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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 24]
On The Greens, And On Free Market Myopia
Monday, 25 July 2022, 12:52 pm | Gordon Campbell
Climate change has gone from being one of those allegedly wacky Green ideas to wide mainstream acceptance. In their own ways, leaders like Jeanette Fitzsimons, Russel Norman and James Shaw each added to the increased credibility the Greens’ now have ... More >>
On The Covid Surge, And Re-infection
Thursday, 21 July 2022, 1:32 pm | Gordon Campbell
Hate to sound “fearful” and “inward”in my thinking , but it seems Covid can’t be beaten simply by a dose of positive thinking and a “can do” Kiwi attitude. The virus doesn’t seem to respect our mindset. The Omicron BA. 4 and BA.5 variants ... More >>
On The US Attempt To Regain Lost Ground
Monday, 18 July 2022, 1:09 pm | Gordon Campbell
The brief fist bump between Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Mohammad bin Salman was the most memorable image from the US President’s journey last week to the Middle East. To many, it was a humiliating sign of American impotence. Fist ... More >>
On The US Attempt To Regain Lost Ground
Monday, 18 July 2022, 1:06 pm | Gordon Campbell
The brief fist bump between Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Mohammad bin Salman was the most memorable image from the US President’s journey last week to the Middle East. To many, it was a humiliating sign of American impotence. Fist ... More >>
On Labour’s Bunker Mentality
Thursday, 14 July 2022, 11:43 am | Gordon Campbell
It seems very odd that RNZ thought it was worth breaking into its normal programming yesterday in order to provide Christopher Luxon with a platform from which to try and explain away his latest outbreaks of foot-in-mouth disease. Can we now assume ... More >>
On The Pacific Islands Forum Gathering
Monday, 11 July 2022, 2:04 pm | Gordon Campbell
In recent months, China has been widely portrayed as a major strategic threat to the Pacific region, yet the Pacific states themselves beg to differ. Pacific leaders insist that climate change is a far more pressing existential threat. A month ago, ... More >>
On The Trade Deal With The Europeans
Friday, 8 July 2022, 10:22 am | Gordon Campbell
We’ve grown so used to thinking the “we punch above our weight” cliché is real that the shortcomings in our free trade deal with the European Union may have come as something of a shock. That ingrained sense of Kiwi exceptionalism dies hard. ... More >>
On Finding A Model To Replace The Monarchy
Wednesday, 6 July 2022, 11:47 am | Gordon Campbell
One feels reluctant to pre-empt the verdict of history, but maybe we need to have a Plan B in mind just in case the reign of King Charles III turns out badly. With that possibility in mind, are there any other countries that do a reasonably good ... More >>
On Whether Spotify Can Save Itself; Plus A Playlist
Monday, 4 July 2022, 12:29 pm | Gordon Campbell
Spotify has to be one of the most interestingly futile mouse-wheels of 21st century capitalism. Run, run, run goes the Spotify mouse but it never, ever makes a profit. For reasons set out below, it maybe never will. But it won’t be for wont of trying. ... More >>
On National’s Ongoing Problems With Abortion
Wednesday, 29 June 2022, 11:52 am | Gordon Campbell
Despite Christopher Luxon’s assurances to the contrary, there is no such thing as “settled law” in New Zealand. Apart from the six provisions that are constitutionally entrenched, legislation can always be amended or overturned by a simple majority ... More >>
On The Roe v Wade Aftermath
Monday, 27 June 2022, 1:29 pm | Gordon Campbell
Now that the right of US women to abortion (formerly protected by Roe v Wade ) has been abolished, the important role of medication-induced abortion will come even more to the fore . Already, research by the Guttmacher Institute reproductive rights ... More >>
On The Fate Of Julian Assange
Tuesday, 21 June 2022, 9:56 am | Gordon Campbell
Has swapping Scott Morrison for Anthony Albanese made any discernible difference to Australia’s relations with the US, China, the Pacific and New Zealand ? Not so far. For example: Albanese has asked for more time to “consider” his response ... More >>
On The Penny Wong Visit
Friday, 17 June 2022, 10:21 am | Gordon Campbell
Good grief. Has foreign policy commentary really devolved to the point where our diplomatic effort is being measured by how many overseas trips have been taken by our Foreign Minister? Weird, but apparently so. All this week, a series of media ... More >>
On The Price Tag For Closer US Military Ties
Thursday, 16 June 2022, 10:27 am | Gordon Campbell
So far, the closer military relationship envisaged by Jacinda Ardern and Joseph Biden at their recent White House meeting has been analysed mainly in terms of what this means for our supposedly “independent” foreign policy. Not much attention More >>
On The Flaws In National’s Pet Solution To Gangs And Poverty
Monday, 13 June 2022, 11:58 am | Gordon Campbell
In the 50 years since Norm Kirk first promised to take the bikes off the bikies, our politicians have tried again and again to win votes by promising to crack down on gangs. Canterbury University academic Jarrod Gilbert (an expert on New Zealand’s ... More >>
On Sinai, Where It Suits Us To Waive International Treaties
Thursday, 9 June 2022, 12:47 pm | Gordon Campbell
Farmers are currently enjoying the highest prices and payouts in the history of this country. They will never be better placed to acknowledge that their wealth comes on the back of climate-changing emissions and causes serious amounts of water and ... More >>
On Why Nurses Are Our Prime Export To Australia
Tuesday, 7 June 2022, 10:50 am | Gordon Campbell
That giant sucking noise is the sound of the jobs of our nurses, doctors, and midwives being vacuumed up by medical recruiters from New South Wales. The conservative Perrottet NSW state government has just announced ambitious aims to recruit more than 10,000 ... More >>
On New Zealand’s Surrender To The US, Plus A Playlist
Thursday, 2 June 2022, 10:51 am | Gordon Campbell
Like a unicorn, New Zealand’s independent foreign policy is a fabulous creature – highly treasured, rarely seen but credited with magical healing powers. Some say that if judiciously applied, it could even bring peace between the warring parties ... More >>
On Regulating Guns And Supermarkets
Tuesday, 31 May 2022, 11:09 am | Gordon Campbell
Thanks to decades of free market zealots opposed on principle to sensible regulation… We’re now faced with a supermarket duopoly so entrenched that any prospective new entrant would have to think twice before taking them on. Even if they did, it might ... More >>
On The Panic In The Pacific Over China
Friday, 27 May 2022, 1:35 pm | Gordon Campbell
For years, it has been no secret that China wants closer security and trade ties with the small nations of the Pacific region. All part of Beijing’s self-image as a global superpower. To that end this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarked ... More >>
