Known principally for his political commentaries in The Dominion Post, The ODT, The Press and the late, lamented Independent, and for "No Left Turn", his 2007 history of the Left/Right struggle in NZ.
Chris Trotter democracyproject.substack.com IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge
Chris Trotter democracyproject.substack.com MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital
Chris Trotter democracyproject.substack.com JACK TAME has tested another MP on his Sunday morning current affairs show, Q+A. Minister for Workplace Relations & Safety, Brooke van Velden, once boasted the only economics degree in New Zealand’s Parliament. Since the general election, however, this select fellowship of the
democracyproject.substack.com Why is the National Party doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s policy
Chris Trotter democracyproject.substack.com HISTORICAL PARALLELS between the impact of the printing press and the impact of the Internet are not new. Both inventions almost immediately began to undermine the command and control hierarchies of their respective societies. In the case of the printing press, the reimposition of elite
Chris Trotter Chris Trotter is New Zealand’s leading leftwing political commentator, with thirty years of experience writing professionally about New Zealand politics. He now writes regularly for the Democracy Project, producing his column “From the Left”. democracyproject.substack.com GEORGE GALLOWAY’S STUNNING VICTORY in Rochdale, Britain, has provoked
Chris Trotter democracyproject.substack.com THE INTENSIFYING POLITICAL CONTROVERSY over the Coalition Government’s policy on gangs promises to be one of those sheep-from-goats moments. While the Left will veer instinctively towards the sociological, the Right will opt to (paraphrasing one of the best lines from Pulp Fiction) “get medieval”
