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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 94]
Gordon Campbell on Epsom, and dodgy aspects of asset sales
Thursday, 17 November 2011, 9:41 am | Gordon Campbell
Trouble is, if Key really did want to talk about serious matters, the asset sales programme offers him no relief. This is something of a nightmare, too. Or would be, if anyone looked closely at it. To date, the political focus has been on the wisdom ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the tea tape, billboards, minimum wage
Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 9:42 am | Gordon Campbell
First the secret cuppa tea tape, then the billboard defacement plot. Just when the election campaign looked like the mainstream media might have to focus on boring old policy, here come the diversions to the rescue. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the Banks/Key taping saga
Tuesday, 15 November 2011, 9:37 am | Gordon Campbell
Bringing in the heavy legal artillery to suppress the contents of the Banks/Key conversation – the Police and/or a court injunction if necessary – may well halt the publication of the contents until after the election, which is probably the intention. Time is ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the campaign’s fixation with the future
Monday, 14 November 2011, 9:26 am | Gordon Campbell
Less than two weeks to go. And what is NOT being talked about in this campaign is at least as important as what appears on the daily round of press releases and photo opportunities. Has anyone for instance, heard any policy yet that treats the growth ... More >>
Gordon Campbell: the Nats’ agenda for MMP, and Wgtn Central
Friday, 11 November 2011, 10:23 am | Gordon Campbell
One of the odder subtexts of the campaign is the serial ‘spontaneity’ with which National Party candidates are endorsing the SM (Supplementary Member) system in the MMP referendum. While the political parties have officially claimed they shouldn’t ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on credibility, and irrigation plans
Thursday, 10 November 2011, 10:09 am | Gordon Campbell
Last week, Prime Minister John Key made the economic credibility of Labour into a campaign touchstone yet arguably, the Tooth Fairy has as much credibility as the government’s Future Investment Fund. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the only foreign policy in this campaign
Wednesday, 9 November 2011, 10:01 am | Gordon Campbell
Ten years ago come Saturday, the Taliban fled Kabul as the US–led forces of Operation Enduring Freedom reached the gates of the Afghan capital. Things have really gone swimmingly since then, haven’t they? Stability, security and independence are as ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on some possible options for the Greens
Tuesday, 8 November 2011, 9:33 am | Gordon Campbell
Is it written in the Green Party’s DNA that they will eventually become the nation’s sole centrist party? Events seem to be conspiring to push the Greens in that direction, with all the hellish choices it will entail. Let's assume for instance, that once ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on National’s asset sales debacle
Monday, 7 November 2011, 9:40 am | Gordon Campbell
The concession by Finance Minister Bill English that National may not get the $5-7 billion it expected from its asset sales programme is a hammer blow to the government’s credibility. More >>
Gordon Campbell on the first week of the campaign
Friday, 4 November 2011, 2:32 pm | Gordon Campbell
Labour needed to make inroads early in this campaign. It had to capture voter attention – hey, maybe this could be a real fight after all – and maintain the momentum. Instead, it frittered away the good beginning by Labour leader Phil Goff (on Monday’s ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Phil Goff’s debacle in Christchurch
Thursday, 3 November 2011, 10:26 am | Gordon Campbell
Any points Phil Goff may have won in the television debate a few days ago went west during last night’s public debate in Christchurch – which, as Vernon Small says, had turned into something close to a rout by night’s end. The centre left can feel ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the welfare reform proposals
Wednesday, 2 November 2011, 10:40 am | Gordon Campbell
Remember the so called ‘underclass? Remember when John Key in 2007 went walking down McGehan Close in Owairaka, and took 12 year old Aroha Nathan to Waitangi in his Crown limousine? More >>
Gordon Campbell: OnThe TVNZ Key/Goff Debate
Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 10:19 am | Gordon Campbell
Given a better debate format last night, Key’s wanton rewritings of history might have got picked up. Yet despite having a grand total of seven journalist/commentators/presenters on hand last night, the contributions by these Less Than Magnificent Seven were almost ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on evidence NZ more socially just than Aust
Monday, 31 October 2011, 10:58 am | Gordon Campbell
Before this election campaign began, there was a lot of angst about our income gap with Australia. That alone makes this Bertelsmann Foundation report on social justice indicators within the OECD worth reading. What it shows is that on six key indicators ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on Labour plans to raise the retirement age
Friday, 28 October 2011, 9:39 am | Gordon Campbell
Labour’s plan to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 by 2033 (with exemptions for some manual workers) and to gradually lift employer Kiwisaver contributions to 7% over the same period is hardly a revolutionary step. As many have already pointed ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on New Zealand's and Tunisia's elections
Thursday, 27 October 2011, 10:34 am | Gordon Campbell
As the election campaigns of the major parties kick off, our own Electoral Commission should take inspiration from its counterpart in Tunisia, and in particular from this fantastic piece of street theatre aimed at getting people out to vote. It begins ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the Prefu, and attempts to vilify France
Wednesday, 26 October 2011, 11:26 am | Gordon Campbell
No surprise, really, that Treasury’s pre-election economic and fiscal update proved to be such a highly political document. The document gave ample reason for feeling extremely nervous about the economic outlook – global economic unease, downturns ... More >>
Gordon Campbell On The Occupy Movement
Tuesday, 25 October 2011, 9:36 am | Gordon Campbell
For a long time, political demonstrations have been highly impersonal affairs. Almost as sterile and almost as impersonal in fact, as going to a mainstream church on Sunday. In both settings, people join a group of strangers who allegedly believe in the same ... More >>
Gordon Campbell on the Rugby World Cup Victory
Monday, 24 October 2011, 12:37 pm | Gordon Campbell
This close, nail biting victory – without the triumphalism that the All Blacks running riot over their opponents would have entailed – was the best possible result, politically as well. Defeat would have been intolerable, and would have seen the ... More >>
On the death of Gaddafi, and the Rena spill vs deep sea oil
Friday, 21 October 2011, 10:17 am | Gordon Campbell
The death of Muammar Gaddafi – either from wounds inflicted by a NATO air strike, or (more likely) from summary execution on his way to hospital – cancels the option of an international war crimes trial. Doubtless, such a trial would have given the ... More >>
