National Times

Paul Sheehan

Paul Sheehan

Paul Sheehan is a columnist and editorial writer for The Sydney Morning Herald, where he has has been Day Editor and Washington correspondent. He is the author of two number-one best-sellers, 'Girls Like You' and 'Among The Barbarians' and been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times and numerous anthologies.

The secret desires of men, and why they go unfulfilled

Paul Sheehan We are awash with an appetite for romantic and sexual fantasy. Call it the Twilight phenomenon. It merely adds to the sexual suggestiveness which permeates our lives.

Independents' support for Labor would betray rural folk

Paul Sheehan

Paul Sheehan These men have been given no mandate whatsoever to form a government with the party their electorates so comprehensively dismissed.

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The Yarra monster is killing us

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Paul Sheehan A great sucking force can be felt around Australia, siphoning resources southwards, down the hungry throat of Melbourne. Australia makes, Melbourne takes.

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Plugging away pays off for marathon man

Paul Sheehan

Paul Sheehan 'We were very, very disciplined, there were no outbreaks, we had cohesion, we were contained, everybody stayed on message,'' said Senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells, who won re-election as the head of...

Gillard's pork pies hard to resist

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Paul Sheehan Our Prime Minister is a liar. A serial liar. Brazen. We shall detail some of the more preposterous lies presently but I don't think this will deter the electorate from returning Julia Gillard's...

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An unhealthy blend of evasion, half-truths and spin

Paul Sheehan On the ABC's 7.30 Report last Tuesday, the following exchange took place between the program's presenter, Kerry O'Brien, and the Prime Minister: O'Brien: ''You said you had built a real and genuine...

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In one month, a good woman has become Labor's latest robot

Paul Sheehan

Paul Sheehan On Friday afternoon, June 11, Julia Gillard went to Sydney Airport to catch a flight home to Melbourne. She was travelling alone. No minders, no security.

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Civilisation goes west, leaving empire on the edge of ruin

Paul Sheehan When the emails started going out that Niall Ferguson was coming to Australia to deliver a big address in Sydney on Wednesday, tickets to the dinner sold out quickly.

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Explosive argument behind Trad's defamation reasoning

Paul Sheehan

Paul Sheehan The man carrying a legal bomb into courtroom 11A in the NSW Supreme Court building on Friday morning did not look menacing and is not menacing under normal circumstances.

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Rudd's electoral cracks about to open further

Paul Sheehan A large fissure has opened up in the political landscape and the federal Labor government has fallen in. That fissure is human rights.

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Beware the words of a wolf dressed in sheikh's clothing

Paul Sheehan

Paul Sheehan On the steps of Sydney Town Hall in the wet dusk of last Tuesday, the former mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj el-Din al Hilaly, raised his arms and asked for silence as the crowd chanted anti-Israel...

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Disunited kingdom is flagging

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Paul Sheehan One of the politicians charged with reducing Britain's debt mountain has, with the task barely begun, been exposed of milking the system of tens of thousands of pounds and paying it to his boyfriend.

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Debunking the myth of food, from fetish to Frankenstein

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Paul Sheehan The way we eat food has changed more over the past 50 years than in the previous 50,000 years.

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Greece laid low by its decadence

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Paul Sheehan On Wednesday the bill comes due for Greece, and Greece can't pay. Instead, it is going to take Europe down to its level, to an economy that has been kept afloat for years by blackmail, self-delusion...

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For moochers, by moochers: Brown's disunited kingdom

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Paul Sheehan During the past three weeks, I was in Europe and every night saw the main TV images from the British election campaign.

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Less can be more, for people, pensions and government

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Paul Sheehan Australia emerged from the global financial crisis as the second wealthiest large economy in the world.

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Watch your step: ants offer a heap of lessons for humanity

Paul Sheehan

Paul Sheehan The empire of the Trailhead Queen is entirely female. Ten-thousand strong, all sisters. The male that impregnated the Queen was no more than a guided missile with sperm, its life's work completed...

Feminism's failure to lend a hand

Paul Sheehan I received an item forwarded by a friend last week entitled, ''Why men shouldn't write advice columns''. A woman, ''Sheila'', had written to an advice columnist, ''John'':

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The US is a wonderful place to visit - but Australia is the place to live

Paul Sheehan It has been the week of the worm, but amid all the nonsense said about this piece of stupid faux instant democracy, the political systems of the US and Australia have been shown in sharp relief on...

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Partisan politics and secrets in Obama's health deal

Paul Sheehan President Obama has delivered one of the most partisan pieces of major legislation, delivered by one the most partisan processes, in the last 100 years.

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