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.
Media call just a piddling distraction
Paul Sheehan What follows is a quote from a column I wrote about Stephen Conroy, which enraged him.
Nationals in no rush with a welcome mat for Joyce in NSW
Paul Sheehan OK. A federal election in June. Kevin Rudd against Tony Abbott.
PM in snake pit with no antivenom
Paul Sheehan At 6.02 pm last Wednesday I received a text sent from Parliament House in Canberra. It said: ''I'm hearing Labor has been asked to stay in Canberra on Friday.
Odds shorten on PM's little mate
Paul Sheehan The media's obsession with Kevin Rudd may be missing the point. Shorten may be the better bet.
Paul Sheehan
Changing captains will not save this side from a proper walloping
Paul Sheehan Julia Gillard should stay where she is. The Labor Party has run out of party tricks. The federal government's perceived unpopularity is a collective effort, an effort that began with Kevin Rudd, who...
Paul Sheehan
Peris must rise above kneecapping
Paul Sheehan For several years the second-most famous Aboriginal woman in Australia, after Cathy Freeman, was Nova Peris-Kneebone and her fame was greatly helped by her delightful name.
Would-be leaders preen but the women have the numbers
Paul Sheehan Even though Malcolm Turnbull is being ostentatiously loyal to his leader, he cannot abstain from remarking on the fact that he is very popular without actually saying he is more popular than his...
Paul Sheehan
No end in sight in race to trample leaders
Paul Sheehan The Melbourne Cup may be the race that stops the nation but the Blood On the Carpet Leadership Stakes is the race that never ends.
Paul Sheehan
The truth on refugees is worse than fiction
Paul Sheehan The viral email about Australia's generosity to refugees may be wrong in its details, but the truth is a story of government gullibility without end.
Paul Sheehan
Brit trick is an insult to the system
Paul Sheehan In recent days John McTernan, the director of communications for the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has indulged a taste for insult. Here are some samples of his writings via the medium of Twitter:
Paul Sheehan
Swinging in breeze over the abyss
Paul Sheehan Julia Gillard was rarely to be seen in the byelection campaign for Melbourne, which culminated on Saturday.
Paul Sheehan
Woman in the wooden mask remains unable to break from type
Paul Sheehan The recurring mystery of Australian politics is why the first woman Prime Minister in our history, who has shown a quick wit in Parliament, warmth when dealing with the public face-to-face, and...
Paul Sheehan
Reminder of Rudd as Gingrich clings on
Paul Sheehan It is a fascinating time for the politics of selfishness, for seeing public self-absorption and public vendettas taking precedence over party loyalty and personal humility.
Paul Sheehan
Albanese's first-class folly hijacks airport talk
Paul Sheehan On the final day of the most recent session of federal Parliament, Anthony Norman Albanese did what he has spent much of his public career doing - making sneering, personal attacks.
Paul Sheehan
Don't blame Gillard, Labor's nadir has been a team effort
Paul Sheehan Whoa. The political storm engulfing Julia Gillard has become hysterical. When the unelected and unaccountable start baying for her blood, the cure is worse than the disease.
Paul Sheehan
Secrets and lies - how Labor has been digging its own grave
Paul Sheehan Enough about prostitutes. Enough about Craig Thomson's antics. What we haven't heard are the big questions on the big issue that is taking the Gillard government into a death spiral, even as it...
Paul Sheehan
Judgment day here for Labor's life of shame
Paul Sheehan In the months leading up to the 2007 federal election that ended the Howard era, the NSW central coast was alive with a political blitzkrieg.
Paul Sheehan
One small word, one giant leap for NSW
Paul Sheehan I voted for Clover Moore. I marked Clover ''1'' on my ballot paper even though in many ways my local member stands for the micro-managing, grimly earnest, nanny-state, tax-guzzling policies that I...
Paul Sheehan
Loose lips on sunken ships expose cultural disharmony
Paul Sheehan When most of the 108 members of the federal Coalition gather tomorrow morning for a joint party meeting in Parliament House, they might ask themselves whether they want to be a collective of...
Paul Sheehan
Biting the boom that feeds us
Paul Sheehan Twenty-five years ago the rainfall in Perth began to plunge. Last year it almost disappeared. The statistics of the decline are spectacular and unnerving.
