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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 87]
Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission Pike River report
Tuesday, 6 November 2012, 11:22 am | Gordon Campbell
While Kate Wilkinson has resigned as Labour Minister, it is clear from the Royal Commission Pike River report that the contributing factors were (a) rooted in legislative changes made 20 years ago, and perpetuated under governments led by National and ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the regional impact of the war in Syria
Friday, 2 November 2012, 11:41 am | Gordon Campbell
While the moral epi-centre of Middle Eastern politics continues to be the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, much of the struggle on the ground is still between the old Sunni regimes (supported by the West) and the revolutionary threat seen to be posed by the Shi’ite ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on cutting labour costs, & Superstorm Sandy
Wednesday, 31 October 2012, 11:07 am | Gordon Campbell
It is now just over 20 years since the Employment Contracts Act was passed, and 12 years since its main provisions were overturned. Unfortunately, the mindset that gave birth to the ECA hasn’t changed very much in the interim, judging by the changes ... More >>
Gordon Campbell: Dissing teachers & the politics of Homeland
Monday, 29 October 2012, 10:51 am | Gordon Campbell
For politicians and bureaucrats alike, their readiness to diss the people they rely on to improve education outcomes is a risky leadership tactic. To most teachers, the comments by Education Ministry CEO Lesley Longstone that the NZ education system ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Asia’s rival trade deal to the TPPA
Thursday, 25 October 2012, 10:21 am | Gordon Campbell
One of the interesting things about trade pacts is that while they promote harmony and mutual dependence among the signatories, they’re not regarded quite as warmly by those countries left out in the cold. More >>
Gordon Campbell: Different treatment of tax & welfare cheats
Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 10:21 am | Gordon Campbell
Hidden in amongst the usual holiday weekend filler stories – the road toll, the weather, the disgrace of Lance Armstrong etc - was a fascinating piece of research from Victoria University about the different way the courts treat tax cheats, compared ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on secrecy about charter schools, and Dotcom
Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 10:51 am | Gordon Campbell
So the Act Party and its friends in government have concocted a fresh piece of legislation - aka the Education Amendment Bill 2012 - that will exempt crucial elements of their charter schools experiment from public scrutiny under the Official Information Act. More >>
Gordon Campbell: Likely Maori Council challenge on water
Tuesday, 16 October 2012, 11:17 am | Gordon Campbell
If no one owns the water – as then government insists is the case – then what it is doing selling a significant stake in businesses where water rights are an essential part of their operation? Unfortunately, the Key government has refused to negotiate ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the Huawei security scare
Tuesday, 9 October 2012, 12:34 pm | Gordon Campbell
On the face of it, it looks very strange that our government should have jumped to comply with American concerns about the Internet business of about Kim Dotcom – to the extent of a string of illegal search, seizure and surveillance activities ... More >>
Gordon Campbell: Chinese shadow over Key’s trip to Hollywood
Monday, 8 October 2012, 10:24 am | Gordon Campbell
While John Key was in Los Angeles wooing the US studio executives at dinner to bring more film projects to New Zealand, a significant piece of mutual wooing was almost simultaneously taking place on the other side of the Pacific rim. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the two victories Romney needs this week
Thursday, 4 October 2012, 10:03 am | Gordon Campbell
This week is Mitt Romney’s last chance. And as Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson has pointed out so brilliantly, the real debate in Denver today could well be between the two halves of Romney’s divided self. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the Kitteridge inquiry into the GCSB
Tuesday, 2 October 2012, 11:08 am | Gordon Campbell
This sounds cosy. The second inquiry to be launched in the past ten days into the GCSB – this time, into its capabilities, performance and governance - will be carried out by Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Kitteridge of the Department of the Prime Minister ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the failures of the Neazor report
Friday, 28 September 2012, 10:19 am | Gordon Campbell
As predicted in yesterday’s column, the restrictions in the Inspector-General’s own guiding legislation have prevented him from reporting adequately on (a) issues of Ministerial responsibiity or (b) the scope and significance of the information ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on inquiry into the Dotcom security breaches
Thursday, 27 September 2012, 10:36 am | Gordon Campbell
Who watches the watchers? Putting in place effective oversight mechanisms for intelligence agencies is a chronic problem in Western democracies. Given the recent revelations of the illegal surveillance of Kim Dotcom and his associates by the GCSB (with the ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Dotcom, spies and plausible deniability
Tuesday, 25 September 2012, 10:22 am | Gordon Campbell
Well, John Key promised us a different style of government than what we’d had from Helen Clark. No more of that being on top of every detail in every portfolio. Do that, and people not only get sick to death of you (no one likes a know-all) but ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Paula Bennett’s yawning credibility gap
Monday, 24 September 2012, 10:25 am | Gordon Campbell
B y the week, the “welfare reforms” of Social Development Minister Paula Bennett are starting to look more like the Cave Creek viewing platform than a properly designed and well built piece of social engineering. First, the arbitrary nature of the welfare ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Leon Panetta and gunboat access diplomacy
Friday, 21 September 2012, 10:08 am | Gordon Campbell
See if you can guess the name of the country that the Stratfor think tank is talking about here. Hint: it is a country that has had a long running dispute about access to its ports by US warships, but is in discussions with US Defence Secretary Leon ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the relevance to Labour of Mitt Romney
Wednesday, 19 September 2012, 10:32 am | Gordon Campbell
One shouldn’t take pleasure in the misfortune of others, but one can always make an exception for Mitt Romney. Romney is now trying to defend his latest disastrous utterances as an accurate – but inelegant – critique of dependency on the government, ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on John Banks, and Japanese politicking
Tuesday, 18 September 2012, 9:57 am | Gordon Campbell
Don’t ask, don’t tell. The “gays in the military” strategy that John Key has chosen to adopt with respect to the John Banks Affair is daily calling for more and more implausible declarations of prophylactic ignorance by the Prime Minister. More >>
Gordon Campbell on journalism, and John Armstrong
Monday, 17 September 2012, 10:16 am | Gordon Campbell
Watching a round of hair pulling and name-calling between journalists is rarely a rewarding sight, so I apologise in advance to anyone of a nervous or irritable disposition for this morning’s column. Allegedly, I have been unfair and mean to John Armstrong ... More >>
