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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 29]
On Populism’s Changing Of The Guard, Plus A Soul Music Playlist
Monday, 2 August 2021, 12:34 pm | Gordon Campbell
The weekend’s Newshub/Reid Research poll results - Act up to 11.1%, National up 1% but still sitting at only 28.7%, Labour down to 43%, the Greens up to 8.5% - shows that the combined centre right vote is still languishing nearly 12 points behind ... More >>
On The Supermarket Scam, And On Tunisia’s Scrapping Of Democracy
Thursday, 29 July 2021, 1:31 pm | Gordon Campbell
Are we paying too much for our groceries? Hmm. Is the Pope a Catholic? Given that the two Australian supermarket chains that dominate our grocery industry routinely rack up profits in the order of $22 billion annually, that’s a no-brainer. Yet ... More >>
On The Uncanny Valley Of Tokyo 2020
Tuesday, 27 July 2021, 11:11 am | Gordon Campbell
For all involved, this year’s Olympic Games have called for a willing suspension of anxiety. For now at least, the displays of skill and agility have been compelling enough to muffle some of the previous misgivings about the wisdom of asking athletes More >>
On The Geo-political Posturing Over China’s Cyber Hacks, Plus The Weekly Playlist
Thursday, 22 July 2021, 12:19 pm | Gordon Campbell
The timing was one of the weirder aspects of this week’s cyber condemnation of China by the West. Why was this piece of political theatre being staged now? China (and Russia’s) sponsoring and/or condoning of semi-state and criminal hacker groups More >>
On Shifting To Electric Vehicles, And Who Killed Haiti’s President?
Tuesday, 20 July 2021, 11:56 am | Gordon Campbell
While the nation paused last Friday to share the existential horror of farmers and tradies maybe having to pay a little more in future for a new emissions-emitting Toyota Hilux from Japan… The real losers in this “ute tax” scenario will continue ... More >>
On The Whining Vocal Minority Of Farmers, Plus The Weekly Playlist
Thursday, 15 July 2021, 3:00 pm | Gordon Campbell
Granted, working on the land can be a lonely job and the weather can be a bitch… But speaking in general, what have farmers got to complain about? A lot of other Kiwis need to worry about finding a place to live, making rent, feeding their kids ... More >>
On When National’s Leaders Had A More Enlightened Approach To Gangs
Tuesday, 13 July 2021, 10:22 am | Gordon Campbell
One can sympathise with Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt and the lose/lose situation he has just found himself in. If he had stayed safe and snug in the Beltway around Parliament, he would have been stereotyped as a liberal ... More >>
On The Legacy Of Rockabilly, Plus A Playlist
Friday, 9 July 2021, 10:53 am | Gordon Campbell
Rockabilly was a 1950s precursor of punk. It was uptempo, aggressive, and shared with punk the same DIY “hell, I’ll give that a whirl” sense of adventure. It also provided more than a few hillbilly musicians with a chance to dream that hey, ... More >>
On Why The J&J Vaccine Isn’t An Ideal Back-up Option, And Haiti
Thursday, 8 July 2021, 11:13 am | Gordon Campbell
The news that Medsafe has given approval to Johnson & Johnson’s vaccin e means the government is finally putting a backup plan in place, after the series of close shaves it has been experiencing of late in getting its deliveries of the ... More >>
On New Zealand’s Lack Of Adequate Cyber Security Defences
Tuesday, 6 July 2021, 10:47 am | Gordon Campbell
Remember how, back in the olden days, we had security concerns about the Chinese firm Huawei? Allegedly, Huawei was to be shunned as a business arm of the Chinese Communist Party and supposedly some Huawei products contained security glitches that ... More >>
On The Hate Speech Panic, And The Weekly Playlist
Thursday, 1 July 2021, 9:53 am | Gordon Campbell
So far, much of the fuss about the government’s proposed legislation on hate speech has focused on the state – the state ! - being empowered to define and enforce the rules about certain forms of discrimination and related speech. As if this was ... More >>
On Why We Should Abolish The Military
Monday, 28 June 2021, 11:58 am | Gordon Campbell
Last Friday, Defence Minister Peeni Henare announced his intention to seek savings within the circa $20 billion allocated to Defence over the next decade or so. At the same time, Henare also offered assurances that the three really big ticket, multi-billion ... More >>
On The Barriers Facing Female Country Musicians, And The Weekly Playlist
Friday, 25 June 2021, 10:07 am | Gordon Campbell
Like no other performer in popular culture, Dolly Parton is loved and respected by people from opposite ends of the political spectrum, and every point in between. Her hits stopped coming a while ago, though. Modern country music is a genre that’s ... More >>
On Failing To Prepare For Either Mental Health Needs, Or Covid Outbreaks
Thursday, 24 June 2021, 11:01 am | Gordon Campbell
In a week when the Covid scare in Wellington and the national crisis in mental health both hit the headlines, they also seemed like mirror images of each other – in that we seem equally ill-prepared on both fronts. In both cases, contingency planning ... More >>
On The Lancet’s Stance Against The Olympic Games, And On The US Culture Battles Over Abortion
Tuesday, 22 June 2021, 11:05 am | Gordon Campbell
Yesterday - barely a month before the opening ceremony - the Lancet medical journal has called for a global conversation on whether the Olympics should go ahead. But who is able to take part in that conversation? Not the hosts, evidently. In poll ... More >>
On The America’s Cup, Critical Race Theory And A New, Weekly Music Playlist
Thursday, 17 June 2021, 10:36 am | Gordon Campbell
So… Why don’t they just cut to the chase, and call it the Emirates Cup? As this column predicted several months ago, the next America’s Cup challenge is headed overseas. Here’s what Werewolf said back in March : Emirates has made a major commitment ... More >>
On Britain’s Pathetic Trade Deal With Australia
Wednesday, 16 June 2021, 10:27 am | Gordon Campbell
So much for those assurances that New Zealand would be the first cab off the ran k for any post -Brexit trade deal with the United Kingdom. Assuming for the moment that this was ever a good idea, the Aussies have managed to get there first. Yesterday, ... More >>
Gordon Campbell On The Mosque Movie, And The Demise Of Netanyahu
Monday, 14 June 2021, 11:54 am | Gordon Campbell
Plainly, a whole lot of New Zealanders – including PM Jacinda Ardern - are not on board with They Are U s, the mooted film project intended about the Christchurch mosque shootings. Here’s how the original Hollywood Reporter story described the ... More >>
On Some After-thoughts About The Climate Change Commission Report
Thursday, 10 June 2021, 12:09 pm | Gordon Campbell
The notion that New Zealand is pluckily - or foolishly – punching above its weight in the march towards carbon neutrality by the year 2050 seems entirely deluded. Either way though, the idea seems too useful for the politicians to surrender it willingly. ... More >>
On The McLachlan Interview, And The G-7 Global Corporate Tax
Tuesday, 8 June 2021, 12:10 pm | Gordon Campbell
TVNZ’s excuse for screening the Craig McLachlan interview last night was really flimsy. According to a TVNZ spokeswoman : “ It looks at his trial by media in Australia, and the impact this had on his wellbeing over a three and half year period.” This, ... More >>
