Archive

Rain, rain, go away

Ya gotta love La Nina. The Spanish girl is at it again, dancing on the grave of the Australian summer. No more going to the ...

A Hairy Problem

I’d like to address a very hairy problem. Not the recent growth on my upper lip, although I do need to address that in ...

How to Make Your Children Disappear

At this time of year, many of us want to make our children disappear. Or cut them in half. Or give them Chinese water torture. It’s ...

The Things I Love About Being Australian

This week we’re celebrating all things Orstraylian. One of those things is the ability to take the piss out of ourselves. So I thought I’d ...

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

This week I had a glimpse at the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Just one lifestyle, actually. A colleague invited me to his/her house ...

Feeling like a kid again

I have this theory that we’re all about 8 years old. Deep down inside there’s a tiny person who wants to bounce on the ...

You’re much more organised than me

Dear Reader, I take my hat off to you. If you have time to read this column, you’re much more organised than me. The day before ...

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel

What exactly does that mean? Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas carols. But it’s no wonder kids get confused. Who on earth is Don? ...

Dance Like No-one’s Watching

You know that expression “Dance like no one’s watching”? I wish I could do that. Australians aren’t blessed with a natural sense of rhythm. Hubby dances ...

I Don’t Know Why She Swallowed the Fly

This summer the Great Australian Salute will be more like a human windmill. Like Peter Garrett from the days of Midnight Oil, we will ...

Schoolies and toolies

Something happens when you cross the threshold from childhood to adulthood. Let’s call it backflippism. Or judgmentalism. Or rose-coloured-glassesism. The worst afflicted are those with ...

Christmas parties

Scrubbing up for a fancy function is a lot harder than it used to be. In days gone by, you’d whack on some lippy, ...

The feeling of sand between your toes

Is there anything better than the feeling of sand between your toes after a long cold winter? The sun, the sea, the surf – ...

I Shop, Therefore I Am

Shopping and gynaecology don’t appear to have much in common. Sure, both are associated with women. But it’s not often that a high-end shopping spree ...

I promise

We all live in a state of self-deception. Every day I wake up and think, “I’m only going to have one coffee today. In ...

Now That’s Romance

I’d like to talk about nominative determinism. Before your eyes glaze over, I promise that this column contains elements of humour, mild sex scenes, ...

The Modern Day Colosseum

There’s something compelling about brutality at the football. And this is coming from a life-long pacifist. I guess it goes back to the days of ...

S*@t My Dad Says

You know that expression, “Everyone has a book in them”? Well, I reckon everyone has an episode of S*@t My Dad Says in them. Take ...

Fancy That

There’s a reason why I loathe fancy dress parties. The year was 1984. It was a friend’s 18th birthday party: a ‘P’ party, to be ...

Sprinter

Feeling lethargic? Lost your zing? Engulfed by ennui? Blame the seasons. Apparently at this time of year, we don’t know whether we’re Arthur or Martha. And ...

Fandom

My first love is now a drug addict. I’ll never forget the moment I laid eyes on him: the sun glinting off his long ...

The Best Night of my Life

Have you ever played the death row game? The question goes like this: If you were on death row, what would you choose as ...

Putting petrochemicals on my face

This morning I put petrochemicals on my face. It wasn’t the first time. I’ve been doing it for about 30 years. There was also some butoxyethanol, ...

Brave New World

I am officially a hypocrite. Last week I bought an iPad, after spending months telling anyone who’d listen that they were a “waste of ...

Harry Potter

Is there anything better than sleeping in your childhood home? Snuggling up in your old bed; cuddling your one-eyed Teddy bear; trying to find ...

King Tut

I reckon there should be separate areas for adults and children everywhere. Especially at home. Just imagine: You’d go to a restaurant with a group ...

The School Holiday Dilemma

One of the peculiar aspects of the school holidays is the proliferation of play dates. As a kid, I tagged along with mum and ...

USA! USA!

I’m thinking of renaming my children Billy-Joe Jim Bob and Brandi Beanblossom. They’ve suddenly developed American accents. Last week, I was helping four-year-old Grace with ...

Going to the zoo

Going to the zoo is an educational experience, but not always in a good way. Sometimes too much knowledge is a bad thing. Take the ...

La Nina

I’m thinking of entering my homegrown vegetables in this year’s Royal Easter Show. That is, if there’s a category for zucchini shaped like the ...

The Blight of the Babycino

Of all the bad parenting advice I’ve received over the years, this has got to be the worst: “If you’re in a café ...

Councils and parking

Going to the beach is one of our great egalitarian past-times. Except it’s not. Nowadays, you have to cough up $8 for the privilege of ...

He’s a Good Boy

There seem to be a lot of good boys doing very bad things. Take the teenagers who allegedly led police on a high-speed chase ...

Tony and Julia in a sandpit.

It’s time to end the blame game over asylum seeker policy. Lives are at stake here, people. Reading the series of letters exchanged between the ...

Women are their own worst enemies

Next week, New Idea will feature a half-naked George Colambaris on the cover. “I want to be a role model for all the short ...

Texting while Driving

It was a performance worthy of a Guinness World Record. Barreling along Sydney Road Fairlight, the truck driver was texting on one mobile phone ...

The Ugly Aussie

The ugly Aussie is alive and well and holidaying in South East Asia. Right now he or she is probably bashing someone, taking drugs, ...

Ah, the holidays

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 ...

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

The principal of a pre-school in Sydney’s west is the Grinch who stole Christmas. Imagine the confusion on the faces of the three-year-olds at ...

Video Games

‘Pathological internet misuse’ can be summed up in two words: Lazy parenting. It’s been reported international experts are considering labelling video game addiction as ...

They’re Not Like Us

The call came in the dead of night. It was from a second cousin twice removed. “You’ve got to help,” he pleaded. “My neighbour knows someone ...

Victims and villains: The Bali drug boy

“In the old days, villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter these days. They want an ordinary human beings with ...

Why it’s easier to worship the flying spaghetti monster

The year is 2011 C.E. (Common Era, for the politically correct). The place: A cute little café at the crossroads of heaven, paradise and ...

Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

Schools will no longer call for canteen volunteers because it discriminates against working mums. Reading groups will be cancelled for fear of offending parents ...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

A caterpillar has metamorphosed into a pin-up for the diet police. In the classic children’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, he binges on one ...

Get Fracked

Seam stimulation sounds like something from a pornographic film. But it’s the new term for fracking being used by the coal seam gas industry. You ...

Down Down, Profits are Down

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 ...

Dancing on someone’s grave

I’m struggling to find the right expletives to describe the trolls who defaced the facebook tribute page of Ayen Chol. It goes beyond dancing ...

The ism conspiracy

It’s always comforting to have your suspicions confirmed. Christine Nixon lost her job because she’s fat. Not because she abandoned her post during one of ...

Death threats are the new black

A parking inspector gave me a ticket the other day so I wrote him a letter: “I hope you die in a ditch, ...

Kids in hot cars

It was one of those days when you could see the heat shimmering off the pavement. Already 27 degrees at 10 o’clock. In the middle ...

Piggie in the middle

Following the removal of a toy pig from a children’s farm set in the U.K., lest it offend Muslim or Jewish parents, Australian ...

Convicted paedophile

Police say they were “too busy” to stop a serial paedophile stalking young boys in suburban Sydney last month. The 44-year-old man was released ...

Vaccination

The little girl's face was contorted in pain as she doubled over, her body wracked by coughs. Then came the vomiting. Her mother, stricken with ...

There is no stopping in the green zone…

Sydney appears to be turning into an Orwellian dystopia. In a scene from Nineteen Eighty-Four the Ministry of Truth has installed men with megaphones ...

Baby Love, Body Hate

The pregnancy book What to Expect When You’re Expecting is about to be re-released with a new chapter entitled Criticism. ‘Cos that’s what you ...

You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling

It must be a terrible feeling to wake up one morning realising you don’t love the person you’ve spent half your life with. You’ve ...

Antonia Kidman

Antonia Kidman wishes she could divide her love – like pieces of cake – equally between her five children. “It’s the hardest thing about ...

The Odd Couple

Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau ain’t got nuthin’ on Kimberley Stewart and Benicio Del Toro. The Odd Couple from the TV series were famous ...

Va-va-voom!

Imagine being a fly on the wall at a meeting between a record company executive and a young starlet. “Look babe, you’ve got a ...

Chris brown

Chris Brown’s performance this week proves he simply can’t control himself. He is a bully and a thug. Forget the video apology, the anger management, ...

Phantom Pregnancy

Psst! Not sure whether you’ve heard, but Posh Spice’s baby is actually an alien. I’ve seen the ultrasound! And – don’t tell anyone –she’s ...

Bridget Jones

Bridget Jones is not ageing well. Ten years on, the zeitgeist film looks rather pathetic, with Renee Zellweger as a neurotic woman desperate to ...

Oh, mother

Remember when your mum would scream, “You’re not going out dressed like that!” Now the stiletto is well and truly on the other foot. A ...

You kiss a lot of frogs…

They say you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your Prince. But singer and actor Sophie Monk is taking it ...

Facebook divorces

Another Commandment has just come down from Mount Sinai: Thou shalt not commit adultery via Facebook. The social networking site is being blamed for ...

Pink pregnancy

“Step right up, step right up: Welcome to the celebrity circus! Watch in horror as the Fat Lady lumbers across the stage! Sure, ...

Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen must have a really sore head this weekend after being beaten with a wet lettuce leaf. “Poor Charlie” and “Hollywood bad boy” ...

That’s the pits!

Apparently it’s OK for a woman to walk around with a small poodle under her arm, but not something that looks like a ...

A very naughty boy

Watching Bert and Patty Newton on A Current Affair this week, one word came to mind: narcissism. Like Narcissus, the mythological man who fell ...

Babies and the Geriatric Mother

I highly recommend being a Geriatric Mother. That’s the old-fashioned term for a pregnant woman over the age of 30. These days – with new ...

Gisele and breastfeeding

Who would have thought a supermodel’s boobs would cause such heated discussion – among women? Gisele Bundchen has created a storm in a B-cup ...

Fauxgans

There’s a new breed of bogan in town, without a Shazza or Dazza in sight. Unlike the original bogue, “a hideously repugnant species breeding ...

Al Jazeera

The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but to express emotions you really need to use your whole face. That doesn’t appear ...

Samoan Island that Time Forgot

Many Australian families have yet to discover the treasured islands of the South Pacific. Share our wonder at Savai’i - the largest of ...

Spring into the Snowies!

The Snowy Mountains aren’t just about snowboarding and skiing. As Tracey Spicer and her family discovered, it’s an adventure playground in the warmer ...

Taste of the Tropics – Mauritius

Walking with the lions, swimming with the barracudas and windsurfing halfway to Africa. Tracey Spicer discovers there’s more to Mauritius than simply stunning ...

Outback Express

Tracey Spicer learns that it’s ‘all about the journey’ when she takes her five-year-old son on an overnight train trip to outback Queensland. There’s ...

Cadillac Camping

Tracey Spicer and her family discover the ‘wheel America’ driving an RV across the United States. It’s like Pavlov’s dog theory. Every time I ...

Turtle Toddlers

Tracey Spicer and her kids marvel at one of nature’s miracles – the migration of the tiny turtles at Mon Repos. I love beer!” ...

Into the dreamy – Escape to Western Australia

Tracey Spicer travels to north-western WA to discover indigenous Spa treatments using native plants and ancient wisdom. From above, the pretty pearling town of ...

Magical Morocco

Bustling souks, sandy beaches, majestic mountains and endless deserts: Morocco is simply a feast for families. Disneyland has nothing on the Jemaa El ...

Morocco

You can feel the tribal beat in your chest before you see the drummers. The Djemaa el Fna – a sprawling square at the ...

GRILLA TACTICS

Discover what can be cooked on the BBQ beyond the summer months with these winter warmers! A winter barbeque might seem like an oxymoron. Aren’t ...

Summer Seafood

You’ll be crabtivated by these summer seafood recipes - hook, line and sinker. She stabbed her fork into the eyeball and deftly plucked ...

Toyota Tips – Kids in the Car

If you want to stay safe – and sane – on the family road trip, look no further. Here are ...

Ho, Ho, Ho and a plateful of yum!

Ah – Christmas. Chestnuts roasting over an open fire, a fattened goose in the oven, mulled wine to ward off the bitter cold. Bah ...

Griswold Family Vacation

In National Lampoon’s Vacation, the Griswolds leave a trail of carnage across the United States in their quest to reach Wally World. So it’s ...

God Save the Queen – from Us…

I wonder how the Queen feels about Aussies celebrating her birthday? We’re like the black sheep of the family running amok at a terribly ...

What Are the Odds?

Who are you putting your money on today? According to Centrebet, Roll Out the Barrel is the red-hot favourite at $1.14. The mighty stallion isn’t ...

Marcel Marceau, eat your heart out

Whoever’s up there pulling our strings has a wonderful sense of humour. For example, take winter ailments (please, take them!) Like guided missiles, they target ...

Sunday Telegraph – Surrogacy

The brutal debate about surrogacy is turning into a female version of the movie, Fight Club. In one corner are those who believe ...

The Punch – The C Word

Are you offended by the C-word? Had I asked that question a decade ago, the answer would probably have been “yes”. But the C-bomb has ...

The Height of Absurdity

This week I got rid of my high heels. I know – it’s akin to sacrilege: If fashion is a religion, a towering pair ...

Furreal Friends

“When Daddy dies, can we get a cat?” This was the first question out of Grace’s mouth on the morning of her fourth birthday. I ...

Winter

I’m writing this column wearing a skimpy floral frock, moth-eaten woollen overcoat, scarf, beanie and ugg boots. Before you race off to call Harper’s ...

My Fair Lady

I feel decidedly uncomfortable around rich people. Not that I think they’re all mercenary (although billionaire miners protesting about losing a couple of million ...

Boycotters

There are two types of people: boycotters and forgivers. Boycotters will punish service providers for the slightest transgression. “I asked for a goat milk latte ...

The power of advertising

Ever had one of those moments where you see – with stunning clarity – exactly where you went wrong? I had one this week ...

The little discussed joys of shopping at Aldi

Shopping at Aldi is like being on Survivor. First, you have to complete a puzzle: which little-known brand of baked beans will taste the ...

Alternative festivals

Readers of this column would be familiar with my distaste for festivals: the heaving crowds, the food of questionable origin, the overflowing portaloos. But ...

Life is full of surprises

Sometimes, the best weekends are unexpected. Like last weekend, when granddad came to stay. He’d just turned 90, so I thought it would be a ...

Stevie, the Horse

One of my guilty pleasures is reading day spa menus. Not that I necessarily want to be covered in a “delicious concoction of cinnamon, ...

Best Weekend #35 – Mark 2: It’s all good

There’s an exquisite irony in the expression “It’s all good”. Most of us say it when things are far from good. “Oh yeah, the ...

Addictions

I have a fierce addiction. It’s not alcohol, drugs or even Krispy Cremes. It’s exercise. And last week, my obsession almost led to a grisly end ...

Remember the days of the old school yard

Want to feel young again? Go back to your old primary school. It’s like a time machine: suddenly you become a freckly-faced, wide-eyed, snotty-nosed kid ...

Thank God I’m a country girl

They say there’s nothing like the fresh country air. I don’t know who “they” are. But they’re absolutely right. Our destination is central Victoria, ravaged by ...

Camping

I would rather stick needles in my breasts than go camping. Plenty of people swear by it: getting back to nature, spending time with ...

Fancy Pants

There’s something quite unnerving about fancy functions. It starts with the dress code. What is a Lounge Suit anyway? This week I’ve frocked up for several ...

Fish killer

I am a notorious fish killer. It’s not something I’m proud of. But it’s reached the stage where I need help. You know – AA for ...

Weddings

If you google “wedding horror stories”, there are 1,100,000 results. Why do public declarations of undying love bring out the worst in people? Old enmities ...

One man’s trash

Like many Australians, we don’t put our car in the garage. No – that would be far too sensible. Besides, there’s no space amongst the ...

Restaurants and questionnaires

Since when did restaurants start handing out questionnaires? I’d just finished the last bite of my fish and chips at a lovely café in ...

Spa Life

I have a moustache. Not ‘peach fuzz’, as the make-up artists at Channel 10 kindly referred to it. A full-blown Uncle Chop Chop that sits ...

Kids and friendship

We can learn a lot from kids. They’re like baby Buddhas – always living in the moment. Watch a three-year-old girl picking flowers, a ...

An Ocean View

It’s the trend of 2010: Celebrities getting their gear off to sell magazines – oops, I mean to show how normal they are. Actually, ...

World’s skinniest house

We’ve just bought the world’s skinniest house. Seriously – you have to turn sideways to get in the door. It’s like the architectural version of ...

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack – of the Beanstalk fame – is the ultimate anti-hero. In the fable, he climbs a beanstalk to hide in a man’s house ...

This is the best time of year to be in Sydney

There’s no traffic, everyone’s relaxed, the post-Christmas sales are pumping, and the parks are full of kids playing with their new toys. It’s like ...

Beados

Whoever invented Beados should be charged with crimes against humanity. You might be blissfully unaware of these tiny balls of frustration. The TV ad shows ...

I remain resolute…

I resolutely refuse to make resolutions. Can you think of a worst time of year to try to stop drinking, lose weight or save ...

The brag letter

It’s that time of year again when our letterboxes are assaulted by a most insidious scourge – the dreaded brag letter. They seem to ...

Boxing Day is infinitely better than Christmas.

First of all, you don’t have to act like a human ping-pong ball bouncing from one family gathering to another. Secondly, there’s no gift ...

Christmas drinking

For Christmas this year I’d like a new liver. A nice pink spongy one, to replace my sodden yellow one. Not that I’m an alcoholic ...

Creepy old Santa

The whole concept of Santa is kinda creepy, don’t you think? Some old fella, his face disguised, enticing young children to sit on his ...

EyeLife

I’m starting to think it would be easier to have an EyeLife instead of a real one. This week we bought an EyePet: one ...

Rainy Days and Mondays

Rainy Days and Mondays – Best Weekend #12 One of my favourite books is Holidays in Hell by American satirist P.J. O’Rourke. At this point ...

Wrapped in cotton wool

I had an epiphany the other day after reading a magazine ad. Normally I consider advertising to be the work of the devil. But this ...

Dogs are the new children

I’ve come to this conclusion after watching a woman spoon-feed her poodle in a Mosman café. She was even wearing a bib (the dog, ...

The Great Masculinity Debate

My son has decided that – when he grows up – he wants to be a woman. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!) If ...

Festivals

I have a confession to make: I hate festivals. Soggy noodles in a cardboard box, warm wine in a plastic cup, and the stench ...

The Italian Joint

There’s a lot to be said for the local Italian joint. Not the Carlton Crew type, with pasta on Mondays and shootouts on Saturdays. I’m ...

Surf

Is there anything better than a day at the beach? The dangerous beauty of the surf; cricket unencumbered by rules; kids splashing happily in ...

Compassion

Families fall into two camps: those who love school holidays and those who loathe them. For the former, it’s a time for bonding; the ...

Green

Doing our bit to fight climate change this week led to a trip to hospital. And questions about my sanity. Mindful of the upcoming Copenhagen ...

Friends

Ah, the weekend: Time to relax, unwind, catch up with friends, and remember what’s important in life. Or, is it? Amid the mad juggle of ...

Honesty

Foot-in-mouth disease is running rampant in our house. Take last weekend, for example. One of my dearest, oldest friends was down in the dumps, so ...

Best Weekend #1

I knew I’d gone too far when I draped a snake around my daughter’s neck and let my son kiss a monkey on ...

Pulp Fiction Meat Frenzy

It was a scene from the movie Pulp Fiction in my kitchen last week – blood spatter as far as the eye could ...

Tour guide

American tour guide, far north Queensland, circa 2020: “Well, folks, welcome to the Great Barrier McReef! Over there you can see Woodrow Wilson ...

Suicide

His name was Ben*. He came from a loving family. Went to the right school. Had his whole life ahead of him. Until he leapt to his ...

Medical marijuana

Politicians enjoy beating their chests about ‘zero tolerance’. On drugs. Binge drinking. Bullying. Sexual harassment. But what about zero tolerance for suffering? As a society we ...

Giving birth is dead unsexy

It’s not like it is on The Bold and the Beautiful. Ridge (gazing into his beloved’s eyes, stroking her hand, gently patting her ...

First day at school

First, there was the quivering lip. Then the tears. Finally, the full-blown sobs. And that was just me. Yesterday, three-year-old Grace joined her five-year-old brother Taj at ...

Home shopping revolution

It is indeed encouraging that vacuous consumerism is back. Forget about reining in the wild excesses of capitalism after the GFC. Sit back, relax, and ...

A poisoned chalice

We may never see a female Prime Minister in this country. Once again a member of the fairer sex has been handed a ...

Cougars

I’d rather be called a cougar than an old slapper. Or mutton dressed up as lamb. Or past my use-by date. This much-maligned term for sexually ...

The Fun Police

A new division has been set up within the Federal Police to deal with a scourge on society. The Fun Police will conduct raids ...

Vaccinations and autism

A former Playboy Bunny’s ill-informed ranting could lead to an outbreak of potentially deadly viruses in Australia. And our wealthiest, most well-educated citizens are ...

Cancer – dead sexy

Did you know that some cancers are sexy? The concept conjures bizarre images of a tumour, throbbing sensually, dressed in fishnet stockings and nipple ...

The devil you know

A paedophile lives at 25 Northumberland St. East Ryde*. He doesn’t have a facial tic, or a stutter. He doesn’t look like the kiddy fiddler ...

The Boys’ Club

Let’s get one thing straight - a new book exposing the Machiavellian maneuvers of television executives bears absolutely no resemblance to the ...

Prolific Breeder

Nadia Suleman must be a closet Monty Python fan. Searching for the Meaning of Life, the mother of 14 children, including octuplets, turned to ...

Peter Overton and Mark Ferguson

Is replacing Mark Ferguson with Peter Overton at the Channel 9 news desk simply shuffling deck chairs on the titanic? That’s the opinion of ...

Paid Maternity Leave rant

It’s looking like another Ruddy backflip. Kevin ’07 spent much of his election campaign whispering sweet nothings into the ears of women voters. And that’s ...

The Pacific Highway

The Pacific Highway is a bloody disgrace. Last weekend, angry and exhausted holidaymakers were stuck in a 20 kilometre traffic jam near Bulahdelah, north ...

Obstetrician and pain

I’ve always considered excruciating pain to be incredibly bonding. Like the time my sister jumped off the seesaw and I fell to the ground, ...

Mercedes Corby

Memo Mercedes Corby: put your tits away. Nobody wants to see them. Your family’s foibles are taking on the proportions of a Shakespearean tragicomedy. It’s ...

Lay-by

Forget footy – frugality has become a competitive sport for Australian families. Faced with the threat of the global financial crisis, we have adapted ...

I’ll drink to that!

Let’s raise a glass to Fiona O’Loughlin for coming out as an alcoholic. Since the 5th century BC, comedians have been looking to the ...

Fear and Loathing on the News Set

The story about a former US newsreader charged with hacking into the emails of his glamorous co-presenter comes as no surprise to those ...

Euthanasia

At 3-17am on the 25th of October 1999, I considered suffocating my mother with a pillow. I didn’t view it as murder. It would ...

Anonymous deserves to be Boned

Newsreader Tracey Spicer takes pleasure in deboning the much-hyped Anonymous tome on women in television, following the publication of an excerpt in the ...

Cyber-bullying

Could there be anything worse than losing a child to suicide? Putting my daughter to bed last night, I couldn’t stop thinking about Geelong ...

Craig Wing and the Black Dog

Craig Wing’s most important legacy will not be his stellar football career. Not even his powerhouse performance on the weekend, hours after being ...

Bring Schapelle Home

It’s time to bring Schapelle Corby home. Pictures of the 31-year-old lying on the floor of Denpasar’s police hospital, dishevelled and clutching a teddy ...

Bogans

It’s simply unAustrayian. The city of Logan, on Brisbane’s outskirts, has banned bogans. The council has lined up local celebs, like pop star Darren Hayes ...

A time to grieve

It makes you wonder what the world is coming to when a mother is punished for grieving too long over her dead baby. Terrie ...

Craig Wing

For some women, getting married is like winning a footy grand final. This is the scene on a picture perfect Sydney day: the bride, ...

Rosemeadow riots

Two months after violent riots rocked Rosemeadow, Tracey Spicer visits the notorious 3Ms to learn a valuable lesson – don’t judge a book ...

Nation for Sale

Hasan Mohammad Binladin - one of Osama's brothers - is playing Farmer Joe. The head of the Middle-East Foodstuff Consortium is on a spending ...

Mummy Olympics

With the mother-of-all-Olympics less than a week away, it’s time to start planning the ‘Mother Olympics’. Forget Beijing – why not pay tribute to ...

Honey, They Airbrushed the Kids!

In the year 2040 the publication of crow’s feet will be deemed a crime against humanity. Kate Winslet’s daughter will appear before the International ...

Andrew O’Keefe got a raw deal.

In the modern day equivalent of being put in the stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes, the Deal or No Deal host has ...

Abortion

At 24 weeks gestation, I almost lost my precious boy, Taj. Suffering a life threatening pregnancy complication, I began bleeding while visiting friends in ...

Kick Ass

Tracey Spicer explores why the controversial film Kick-Ass still tops the US box office – and why it’s not as bad as you ...

Monogamy

The wise and witty Dorothy Parker once wrote that “Woman wants monogamy; Man delights in novelty; Love is woman’s moon and sun; ...

Kardashian breastfeeding

There’s a time in many women’s lives when breasts go from being sexy to – well – utilitarian. Suddenly you feel like a cow ...

Cover girls

Quick pop quiz: what do Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss have in common? Sure, they’re all beautiful, wealthy and famous. But ...

The Punch – Warm Regards

Please, don’t regard me warmly. I’m not that nice. And why are you offering your best wishes? It’s not my birthday. I enjoy ‘cheers’, but ...

The Punch – Walk the Plank

Ahoy there, me hearties! As you may know, Saturday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. In honour of this important occasion, I have compiled ...

The Punch – The Tibetans we don’t care about

The Uyghurs need a good spin doctor. These forgotten people of northwest China are the Tibetans the world doesn’t care about. It might be because ...

The Punch – Talk-like-a-pirate-day

Arrr, me hearties! In honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day on the weekend, I’ve compiled a list of federal pollies and their ...

The Punch – Save the endangered apostrophe

It’s tiny but powerful. Its incorrect insertion could mean the difference between life and death. And it’s fighting for its very existence. I’m referring to the ...

The Punch – Our own worst enemies

Once again women are proving to be their own worst enemies. With Chris Bath likely to be named the first solo female primetime newsreader ...

The Punch – Mobile phones are the new cigarettes

Mobile phones are the new cigarettes. Not when it comes to cancer, of course. That’s still unproven, according to mobile phone companies which have much ...

The Punch – Living Wills

The term ‘good death’ seems to be an oxymoron. But for those who’ve cared for a terminally ill loved one, the ancient Greek definition ...

The Punch – Dry July

I enjoy a drink as much as the next person. Unless that next person happens to be Fiona O’Loughlin. Or Andrew Symonds. But the Australian ...

The Punch – Come out, come out, wherever you are

My name is Tracey and I am not a lesbian. Well, except for 15 minutes in 1987. At university. Does that count? Everyone is at ...

The Punch – Bainimarama

If there was an award for ‘most popular military dictator’ Commodore Frank Bainimarama would win hands down. Muammar al-Gaddafi came close by hugging the ...

The Punch – When is a foetus a human life

The first story I covered as a court reporter was about the point at which life begins. It was a big question for the ...

The Punch – Universities

There’s a hidden epidemic of bullying in Australia – and it’s not in the schoolyard. The corporatisation of universities has led to an increase ...

The Punch – Up, up and away!

Next year, airlines plan to charge passengers to breathe. It will be 36c for a short, sharp breath – the type taken by those ...

The Punch – Illeism

Is it just Tracey Spicer, or are there a lot of people referring to themselves in the third person these days? Illeists abound in ...

The Punch – Radical Atheism

If there is a God, he’d be rubbing his hands with glee at the rise of radical atheism. The pompous pronoucements of Professor Richard ...

The Punch – Mark Webber, you are a nob

Memo Mark Webber: Go back to the Motherland. We don’t want your insensitive, ignorant and thoughtless comments here. Webber tipped the bucket on his homeland ...

The Punch – Joe Hockey

If Joe Hockey wins the leadership of the federal Liberal Party, the biggest loser will not be Malcolm Turnbull. Nor will it be the ...

The Punch – Breastfeeding

I’m sick and tired of women turning on each other. Why do we do this to ourselves? I don’t expect all of us to ...

Sometimes you wonder whether you’re living in a parallel universe.

Sometimes you wonder whether you’re living in a parallel universe. Like that South Park episode where Cartman is nice all the time, or in ...

The Punch – Australia Day

Tony Abbott’s incendiary comments about immigration are the type that could ignite an Australia Day tinderbox. Speaking at an Australia Day Council dinner, the ...

The Punch – A Funny Thing Happened….

A funny thing happened on the way from the forum. Last week’s Principals Forum, that is, with Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard. Listening to ...

Lost in the aftershocks of the home insulation scandal is a story with deadly implications for beef farming in Australia.

Lost in the aftershocks of the home insulation scandal is a story with deadly implications for beef farming in Australia. A Senate inquiry is ...

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Tracey Spicer is one of the most experienced and respected female news presenters on Australian television, with a career spanning 20 years encompassing newsreading, documentary making, reporting, and radio broadcasting.

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