http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/tory-shepherd/ Tory Shepherd studied anthropology, then travelled, then studied some more, then travelled, then ended up with a cadetship at The Advertiser in 2006. She covered police rounds, politics, general news and health, while working at The Punch on the side. Now Tory is working full time at The Punch. She can be seen and heard on ABC local radio and Radio National, PM Live on Sky, and in other nooks and crannies. She is passionate about words, wine, chilli, soccer, and people (even the ones who hate her or keep praying for her soul). Follow her on Twitter - @ToryShepherd en Copyright 2013 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +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/just-add-grog-and-stir/ I live in a “peri-urban” part of South Australia, which sounds spicier than it actually is. But I used to live in the city, and I loved it. Green spaces, with quirky little gardens and meandering paths. The markets, the cafes, Chinatown. The only time I resented living in town was when the Clipsal 500 was on. Disclaimer: I’m not really a car person. The first I knew about the whole thing was the road closures, turning town into a roasting carpark for days at a time. The next thing I knew about Clipsal was when I opened my front door in the morning and saw a guy relieving himself on my agapanthus. Then another guy shouted, “Show us yer tits”. I was still inside my own house. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/just-add-grog-and-stir/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/just-add-grog-and-stir/#item10755 Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:50:14 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/toxic-attacks-on-science/ First there was pre-scientific thinking. In medieval times people believed a balance of humors – blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile – were essential to health. In the ancient East it was hit and miss yin and yang or acupuncture. Wars were fought, lives were lost, futures decided on the whims of Gods. People saw magic everywhere: in storms, in the stars. For some people, things haven’t changed all that much. They stillthink magically, still obey the Gods they invented. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/toxic-attacks-on-science/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/toxic-attacks-on-science/#item10709 Mon, 04 Mar 2013 20:00:53 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-swim-through-the-pharmacopoeia-of-coping/ Australia is trying to recuperate from the devastating news that a bunch of 20-something Aussies went to the UK and got pissed. Bloody unAustralian. Yeah, yeah. Taxpayer funding helped get those swimmers over there. Yep, binge drinking’s the scourge of society. Of course taking sleeping tablets then knocking on doors instead of sleeping is a flagrant misuse of chemicals. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-swim-through-the-pharmacopoeia-of-coping/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-swim-through-the-pharmacopoeia-of-coping/#item10669 Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:55:58 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-guts-of-the-matter-is-that-we-want-policy-not-politics/ Labor has disembowelled itself and we’re all standing around trying to divine the future from its spilled entrails. The Opposition capers about in the background, pointing to spots on the liver. But most of the real world pays this voodoo little mind - they’re focussed on their families, kids, jobs, their problems, their worries, their lives. Has there ever been a bigger disconnect between what matters in people’s lives and what the political chatter is about? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-guts-of-the-matter-is-that-we-want-policy-not-politics/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-guts-of-the-matter-is-that-we-want-policy-not-politics/#item10658 Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:45:08 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-modern-australia-must-get-it-right-on-rites/ Weddings used to be cookie cutter affairs, vows in a church then a chicken-or-beef reception. A waltz, a drunken uncle, sugared almonds. Now they’re wilder and weirder, and far more wonderful. They’re more personal, more personalised. On Saturday, at a wedding where the best man was a woman and Mr Whippy delivered dessert, the wedding vows included a moment to reflect on people who cannot get married. Who love each other and want to have their own sugared almonds moment – or get hitched underwater, take their vows in medieval costume or commit to matrimony in Ikea – and, by law, cannot. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-modern-australia-must-get-it-right-on-rites/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-modern-australia-must-get-it-right-on-rites/#item10632 Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:00:49 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-want-it-all-sorry-you-cant-have-it/ You can’t have it all. That’s a self-evident truth. You can’t have all the pies and all the ciggies and also have all the gold medals and grand finals. Well, not unless you also have all the sports scientists and all the banned substances as well, maybe. So when the coolly coiffed deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop came out on the weekend saying women couldn’t “have it all” you could be forgiven for thinking she made sense. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-want-it-all-sorry-you-cant-have-it/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-want-it-all-sorry-you-cant-have-it/#item10589 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:00:52 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-confected-outrage-will-be-our-downfall/ In 1990 – that dim and distant past when trolls were just mythical Scandinavian cavedwellers and only expert cooks and photographers thought they were expert cooks and photographers – US author Mike Godwin created Godwin’s Law. Godwin’s Law states that “as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” The law’s an easy way to call out lazy hyperbole. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-confected-outrage-will-be-our-downfall/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-confected-outrage-will-be-our-downfall/#item10542 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:50:12 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-tim-doesnt-deserve-to-be-given-the-bums-rush/ So the Prime Minister’s partner is being fingered for tastelessness after he cracked a bum joke. There’s the predictable outrage, although we haven’t yet heard from female Asian doctors whether they find it offensive to be accused of having slender fingers. In case you missed it, Tim Mathieson, during a function at The Lodge, said of prostate cancer: “We can get a blood test for it, but the digital examination is the only true way to get a correct reading on your prostate, so make sure you go and do that, and perhaps look for a small Asian female doctor ...” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-tim-doesnt-deserve-to-be-given-the-bums-rush/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-tim-doesnt-deserve-to-be-given-the-bums-rush/#item10494 Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:30:08 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/group-hugs-and-brain-farts-for-australia-day/ Paying politically correct lip service to multiculturalism has become one of our great Australia Day traditions. The Opposition used the occasion to outline a nebulous thing called ‘post-multiculturalism’, which is sort of like multiculturalism but with less diversity and more dog whistling. Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison wrote in The Australian that immigrants should join us – but not change us. Slip in quietly please, leave your own customs and traditions at the door. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/group-hugs-and-brain-farts-for-australia-day/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/group-hugs-and-brain-farts-for-australia-day/#item10490 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:05:02 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/good-luck-ms-peris-im-afraid-youre-going-to-need-it/ So Prime Minister Julia Gillard has shoehorned Nova Peris onto the ALP Senate ticket, thus illustrating that her cackhandedness is no passing fad. The former Olympian will be set to become the first Federal indigenous Labor representative, and the first indigenous female Federal pollie. About bloody time. It is shameful it has taken this long – and it’s also a shame that it will be a tainted appointment. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/good-luck-ms-peris-im-afraid-youre-going-to-need-it/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/good-luck-ms-peris-im-afraid-youre-going-to-need-it/#item10464 Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:50:58 +0000 Tory Shepherd | Author bios | The Punch