Out Now: Werewolf 51 - Whither Labour?

Hi and welcome to the 51st edition of Werewolf in which we ponder the John Oliver question – how is the Labour Party still a thing, given the debilitating friction between its constituent parts, and despite the punching bag status to which it has been assigned by the mainstream media? For insight into the options facing Labour, Werewolf interviewed former UK Labour shadow Minister and academic Bryan Gould. Currently, Gould is leading a post mortem into Labour’s election campaign, and his review will doubtless influence the direction that Labour's new leader takes the party, once elected. Amongst other things, Gould discusses what lessons UK Labour may have to offer its New Zealand counterpart.

The ebola epidemic is headline news worldwide, yet - as Werewolf reports in this month’s issue – the United Nations has directly caused an epidemic that’s still ravaging one of the poorest countries in the world, and with a death toll twice that of the current ebola outbreak in West Africa. Yet to date, the catastrophe in Haiti has received only a fraction of the global media attention devoted to ebola. Elsewhere in this issue, new Werewolf contributor Eric Crampton writes about what role the state should have - if any - when people deliberately make choices that result in harm only to themselves. Given the latest round of criticisms of RNZ’s Morning Report and of the media’s performance during the election campaign, we also explore just why media interviews have become more abrasive.

This month, we also welcome US-based contributor Richard McLachlan, who contributes a story about the epidemic of fatal Police violence against young black males in US cities across the country. New Zealand is still weighing its response to Islamic State – but meanwhile, Kurdish writer and academic Necla Acik reports on how Kurdish women are fighting in the frontlines against IS, and why women are a crucial factor in the armed struggle for the survival of Rojava, the Kurdish region in northern Syria.

In this month’s film essay, Philip Matthews does a thorough, thoughtful job of considering Gone Girl in the context of David Fincher’s other paranoid and vengeful screen fantasies (Fight Club, Se7en, Panic Room etc) and finds a lot to admire. In his satire column, Lyndon Hood goes well beyond homeopathic cures for ebola, to seek and find capsule answers from our leaders for a slew of the pressing socio-economic problems facing the nation. In a further reprint from our classic children’s book series, we revisit the tragic story of Margaret Wise Brown, and her well-loved book Goodnight Moon. Finally, Bob Dylan releases this week the entire expanded Basement Tapes set that he recorded 40 years ago with the Band - and we mark the occasion with some fine Dylan rarities and cover versions.

Thanks once again to Lyndon for helping me post this issue online. If anyone out there ever wants to be involved and talk over some story ideas, contact me at gordon@werewolf.co.nz.

Cheers,

Gordon Campbell

Editor, Werewolf

gordon@werewolf.co.nz

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