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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 89]
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 >>
Gordon Campbell on the death of Alexander Cockburn
Monday, 23 July 2012, 10:14 am | Gordon Campbell
Alexander Cockburn would probably be amused and annoyed that his death in Germany at the weekend will attract a mere fraction of the accolades heaped on his one-time colleague Christopher Hitchens six months ago. But then, amused outrage was Cockburn's ... More >>
Gordon Campbell: KiwiRail’s outsourcing bungle with Chinese
Friday, 20 July 2012, 10:37 am | Gordon Campbell
So the brake pads on every single one of the 500 freight wagons delivered to KiwiRail by its favoured Chinese supplier have had to be replaced. When fully loaded, they evidently couldn’t stop in a safe period of time. Wow. What was in the contracts ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on disinterest in violence against women
Wednesday, 18 July 2012, 10:47 am | Gordon Campbell
I t seems a simple enough concept; counselling is meant to help victims to recover from their experience. The conditions for getting access to counselling are not supposed to leave the claimant feeling so re-traumatised that they give up and go without ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the $200m bill for roading consultants
Monday, 16 July 2012, 10:05 am | Gordon Campbell
In this time of fiscal austerity, some people are being asked to be more austere than others. Thus, the news on RNZ this morning that transport consultants have been paid over $200 million since 2009 for investigation and design work on five of New ... More >>
Gordon Campbell: Tariana Turia faces a Katie Holmes moment
Thursday, 12 July 2012, 10:52 am | Gordon Campbell
The Maori Party’s relationship with National is looking more and more like that of a battered spouse, a pitiable creature who will swallow any indignity in return for the few crumbs of what the relationships once promised to offer. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the job losses at KiwiRail
Tuesday, 10 July 2012, 10:00 am | Gordon Campbell
So KiwiRail is about to cut up to 220 jobs by October, and SOE Minister Tony Ryall has refused to front up to explain what is going on here. After declining an interview request from RNZ this morning, Ryall’s office issued a limp one line statement, ... More >>
Campbell: Private sector delivery an inter-generational scam
Friday, 6 July 2012, 10:37 am | Gordon Campbell
Public private partnerships (PPPs) are still being envisaged by the Key government’s as its favoured method for financing new schools, motorways etc, but the experience in Britain with such schemes continues to be really disturbing. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the lack of context in our news bulletins
Thursday, 5 July 2012, 9:44 am | Gordon Campbell
Television news is notorious for having no memory, and little room for history or context. The average news bulletin consists of a series of talking heads standing in front of the latest footage of weeping crime victims/storms/plane crashes/war ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on drug testing for those on benefits
Tuesday, 3 July 2012, 10:54 am | Gordon Campbell
During the past month, how many people working in the Parliamentary precinct might have engaged in recreational drug use that impaired their performance on the job? In the same period, has any MP ever consumed alcohol to a point where they would ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the Dotcom/Obamacare rulings & Star Trek
Friday, 29 June 2012, 10:27 am | Gordon Campbell
A good morning for the rule of law. The High Court here finds the search of Kim Dotcom’s house to have been illegal and ditto for the seizure of his belongings. While in the US, the Supreme Court reined in its self-destructive tendency to rule along politically ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the government’s new social targets
Tuesday, 26 June 2012, 9:47 am | Gordon Campbell
Imagine this wacky, unbelievable scenario. Prime Minister John Key announces that for too long, too many people earning over $100,000 have been paying too little tax, and he’s going to do something about it. From now on, he wants to see IRD boosting ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the incentive payments at ACC
Friday, 22 June 2012, 9:49 am | Gordon Campbell
The chances of achieving culture change at the Accident Compansation Corporation would seem to be almost zero if those in charge of the organisation cannot see that when you create a system of paying staff a bonus to cull ACC claimants, then this ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on funding the IMF but not core NZ agencies
Wednesday, 20 June 2012, 10:45 am | Gordon Campbell
So New Zealand has pledged up to $4 billion in repayable loans to the International Monetary Fund as our contribution to a stabilization fund to help resolve the European debt crisis, and according to Finance Minister Bill English, New Zealand would have ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on blaming the Greeks, and on David Cunliffe
Tuesday, 19 June 2012, 10:32 am | Gordon Campbell
By all measures, the Greek election result was a relatively good outcome for the global economy, in that pro-austerity parties now seem able to form a government. Regardless, Prime Minister John Key yesterday cited the Greek elections and the European ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the Trans Pacific Partnership leaks
Thursday, 14 June 2012, 12:48 pm | Gordon Campbell
The leaked document on the US Public Citizen website confirm the worst fears about the Trans Pacific Partnership talks. The leaked text, and Public Citizen’s analysis of the text can be accessed here. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the ongoing debacle at ACC
Wednesday, 13 June 2012, 10:16 am | Gordon Campbell
The non re-appointment of Accident Compensation Corporation chairman John Judge falls a long, long way short of what will be required to effect a culture change at ACC. Especially since the government appears to think – if one can judge by the comments ... More >>
Gordon Campbell: affordability of state support for elderly
Tuesday, 12 June 2012, 10:17 am | Gordon Campbell
The public debate on raising the entitlement age of National Superannuation is still tending to be couched in terms of affordability and generational fairness. Can and should the baby boomers continue to qualify for pensions (a) at 65 and (b) at the ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Hekia Parata’s big backdown
Friday, 8 June 2012, 10:21 am | Gordon Campbell
The government backdown on class sizes is looking like one of those non-apologies where people say they’re sorry because of how you’ve reacted, rather than being repentant for what they’ve done. Far from it. On RNZ this morning Education Minister ... More >>
Gordon Campbell: forcing Petrobras’ hand on oil exploration
Wednesday, 6 June 2012, 10:43 am | Gordon Campbell
The proposals by the Brazilian firm Petrobras for exploratory oil and gas drilling off East Cape are still controversial. Yet as New Zealand heads towards the Rio+20 conference in Brazil, this country has been handed an unexpected free bargaining ... More >>
