Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 88]
Gordon Campbell on job creation | Bennett’s welfare numbers
Thursday, 13 September 2012, 11:27 am | Gordon Campbell
When governments brag about the jobs their economic policies are creating, the public should regard the figures as being as reliable as a John Banks mayoral expenses declaration. During only the past week for instance, Finance Minister Bill English has claimed ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on welfare | Labour’s exchange rate cynicism
Wednesday, 12 September 2012, 10:18 am | Gordon Campbell
Paula Bennett’s refusal to front up on National Radio this morning and discuss her latest spasm of beneficiary policy is symptomatic of her overall performance as Minister. The Social Development Minister is happy to announce any number of ‘get ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on APEC, and its significance for TPP talks
Monday, 10 September 2012, 11:10 am | Gordon Campbell
Once upon a time, the APEC gathering of nations threatened to become a significant free trade bloc in its own right. Remember the Bogor Goals of 1994? But these days, not so much, apart from a bit of fiddling around with eco-friendly tariff levels. More >>
Gordon Campbell on lack of a jobs policy, and abortion laws
Friday, 7 September 2012, 10:41 am | Gordon Campbell
Jobs, jobs, jobs. Gosh, who would have thought that if you cut government spending and jobs in the teeth of a recession, the economy would contract further and unemployment would rise? Plainly, it’s a lot easier to un-govern and to walk away from responsibility ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on last night’s same sex marriage debate
Thursday, 30 August 2012, 10:34 am | Gordon Campbell
Once again, when Parliament went into conscience vote mode last night on a contentious issue, the quality of debate markedly improved - as MPs briefly managed to escape from their usual role of being fodder for pre-set party positions. More >>
Gordon Campbell on this week’s arm-wrestling on water rights
Tuesday, 28 August 2012, 10:09 am | Gordon Campbell
When it comes to the Waitangi Tribunal ruling on water rights, Prime Minister John Key appears to be balancing midstream on two different logs that threaten to move further apart over the next few days. While Key is being careful to say all the obligatory ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on inequality & God’s dislike of Republicans
Friday, 24 August 2012, 11:00 am | Gordon Campbell
Inequality is becoming ingrained in the culture. One of the more interesting ads on television is the long running one where a trio of All Blacks is greeted effusively in a hotel foyer by a prize-winning fan. More >>
Gordon Campbell on how lobbying works
Thursday, 23 August 2012, 11:57 am | Gordon Campbell
Remember when the Law Commission was worried that young women were the prime targets of alcohol industry RTD alcopop advertising and promotion? Remember when the media was full of shocked (shocked!!!) stories about excessive alcohol consumption by young ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on what comes next in Afghanistan
Tuesday, 21 August 2012, 10:34 am | Gordon Campbell
Under its current operating rules, the New Zealand forces in Bamiyan have already been given authority by Cabinet to cross over into neighbouring regions such as Baghlan - the province from which the attackers responsible for the recent deaths among New ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on latest New Zealand deaths in Afghanistan
Monday, 20 August 2012, 9:46 am | Gordon Campbell
The killing of three more New Zealand members of our Provincial Reconstruction Team by a roadside bomb in northern Bamiyan would seem to indicate that (a) their vehicles are not armoured adequately to protect them against the level of IEDs now being deployed ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the Julian Assange extradition battle
Friday, 17 August 2012, 12:01 pm | Gordon Campbell
As in so many international disputes, the key to the resolution of the Julian Assange asylum case is the United States. If the White House, via US Attorney-General Eric Holder, would issue a diplomatic assurance that the US would not be seeking the extradition ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Paula Bennett & privacy, and Big Tobacco
Thursday, 16 August 2012, 11:24 am | Gordon Campbell
You don’t really have to be a theologian to know that if you’re truly sorry for doing something, repentance includes a commitment not to do it again. Social Development Minister Paula Bennett clearly has a problem with the second part. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the MMP review, and Paul Ryan for Veep
Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 10:58 am | Gordon Campbell
As expected, the MMP review proposal paper has come up with a trade-off between the two main voting thresholds. It suggests scrapping the one electorate seat provision that enables small parties to bring others into Parliament in line with their vote ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the future funding of Olympics sport
Monday, 13 August 2012, 9:59 am | Gordon Campbell
So the Olympics has come and gone amid the usual “ hese were the best Games ever” accolades that seem the automatic verdict issued every four years, with Atlanta in 1996 being the exception that proves the rule. How did New Zealand do? More >>
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s recent mid-flight turbulence
Thursday, 9 August 2012, 10:16 am | Gordon Campbell
It has been quite a week for Labour, on three counts at least. First came the signs in the polls that the recent slide in support for the Key government – which had raised Labour hopes that the second term blues would become an avalanche leading ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on waste involved in staying in Afghanistan
Monday, 6 August 2012, 11:05 am | Gordon Campbell
In the wake of the weekend’s deadly attack on New Zealand forces in Afghanistan, the interesting aspect of the political response has been the across-the-board acceptance (from the Greens as well) that this attack should not change the timetable for withdrawal. More >>
Gordon Campbell on successes of student strikers in Quebec
Friday, 3 August 2012, 11:28 am | Gordon Campbell
If anyone is still wondering what happened to the energies and the organising principles that drove the Occupy movement – or if they’re merely wanting to be re-assured that neo-liberalism can be successfully resisted – they should be looking at the ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on National's reversion to type on gender
Friday, 27 July 2012, 10:29 am | Gordon Campbell
Surprisingly to some, Labour women’s affairs spokesperson Sue Moroney is showing a genuine ability to get up the nose of the government, as she goes about wiping the floor with Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew. This began long before National’s ... More >>
Gordon Campbell: US conservatives show how to respond to TPP
Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 10:21 am | Gordon Campbell
It isn’t often that we see how the United States feels when it sees itself on the receiving end of a secretive international treaty process – you know, one akin to the Trans Pacific Partnership process that alarms many New Zealanders. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the media’s sales job on asset sales
Tuesday, 24 July 2012, 11:17 am | Gordon Campbell
Well, what an exciting weekend it must have been for the nation’s media. After a 2012 full, thus far, of gaffes, resignations, dodgy dealings at ACC and widely unpopular policies from the government, our press elite went into the National Party ... More >>