http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/alan-oakley/ Alan Oakley is Editor, National Features, for News Ltd. He is a former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Herald Sun, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Age and Newcastle Herald. This makes him a serial editor. He didn’t go to university, began his career in journalism aged 17 on the Leighton Buzzard Gazette in England and in 1985, he left the Daily Express in Manchester and came to Australia ostensibly “for a couple of years.”  He stayed and took out citizenship the day the tall ships came into Sydney harbour to mark the bicentenary in 1988. He has dual British-Australian nationality and therefore hasn’t lost an Ashes series in 21 years. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/arise-sir-ricky-dame-pink-and-lady-lady-gaga/ Let me be the first to say it: surely the entire Australian cricket team must now be awarded honorary knighthoods, or at the very least some form of membership of the British Empire. The series win against Pakistan matches the efforts of the 2005 Ashes-winning team. Every player in that England side was awarded the MBE (the captain getting the slightly more elevated OBE) and there are now calls for Paul Collingwood to be knighted after the England all-rounder saved the third Test against South Africa this week.  Australia’s win at the SCG came too late for the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List, but there were many worthy recipients. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Alan Oakley) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/arise-sir-ricky-dame-pink-and-lady-lady-gaga/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/arise-sir-ricky-dame-pink-and-lady-lady-gaga/#item2121 Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:37:52 +0000 Alan Oakley | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-proud-britons-are-still-confident-of-a-noble-defeat/ “Two world wars and one world cup” is a popular refrain from the terraces when England play Germany at football (aka soccer).  Offensive as it may be to some, the chant has been around pretty much since England’s World Cup final win over the then West Germany in 1966 and is “popular with the Neanderthal branch of the Ingerland Supporters’ Club, to be sung at Johnny Foreigner once the Channel has been safely negotiated,” according to one fan website. The victory at Wembley was an aberration and not to be repeated. We die-hard English sports fans of the post-war era (that’s post 1966) fully understand this fact. We’re also aware that the 2005 Ashes series victory, pleasant enough entertainment but clearly an unscripted entry into the English sporting history books, would never occur again in our lifetime. So it is with some trepidation and a sense of dismay that we watch Freddie Flintoff and the chaps once again threaten our calm state of underachieving equilibrium. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Alan Oakley) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-proud-britons-are-still-confident-of-a-noble-defeat/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-proud-britons-are-still-confident-of-a-noble-defeat/#item713 Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:00:01 +0000 Alan Oakley | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-needs-malcolm-turnbull-to-be-elected-...-as-premier/ Like a used nappy, is it time to toss out Blocker and Liberal Lite? In another era, Malcolm Turnbull would have been Liberal premier of NSW. He would have been a good one, very possibly exceptional. He would have combined the reforming zeal of the last decent premier, Nick Greiner, with a studied expertise around complex urban issues which successive Labor premiers have so spectacularly failed to grasp. Anyone who has heard Turnbull speak passionately and with vision about the future of Sydney will understand that Australia’s only global city and the country’s economic engine room demands knowledge and leadership of that quality. Instead, Malcolm’s in the middle of the federal Liberal party muddle that has contrived to comprehensively stuff up what should have been an orderly transition to Peter Costello.  Turnbull has quickly been found wanting in Canberra, his flaws and foibles stripped bare by Utegate. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Alan Oakley) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-needs-malcolm-turnbull-to-be-elected-...-as-premier/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australian-needs-malcolm-turnbull-to-be-elected-...-as-premier/#item575 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:00:25 +0000 Alan Oakley | Author bios | The Punch