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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 23]
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 >>
On Why We Should Pay Kiwis Living Abroad
Monday, 1 August 2022, 11:47 am | Gordon Campbell
This morning, National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis managed to get top of the bulletin news coverage by pointing out that some Kiwis living abroad might receive the government’s cost of living payment. Quelle horreur. What is the problem here? ... More >>
On Games Fervour, And The Music Of S.G. Goodman
Friday, 29 July 2022, 1:42 pm | Gordon Campbell
Given how the pandemic has disrupted the sporting calendar, no-one would begrudge our elite athletes their chance to compete at international level. What with the war in Ukraine and the cost of living, there are also not many ‘good news” stories ... More >>
On Luxon’s Holiday, And The Greens Phantom Revolt
Wednesday, 27 July 2022, 2:55 pm | Gordon Campbell
If nothing else, some of the media treatment of the Luxon lu’au has reeked of a double standard. If Jacinda Ardern – or any of her Cabinet Ministers – had been holidaying in Hawaii while their social media imagery was depicting them working ... More >>
