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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 10]
On Sending Mixed Messages Out On Purpose
Tuesday, 30 May 2023, 11:54 am | Gordon Campbell
National has developed a novel election strategy. It involves being both for and against almost every issue that comes down the pike. The use of te reo on public signage? Recently National Party leader Christopher Luxon came out against the bi-lingual ... More >>
On National‘s Aversion To Transparency
Monday, 29 May 2023, 3:42 pm | Gordon Campbell
In the last year of a second term in government. the election outcome shouldn’t even be close. All that’s required for a competent Opposition to be streets ahead in the polls, is an ability to look like a credible government-in-waiting. Instead, ... More >>
On America’s Plunge Into Religious Extremism
Thursday, 25 May 2023, 11:44 am | Gordon Campbell
Yikes. If either Donald Trump or Florida governor Ron De Santis win next year’s presidential contest with Joe Biden, the commander-in-chief of the world’s greatest nuclear arsenal will be beholden to millions of voters who expect Armageddon to occur ... More >>
On The NZ Steel Deal
Monday, 22 May 2023, 11:51 am | Gordon Campbell
Goodness gracious: The National Party has come out against corporate welfare! Or at least it is dead against the government’s $140 million subsidy deal with New Zealand Steel. The deal will enable the installation of a new electric arc furnace, ... More >>
On The Budget
Friday, 19 May 2023, 11:45 am | Gordon Campbell
Heaven help us, but this year’s Budget is what a “targeted” and “no frills” response to the financial hardship facing hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders looks like. Good to know that the government has deliberately avoided grappling with ... More >>
On Trying To Pass National On The Right
Tuesday, 16 May 2023, 11:18 am | Gordon Campbell
It may be naïve to expect any politician to be consistent, but Christopher Luxon really is in a class of his own. One day, he’s out there decrying the state bureaucracy and promising to channel the money wasted on pen-pushers and bean counters back into ... More >>
On Labour’s Epic Fail On Seabed Mining
Thursday, 11 May 2023, 2:45 pm | Gordon Campbell
Seabed mining is a substantive issue. It pits environment harm and the interests of indigenous communities against the relatively few jobs for locals, and the relatively large potential profits for mining companies. As Te Pāti Māori co leader Debbie ... More >>
On The Endless Spending On Defence
Tuesday, 9 May 2023, 2:13 pm | Gordon Campbell
Defence is the one area of government spending where the politicians never, ever demand – but how on earth do we propose to pay for this? A Budget supposedly focussed on “bread and butter” issues has still managed to allocate another $748 million ... More >>
On The Wilting Of The Greens
Monday, 8 May 2023, 11:55 am | Gordon Campbell
For a party that thinks global, the Greens have developed a habit of acting local, and by local I mean North Island, and by North Island I mean Auckland and thereabouts. Go back 15 years to the 2008 party list, and there were five South Island MPs in ... More >>
On The Coronation
Friday, 5 May 2023, 10:36 am | Gordon Campbell
Finally, the imperial sound of one hand clapping. Saturday night NZ time, Charles III will be officially sworn in as King and as our head of state Commonwealth leaders will pledge their allegiance, even those hailing from countries that would much rather ... More >>
On The Hollywood Writers’ Strike
Wednesday, 3 May 2023, 11:37 am | Gordon Campbell
Capitalism has a habit of throwing up business models that disrupt business as usual, but that are not sustainable. Uber for instance, couldn’t provide a cut price taxi service forever, at the expense of its drivers. Sooner or later, they were bound ... More >>
On The Politics Of “Greedflation”
Monday, 1 May 2023, 11:45 am | Gordon Campbell
Even though inflation has peaked – it fell to 6.7% last week – we are still being told to expect high interest rates to persist well into 2024, or beyond. This is despite the lack of evidence that household spending and wage growth justify the ... More >>
On Tax Injustice, And On Being Prepped For War With China
Thursday, 27 April 2023, 9:45 am | Gordon Campbell
The IRD’s significant research proves that the rich (on average) are taxed on their income at less than half the rate paid by ordinary wage and salary earners. They also pay a far smaller proportion of their income in GST. Even worse, the research ... More >>
On The Aussie Citizenship Changes
Monday, 24 April 2023, 11:44 am | Gordon Campbell
In all likelihood, Anthony Albanese and Chris Hipkins have quite different readings of the pathway to citizenship that has just been opened up for Kiwis who have lived in Australia for the past four years, or more. To New Zealanders, a historical wrong ... More >>
On China’s Big New Power Troika
Thursday, 20 April 2023, 11:20 am | Gordon Campbell
Rather than run the risk (and suffer the indignity) of putting Rupert Murdoch on the witness stand, Fox News has paid the $US788 million required to get Dominion to drop its defamation suit. A similar settlement will probably be needed to pay ... More >>
On The Morning After Three Waters
Monday, 17 April 2023, 1:29 pm | Gordon Campbell
Reportedly, local democracy has been saved from the brutal tyranny of centralised water reform. One would like to think that spirited debate is now breaking out in the nation’s kitchens and cafes about the best ways of funding water infrastructure ... More >>
On Auckland’s Ghastly Mayor, And The Water Reforms
Friday, 14 April 2023, 12:04 pm | Gordon Campbell
By crikey, once Wayne Brown finds out who was in charge of the city during Auckland’s anniversary foods, I bet they’ll cop an earful. So far, Brown’s reaction to former Police Commissioner Mike Bush’s 107 page review of the flood response has been ... More >>
On The Reasons For Opposing AUKUS
Wednesday, 12 April 2023, 9:53 am | Gordon Campbell
In the early 1980s, New Zealand walked out of the ANZUS pact on principle, rather than be an accomplice to nuclear war. We now seem to be heading back into being a nuclear fellow traveller again, via the AUKUS pact. This time around, we would have ... More >>
On Regulating The Love Affair Between Lobbyists And Law-makers
Wednesday, 5 April 2023, 12:40 pm | Gordon Campbell
As predicted in this column on Monday the Trump indictment has turned out (a) to hinge on New York state law 175.10 on the falsifying of business records, and in order (b) to reach the threshold of a felony this will require the falsification ... More >>
On Hiking Up Interest Rates
Monday, 3 April 2023, 11:25 am | Gordon Campbell
Elsewhere in the world, some central bankers are showing signs of re-considering the wisdom of barrelling on with the crusade against inflation. For fear that constant rate hikes may now be doing more socio-economic harm than good, there is talk in ... More >>
