John McLean: The Great Gaslights

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation. Gaslighters aim to make their victims doubt their own perceptions and memories, and reality itself. The term comes from the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a husband manipulates his wife into thinking she’s losing her mind by dimming their gas lights and, when she notices, denying he’s done so.

Brendan O'Neill: The real crisis is global gaslighting

Forget global boiling – it’s global panic-mongering we should be angry about.

Picture the scene. You’re in London, the sky is menacingly grey, it’s drizzling. You zip your jacket against the elements, annoyed that Britain has just had one of its wettest Julys since records began. Then you reach for your copy of the Evening Standard as you head home from work, only to see splashed across the front page a Photoshopped image of the Earth on fire. ‘WHO WILL STOP EARTH BURNING?’, the hysterical headline asks. The drizzle turns to rain and you fold your Standard in two to use as an impromptu umbrella, turning a mad piece of global-boiling propaganda into flimsy protection from this strange, wet summer.

Cam Slater: Can Ginny Andersen Get ‘Back on Track’?

Did you hear Ginny Andersen get eviscerated by Mike Hosking on Wednesday morning? It was a train wreck. It also preceded National’s launching their slogan “Let’s Get New Zealand Back on Track”. Maybe Christopher Luxon was referring to Ginny Andersen and her train wreck interview. If you haven’t heard it, listen now.