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Sam Kerr’s alleged comments may have had a racial element, but they were not ‘racist’

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mario-peucker-192086">Mario Peucker</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a> Footballer Sam Kerr has been charged with “racially aggravated harassment” over a January 2023 incident in which she allegedly insulted a London police officer. According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/06/sam-kerr-allegedly-called-police-officer-a-stupid-white-bastard-source-says">widespread media reports</a>, she is said to have called the officer a “stupid white bastard”. Kerr has pleaded not guilty to the charge and has <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/sam-kerr-legal-team-reportedly-challenge-allegations-of-police-harassment/744598ef-75f9-4e03-acb5-7b37aecde8d1">reportedly denied</a> using the word “bastard”. According to section 33 of the British Crime and Disorder Act, to be found guilty of such an offence, the conduct would have had to cause – or have intended to cause – alarm or distress. Regardless of the court’s ultimate verdict, one big question seems to occupy the minds of many: does the phrase attributed to Kerr constitute racism? Kerr was born in Western Australia, and has Indian ancestry on her father’s side. Can she be racist towards a white person, and more specifically to a white police officer? Assuming it is true Kerr used the term “white”, there is a racial element. But “racial” is not the same as “racist”. <h2>Definitions of racism</h2> It is important to note here that “race” is not a biological category (there is only one human race). Race is a <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-construct-scientists-argue/">social construct</a>, invented and cemented centuries ago to legitimise colonial atrocities, oppression and forms of subjugation including slavery. There are many definitions of racism, but there has been a broad consensus for decades that racism is more than “just” prejudice and discriminatory behaviour. It is not simply a matter of less favourable treatment of an individual or group of people based on their actual or ascribed ethnic background, skin colour, origin or related characteristics. Racism also reflects and manifests as systemic exclusion and marginalisation based on historically rooted power imbalances and racial hierarchies that put white people at the top. To put it very simply, the scholarly (if not the legal) definition is that “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-07453-002">racism equals power plus prejudice</a>”. In a vicious cycle, everyday racism and discrimination are shaped and justified by racial hierarchies, while they operate continuously in a way that cements power imbalances and racial marginalisation. This may sound a bit abstract, but if we do not recognise this power dynamic, we trivialise racism as little more than name-calling. We will fail to understand how racism operates and how it continues to affect people from racially marginalised groups in their daily lives. One way to illustrate the systemic nature of racism is to look at the persistent lack of representation of people of colour in leadership positions in the corporate sector, the media and governments in Australia and elsewhere. In the United Kingdom, where the alleged incident occurred, institutional racism – including within the police force – has been recognised since the release of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-stephen-lawrence-inquiry">Macpherson report</a> in 1999. It was reaffirmed in 2023 by the <a href="https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/met/about-us/baroness-casey-review/update-march-2023/baroness-casey-review-march-2023a.pdf">Baroness Casey Review</a>, despite some political pushback. The review found “Met officers are 82% White and 71% male, and the majority do not live in the city they police. As such, the Met does not look like the majority of Londoners.” <h2>Reverse racism?</h2> Anti-discrimination legislation in the UK and Australia usually does not speak explicitly of “racism”. It outlaws certain acts that are motivated, partially or wholly, by a person’s race (or other personal identity markers). Legislators introduced these laws with the intention of enhancing the legal protections for those who were considered vulnerable to racism. In Australia, for example, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00274/latest/text">Racial Discrimination Act</a> (1975) is often celebrated as a legal cornerstone in the country’s journey away from its racist “White Australia” history towards a modern multicultural society. The United Nations’ <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-elimination-all-forms-racial">International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination</a> (1965), ratified by Australia in 1975 and the UK in 1969, makes its intention explicit when it calls on all state parties to make it an offence to disseminate “ideas based on racial superiority”. The issue of power structures should also be seen through an institutional lens. It is difficult to imagine a person on the streets of London with more institutional power than a white police officer. Being called a “stupid bastard” might hurt someone’s feelings. But while I’m in no position to judge whether Sam Kerr’s alleged actions have caused “distress” to the officer – as the law would require – labelling the incident as racist is clearly not in line with what racism means. Such a definition would not align with the concept’s institutional and systemic dimensions. It is not what anti-discrimination laws were intended to outlaw. Claims of anti-white or “reverse” racism are based on a shallow, misguided and inaccurate understanding of what racism really constitutes. If Kerr’s court case fails to acknowledge the deeper purpose of anti-racism legislation by equating “racial” with “racist”, it risks setting a highly problematic precedent that would undermine efforts to acknowledge and tackle racism in all its forms. What would be the message to those millions of people in the UK, Australia and elsewhere who have to face racism every day without recognition of the harm it causes and without the support and capacity to sue the perpetrators? What would they think about their right to equality and their place in society?<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225267/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mario-peucker-192086">Mario Peucker</a>, Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sam-kerrs-alleged-comments-may-have-had-a-racial-element-but-they-were-not-racist-225267">original article</a>.

Legal

"What a life I’ve had": Author announces own death after years of battling dementia

Wendy Mitchell has died aged 68 after documenting her brave battle with dementia. The author from Walkington, East Yorkshire, became the best-selling writer after she was diagnosed with early onset vascular dementia and Alzheimer's in July 2014. She shared her philosophical outlook on living with the condition in her acclaimed 2018 memoir Somebody I Used To Know and in her 2022 book What I Wish I Knew About Dementia. In an <a href="https://whichmeamitoday.wordpress.com/2024/02/22/my-final-hug-in-a-mug/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open letter</a> shared online, the author announced her death and revealed that she had refused to eat or drink towards the end of her battle. "If you’re reading this, it means this has probably been posted by my daughters as I’ve sadly died," she began. "Sorry to break the news to you this way, but if I hadn’t, my inbox would eventually have been full of emails asking if I’m OK, which would have been hard for my daughters to answer… "In the end I died simply by deciding not to eat or drink any more," she wrote. She added that the last cup of tea she had, her "final hug in a mug" was "the hardest thing to let go of". "Dementia is a cruel disease that plays tricks on your very existence. I’ve always been a glass half full person, trying to turn the negatives of life around and creating positives, because that’s how I cope." Mitchell said that the language used by doctors can "make or break" how someone copes with dementia, and instead of saying there's "nothing they can do" it is better to tell them they will have to "adapt to a new way of living". "Well I suppose dementia was the ultimate challenge. Yes, dementia is a bummer, but oh what a life I’ve had playing games with this adversary of mine to try and stay one step ahead," she wrote in her final blog post. She also said that she had always been resilient, which has helped her cope with whatever life throws in her way. Mitchell has been an advocate for assisted dying in the UK, and said that "the only legal choice we shouldn’t have in life is when to be born; for everything else, we, as humans, should have a choice; a choice of how we live and a choice of how we die." She added that the way she died was an active choice as she doesn't want "to be an inpatient in a hospital, or a resident in a Care Home," as "it’s just not the place I want to end my years." "My girls have always been the two most important people in my life. I didn’t take this decision lightly, without countless conversations. They were the hardest conversations I’ve ever had to put them through. "This was all MY CHOICE, my decision. So please respect my daughters' privacy, as they didn’t choose the life I chose, of standing up to and speaking out against dementia." She then thanked everyone for their support and left with a touching final message. "So, enjoy this knowing that dementia didn’t play the winning card – I did." Images: Daily Mail

Caring

"Like the cash cow had come out": Commuters puzzled by money bundles on motorway

Motorists in Perth have been left puzzled after bundles of cash were spotted flying across a motorway. On Monday evening, several members of the public called Western Australia police after up to $40,000 in cold hard cash was seen flying across the Mitchell Fwy in Connolly, in the city’s northern suburbs. According to Commissioner Col Blanch, honest civilians bundled up some of the mysterious money and “came forward with large wads of cash”. “We believe that up to $40,000 has been recovered,” he said. Police believe that the money came from an alleged drug deal gone wrong, but the incident is still under investigation. "It looks like it was a total fiasco by the person involved and probably not one of our smartest (alleged) offenders," Mr Blanch said. "It's like the cash cow had come out, and there was cash flying everywhere." "There's no more money on the freeway … let's not go there." After police attended the scene, they arrested a man close by who had another $8,000 in his possession, along with 51g of cocaine. Despite some people stopping to retrieve the money to hand over to police, the free money prompted some motorists to stop their cars to retrieve a share for themselves. Talk on social media suggested one commuter even pocketed about $10,000. Image credits: WA Police

Travel Trouble

"She had the biggest heart": Mum's tribute to five-year-old killed in a car crash

A heartbroken mother has paid tribute to her five-year-old daughter, who was killed in a horrific three car collision in Victoria's north. Savannah Kemp's mother Bryana remembered her daughter as a “precious” and “sassy” little girl who “had the biggest heart”. Savannah leaves behind three brothers - Layton, Cayden and Ryley, as well as her devastated mother. Bryana said in a statement that Savannah was due to start kindergarten at Guthrie Street Primary School with her three older brothers in 2024. "She has been wearing her school uniform around the house for weeks because she was so excited to go to school," she said. "She went to her first orientation a week or so back and even had to wear it." “Savannah was the most precious, sassy little girl. She had the biggest heart which was always full of laughter. She never walked anywhere, she danced or skipped. She was so brave and fearless, learnt it from her brothers. Nothing bothered her." Bryana went on to say that her daughter was destined to be a “fearless ballerina or soccer player” and that her three brothers were training her in their backyard so that she could become just that. “I would always make jokes that she would dance the ball into the goals and that’s exactly what she did with them,” she said. “For a term she has been doing acrobatics at Ucandance and she was learning cartwheels and the splits. She got very good at it in a few short weeks.” Savannah was “destined for great things”, Bryana said. “My sweet little baby, if (you) had the chance (you) would have ruled this world.” A <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-the-name-of-savannah" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoFundMe</a> page has been set up for the family to cover Savannah's funeral costs and any other financial difficulties the family may face, and has already raised over $36,000. Several other people were seriously injured in the crash, including a 32-year-old pregnant woman, whose unborn baby later died. The driver of the car Savannah was a passenger in, a 26-year-old Shepparton woman, was also taken to hospital with serious injuries. Another driver, a 33-year-old Shepparton man, and his passenger, a 22-year-old Katandra West man, were taken to hospital for minor injuries. A Victoria Police spokesperson said that officers are still working to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the collision. Image credits: GoFundMe

Caring

"I was heartbroken": Why Sam Kerr had to hide her gender

Sam Kerr is known as one of the greatest strikers in women's football. And now, with the Matlidas on the way to the World Cup semifinals, we are learning more and more about the challenges Kerr faced as a junior Aussie Rules player in South Fremantle, WA Kerr, who grew up in East Fremantle, south of Perth, did not have an easy start to what would be an exceptional football career, as she initially started playing for the boys' team when she was around five or six. Kerr, was the only girl who played junior Australian rules football for South Fremantle, but that didn't deter her from fulfilling her dreams. “I knew I’d be the only girl on the team but that didn’t worry me at all,” she wrote in her new book My Journey to the World Cup. Kerr said that her teammates assumed she was a boy because she had “short hair and blonde tips”, but didn't do anything to correct them as she was comfortable with it. So she decided to keep her gender a secret. "I didn’t want them to treat me any differently just because I was a girl," she said. “I remember one of the boys crying when he found out. “But as good as I was out on the field, and as much as I loved playing the game, the physical differences between the guys and me eventually became too pronounced and the play was too rough," she added. “One day, I came home from a game with yet another black eye and bloody lip, and that’s when my dad and brother both said, ‘Nup, this isn’t happening anymore’. “I was getting battered around so much out on the field that it was getting to be a big problem. Dad and my coach both sat me down then and said it was getting far too dangerous for me to continue to play," she said. Kerr revealed that she was devastated that she wasn't allowed to play football anymore because there were no girls' teams in her area for her to join. “They said they were sorry, but that I wasn’t allowed to play football any more. I understood the reasons why, but I was heartbroken. "Back then, there were no girls’ teams in my area for me to join, and to know that I’d never play a sport that I loved so much ever again was devastating.” By the age of 12, she switched to association football, but a year later she was spotted by Perth Glory striker Bobby Despotovski who has fascinated by her raw talent and athleticism. By the age of 15 she made her professional soccer debut and earned her maiden Matildas cap and the rest is history. Images: Ryan Pierse Getty Images/ Nine

Family & Pets

Readers respond: What did your mum or dad make for dinner growing up that you haven't had in ages?

Sometimes love and affection comes in the form of food, especially when it’s made by our parents. As we grow older and start our own lives we begin to miss the things we got used to as we grow up, especially the food our parents made. Here are some dishes our Over60 readers grew up with that they miss dearly. Keralie Stack - Mums apple pie, lemon meringue pie. Beautiful meat and kidney pies. Roasted meat in winter cooked in the fuel stove , along with a big pot of pea and ham soup in winter, followed with damper and scones for dinner Peter Lord - Mums meat and potato pie! I’ve made it and it’s not bad but it’s nowhere near as good as mum’s! Lee Pavey - A big roast dinner with roast veges & gravy made with the juices of the meat. Jenny Yaun - In my young 8 years old Living in Indonesia I loved Mum's Nasi Goreng made with tin corn beef, I still make now and again. I'm Dutch/Australian Marie Manson - Dads fabulous vege soup.. Dawn Holmes - Triple and onions!!! Can't say I miss it but they liked it!! But then mum was a great home cook with her baked goods and tasty soups and stews!! Jennifer Sabatino - Shepherd’s Pie made with leftover lamb from the Sunday roast and apple sponge (apples with the sponge baked on top), baked custard, baked rice custard and bread & butter pudding. Kathy Bloor - Mince on toast. I have never made it for myself and I am 70 Keith Carter - I haven't had PLOT TOFFEE FOR 65 years. Just got the recipe from my 86 yo sister. So now thats the go. Lorna Turner Prunes - and custard. I still cook all the foods my mum and dad cooked except for prunes and custard.

Food & Wine

Readers respond: What do you know about your mother's life before she had you?

Many of us a guilty to forgetting our parents had lives of their own before they brought their children into the world. We asked our readers what they discovered about their mother's life before she became a mum, and the response was overwhelming. Here's what they said. Georgina Johnson - Mum was in the Army during WW2. That’s how she met Dad. Before that she had wonderful parents and siblings, left school at 14 and lost her only brother in 1945 in New Guinea. That event defined Mum and her family. Robyn Chalmers - My mother had great childhood. Two lovely brothers. Was a Triple Certificated nurse by 1944. Nursed in a third World Country. Always laughing. Lots of energy. Stanley Freeman - Not enough. Her mother died in 1918 during the flu epidemic. My mother was just 3 years old. Elaine Stewart - My mother was the second eldest of sixteen children. She went to school until she was twelve and then went to work and paid all her wages to her father until she was 21. She married my darling father when she was 25 and her life from then on was wonderful as she never wanted for anything and the marriage was truly blessed. Wendy Mack - Sadly she didn’t have the easiest life, but with all she had thrown at her, she always saw the good side of people and never judged. Jackie Ferguson - My Mum had to sit in her house with bombs dropping everywhere. She was petrified and then I arrived! Esma Adger - My mother had a hard life. Raised in a convent, not until late in her life did she discover who she was. Her life story was amazing. Brenda Vera Bennett - My dear Mum had me at an early age and kept me without a lot of help from family. Unfortunately taken too early at 60yrs with cancer. I hope I am as strong a woman as Mum was. Jill Howell - My mother wrote a journal about her younger life. Parts of it were read at her funeral. She passed away last February at the grand age of 99. Kay Montebello - I’m lucky enough to still listen to Mum tell us stories of her and six siblings growing up. At age 96, she has great memories of a very happy childhood. Image credits: Getty Images

Caring

"I've had enough": Karl hits back at "fat-shaming" Bluey detractors

Karl Stefanovic has called out the influencers claiming that the one of latest Bluey episodes titled “Exercise” is ‘fatphobic’. The episode addresses the challenges parents face around exercise and taking care of themselves around work and their kid. In one scene, parents Bandit and Chili were seen weighing themselves, followed by Bandit saying "Aw man," before touching his stomach. Some parents and influencers were offended at this scene and accused the show of body shaming, which led to Stefanovic’s defence that it was an accurate depiction of something that could play out in an Aussie household. "Can you believe this, I think that is just fantastic, I mean, it is a bit of Australiana," the Today host said. "It plays out in households across Australia and all of these influencers are coming out now going, 'Oh, Bluey is fat-shaming, it's disgusting', give it a rest! Come on!" Stefanovic added that it was “a really good message”. "I've had enough of these influencers,” he said, to which co-host Sarah Abo agreed. Abo also added that the scene is something that happens in every bathroom across Australia. "You can't say anything or do anything any more," she added. Image: Today Show/ Nine

Body

“I had called him out”: Sonia Kruger unveils worst celebrity interview

There’s a saying that you should never meet the people you admire (or look up to), as you'll end up disappointed. That saying rings true for Sonia Kruger, who had a “bad date” with her favourite actor. Speaking to Stellar Magazine, Kruger revealed that one of her worst celebrity interviews was with actor Hugh Grant. “I was excited to meet one of my favourite actors, so I arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – unlike Hugh, who wasn’t chirpy at all,” she said. Kruger was interviewing the English actor for his role in Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason back in 2004. “I’ve been a fan of the English actor since I first clapped eyes on him in the 1994 movie Four Weddings and A Funeral,” she prefaced before explaining that seeing his awkward interactions with Ashley Graham at this year's Oscars took her back to her “own bad date with Hugh”. The Channel Seven presenter added that she didn’t let his bad mood “deter” her, but soon found that every question she asked was met with “a solid helping of serious side eye”. Even questions like what his recent birthday was like “garnered nothing but scorn and suspicion”. “I couldn’t create any kind of rapport with him,” she added. Kruger recalled that the interview was so bad that she had to stop it and ask if Grant was okay. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqg4mqqv_ez/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqg4mqqv_ez/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by soniakruger (@soniakruger)</a> </div> </blockquote> “In reply, he said he wanted to know why I wanted to know. So I replied, ‘Because you don’t appear to be very happy,” she said. “He seemed to be shocked that I had called him out on his demeanour and, from that moment on, Hugh became a totally different guy”. In response to Kruger posting her Stellar Magazine interview on Instagram, fans have commented their support. “Glad you called him out on his rude behaviour. To be honest no amount of money or fame will buy you manners,” commented one person. “Sounds like he was a bit stunned being around a highly intelligent gorgeous woman,” wrote another. “Good on you Sonia. He sounds like a self-entitled spoilt brat if you ask me,” commented a third. Image: Getty

Tangy apricot Bavarian whip, fried rice medley and bombe Alaska: what Australia’s first food influencer had us cooking

Our food choices are being influenced every day. On social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, food and eating consistently appear on lists of trending topics. Food has eye-catching appeal and is a universal experience. Everyone has to eat. In recent years, viral recipes like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/02/11/baked-feta-pasta-recipe-tiktok/">feta pasta</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-dalgona-coffee-the-whipped-coffee-trend-taking-over-the-internet-during-coronavirus-isolation-137068">dalgona coffee</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-butter-boards-bad-for-you-an-expert-view-on-the-latest-food-trend-192260">butter boards</a> have taken the world by storm. Yet food influencing is not a new trend. Australia’s first food influencer appeared in the pages of Australia’s most popular women’s magazine nearly 70 years ago. Just like today’s creators on Instagram and TikTok, this teenage cook advised her audience what was good to eat and how to make it. <h2>Meet Debbie, our teenage chef</h2> Debbie commenced her decade-long tenure at the Australian Women’s Weekly in <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4814245">July 1954</a>. We don’t know exactly who played the role of Debbie, which was a pseudonym. Readers were never shown her full face or body – just a set of disembodied hands making various recipes and, eventually, a cartoon portrait. Like many food influencers today, Debbie was not an “expert” – she was a teenager herself. She taught teenage girls simple yet fashionable recipes they could cook to impress their family and friends, especially boys. She shared recipes for <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4925379">tangy apricot Bavarian whip</a>, <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4819441">fried rice medley</a> and <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4807813">bombe Alaska</a>. Debbie also often taught her readers the basics, like <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52249448">how to boil an egg</a>. Just like today, many of her recipes showed the readers step-by-step instructions through images. <h2>Teaching girls to cook (and be ‘good’ women)</h2> Debbie’s recipes first appeared in the For Teenagers section, which would go on to become the Teenagers Weekly lift-out in 1959. These lift-outs reflected a major change taking place in wider society: the idea of “teenagers” being their own group with specific interests and behaviours had entered the popular imagination. Debbie was speaking directly to teenage girls. Adolescents are still forming both their culinary and cultural tastes. They are forming their identities. For the Women’s Weekly, and for Debbie, cooking was deemed an essential attribute for women. Girls were seen to be “<a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4818166">failures</a>” if they couldn’t at least “cook a baked dinner”, “make real coffee”, “grill a steak to perfection”, “scramble and fry eggs” and “make a salad (with dressing)”. In addition to teaching girls how to cook, Debbie also taught girls how to catch a husband and become a good wife, a reflection of cultural expectations for women at the time. Her <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4920059">macaroon trifle</a>, the Women’s Weekly said, was sure to place girls at the top of their male friends’ “matrimony prospect” list! <h2>Food fads and fashions</h2> Food fads usually reflect something important about the world around us. During global COVID lockdowns, we saw a rise in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-historical-roots-of-your-lockdown-sourdough-obsession-137528">sourdough bread-making</a> as people embraced carbohydrate-driven nostalgia in the face of anxiety. A peek at Debbie’s culinary repertoire can reveal some of the cultural phenomena that impacted Australian teenagers in the 1950s and ‘60s. Debbie embraced teenage interest in rock'n'roll culture from the early 1960s, the pinnacle of which came at the height of Beatlemania. The Beatles toured Australia in June 1964. To help her teenage readers celebrate their visit, Debbie wrote an editorial on how to host a <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48077701">Beatles party</a>. She suggested the party host impress their friends by making “Beatle lollipops”, “Ringo Starrs” (decorated biscuits) and terrifying-looking “Beatle mop-heads” (cakes with chocolate hair). <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55185376">A few months later</a>, she also shared recipes for “jam butties” (or sandwiches, apparently a “<a href="https://slate.com/culture/2013/03/the-beatles-and-the-mersey-beat-in-the-latest-blogging-the-beatles-how-the-beatles-popularized-the-sound-of-liverpool.html">Mersey</a> food with a Mersey name”) and a “Beatle burger”. We can also see the introduction of one of <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/italian/en/article/spag-bol-how-australians-adopted-a-classic-italian-recipe-and-made-it-their-own/9ogvr96ea">Australia’s most beloved dishes</a> in Debbie’s recipes. In 1957, she showed her teen readers how to make a new dish – <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48076527">spaghetti bolognaise</a> – which had first appeared in the magazine <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46465023">five years prior</a>. Debbie was influencing the youth of Australia to enthusiastically adopt (and adapt) Italian-style cuisine. It stuck. While the recipe may have evolved, in 2012, Meat and Livestock Australia <a href="https://www.mla.com.au/globalassets/mla-corporate/marketing-beef-and-lamb/last-nights-dinner.pdf">reported</a> that 38% of Australian homes ate “spag bol” at least once a week. Our food influences today may come from social media, but we shouldn’t forget the impact early influencers such as Debbie had on young people in the past. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared in <a href="https://theconversation.com/tangy-apricot-bavarian-whip-fried-rice-medley-and-bombe-alaska-what-australias-first-food-influencer-had-us-cooking-199987" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Food & Wine

“You wouldn’t believe all I had to do to survive”: Man rescued after 31 days in the jungle

A Bolivian man has survived 31 days in the Amazon jungle. Jhonattan Acosta, 30, was hunting in northern Bolivia when he was separated from his four friends. He told United TV he drank rainwater collected in his shoes and ate worms and insects while hiding from jaguars and peccaries, a type of pig-like mammal. Acosta was finally found by a search party made up of locals and friends a month after he went missing. “I can’t believe people kept up the search for so long,” he said in tears. “I ate worms, I ate insects, you wouldn’t believe all I had to do to survive all this time.” He also ate wild fruits similar to papayas, known locally as gargateas. “I thank God profusely, because he has given me a new life,” he said. His family said they will still have to string all the details together regarding how Acosta got lost and how he managed to stay alive but will ask him gradually as he is still psychologically damaged after the experience. There has also been significant physical changes. Acosta lost 17kg, dislocated his ankle and was severely dehydrated when he was found, but according to those who found him, he was still able to walk with a limp. “My brother told us that when he dislocated his ankle on the fourth day, he started fearing for his life,” Horacio Acosta told Bolivia’s Página Siete newspaper. “He only had one cartridge in his shotgun and couldn’t walk, and he thought no one would be looking for him anymore.” As for his encounters with wild animals in the jungle, including a jaguar, his younger brother said that his brother used his last cartridge to scare off a squadron of peccaries. After 31 days, Acosta spotted the search party about 300m away and limped through thorny bushes, shouting to draw attention to him. Acosta’s brother, Haracio, said that he was found by four local people. “A man came running to tell us they’d found my brother,” he said. “It’s a miracle.” Acosta has since decided to give up hunting for good. “He is going to play music to praise God,” Haracio said. “He promised God that, and I think he will keep his promise.” Image credit: BBC News

Travel Trouble

"I had better make sure I don’t have a heart attack!": Allison Langdon stuns pensioners on the verge of bankruptcy

Left with a $25,000 legal bill after taking their retirement village to court over a broken air conditioning unit and losing the case, pensioners Walter and Carola Sadlo were on the verge of bankruptcy. In a heartwarming segment, Allison Langdon told the Sadlo’s that A Current Affair viewers had banded together to bail them out of their financial debt. Walter and Carola’s legal battle began in 2018 when their air conditioning unit broke. The couple had paid an extra $1,375 for air conditioning but maintenance wasn’t covered by the retirement village. Walter said he believed it would be covered, so he tried to fight it in the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). After taking the retirement village to court and losing the case, the couple were issued with a bankruptcy notice just two days before Christmas. “I could not believe that somebody could be so vicious and cruel,” Walter said. The couple had also sacrificed their savings to fight the case; $15,000 that Carola inherited from her mother. With this gone, they feared losing their home. Langdon then stunned the couple by telling them, “our viewers have paid your debt.” "I normally don't get emotional. I had better make sure I don't have a heart attack!" Walter said. Not only was their $25,000 legal bill covered, but viewers chipped in almost enough to cover the $15,000 they had to put toward their bill. "Hopefully, there will be village operators who see this story and will show a bit more heart," Walter said. Image: A Current Affair

Money & Banking

"I had to escape": Hugh Sheridan drugged and held captive

Hugh Sheridan has shared the details of a terrifying ordeal when they were given a date-rape drug and held captive for eight hours. The Aussie star, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, revealed the encounter to 88.3FM radio show, Sounds Good With Donna Demaio, recalling the moment they knew they were in trouble. They claim they woke up dazed and confused as a result of the Rohypnol in an unknown Sydney apartment, after being incapacitated by a couple. "I knew one of the people [involved], I just never thought it would happen, and it was a very scary situation," they said on the show. Sheridan, 37, said it wasn't until the drug wore off that they conjured up a plan. "It was like, 'Oh my God, how could this be happening to me? How could this situation happen? What do they think they're getting away with?'" they recalled. "I had to get out. I had to escape. When I left I had no phone, no wallet, no shoes." After being "stuck for eight hours", Sheridan managed to escape the Double Bay property and seek refuge at their sister's home in nearby Randwick. It was Sheridan's sister who went back to the property to collect the star's belongings from the property. "She went [to the property], [and said] 'I am here for my brother's things', and marched on in, and got my stuff," they said. "I was very scared, but she wasn't. She's very tough, my sister." Sheridan still has no recollection of what happened when they were under the influence of the drug, but chose not to press charges against the "manipulative" couple. But the star is speaking out now about the incident to "shine a light" on what happened to them and raise awareness. Image credits: Getty Images

News

Why haven’t I had COVID yet?

Throughout the pandemic, Australia has <a href="https://covid19.who.int/region/wpro/country/au">recorded</a> 10.4 million cases of COVID-19, with the majority occurring this year. This is without doubt an underestimate, as not everyone tests for COVID-19 or reports their positive results. The <a href="https://www.ncirs.org.au/least-two-thirds-australians-including-children-and-adolescents-have-had-covid-19-two-national">latest survey</a> of donor blood looked at the proportion of people who had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It found at least two thirds of Australians have been infected. That leaves about a third of the population who are yet to have COVID. I’m one such “NOVID” – despite multiple confirmed COVID-19 exposures during the pandemic, I’m yet to have symptoms and test positive. So what do we know about NOVIDs? <h2>First, we might not actually be NOVIDs</h2> Some people claiming they’ve never had COVID-19 might be surprised to learn they have virus-targeting antibodies in their blood that could only have been generated by infection. The reliance on home rapid antigen tests (RATs), which are less sensitive than PCR testing, will contribute to many people failing to definitively determine whether they have COVID-19. Under <a href="https://www.tga.gov.au/products/covid-19/covid-19-tests/covid-19-rapid-antigen-self-tests-home-use/covid-19-rapid-antigen-self-tests-are-approved-australia">ideal testing conditions</a>, the best tests detect SARS-CoV-2 infection more than 95% of the time. However in the real world, the detection rate is lower. If you have mild symptoms that don’t last long, you’re less likely to test repeatedly and may miss your window to get a positive result. So some COVID-19 cases will escape detection by RATs. At this point, it’s important to distinguish between being infected with SARS-CoV-2 and experiencing the illness (COVID-19) caused by this infection. You can be infected without experiencing COVID-19 symptoms – this is called asymptomatic infection. It’s unclear what proportion of Omicron subvariant cases are asymptomatic. Early in the pandemic, one in six people infected were <a href="https://jammi.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/jammi-2020-0030">asymptomatic</a> and it could now be as high as <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2795246?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=081722">50% or more</a> with Omicron. So, many NOVIDs will have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, generated antibodies to the virus, but did not experience or notice any COVID-19 symptoms at the time, did not test and have remained unaware of their infection status (and whether they were unknowingly <a href="https://www.sip-spp.pt/media/ab3fhmiy/johansson_2021_oi_201061_1612890816-17333.pdf">transmitting</a> the virus). <h2>What role does the immune system play?</h2> Everyone’s immune system is different. How your immune system responds to a particular infection is affected by many factors including your genes, gender, age, diet, sleep patterns, stress levels, history of other infections and illnesses, medications, vaccination status, and level of virus exposure. So are some people less likely to get COVID-19 because of the strength of their immune system? The status of our immune system at any given moment will impact our susceptibility to disease. So it’s unsurprising the people most susceptible to severe COVID-19 are those with less effective immunity because they have chronic diseases, are immune-suppressed or elderly. The other key variable is the virus. SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve with <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-centaurus-to-xbb-your-handy-guide-to-the-latest-covid-subvariants-and-why-some-are-more-worrying-than-others-192945">new Omicron subvariants</a> continuing to emerge. This will affect how the virus interacts with us and the relative impact of different factors affecting our immune protection and susceptibility. SARS-CoV-2 has proven itself to be particularly adept at evolving to generate viral variants that can evade our established immune protection. In addition, our immune protection is not stable and will begin to wane after a couple of months if not boosted by vaccination or infection. <h2>Are my genes protecting me?</h2> Let’s consider something that is relatively stable: your genes. Scientists looking for associations between specific genes and disease can undertake genome-wide association studies. The effect of individual genetic variations on disease risk is usually very small, so identifying them requires large numbers of people and factoring in other variables that make us all different. In <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01773-7#:%7E:text=08%20July%202021-,Human%20genetic%20variants%20identified%20that%20affect%20COVID%20susceptibility%20and%20severity,risk%20of%20severe%20COVID%2D19.">once such study</a>, researchers compared genomes of nearly 50,000 people with COVID-19 with the genomes of 2 million people without known infection. They identified regions in the genome (loci) associated with contracting COVID-19 and other genetic regions associated with disease severity. So this is evidence that, like many other diseases, certain genes do modify the risk of COVID-19. While association is not causation, these types of genomic studies point us in a direction to better understand the biology of COVID-19 to address questions such as who might be at risk of severe disease or long COVID and assist development of new therapies to prevent these outcomes. Another <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-021-01030-z?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&utm_campaign=CONR_PF018_ECOM_GL_PHSS_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100104362&CJEVENT=2d2248685e3911ed838df31f0a1c0e12">study</a> identified a small number of critically ill COVID-19 patients with rare gene variants. These could be directly linked to defective antiviral immunity. So for a very small number of people, it appears their genes make them more susceptible to COVID. But for the vast majority of people, the picture is far more complicated. <h2>Could I have immunity from previous infection with a similar virus?</h2> SARS-CoV-2 is not the only respiratory coronavirus that regularly infects humans. Four others – 229E, HKU-1, OC43 and NL63 – share some similarity with SARS-CoV-2. Most adults would have been infected by these viruses multiple times throughout their life. This raises the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04186-8?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&utm_campaign=CONR_PF018_ECOM_GL_PHSS_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100104362&CJEVENT=835ff5a15e3911ed836a01320a1c0e0b">possibility</a> that immunity generated by lifetime and/or recent exposure to these other coronaviruses might generate immunity that provides some protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and symptomatic COVID-19. More research is needed to better understand this, but the existing evidence is compelling and it’s certainly plausible. The bottom line is there are many reasons why people who socialise and inevitably interact with people with COVID-19 believe they’ve never had COVID themselves. For most NOVIDs, it has been a combination of vaccination, leveraging a healthy immune system, sensible decisions and luck that have kept them COVID-free thus far. Of course, luck eventually runs out, so enjoy your NOVID status while you can.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193861/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nathan-bartlett-1198187">Nathan Bartlett</a>, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-newcastle-1060">University of Newcastle</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation.</a> Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-havent-i-had-covid-yet-193861">original article</a>. Image: Getty

Body

They had “pretty ankle contests” in the 1900s

The earliest recording of a “pretty ankle contest” was in the early 1900s but it was from the 30s to 50s that ankle competitions hit their stride. Contestants would be concealed behind a curtain with only their ankle proffered for evaluation. The concealment was to encourage all women to enter, as one newspaper advised in 1927: “Older ladies need not feel timid about entering the contest. They have as much chance as their daughters.” These shows often served as a way to promote hosiery companies with winners receiving free stocking, not to mention the crown of “prettiest ankle”. Looking back at the photos, it seems like the contests were serious business. As one commentator wrote in the Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express in December 1926: “There is something captivating about pretty ankles, and it was only natural that some bright mind must think up a competition for them.” Images: Getty Images

Beauty & Style

"I'm so sorry I had to do this": Thief leaves hand-written apology and desperate promise

One desperate thief had left behind quite a sad note after committing a crime in Auckland. In an interesting turn of events, a couple had woken up to find their car had been broken into and the battery was stolen overnight. The offender had left behind a hand-written note in the engine addressed to the victims, apologising to them. The note read: “I’m so sorry I had to do this. When I am in a fortunate position I will put $200 in your wipers.” One of the victims shared: “The thief actually left a nice note. Don’t feel half as angry as I should but still have no way to get to work.” The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald that while she should have been furious she wishes the offender had knocked on the door asking for help instead. “I personally felt a bit sorry that he was in such strife that he turned to crime. So I should have been angry - and probably would have been if he hadn’t left the note. “It’s tough out there for some and getting worse. I’d probably have just bloody given him the money if he’d knocked on the door.” Her husband also showed immense sympathy, despite having their privacy violated and being stolen from. “I couldn’t even feel angry about it in the end. It was more or less an apology. We’re all living hard lives at the moment with inflation and the cost of living going up, it’s sad that there is someone out there going around that desperate." While showing sympathy for the offender, the victims also described the note as “strange” given they were able to rip a battery out “in a hurry” but had enough time to “write and deposit a note”. Image: NZ Herald

Legal

“I had to reach the island”: Aussie mum recalls terrifying turn on cruising scuba dive

A NSW woman has said a cruise company should have been better prepared for adverse weather after a holiday scuba dive nearly went horribly wrong. Justine Clark and her sons, 18-year-old Felix and 20-year-old Max, resurfaced from an offshore dive in Fiji to find that their boat was nowhere to be seen. The trio were on a seven-day cruise in Fiji when they went on an afternoon dive at an offshore site called The Supermarket with another cruise-goer and the divemaster, who worked for a company subcontracted by Captain Cook Cruises Fiji. Though the weather began to worsen as they travelled to the dive site, the party pushed on. "We travelled into an approaching storm and out into open waters in what appeared to be a large channel about 20 kilometres from any island," Ms Clark told the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-21/fiji-dive-turns-into-nightmare-for-newcastle-mum-and-sons/101448116" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a>. When she resurfaced with her eldest son after a dive of about 40 minutes, she said the boat was nowhere to be seen and the weather conditions were rough. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/justine-cruise-nightmare1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> A tender boat took Justine Clark, her two sons, and others in their diving party to the dive site. Image: Justine Clark "No tender boat was visible on surfacing, the swell was 2 metres, it was dark with grey clouds and high wind," she said. Ms Clark, who has over 30 years of diving experience, said their divemaster was the next to surface and realise what had happened. "He was shocked at the events and stated this had never happened in his 27 years of diving," she recalled. When the divemaster then advised the group to start swimming for an island they could see in the distance, Ms Clark said she was determined to stay calm. "I can't impress how concerned I was for everyone's health, sharks and the sense of determination I had to reach the island in a calm manner," she continued. "The maternal drive in me was something I had not felt since the birth of my first son." After about 50 minutes, a small boat was spotted travelling towards the group, with the divemaster telling them to inflate their surface marker buoys so they could be seen more easily. The boat’s operator, a garbage collector who had been picking up ocean rubbish, noticed the tip of one of the buoys. "We were all smiles and I was blowing a kiss to the Fijian who saved us," Ms Clark said. They were quickly found by the tender boat driver. "He apologised and told me he was so scared and he had radioed the captain that he lost us," Ms Clark said. In a written response shared with the outlet, Captain Cook Cruises Fiji explained that the tender boat had blown away from the site, with the surface conditions making it difficult for the operator to find and follow the divers’ bubbles. The cruise operator said the situation was unprecedented and that changes were made to the “already tight” safety procedures following an internal review. Though rare, Ms Clark said cruise companies should still be prepared. "I think it's really important that operators are prepared for those situations that may be rare but can still occur," she said. It isn’t the first time bad weather has caused strife for cruise ships this year, after wild weather prevented the Coral Princess and other 20 other vessels from docking in Brisbane for several days in July, prompting 2,000 cruise passengers to be stranded onboard. Images: Justine Clark

Cruising

Europe’s 10 tourist rules you never realised you had to follow

When your entire country can be considered a work of art or priceless history, officials sometimes have to go to extremes to protect their national treasures, leading to some pretty surprising rules that you need to follow when you travel. Don't sit on the steps in Rome New tourist laws in Rome make it illegal to sit on the city’s famed Spanish Steps. The explanation: The newly renovated stairs are a centuries-old historic monument, not actually seating. The same goes for other historic stairways in the city; you can walk up and down, but don’t get comfortable by grabbing a seat or you can be issued a fine. It’s also against the law to bump your wheeled luggage and baby strollers down ancient stairs since it can destroy the stone. Even though these rules can sound pernickety, it’s become a necessity to protect the ancient highlights of the city since Italy is the country everyone wants to travel to this year. Don't wear heels in Athens Rome isn’t the only iconic city worried about preserving vintage stone; in Greece, it’s illegal to wear high heels when you’re touring storied monuments like the Parthenon and the Acropolis in Athens, or any other ancient marble and stone historic site. (They’re notoriously slippery, so we wouldn’t recommend it anyway.) Don't jump in the Canal in Venice It’s never OK to swim, or even dunk your toes, in the famous canals and lagoons in Venice; it’s against the law. Honestly, you shouldn’t even want to, it’s not all that clean. Instead, head to lovely Lido Island for beautiful sandy beaches and clean swimming waters. Fountains are not for swimming Forget what you’ve seen in movies, you’ll be in hot water if you try to splash around in Rome’s Trevi Fountain to cool off, or in any other fountain in Italy. Instead, head to the beautiful beaches of Cinque Terre or the Amalfi Coast to cool off during the summer. Don't swim in the Blue Grotto Speaking of water in Italy, if you see a sign that prohibits swimming, take it seriously. Heidi Klum and her newly betrothed Tom Kaulitz were recently fined more than $6,000 for leaping into the fabled waters of the Blue Grotto in Capri after they tied the knot on a nearby yacht. Don't snack on the go Here’s an Italian law that may catch you by surprise: It’s illegal to eat messy food in historic locations in Rome, Florence, and Venice. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your gelato in a park or while you stroll down a quiet street, but you could be fined (or even removed from the city center) if you try to eat a pizza in a historic piazza or drip your ice cream onto the stones of the Coliseum. And in Greece, you can’t bring drinks, food, or gum into any historic sites, either. And please don’t cook your food in a historic site: two German tourists were actually kicked out of Venice for brewing coffee on the famed Rialto Bridge. Keep your shirt on Taking a dip in the sea in Barcelona? Don’t plan on walking around in your bathing suit once you leave the beach; wearing just a bikini or swim trunks on the street is a fineable offence here and also on the popular Spanish island of Mallorca. And men, keep your shirt on when you’re in Rome, too; it’s against the law to walk around bare-chested. Don't feed the pigeons Want to toss a few breadcrumbs to the infamous flying residents of San Marco Square in Venice? Not so fast! It’s actually against the law to feed the pesky pigeons. Same goes for the birds in Vienna, Austria, where feeding the pigeons has been a fineable offence since 2014. Keep the noise down If you’re visiting Germany, it’s illegal to make too much noise on a Sunday or holidays. And keep things down when you’re visiting Venice, too; a new law says that making too much noise at night or during siesta time (1 pm to 3 pm), is also forbidden. Don't put your mouth on the tap in Rome According to Lonely Planet, tourists will need to be especially considerate about how they drink water from Rome’s historic public drinking fountains, known as nasoni. It’s unacceptable to let your mouth touch the metal spout; instead, cup your hands under the spout to get a drink, or bring a reusable water bottle, and skip the issue altogether. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/travel/travel-hints-tips/europes-10-tourist-rules-you-never-realised-you-had-to-follow?pages=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

Travel Tips

Readers respond: If everything in your house had to be one colour, what would you choose and why?

When it comes to our homes, the prominent colours can tell us a lot about our personalities. Some people prefer a neutral scheme of white, beiges and greys, while others prefer a kaleidoscope of rainbow colours. We asked our readers if everything in your house had to be one colour, what would you choose and why? Here's what you had to say. Margie Buckingham - Green-tinged white or pale grey. So calming, cool and goes with everything. Carla Blackburn - Light blue. Very calming and pretty. Jill Harker - Blue! Have a lot of blue in my home. Blue furniture, blue curtains, blue rug and lots of blue ornaments. Plus I have a blue car! Trish Stephenson - Yellow! It's my favourite colour. Valerie King - No doubt, hot pink and purple. The colours of joy and happiness. Sandra Tiplady Schellings - White, so easy to put green plants and other accessories. Wilmi Kruger - Very light grey. I just love it. Annette W Henderson McKean - My fave colour is red but I would choose a blue house as it's a more calming colour. Anita Thornton - White, and then accessorise with colours! Jan Dower - I think a pastel colour, like lavender. Natasha Devereux - Blue, and different tones of blue. It's a soothing and cheerful colour. Vicki Cooper - Blue, any and every shade, love blue so bright and sunny. Image credits: Getty Images

Home & Garden

"You had so much love to give": Aussie tourist unexpectedly dies in Bali

A devastated Australian mother has paid tribute to her daughter who unexpectedly passed away while holidaying in Bali. Olyvia Cowley, a 24-year-old from the Gold Coast died on the 19th of August. It still remains unclear how she lost her life. She leaves behind her distraught mother, Christina, who took to social media to share her grief saying “my heart doesn’t know what to do”. “My twinkle. My baby. My Angel. I’ll miss you forever. What a smile, you are someone who lights up the world”, she wrote. “My love for you is beyond anything you’ll ever understand.” In another heart-warming tribute, her mum shared how there was nothing she wanted more than to be a mum, sharif she feels “lost” as she grieves her daughter. “You’re my air, my baby girl,” she wrote. “Mummy is coming home with your sister soon.” Loved ones have rallied behind the family, with a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-cowley-family" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoFundMe</a> launching to help bring her body back to Australia. “The family are currently planning to bring liv home to the Gold Coast,” organiser Shae Barr wrote. “To ease the financial pressure on the family moving forward I am asking for any donations if you are in a position to give." “We all know how much of an impact it can make when a community come together and the Cowley family are extremely grateful for the overwhelming love and support already.” Tributes have flooded social media, with friends saying “it doesn’t seem real”. “The kindest soul. You had so much love to give,” one friend said. Images: Facebook / GoFundMe

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Sam Kerr’s alleged comments may have had a racial element, but they were not ‘racist’

"What a life I’ve had": Author announces own death after years of battling dementia

"Like the cash cow had come out": Commuters puzzled by money bundles on motorway

"She had the biggest heart": Mum's tribute to five-year-old killed in a car crash

"I was heartbroken": Why Sam Kerr had to hide her gender

Readers respond: What did your mum or dad make for dinner growing up that you haven't had in ages?

Readers respond: What do you know about your mother's life before she had you?

"I've had enough": Karl hits back at "fat-shaming" Bluey detractors

“I had called him out”: Sonia Kruger unveils worst celebrity interview

Tangy apricot Bavarian whip, fried rice medley and bombe Alaska: what Australia’s first food influencer had us cooking

“You wouldn’t believe all I had to do to survive”: Man rescued after 31 days in the jungle

"I had better make sure I don’t have a heart attack!": Allison Langdon stuns pensioners on the verge of bankruptcy

"I had to escape": Hugh Sheridan drugged and held captive

Why haven’t I had COVID yet?

They had “pretty ankle contests” in the 1900s

"I'm so sorry I had to do this": Thief leaves hand-written apology and desperate promise

“I had to reach the island”: Aussie mum recalls terrifying turn on cruising scuba dive

Europe’s 10 tourist rules you never realised you had to follow

Readers respond: If everything in your house had to be one colour, what would you choose and why?

"You had so much love to give": Aussie tourist unexpectedly dies in Bali

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