Herald interview: Climate change talks: Dead rats and other ‘disturbing metaphors’

Twelve hours before the Lima climate talks ended, John Weekes from the Herald interviewed me about developments. Luckily, I called it right, and the talks ended just as predicted. Talk of swallowing dead rats and “circumcisions turning into amputations” has spiced up the fragile global climate change talks dragging on in Peru. New Zealand lawyer […]

TV3 News Interview: Let’s all hold hands

On 4 December 2014, Adrien Taylor of TV3 News interviewed me inside the Lima climate talks. What he didn’t tell me was that he was about to cut to the Prime Minister… For decades scientists have been telling us the world is warming, and now it appears we have reached a new peak. The United […]

RTCC: Venezuela did not hijack civil society climate meeting

The Responding to Climate Change newswire syndicated my closing summary of the Social PreCOP in Venezuela: Last week, I was in Margarita Island, Venezuela, for the “social pre-COP”: a warm-up meeting to next month’s climate talks in Lima. On the final day, there was a closed door (or at least closed tent) ministerial meeting, as […]

Oxfam blog: The march for climate justice

Thought I’d draw a few comparisons between Yeb Saño’s 1000km Climate Walk and the Oxfam Trailwalker: A guest blog from David Tong, Chair of the P3 Foundation. Oxfam Trailwalker is a pretty incredible challenge. You walk 100 km over some of New Zealand’s most stunning countryside, challenge yourself like perhaps never before, and help to support […]

Thoughts for Oxfam on inequality

Oxfam New Zealand asked me to share a few thoughts on inequality for Blog Action Day: I was 20 years old when a woman begging on the street tried to thrust her baby into my hands. We were in Zhuhai, China, and I’m pretty sure she was even younger than I was. Nine years on, […]

Hot Topic: We play dirty at the climate talks too: New Zealand’s dirty politics of climate

Sparked by the dirty politics scandal, I shared my experiences of New Zealand’s aggressive, dirty politics at the climate talks: Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics and the subsequent revelations have shaken New Zealand’s Government. On Saturday, Minister of Justice Judith Collins resigned, facing allegations of interfering with Serious Fraud Office investigations. On Sunday, the Inspector General […]

In the Herald: UN Climate talks: Rioting outside, hunger strikes inside

The Herald’s Element magazine ran my column from inside the Warsaw climate talks: Adopt a Negotiator Fellow and Kiwi David Tong reports from the climate talks in Warsaw, Poland: Earlier this month, Poland celebrated National Independence Day. The United Nations climate Secretariat warned everyone here in Warsaw attending the climate talks to be careful, because […]

USADA v Lance Armstrong: Reasoned decision released

As a cyclist and a lawyer, I’ve been cursorily following the USADA case against Lance Armstrong. In August, despite maintaining (falsely) that he had never failed a drug test,* Armstrong dropped his defence. Now, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has released its decision. And it’s pretty damning. This Reasoned Decision includes a summary of […]

David Tong

Campaigner | Former litigator

What I think