http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/roger-coombs/ Roger Coombs worked for The Daily Telegraph for 25 years. In that time, he was a reporter, bureau chief, section editor, manager, leader writer, feature writer and columnist. His principal claim to any semblance of journalistic credibility, he says is “writing 14 consecutive editorial columns about the death of Princess Dianna’‘. Pity he can’t spell Diana. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +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/Ideology-aside-lets-hear-it-for-the-sisterhood/ That apt French phrase about the more things change, the more they stay the same could have been minted to describe this election campaign, maybe even all election campaigns in two-party democracies. It’s the same dispiriting stuff every time, is it not? Each side disparaging the other, every candidate in every electorate seemingly basing his or her re-election strategy on avoiding controversy, on staying “on message” (read, repeating their party mantra ad nauseum), on probing for any opportunity to diminish an opponent’s credibility, on getting their smiling face on as many bill-boards, as many newspaper pictures, TV grabs as possible. And well, why not?  With every aspiring and/or sitting MP under the absolutely microscopic scrutiny which an increasingly pervasive and diverse news media is now able to bear, any blunder by any candidate has the potential to be an election-winning tipping point. So the tactic of being the “small target ” has become more or less universal. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Ideology-aside-lets-hear-it-for-the-sisterhood/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Ideology-aside-lets-hear-it-for-the-sisterhood/#item3809 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:40:23 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/What-polls-and-asylum-seekers-say-about-our-values/ Let’s accept the Federal Opposition’s interpretation of this week’s polling figures at face value; as a consequence of his “softness” on the issue of the alleged armada of boats laden with asylum-seekers arriving on our watery doorstep day by day, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his government are falling rapidly out of favour with the Australian public. And for the sake of the argument, let’s also accept the statistical and methodological reliability – which we can do with considerable confidence – of The Australian newspaper’s latest set of Newspoll numbers. So, accepting all of that, what does it all add up to? And what does it say about our collective set of national values? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/What-polls-and-asylum-seekers-say-about-our-values/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/What-polls-and-asylum-seekers-say-about-our-values/#item1649 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:35:28 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/afghan-belief/ An evocative photograph taken last week underscored that old utterance about a picture being worth a thousand words, and prompted at the same time some perennial questions about war in general, and about the particular war being waged at present in Afghanistan. The AP photograph showed a small boy in the Afghan province of Helmand, standing on top of a small mound, his left hand reached out to clasp the right hand of a uniformed and heavily-equipped US marine. Just what the two of them might have said to one another was not recorded in the caption, nor in the report below, which detailed a call from the UK Minister for International Defence and Security, Baroness Ann Taylor, for Australia to commit more troops to the NATO effort against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/afghan-belief/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/afghan-belief/#item1454 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:40:50 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-public-hospital-system-is-fuelled-by-love-not-money/ MY wife’s mother died a few days ago. A stroke it was, suffered on Father’s Day. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-public-hospital-system-is-fuelled-by-love-not-money/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-public-hospital-system-is-fuelled-by-love-not-money/#item1240 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:00:21 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-kate-neill-della-boscas-lover-should-have-revealed-herself/ THERE should be no debate over media fundamentals when it comes to the John Della Bosca story, which was broken by The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday this week. Mr Della Bosca is a public figure and when his private life and the performance of his public offices come into conflict, that is indubitably a matter of public interest, so the newspaper’s editor, Garry Linnell was more than “at liberty” to publish the story – morally and ethically, he had no choice. His inescapable duty was to publish the story for his readers’ legitimate information. And maybe along the same lines, Mr Della Bosca felt he had no option other than to resign as a minister. While he dismissed claims his relationship with 26-year-old “Kate” had affected his work, there could be no doubt the public revelation of his affair would act as an almighty distraction from his ministerial responsibility. So, he had to go. Probably. Maybe. How long he wanders the wilderness remains to be seen. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-kate-neill-della-boscas-lover-should-have-revealed-herself/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-kate-neill-della-boscas-lover-should-have-revealed-herself/#item1111 Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:35:05 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-we-pay-capital-gains-tax-on-the-family-home/ WHILE the Federal Government was quick to rule out speculation earlier this week that it was considering a capital gains tax on the family home, those reports would have sent a chill to the heart of many home-owners, particulary at a time when the International Monetary Fund is specifically advocating just such a tax. And those who tend to scepticism - probably most of us - when it comes to such government “reassurances” may have derived little comfort from the denials. Especially as Treasurer Wayne Swan refuses to rule out the prospect of a tax on the rising value of family homes. But what about the issue itself? Should we be outraged at the suggestion of a tax on this particular form of capital appreciation – particularly if it were to be levied, as has been suggested, only on the owners of the most expensive homes. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-we-pay-capital-gains-tax-on-the-family-home/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-we-pay-capital-gains-tax-on-the-family-home/#item970 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:50:49 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/indecent-dressing-doesnt-deserve-a-flogging/ In the warring African nation of Sudan, where Australia has a deployment of 10 Federal Police officers and 15 Defence Forces specialists connected to the UNMIS (United Nations Mission In Sudan) operation, the story of one brave woman standing up against a brutal, medieval government led by a president wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity has been reported around the world. And quite rightly so. For the woman at the centre of this vile affair - journalist Lubna Hussein, a former UN employee - is seeking to draw attention to one of the more absurd and extreme edicts of the Islamist Sudanese government, and for her determination, she faces the frightening prospect of a public flogging. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/indecent-dressing-doesnt-deserve-a-flogging/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/indecent-dressing-doesnt-deserve-a-flogging/#item840 Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:35:33 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/robert-mcnamara-and-the-arguable-value-of-government/ HERE’S a big question to ponder: in general, has government worked to advance our welfare, or to retard our efforts at advancement? Not “the government”; not any particular regime in this country, or any other, but “government” – the machinery by which virtually all human society is regulated – in general. Has it been good for us, or bad? It is, of course, and vast and practically imponderable subject, for government in the general sense is virtually universal, just as it is accepted – again, virtually universally – that all society needs to be ordered, ruled. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/robert-mcnamara-and-the-arguable-value-of-government/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/robert-mcnamara-and-the-arguable-value-of-government/#item723 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:30:04 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-are-values-and-where-do-you-get-them-schools-religion/ A news report on the wireless last week about a decision taken by the local council at Liverpool, a satellite suburb in Sydney’s west, first to approve - then to reject - a planning application for the construction of an Islamic school in the nearby area of Hoxton Park promoted some interesting listener discussion. One caller, a father who identified himself as a Muslim, indicated a sense of generalised disappointment with the decision. He said it had always been his intention to send his children to either a Catholic school, or Jewish school because he wanted them to have a “values-based” education. Dad went on the explain that he had, in fact, enrolled his kids in as Islamic school, so his own wishes for his children’s education had been fulfilled - but the point remained; Liverpool Council’s decision would probably mean many parents in the area would be denied the chance to exercise the sort of “choice” this particular father had wanted for his children. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-are-values-and-where-do-you-get-them-schools-religion/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-are-values-and-where-do-you-get-them-schools-religion/#item455 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:20:32 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-are-what-you-believe/ THE ambition for this column, when it was first published in The Daily Telegraph about three years ago, was that it should be the starting point for discussions about the things – the fundamental things – that people believe, or profess to believe. To give you a bit of guide, there’s this bloke I know who once said to me that he “believed” in two things; the first was that you should always make sure your shoes are good, and the second was that a well-sprung bed was essential. And yes, they’re pretty important beliefs. You don’t want to wake up with a bad back, and bunions are definitely not a good look. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Roger Coombs) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-are-what-you-believe/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-are-what-you-believe/#item304 Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:35:43 +0000 Roger Coombs | Author bios | The Punch