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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 17]
On The Crackdown On Gangs
Monday, 19 June 2023, 3:15 pm | Gordon Campbell
For much of last week, Opotiki was like the setting of a Wes Anderson movie. Gruff, no nonsense cops. Bikers who looked just as tough, but who ended up being considerably more peaceful than a similar-sized rugby crowd. Stoic, sensible locals who couldn’t ... More >>
On The Recession Engineered By The Reserve Bank
Friday, 16 June 2023, 11:33 am | Gordon Campbell
This week, we got official confirmation that the Reserve Bank has finally achieved the recession it has worked so hard to engineer. The Bank has bludgeoned borrowers and households with interest rate hikes, and sought to ease wage pressure by creating ... More >>
On Losing The Ukraine War
Wednesday, 14 June 2023, 11:35 am | Gordon Campbell
Obviously, no-one defends the RNZ digital journalist who distorted the content and meaning of so many articles on the Ukraine war, some of them bylined by journalists who had no idea their work had been twisted to serve the needs of Kremlin propaganda. ... More >>
On Changing The GE Rules, Plus A Music Playlist
Monday, 12 June 2023, 11:58 am | Gordon Campbell
So Christopher Luxon wants to relax the rules that govern the use of genetic modification outside a laboratory setting. Would this mean going only so far as to allow gene editing of an existing gene sequence, or does Luxon intend to give a green light ... More >>
On Saudi Sports-washing
Thursday, 8 June 2023, 3:18 pm | Gordon Campbell
Since sport is our global religion, it isn’t surprising that the theocratic kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken the redemptive power of sportswashing very seriously indeed. To the point where the massive Saudi investment in all kinds of professional sport ... More >>
On Red Tape And Nicky Hager’s Regal Reward
Tuesday, 6 June 2023, 10:42 am | Gordon Campbell
Not for the first time, David Seymour looks like an answer to a non-existent problem. Reportedly, ACT is promising to establish a Ministry of Regulations to cut through all that bureaucracy and red tape. Yep. To cut down on bureaucracy. Seymour is promising ... More >>
On How Private Profits Are Driving Defence Spending
Friday, 2 June 2023, 11:34 am | Gordon Campbell
Speak of the devil. The Australian website Crikey has just launched an investigative series about the notorious lobbying firm Crosby Textor, or C/T as it now prefers to be called. It transpires that two clients of C/T’s American subsidiary will ... More >>
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 >>
