http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/tracey-spicer/ Journalist, newsreader, media trainer, MC and keynote speaker with The Fordham Company. 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/if-you-really-want-to-help-the-sisters-keep-your-gear-on/ Next week New Idea will feature a half-naked George Calombaris on the cover. “I want to be a role model for all the short and stocky men out there,” he says. Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman reveals all on the cover of the Australian Women’s Weekly about how to stay fabulous in your 40s. “I’m doing it for all the insecure men out there,” he grunts between his 112th and 113th rep. “You too can look like this!” Of course, this is all happening in a parallel universe. Generally, men don’t feel the need to take off their clothes for the cover of a magazine. So why do some women? This wasn’t what the suffragettes had in mind when they fought for women’s emancipation all those years ago. Emmeline Pankhurst, speaking at the Women’s Franchise League in 1889 didn’t say: “One day, women will be able to remove their clothes in public and be judged on how hard they work out at the gym. What a glorious day that will be!” Let’s start with Deborah Hutton’s cover shot. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-you-really-want-to-help-the-sisters-keep-your-gear-on/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-you-really-want-to-help-the-sisters-keep-your-gear-on/#item7505 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:00:18 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/txt-n-drive-yr-a-bloody-idiot/ It was a performance worthy of a Guinness World Record. Barreling along Sydney Road Fairlight, the truck driver was texting on one mobile phone while speaking on another, steering the rig with his knees. I hit the horn and indicated – in no uncertain terms – he should stop before he kills someone. Still clutching the phones he slowly and deliberately raised his middle finger. If only he’d read the story of 21-year-old Sarah Page, a serial texter from New Zealand. “It’s fine Mum, I do it all the time!” she’d protest. Until she wrapped her car around a pole in 2009. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/txt-n-drive-yr-a-bloody-idiot/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/txt-n-drive-yr-a-bloody-idiot/#item7470 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:50:02 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-all-need-to-tune-in-turn-off-and-chill-out/ Ah, the holidays. How good is it to relax on the couch to watch the cricket and – hang on, my phone’s beeping. Gee, I’d better respond to some of those work emails. And there are notifications on Twitter. Someone’s tagged a photo on Facebook. Looks like there’s a job offer via LinkedIn. And I should check out who’s on Google+ while I’m at it. Seriously, do we ever turn off anymore? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-all-need-to-tune-in-turn-off-and-chill-out/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-all-need-to-tune-in-turn-off-and-chill-out/#item7448 Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:00:33 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/meet-the-ugly-australian/ The ugly Australian is alive and well and holidaying in South East Asia. Right now he or she is probably bashing someone, taking drugs, or stealing stuff.  Of course, it’s never their fault. It’s always the “harsh” or “draconian” laws of the country in which the crime is committed, which is inevitably described as “primitive”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/meet-the-ugly-australian/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/meet-the-ugly-australian/#item7417 Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:55:15 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Whats-wrong-with-a-little-Christmas-spirit/ The principal of a school in Sydney’s west is the Grinch who stole Christmas. Imagine the confusion on the faces of the three-year-olds at their End of Year Singalong for parents at the Inner Sydney Montessori School. God forbid that they could be called Christmas carols! Instead of being allowed to sing, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” their rosebud lips were twisted into wishing everyone a “Happy Holidays”. They became confused. Eyes welled up. Parents were furious. The song sheet had been expunged of all reference to the birth of Christ. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Whats-wrong-with-a-little-Christmas-spirit/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Whats-wrong-with-a-little-Christmas-spirit/#item7369 Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:00:37 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Christmas-takings-are-more-important-than-giving/ Well, ho, ho, ho. Talk about Christmas spirit. The big department stores are accused of exploiting Christmas by charging more than $20 for a photo with Santa. I, for one, think it’s an excellent idea. Well, they’ve got to do something to make a buck with all those Judases buying cheap stuff online. In fact, I think they should take this marvellous measure even further… feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Christmas-takings-are-more-important-than-giving/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Christmas-takings-are-more-important-than-giving/#item7316 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:45:49 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/warring-tribes-mean-moderates-are-left-right-out/ One potato per family: First come, first served. That was the instruction to volunteers distributing food in dirt-poor Arizona last week. “The free potato distributions are for Arizona residents only. You must show photo ID with a local mailing address,” read the newspaper advertisement. Food assistance is the “new normal”, according to the charity Feeding America. More than half the clients of the Food Pantry system use it for more than six months of every year. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/warring-tribes-mean-moderates-are-left-right-out/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/warring-tribes-mean-moderates-are-left-right-out/#item6959 Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:50:53 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Aisle-be-damned-if-ill-cop-this-not-so-super-marketing/ Forget about the 3 Rs. In schools these days it’s all about the 3Cs: Consumerism, Capitalism, and Coles. Store managers are giving prizes to Sydney schoolkids for singing the “prices are down” jingle wearing company t-shirts, surrounded by advertising banners, at school assemblies. What next? A scholarship to the McDonald’s University for writing a dissertation on how burgers qualify for the Heart Foundation tick? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Aisle-be-damned-if-ill-cop-this-not-so-super-marketing/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Aisle-be-damned-if-ill-cop-this-not-so-super-marketing/#item6658 Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:00:23 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-confession-i-kissed-the-boss/ I kissed my boss yesterday. It felt weird. I regretted it immediately. But I’d already clicked “Send”. There was no way back. At least it was only one kiss. I’ve received work emails from people of all ages, gender, and sexual persuasion with up to three kisses. Not to mention one xoxoxo. At first I thought it was confined to women under the age of 25 working in public relations. Then I realised it was seeping into all workplace correspondence. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-confession-i-kissed-the-boss/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/my-confession-i-kissed-the-boss/#item6215 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:45:21 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/modern-mums-are-racing-back-to-work-too-soon/ Babies have a nasty habit of getting in the way of your career. Just ask Shelley Craft. The host of Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show admitted in a weekend newspaper interview that she went back to work just two weeks after giving birth. “There was no maternity leave,” she told the Sunday Telegraph. “Either I came back to work or someone else filled in for me.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tracey Spicer) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/modern-mums-are-racing-back-to-work-too-soon/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/modern-mums-are-racing-back-to-work-too-soon/#item5960 Mon, 30 May 2011 18:40:52 +0000 Tracey Spicer | Author bios | The Punch