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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 14]

On The Regal Mourning Marathon

Friday, 16 September 2022, 10:32 am | Gordon Campbell

The media coverage of the mourning process for Elizabeth II seems to be as endless as the lines of people waiting patiently to pay their respects. (The British are very good at standing in queues.) New Zealand’s official ten day mourning period ... More >>

On A Fun Summer, With Covid Anxiety

Wednesday, 14 September 2022, 12:01 pm | Gordon Campbell

No more traffic light alert system. No more vaccine mandates, even for those in healthcare. Masks are no longer mandatory in retail outlets or on public transport, and required only in healthcare settings, and for those caring for the sick and elderly. ... More >>

On Being Co-dependent On The Royals

Monday, 12 September 2022, 1:12 pm | Gordon Campbell

For those who do not regard King Charles III as their liege lord, these have been a difficult few days, with the promise of more to come. One of the reasons that republican sentiment has been so absent from the media coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth ... More >>

On What The Rise Of Liz Truss Signals For Us

Thursday, 8 September 2022, 11:42 am | Gordon Campbell

True, the writing is a bit florid, but the following passages capture a few of the psychological realities that have been dawning for some time: Very few of us realize with conviction the intensely unusual, unstable, complicated, unreliable, temporary ... More >>

On Why Chile’s Experiment In Direct Democracy Failed

Tuesday, 6 September 2022, 10:34 am | Gordon Campbell

In overwhelming numbers yesterday – the “no” vote was 62% - the people of Chile voted to reject a draft Constitution that would have been one of the most progressive national charters in the world, enshrining gender parity and a range of social, indigenous ... More >>

On King Coal’s Comeback, Plus A Music Playlist

Friday, 2 September 2022, 10:55 am | Gordon Campbell

Of late, the news bulletins have been carrying alarming images of extreme flooding in parts of Asia, and extreme drought across Europe. Pakistan has 7,000 glaciers, the largest number in any country outside the polar regions. Those glaciers are melting, ... More >>

On Labour’s Self-inflicted Kiwisaver Disaster

Thursday, 1 September 2022, 10:56 am | Gordon Campbell

In years to come, the Great Kiwisaver Fees Fiasco is going to be taught in schools as a lesson in political mis-management. To put it mildly, the government did not front foot the significant change it was making to require all Kiwisaver providers ... More >>

On The Centre-left's Reluctance To Pursue Radical Options

Tuesday, 30 August 2022, 12:33 pm | Gordon Campbell

The term “Overton Window” was coined by the US political scientist Joseph Overton, and it refers to the policies deemed to be politically acceptable at any given point in time. Overton’s aim was to widen that window. In New Zealand, the window of ... More >>

On Our Paranoid Policies On Immigration

Monday, 29 August 2022, 12:00 pm | Gordon Campbell

If only we could take one tenth of the energy we currently expend on worrying about what Ian Foster’s coaching policies are doing to the All Blacks, and feed it into the national grid. We’d be far better off putting some of that energy into worrying ... More >>

On Appalachian Music, With A Playlist

Thursday, 25 August 2022, 12:10 pm | Gordon Campbell

Around the globe, culture is being homogenised by dominant styles of popular music, spread far and wide by delivery platforms like Tik Tok and Youtube. Even so, regional musics continue to be surprisingly resilient. I’m not just talking about variations ... More >>

On Saying Goodbye To Dr Sharma, And The Monarchy

Wednesday, 24 August 2022, 11:01 am | Gordon Campbell

Dr. Guarav Sharma is now an independent MP. We probably won’t have to wait much longer before we hear he’d be willing to work with a centre-right government in future, should the good people of Hamilton West re-elect him next year. His constituents ... More >>

On Why The State Buying Kiwibank Is No Big Deal

Tuesday, 23 August 2022, 11:18 am | Gordon Campbell

So... The government itself has bought Kiwibank off its current trio of state-related owners (NZ Post, NZ Super Fund and the ACC) in a transaction that valued Kiwibank at $2.1 billion. This paper shuffling exercise will not change the overall value ... More >>

On Why Big Spenders Are Not Our Tourism Salvation

Thursday, 18 August 2022, 9:37 am | Gordon Campbell

Covid and climate change have been changing the face of tourism. That’s why it seemed oddly premature last week for Tourism Minister Stuart to announce that New Zealand isn’t interested in mass tourism any more, or in attracting the sort of ... More >>

On The Case For Nationalising Our Urban Bus Services

Tuesday, 16 August 2022, 11:42 am | Gordon Campbell

When it comes to funding and managing public transport, should local government or central government bear most of the responsibility for delivering a quality service? Ratepayers or taxpayers? Those basic questions re-surfaced yesterday, after the government ... More >>

On The Sharma Chameleon

Monday, 15 August 2022, 11:07 am | Gordon Campbell

Gather round the camp-fire, folks. Let me tell you about the Ice Age era of the fourth Labour government, when mean, sabre-toothed tigers like Richard Prebble ranged at large within the Labour caucus. A being so mean and fierce that - legend has it ... More >>

On How National’s ”New” Welfare Plan Resurrects A Past Failure

Thursday, 11 August 2022, 11:24 am | Gordon Campbell

Sam Uffindell’s defenders keep reminding us that he was only 16 at the time of the King’s College incident, and haven’t we all done things in our teens that, as adults, we look back on with shame and embarrassment? True. Let's be honest. Haven’t ... More >>

On Sam Uffindell’s Sorry Excuse For An Apology

Tuesday, 9 August 2022, 12:21 pm | Gordon Campbell

Most of us believe in redemption and atonement… But the timing, the nature and the semantics of Sam Uffindell‘s apology for his role in a gang that beat a younger kid (reportedly) with wooden bed legs, has left much to be desired. The victim seems ... More >>

On National’s Plan To Privatise Welfare Delivery

Monday, 8 August 2022, 11:28 am | Gordon Campbell

On the rare occasions when it ever gets asked, the public keeps rejecting tax cuts as such, as a policy priority. It keeps saying it wants tax levels to either stay the same or be increased, so that public services can be maintained, or even (perish ... More >>

On National’s Incredible Disappearing Tax Policy

Friday, 5 August 2022, 11:57 am | Gordon Campbell

During the years of the Key government one hardy perennial of political journalism was that whenever the Labour Opposition would suggest a policy alternative to the status quo, the hard bitten response from the Gallery realists would be “But how’re ... More >>

On The “One Person, Many Votes” Principle

Wednesday, 3 August 2022, 10:50 am | Gordon Campbell

That gormlessly glum picture of Christopher Luxon in Samoa graphicallly tells us what kind of image New Zealand would be projecting abroad if there’s a change of government next year. The glumness is understandable. For months, National and ACT ... More >>

   

 
 
 
 
 

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