Paul Colgan
Paul is the editor of news.com.au.
He started in journalism writing music reviews for The Drogheda Independent, his local newspaper in Ireland. After training there as reporter and sub-editor and freelancing for Irish music mag Hot Press, Paul joined the Dublin bureau of The Sunday Times as a news reporter in 1999, where he enjoyed a few short weeks of smoking at his desk before it was banned, and over the following years covered transport, health, and legal affairs for the paper.
Paul arrived in Sydney in 2003 and joined news.com.au, working as a reporter and later chief of staff before being appointed Deputy Editor, leading coverage of major stories and developing journalism innovations.
He was part of the launch team of The Punch, as managing editor between January 2009 and October 2010.
Articles by Paul Colgan
Sporting bosses who betray fans and fair play
Anyone with a few cells of sporting spirit in their body feel them tingling with rage at how Melbourne Storm…... Read more
Mad Mel Gibson and the stars we have to hate
Another day, another tape exposing Mel Gibson as a wretch. In the latest recording his ex-girlfriend asks him what kind…... Read more
Let Paul the awesome octopus stay in his tank
An event the size of a World Cup will always have surprises but a few weeks ago it must have…... Read more
Has Conroy just rolled on the net filter?
A statement by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy today appears to be a dramatic capitulation on his plan to introduce a…... Read more
Time to take to the streets over falling protest standards
The aims of any public rally or protest generally are to: draw attention to the cause, build public support, and…... Read more
Germany can play, and their coach can boogie
Kevin Rudd’s earwax-eating heroics are nothing against Germany coach Joachim Loew who has been captured picking his nose and eating…... Read more
Yes Lilo, jail tends to follow violations of court orders
In the video over the jump, as the judge orders a prison term, Lindsay Lohan appears to mouth the words…... Read more
The Dili Proposal
The groundwork for Julia Gillard’s speech today began four days ago when she started talking about fear (sorry, concern) that…... Read more
If only Rudd had spoken like this more often ...
It took his political execution for Kevin Rudd to show some authenticity again. His last press conference as Prime Minister…... Read more
Question Time live 22/06/10
What spirits will MPs be in after their partyroom meetings? We’ll be live from 2pm. Question Time live 22/06/10 ... Read more
SA stakes its claim as the Melrose Place of politics
An Underbelly-style TV dramatisation of NSW politics would most certainly need to be broadcast after the watershed. (See various examples…... Read more
Campaign countdown: Back to 7.30 Report Land
This isn’t about beating up Kevin Rudd. He’s doing a fine job of that to himself. Tonight he was back…... Read more
Campaign countdown: Promises you have to keep
Tony Abbott will be giving surf lessons to a refugee after activist organisation GetUp! paid over $16,000 to secure the…... Read more
Campaign countdown: when it’s on like Donkey Kong
Prime Minister being photographed with babies – check. Opposition Leader warning MPs they remain underdogs – check. Character-questioning stories about…... Read more
The Punch guide to pollies online
What stands out when looking at the internet presences of Australian politicians is that the system for getting them online…... Read more
Politicians to follow and add as ‘friends’ this election year
Politicians who personally update their websites and social networking profiles have made headlines this year. Who is worth following for…... Read more
Australian MPs’ websites, Facebook and Twitter pages
Listed below are links to personal web pages for members of the Australian House of Representatives, along with their Facebook…... Read more
Australian Senators’ sites, Facebook and Twitter pages
Listed below are links to personal web pages for members of the Australian Senate, along with their Facebook profiles, pages…... Read more
Survey shows voters’ loss of trust in Kevin Rudd
Australian voter confidence in Kevin Rudd’s statements has slumped to such a low that he may as well have set…... Read more
Economy, Gillard, and fear: How you say Rudd can win
The numbers have been crunched, the stakeholders consulted; various other horrendous corporate jargon terms have been deployed, and now The…... Read more
Callous reminders of why Afghans still want to flee
Update 10.30am: Acting chief of the defence force Lieutenant General David Hurley, and the acting defence minister Greg Combet have…... Read more
Tom Cruise is back as the great Les Grossman
(Now with improved video!) Tom Cruise has appeared in character as Les Grossman, the dancing, ultra-foul-mouthed movie producer he played…... Read more
Punch SWOT analysis: the Rudd Government
From the polls and the newspapers over the weekend it’s clear the Rudd Government is in trouble. The polls Prime…... Read more
All aboard! The Sam Stosur bandwagon is on its way
Update: Sam Stosur last night went through to the French Open final. She could become the first Australian female Grand…... Read more
Israel: How to test friends and radicalise people
The simplest possible outcome of the investigations into Israel’s deadly raid on an aid convoy would be failure to prove…... Read more
Flashback: Why Australia needs its own Eurovision
With the excellence that is Eurovision upon us again, here’s a flashback piece from shortly after our Punch launch last…... Read more
At last, action that might actually stop Japan’s whaling
Apparently, anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune is pretty chipper for a guy who could be spending the next 15 years in…... Read more
Forget the burqa, how about a ban on Cory Bernardi
This month’s debate about banning the burqa was set off by a blog post written by Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi.…... Read more
Question Time live 26/05/10
We’ll be expecting more heated debate on the mining tax. R-S-P-T, find out what it means to me… and other…... Read more
A great big new fat tax?
The mere proposal in a regional Australian town to ban smoking in its CBD is a sign the decades-long public…... Read more
Future man: Ugly, lives in trees, cannot use an iPad
Rather than evolving something that would be really useful like an extra 3D lens in the eye or fingers that…... Read more
If Question Time was a popular TV program ...
This list of alternative names for Question Time based on other popular media programs started recently on The Punch’s live…... Read more
The trouble with Brand Kevin
The Punch first did a survey asking people what they thought of the Prime Minister last October when Kevin Rudd…... Read more
Ronal… d’oh!
Here’s a new ad from Nike, ahead of the FIFA World Cup, featuring football’s biggest stars. Oh, and Homer Simpson…... Read more
Mad about sports all right, just the wrong ones
What a week. A wave of elation swept the country in celebration of previously unimaginable sporting success. New national heroes…... Read more
It’s the ABS: Come out with your urine sample in the air
This morning David Penberthy wrote about how worryingly effective health minister Nicola Roxon has been in office. He argued the…... Read more
The global warming debate heats up again
Here’s a fact you might hear repeated quite a bit over the coming months. The past 12 months were the…... Read more
The world is… trying to find out how to quit Facebook
This graph shows the number of people searching the term “delete facebook account” on Google was up to five times…... Read more
The Gillard question
Another week, another set of bad polling numbers for the Prime Minister. This time it’s not so much about support…... Read more
The one super phrase in a budget full of babble
The genius who first used the word “super” to describe the mining profits targeted by the Rudd government in its…... Read more
Translators required going forward, episode II
Another arrival from the crowd that brought us this indecipherable press release, but this time the gobbledegook’s even worse. SAP…... Read more
Question Time live 12/05/10
QT live is back! We’re here live from 2pm. Question Time live 12/05/10 ... Read more
Cameron is Britain’s PM: Improve the victory speech
The victory speech is probably the easiest of any politician’s career. The fight’s over. All you need to is be…... Read more
Budget 2010: Rolling reaction blog
4pm: Wrapping up. Following Question Time and other incidents during the day, we’ve seen the opposition is going to query…... Read more
For families, the little things count in this budget
It was never going to be a bread-and-circuses affair but Wayne Swan’s third budget offers a little showbag of policy…... Read more
People sometimes get the leaders they didn’t vote for
As a contemporary British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was always a bit of a misfit. The dour Scot always looked…... Read more
At least the internet bills will be better value
The federal government has been told the National Broadband Network can be rolled out for at least $5 billion less…... Read more
Translator required, going forward
This just landed in The Punch’s inbox. Can anyone explain what it means? To meet a growing demand from companies…... Read more
Pricking the bubble of polite conversation
Call it Humpty Dumpty jurisprudence. Australia has a new arbiter of taste in magistrate Robbie Williams, who has let a…... Read more
The volcanic ash threat to Australian flights
Could Australian air travel be affected by a similar event to the volcanic eruption in Iceland which shut Europe’s skies?…... Read more
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Recent posts
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Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it
An email was sent to almost every politician in Australia this week saying that someone should cut off…
Our special forces don’t always need special treatment
We admire them, but we’re not entirely sure why. We allow them to operate in the shadows; we rarely…
A good holiday is about unrest, not rest
Like a fat full-stop, it lay in my hand. A small orange – not exactly fresh, but purchased anyway…
Gentle jabs to the ribs
They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments
A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more
