations that has dominated political life in NZ for the past 40 years. More >>
On Abel’s Island, By William Steig
Friday, 10 July 2026, 12:51 pm | Gordon Campbell
More than anything else, Abel’s Island is a tale about love enduring through peril. It is also about the beauty of solitude. More >>
On The Amoral Panic Over China’s Missile Test
Wednesday, 8 July 2026, 1:23 pm | Gordon Campbell
Head for the basement, people! China has just tested an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead! It splashed down somewhere into international waters in the Pacific, maybe somewhere near French Polynesia, perhaps near the Solomons. More >>
On The Strange World Of Israel’s Domestic Politics
Monday, 6 July 2026, 12:55 pm | Gordon Campbell
The genocidal carnage in Gaza has not ceased. The settler violence on the West Bank has sharply increased this year. Regardless, any criticism of these atrocities gets routinely labelled as antisemitism by Israel’s apologists. More >>
On The True Confessions Of Charlotte Doyle
Friday, 3 July 2026, 12:49 pm | Gordon Campbell
The Werewolf series of essays on classic children’s books continues this week with this story by Avi of murder, mutiny and teenage rebellion on the high seas. More >>
On The School Lunch Fiasco, And Homelessness
Wednesday, 1 July 2026, 1:01 pm | Gordon Campbell
The Auditor General’s damning report on the school lunch programme- and the litany of callous bungles it has uncovered – should require associate education minister David Seymour to be offering his resignation. More >>
On The Shaky Iran Truce And MPs’ Housing Rorts
Monday, 29 June 2026, 1:48 pm | Gordon Campbell
The fragile 60 day truce that began on June 17 has already been broken by attacks on Iran by the US, by attacks by Iran on US proxies like Kuwait and Bahrain, and by continued attacks by Israel on villages and residential suburbs in Lebanon. More >>
On The Dark Is Rising
Friday, 26 June 2026, 12:46 pm | Gordon Campbell
This week, the Werewolf series of essays on classic children’s books features Susan Cooper’s 1973 novel The Dark Is Rising. More >>
On Being Thankful That Someone Is Talking About Income Inequality
Wednesday, 24 June 2026, 12:35 pm | Gordon Campbell
Political myths die hard. The main myth about the Greens – that they’re naïve idealists with no head for figures - hasn’t changed all that much since their Morris dancing days 30 years ago. None of those stereotypes have much substance. More >>
On RNZ’s Morning Report – Flagship, Or Sinking Ship?
Monday, 22 June 2026, 12:43 pm | Gordon Campbell
No doubt, the government’s plan (a) to make KiwiSaver compulsory and (b) significantly increase the contribution rate required of both workers and employers would end up delivering a desirable boost to savings in future. More >>
