Archive for December, 2017
Tuesday, December 19th, 2017
First published on Werewolf
Some would querulously ask, zero net carbon emissions by 2050 - while others would say, why not? Yesterday, it did seem fitting that PM Jacinda Ardern and Greens leader James Shaw should end the political year by jointly announcing a climate change target that encapsulated the sky-high ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on yesterday’s quest for zero net carbon emissions
Monday, December 18th, 2017
First published on Werewolf
It has been a grimly fascinating week for Brexit train (wreck) spotters. The latest British polls now give the Remainers a ten point lead over those still wishing to leave the European Union, and the a segment of the Tory caucus seems increasingly inclined to resist ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on why a ‘hard Brexit’ has hit a brick wall
Thursday, December 14th, 2017
First published on Werewolf
The spending lavished on Defence projects to meet the risks that could maybe, possibly, theoretically face New Zealand in future is breath-taking, given how successive governments have been reluctant to spend even a fraction of those amounts on the nation’s actual social needs. That’s why it has ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on Defence spending, Alabama, & Dolly Parton
Wednesday, December 13th, 2017
First published on Werewolf
What’s in a word? Often a lot, in politics. In fact, the decision to remove the word ‘vulnerable’ from the Ministry for Vulnerable Children could well mark a whole shift in approach to the care of children in need. And I’m hedging with the ‘could well’ only ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on vulnerable kids and fresh RNZ funding
Wednesday, December 13th, 2017
Column - Gordon Campbell
W hat’s in a word? Often a lot, in politics. In fact, the decision to remove the word ‘vulnerable’ from the Ministry for Vulnerable Children could well mark a whole shift in approach to the care of children in need. And I’m hedging with the ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on vulnerable kids and fresh RNZ funding
Monday, December 11th, 2017
First published on Werewolf
Fear has always been a useful mobilising tool in politics… yet in 2017, bogeymen of all shapes and sizes seem to have fallen on hard times. For years, the National party had painted itself as being the only reliable defensive bastion against the terrifying prospect of a ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on the politics of scaring voters back into line
Thursday, December 7th, 2017
It is almost possible to feel sorry for the Health Ministry in their terrible, no good, very bad week in which they got hit with
(a) a damning report on the country’s unsafe drinking water and the Ministry’s weak to non-existent role in enforcing our water safety standards
(b) an equally damning ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on how the drinking water crisis has been a failure of political leadership
Tuesday, December 5th, 2017
First published on Werewolf
As New Zealand First learned the hard way from its two previous periods in government, small parties in MMP coalitions get blamed for the unpopular stuff done by their senior partner in power, but no one remembers the good stuff the junior player brought to the table. ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on saying ‘work for the dole,’ nicely
Monday, December 4th, 2017
First published on Werewolf
So the Trump tax bill has passed in the Senate, which means that the US nominal corporate tax rate is now on track to be cut from 35% to 20%. No doubt… there will be calls from our own business sector to drink the same Kool-Aid, ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on the right wing’s fetish for tax cuts