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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 79]
Gordon Campbell on the Genesis share float debacle
Friday, 14 March 2014, 10:10 am | Gordon Campbell
In one sense at least, Finance Minister Bill English has done everyone a favour with the way the Genesis share float has been structured. So the shares have been set at an especially low price, the dividend yield has been set at an especially high ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Shane Jones reverting to type
Wednesday, 12 March 2014, 10:23 am | Gordon Campbell
Anyone who may have feeling twinges of remorse that it might have been a good idea for Shane Jones to have won the Labour Party leadership race last year should be thanking their lucky stars that Labour dodged a bullet on that one. More >>
Gordon Campbell on Act’s problem with taking responsibility
Monday, 10 March 2014, 10:20 am | Gordon Campbell
If it does nothing else, this election will be a test of whether marketing really can turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse. Although it barely registers a pulse, the Act Party has been the beneficiary of saturation coverage in the NZ Herald over the ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Judith Collins’ milking of the system
Thursday, 6 March 2014, 11:16 am | Gordon Campbell
The Cabinet manual not only forbids actual conflicts of interest when Ministers are performing public duties from which they or their family members and close associates might derive private gain - it also puts the onus on the Minister to actively avoid ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on our response to Russia's work in Ukraine
Tuesday, 4 March 2014, 12:52 pm | Gordon Campbell
To the Russians, the current crisis in the Ukraine must seem like a no-brainer. Ukraine has always been treated as vital to Russia’s self-defence, and to its role as a modern world power. (Russia has had a fleet stationed in the Crimea since 1783.) More >>
Gordon Campbell on the latest NSA spy scandal and Pike River
Friday, 28 February 2014, 9:49 am | Gordon Campbell
Once again, the “Five Eyes” intelligence network (to which New Zealand belongs) has been caught out in a privacy outrage. According to this morning’s Guardian, the British spy agency GCHQ has been secretly recording the images from the Yahoo ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Snowden revelations and ACT on incest
Thursday, 27 February 2014, 10:21 am | Gordon Campbell
Ever since the existence of the Echelon spy system was revealed in the 1990s, the risk of using cyber-espionage for commercial gain and trading advantages - rather than for military and security reasons - has been obvious. More >>
Gordon Campbell on Richard Prebble’s return, and immigration
Tuesday, 25 February 2014, 11:04 am | Gordon Campbell
So Richard Prebble is back, as campaign manager for ACT at this year’s election. For a political organisation that prides itself on being a fount of fresh thinking for the centre right, the Act Party seems to have a stronger commitment to recycling ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Commerce Commission supermarket inquiry
Friday, 21 February 2014, 10:32 am | Gordon Campbell
If you were a harried supplier to a New Zealand supermarket, would you trust the Commerce Commission to protect you, your staff and your livelihood if you dared to come forward - to assist an inquiry that looks as if it will be self-hobbled before ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the All Blacks’ investment in rest homes
Thursday, 20 February 2014, 10:50 am | Gordon Campbell
Up until now, the feeling that rugby may be bad for your health has been pretty much limited to concerns about the sometimes cavalier attitude the code has taken towards the risk of concussion. (National MP Mike Saban has been vocal in the past about ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the next US ambassador to New Zealand
Wednesday, 19 February 2014, 10:36 am | Gordon Campbell
Years ago, I asked a former US ambassador how he managed to navigate his way around rural and provincial New Zealand. Pretty easily, he replied: “I just ask the person I’m meeting whether they have a KFC or a McDonalds in their town, and then I suggest ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the banning of Odd Future
Friday, 14 February 2014, 11:24 am | Gordon Campbell
So the Odd Future rap collective have had their visas revoked because - according to the Immigration Service - they pose a threat to public order in New Zealand. (Allegedly, their visas were not revoked because of their lyrics.) Yeah right. Leaving aside ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on smear tactics in politics
Thursday, 13 February 2014, 11:58 am | Gordon Campbell
Smears are the political equivalent of a hit and run. First comes the allegation that hints of skullduggery - Russel Norman and Winston Peters held “secret” meetings with Kim Dotcom! - and then comes the rebuttal. Unfortunately, by the time the rebuttals ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on our response to Syrian jihadis
Tuesday, 11 February 2014, 10:14 am | Gordon Campbell
So Prime Minister John Key has removed the passports of a few would-be jihadis from New Zealand wishing to join rebel factions in Syria. In doing so, Key is echoing a concern among several European countries that the civil war in Syria has become ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Obama’s domestic problems with the TPP
Friday, 7 February 2014, 10:26 am | Gordon Campbell
On Wednesday, I reported on a local analysis of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, which argued, among other things, that the TPP is not primarily a trade deal at all - but more of a package of entitlements for US corporates and financiers. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the alleged gains to NZ from the TPP
Wednesday, 5 February 2014, 10:14 am | Gordon Campbell
The fog of secrecy around the Trans Pacific Partnership has always triggered concern about what New Zealand may be willing to give away in these talks, without any substantive Parliamentary debate of these concessions beforehand. More >>
Gordon Campbell on further changes at Scoop
Monday, 3 February 2014, 12:44 pm | Gordon Campbell
Two weeks ago, I wrote a column about the involvement of Alastair Thompson, Scoop’s founding editor, with Kim Dotcom’s Internet Party. The errors of judgement made at the time have been amply canvassed in this column and elsewhere. Those mistakes ... More >>
Campbell on Slater, Lorde and media’s (lack of) boundaries
Friday, 31 January 2014, 4:07 pm | Gordon Campbell
If Cameron Slater was a beached whale, the volunteers likely to show up to help him off the beach would almost certainly be limited to close friends and immediate family, judging by the fallout from his latest escapade. More >>
Gordon Campbell: David Cunliffe's State of the Nation speech
Tuesday, 28 January 2014, 9:45 am | Gordon Campbell
In the world of thankless jobs, being the Leader of the Opposition is right up there. It involves being the eternal suitor – always trying to look strikingly different on one hand but credibly reliable on the other, while being unable to make a shred ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Govt’s plans for incentivising teachers
Friday, 24 January 2014, 9:23 am | Gordon Campbell
It may still be only January, but the first of the election year goodies has just been unveiled. Hard to argue with an extra $359 million for teacher pay, spread over four years. No doubt, this helps to explain the guarded optimism with which the PPTA ... More >>
