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"Mind blowing": Michael J. Fox stuns with Coldplay performance

<p>British rock band Coldplay has made history at Glastonbury music festival this year, becoming the first band to headline the festival a record five times - and they had one special guest join them on stage. </p> <p>Fans were left in tears after Michael J. Fox hit the stage with Coldplay on Saturday to play the guitar during <em>Fix You</em> and <em>Humankind</em>. </p> <p>Chris Martin paid tribute to Michael and thanked him for being the "main reason" why the band was formed. </p> <p>"The main reason why we're in a band is because of watching <em>Back to the Future</em>, so thank you to our hero forever and one of the most amazing people on Earth, Mr Michael J. Fox. Thank you so much, Michael," he said, before welcoming the actor on stage. </p> <p>The actor, who is an avid musician and famously played the guitar in the iconic 1985 sci-fi movie, thanked his team and Coldplay for the incredible moment. </p> <p>"Glastonbury all the love and thanks to the @coldplay team who took such great care of us," his shared on Instagram. </p> <p> "Oh yeah in case you were wondering… it was f**king mind blowing. There is a time for every band and a band for every time. This is @coldplay's time. More pics to come," he added. </p> <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-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C82KTgiI95d/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;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/C82KTgiI95d/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Michael J Fox (@realmikejfox)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Many fans were also left in tears following his surprise appearance. </p> <p>"Coldplay, wow just wow. What a show and Michael J. Fox, don't tell me you weren't in tears," wrote one fan on X. </p> <p>"Coldplay rocking Glastonbury and then bringing out Michael J. Fox will be the best thing I see all year," added another. </p> <p>"Coldplay bringing out Michael J. Fox is not what drunk me expected. Sobbing mess," added a third. </p> <p>"Michael J Fox bless his heart on stage with Coldplay," wrote a fourth. </p> <p><em>Images: BBC / YouTube </em></p> <p> </p>

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Jimmy Barnes makes his triumphant return to the stage

<p>Jimmy Barnes has made his return to the stage for the first time in three months. </p> <p>The Aussie rocker was welcomed to the stage at Byron Bay's Bluesfest with a roar of applause from the crowd, as he performed for the first time since his open hear surgery three months ago. </p> <p>The 67-year-old said he felt good about his long-awaited return to the stage, although he was worried he would "pop a valve" mid song. </p> <p>"There was a time when I thought I might die but I knew if I could get back on my feet, I'd be up singing again," Barnes told <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/jimmy-barnes-kicks-off-tour-at-bluesfest-in-byron-after-open-heart-surgery/6d4e0006-13c4-4bd0-a623-d8f9e05a575d" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Nine News</em></a>.</p> <p>"The best thing I can do for my recovery is get out there and sing, it makes me feel human, makes me feel good."</p> <p>After singing his hot track <em>Working Class Man</em>, Barnes told the crowd in Byron Bay, "It's good to be here."</p> <p>"It's good to be f***ing anywhere." </p> <p>His daughter Mahalia Barnes said that he had given it "a good go over the years" and was grateful to see her father doing what he loves most. </p> <p>"In recent times he's been so healthy and we're grateful he was fit and this didn't win."</p> <p>In December 2023, Barnes shocked his fans when he announced he was being rushed into open heart surgery after developing a dangerous bacterial infection. </p> <p>Since then, he has documented his recovery journey on social media, all while thanking his fans for sticking by him and sharing how excited he has been to return to the stage. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

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What happens if King Charles can no longer perform his duties?

<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anne-twomey-6072">Anne Twomey</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p>King Charles III’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-06/king-charles-cancer-diagnosis-revealed-by-buckingham-palace/103430320">cancer diagnosis</a> will turn minds to the question of what happens if he becomes unable to fulfil his constitutional duties. Buckingham Palace has announced he will continue performing his official paperwork and his weekly meetings with the prime minister throughout his treatment.<br />But what happens if he becomes seriously ill?</p> <p>There are three options: counsellors of state, regency and abdication.</p> <h2>Counsellors of state</h2> <p>First, King Charles can delegate some or most of his royal functions to <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Edw8and1Geo6/1/16/section/6">counsellors of state</a>, as happens most commonly when he is travelling overseas. Two counsellors of state act jointly in exercising royal powers such as assenting to laws, receiving ambassadors and holding <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7460/">Privy Council</a> meetings.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.royal.uk/counsellors-of-state">counsellors of state</a> are the spouse of the sovereign and the next four adults in line of succession to the throne – being Queen Camilla, Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice.</p> <p>However, Prince Harry is excluded while he is outside the United Kingdom, and in practice Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice are not called on to act as they are not “working royals”.</p> <p>As this left only Queen Camilla and Prince William to perform the role, a <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/47/2022-12-07/data.html#:%7E:text=An%20Act%20to%20add%20His,delegated%20as%20Counsellors%20of%20State.">law</a> was passed in the UK in 2022 to <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/creating-more-counsellors-of-state/">add Princess Anne and Prince Edward</a> to the list.</p> <p>Counsellors of state may carry out most of the sovereign’s functions while he is ill, but they cannot dissolve parliament, except on his instruction, and they cannot create peers. Whether they can appoint a prime minister remains a matter of debate. Most significantly, they cannot exercise powers with respect to the King’s other realms, such as Australia.</p> <h2>Regency</h2> <p>The second option is a regency. This occurs if the King “is by reason of infirmity of mind or body <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Edw8and1Geo6/1/16/section/2">incapable</a> for the time being of performing the royal functions”. The sovereign does not control when or for how long a regency occurs. Instead, it is initiated by a declaration of three or more of: the sovereign’s spouse, the lord chancellor, the speaker of the House of Commons, the lord chief justice of England and the <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/who-are-the-judiciary/judges/profile-mor/">master of the rolls</a>.</p> <p>The UK’s Regency Act <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Edw8and1Geo6/1/16/section/3">requires</a> Prince William to be regent, as he is the next adult in line of succession to the crown. The regent has the powers of the King with respect to the United Kingdom, but cannot change the order of succession to the crown.</p> <p>The Regency Act does not give the regent powers in relation to realms such as Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand resolved the problem by inserting a <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0114/latest/DLM94216.html">section</a> into its Constitution Act which provides that whoever is made regent under the law of the UK may perform the royal functions of the sovereign with respect to New Zealand. Australia, however, has done nothing in this regard, so a British regent would have no powers with respect to Australia.</p> <h2>Abdication</h2> <p>The final option for an incapacitated monarch is abdication. This leads to difficult questions about how an abdication would operate in relation to each of the realms.</p> <p>When King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936, it was achieved by both a signed <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/significant-events/abdication-of-edward-viii-1936/">instrument of abdication</a> and the enactment of <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Edw8and1Geo6/1/3/enacted#:%7E:text=(1)Immediately%20upon%20the%20Royal,and%20there%20shall%20be%20a">legislation</a> to which the various realms, including Australia, assented. This is not possible today, as the UK can <a href="https://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/num_act/aa1986114/s1.html">no longer legislate</a> with respect to Australia.</p> <p>Abdication would therefore raise difficult questions about whether there needed to be a separate abdication of the King of Australia, to trigger the application of the rules of succession that are now part of Australian law, or whether <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/coaca430/s2.html">covering clause 2</a> of the Constitution, which defines the sovereign by reference to Queen Victoria’s “heirs and successors in the sovereignty of the United Kingdom”, would apply.</p> <p>Because of the potential constitutional messiness of dealing with the King’s role in his 14 realms beyond the United Kingdom, it is likely abdication would be avoided.</p> <h2>Consequences for Australia</h2> <p>If King Charles were incapacitated and counsellors of state or a regent were appointed, would this cause any real problem in Australia?</p> <p>The King’s only remaining substantial powers with respect to Australia are the appointment and removal of the governor-general and the state governors. The governor-general’s term is expected to expire in the middle of the year. If King Charles were then seriously ill and unable to appoint a new governor-general, no one could do so, as neither counsellors of state nor a regent could do so.</p> <p>Instead, the current governor-general, David Hurley, could choose to continue in office, as there is no formal termination of his office until he is replaced.</p> <p>Alternatively, he could resign and his office could be filled on a temporary basis by a state governor as <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/coaca430/xx4.html">administrator</a>, as is the usual practice when there is a vacancy in the office. If the office of a state governor becomes vacant, the <a href="https://www.governor.nsw.gov.au/governor/lieutenant-governor/role-of-the-lieutenant-governor/">lieutenant-governor</a>, who is often the chief justice of the state, can exercise the governor’s functions.</p> <p>However, if a regency were to continue for a long time – perhaps years – this could become unsustainable.</p> <p>The other consideration is that if there is a regency, there is no power to <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/in-race-to-palace-governor-general-has-inside-running/news-story/d3918f42af1d081f203daa65f5b53e0f">dismiss a governor-general</a>. So if a constitutional crisis arose, such as that in 1975 with the dismissal of the Whitlam government, the governor-general would know that he or she could act without the prospect of dismissal on the advice of the prime minister. This unbalances the constitutional pressures that are deliberately built into the system, giving a stronger hand to the governor-general and weakening the position of the prime minister.</p> <p>The <a href="https://michaelwest.com.au/king-charles-illness-affects-australia/">problem</a> could be addressed in the same way as the rules of succession to the throne were changed <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2015A00023/asmade/text">in 2015</a> to remove gender discrimination. It would involve each state enacting a law requesting the Commonwealth to enact a law that recognised the authority of a regent to exercise the sovereign’s powers with respect to Australia.</p> <p>While it is not essential to fix this problem, it would still be wise, as a matter of orderly constitutional housekeeping, to address it before any real difficulties arise.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><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/222870/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anne-twomey-6072"><em>Anne Twomey</em></a><em>, Professor emerita, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>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/what-happens-if-king-charles-can-no-longer-perform-his-duties-222870">original article</a>.</em></p>

Caring

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Johnny Ruffo's final kind act revealed

<p>Johnny Ruffo's final act of kindness has been revealed, just weeks after his tragic passing. </p> <p>The former <em>Home and Away</em> actor passed away in November at the age of 35, after a years-long battle with brain cancer. </p> <p>Now, his last performance has been shared, as he took part in a Christmas charity appeal for Starlight Children's Foundation, in collaboration with Amazon Australia. </p> <p>A clip of the performance shows the late star performing a rendition of <em>Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)</em> on the xylophone, alongside Indigenous Australian singer Budjerah and a group of sick Starlight kids. </p> <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/reel/C0XoZ4mOPaW/?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/reel/C0XoZ4mOPaW/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Amazon.com.au (@amazonaustralia)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>According to <em><a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/christmas-charity-campaign-johnny-ruffo-starred-in-before-he-died-family-gives-permission-for-release/news-story/0cc640ff2043504d8fecf879ff13fa0b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">The Daily Telegraph</a></em>, the video was meant to be released on November 14th, days after Ruffo's death, but it was put on hold to due to his passing.</p> <p>However, Ruffo's family and partner Tahnee Sims have since given permission for the video to be released. </p> <p>"Being part of this campaign for so many years, you would think I wouldn't be surprised by what these kids can do but they continue to surprise me with their creativity," Ruffo had said, according to the publication.</p> <p>"I was particularly excited to see the kids in action in the music video as being a singer myself, it was so incredible to see the joy it brought them."</p> <p>Amazon Australia pledged to donate $1 from every view of the video, up to $100,000, to the charity who help support seriously ill children.</p> <p>Johnny Ruffo <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/health/caring/beautiful-soul-johnny-ruffo-passes-away-at-35" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a> on November 10th at a Sydney<a id="mol-5fd7e010-7f6d-11ee-afc5-c3a07096b475" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/sydney/index.html" target="_self"> </a>hospital, with the heartbreaking news being announced on his Instagram page. </p> <p>"It is with a heavy heart that today we had to farewell our beloved Johnny," a statement read.</p> <p>"Surrounded by his partner Tahnee and family, Johnny went peacefully with the support of some incredible nurses & doctors."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Amazon</em></p>

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Tina Turner fans in a frenzy over major announcement

<p>The late Tina Turner will be honoured at the upcoming NRL grand finals, 30 years on from her own iconic performance at the sporting event. </p> <p>Performers of the Tina Turner Musical will headline both the men's and women's grand final events, marking three decades since the late singer's iconic performance at the 1993 grand final. </p> <p>"Thirty years on, Tina Turner's 1993 performance remains one of the great grand final moments," NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said.</p> <p>"This collaboration is a perfect way for rugby league to pay tribute to Tina and everything she did for our game, and it will be a special moment for fans amongst the outstanding entertainment on offer on grand final day."</p> <p>Tina Turner had a long history with the NRL, as she partnered with the New South Wales Rugby League to deliver a campaign to promote the sport, with her songs <em>What You Get Is What You See</em> and <em>The Best</em> being used in the promo shoot and becoming synonymous with the game.</p> <p>"She was so wonderful with the players," former league boss John Quayle told <a href="https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/news-2023-tina-turner-tribute-act-grand-final-day-entertainment/bc8b105c-c488-498a-b4d3-8eca763636b8" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Nine</em></a>. "She made everyone relax. She loved it too when we took the jumpers off the players, she was on the beach in bare feet, in a gym with weights and medicine balls."</p> <p>"She was just part of it. She didn't change. Every day it was a big hug on set. Talking to players as if they were entertainers. They all loved it."</p> <p>"It was iconic. What a wonderful legacy. That final scene where she was up on the harbour bridge. She was up there before any tours with no safety gear, she just loved to do it and that's how good she was."</p> <p>The NRL grand final will take place on Sunday October 1st at Sydney's Accor Stadium. </p> <p>Tina Turner <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/entertainment/music/rare-photos-of-tina-turner-s-final-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed away</a> in May 2023 at the age of 83 after a long battle with illness.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

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Does a woman’s menstrual cycle affect her athletic performance? Here’s what the science says

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sara-chica-latorre-1443479">Sara Chica-Latorre</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-pengelly-1443674">Michael Pengelly</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a></em></p> <p>During the Women’s FIFA World Cup, it has been wonderful to see the spotlight turn to female athletes.</p> <p>There’s always been <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24766579/">more research on male athletes</a> compared to female athletes, but the gap is narrowing.</p> <p>One thing we still don’t know enough about is the effect of the menstrual cycle on athletic performance.</p> <h2>What does the menstrual cycle do to a woman’s body?</h2> <p>The menstrual cycle is a complex cascade of events typically lasting 28 days. The primary female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone rise and fall as the body cycles through four phases, beginning at menstruation, maturation and releasing of an egg (ovulation), preparation for pregnancy, and restarting the cycle if the egg is not fertilised.</p> <p>Fluctuations in female sex hormones have been associated with changes in inflammation, metabolism, muscle activation and body composition, which <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33572406/">can influence athletic performance</a>.</p> <p>For instance, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22306563/">inflammation decreases</a> when the body is preparing to ovulate, reaching its lowest point around ovulation. It then increases following ovulation and peaks during menstruation.</p> <p>This peak coincides with lower perceived performance among many female athletes.</p> <p>The menstrual cycle can also give rise to symptoms including pain, cramps, weakness, and poor sleep and focus, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35911030/">challenging performance</a> during training and competition.</p> <p>For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2021.2020330">research</a> conducted in elite female soccer players found over 87% of players perceived reduced power and increased fatigue during menstruation, while over 66% perceived their reaction time and recovery to be affected.</p> <p>Considering the approximate maximum career length of soccer players (21 years) and a woman’s fertile life, that adds up to about 250 times throughout a woman’s soccer career that performance may be compromised.</p> <p>Trends observed among female soccer players closely mirror the experiences of other female athletes, with over <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37389782/#:%7E:text=Results%3A%20Sixty%20studies%20involving%206380,the%20most%20prevalent%20MC%20disorder">74% reporting</a> negative effects mainly during the first days of menstruation.</p> <p>For some, this may lead to reduced training participation, potentially compromising skill development, fitness levels, and even their chances of being selected for competition.</p> <p>But the menstrual cycle is complex, and its effects can vary between athletes and sports. Consequently there is disagreement regarding whether the menstrual cycle universally affects athletic performance, with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10076834/#:%7E:text=Findings%20suggest%20that%20strength%2Drelated,cause%20variations%20in%20strength%20performance">some research</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32661839/">indicating</a> no influence of the menstrual cycle on certain performance measures. But these studies are few and had various logistical limitations, including a small number of participants.</p> <p>Also important to note is that most studies to-date have excluded women using hormonal contraceptives, which is about <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29283683/">50% of female athletes</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35475746/#:%7E:text=Conclusion%3A%20Most%20WSL%20players%20do,minimise%20discomfort%20and%20maximise%20performance.">28% of female soccer players</a>. The use of hormonal contraceptives suppresses natural hormonal fluctuations and replaces them with external synthetic versions of female sex hormones, affecting the athlete differently.</p> <p>Clearly the extent and severity to which the menstrual cycle impacts athletic performance is highly variable and complex, with more research needed. So for now it’s sensible to consider the effects of the menstrual cycle on an individual basis.</p> <h2>How to support athletic performance at all cycle stages</h2> <p>It’s essential for players to familiarise themselves with their own cycles to understand how they’re affected throughout, as well as communicate any menstrual cycle-related issues to support staff (physicians and coaches). This awareness can guide adjustments in training and nutrition when required.</p> <p>For example, oestrogen has an important influence on iron levels in females, such as chronic oestrogen deficiency is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23041085/">linked to iron deficiency</a>. Iron status can also be compromised by blood loss during menstruation, depending on the heaviness and duration of bleeding.</p> <p>Iron is essential for human function, facilitating energy production and the transportation of oxygen around the body. In soccer, about <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16521852/#:%7E:text=Of%20the%20investigated%20female%20soccer,at%20the%20top%20international%20level">60% of elite female players</a> present as iron deficient, compared to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18384395/">less than 12% of their male counterparts</a>. For an iron deficient midfielder, this might translate into covering less distance at lower speeds.</p> <p>It’s therefore important female athletes have their iron levels regularly checked by qualified practitioners. Addressing deficiencies through diet, supplementation, or iron transfusions, will ensure athletic performance during training and competition is not compromised.</p> <p>Individual athletes’ training loads can also be strategically managed to accommodate severe menstrual symptoms.</p> <p>Football clubs around the world have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24733938.2020.1828615">experimenting with this strategy</a> since it gained popularity during the 2019 Women’s FIFA World Cup. But how does it look in practice?</p> <p>For team sport athletes, such as soccer players, this can be a demanding logistical task. It’s not easy to track the menstrual cycles of more than 25 players concurrently, and hold training sessions at convenient times for all of them. The complexities are heightened when training and game days cannot be avoided.</p> <p>But performance coaches must consider athletes’ needs and ensure they’re prepared for competition, while minimising the risk of injury and menstrual discomfort. Coaches should also ensure athletes maintain adequate nutrition for both competition and to support their menstrual cycle.</p> <p>For an athlete who reports severe menstrual symptoms during the first days of menstruation (such as increased pain and weakness), this might translate into reduced training intensity, additional recovery days, and an anti-inflammatory diet that also supports the restoration of iron levels (increased intake of nuts, seeds, berries, lean red meats, and fibre and Omega-3 rich foods).</p> <p>And it’s important to keep in mind some athletes might experience menstrual cycle issues in phases other than menstruation. So, training and nutrition should be flexible and individualised across the cycle.</p> <p>Using this approach, athletes can mitigate the influence of the menstrual cycle on their performance, giving them the best opportunity to achieve their athletic potential and success during competition.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><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/206700/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sara-chica-latorre-1443479">Sara Chica-Latorre</a>, Phd Candidate and Research Assistant, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-pengelly-1443674">Michael Pengelly</a>, PhD Candidate, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>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/does-a-womans-menstrual-cycle-affect-her-athletic-performance-heres-what-the-science-says-206700">original article</a>.</em></p>

Body

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“My heart is breaking”: The Wiggles perform for dying young fan

<p dir="ltr">The Wiggles have made a young girl’s dreams come true, as they stood by her and performed just hours before she died. </p> <p dir="ltr">Purple Wiggle Lachlan Gillespie, new Blue Wiggle Lucia Field, and Dorothy the Dinosaur visited young Zahra’s bedside in Westmead Children’s Hospital, just before she passed away last month to perform a sweet rendition of <em>Twinkle Twinkle</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Earlier this week, Zahra’s mum posted the sweet video on TikTok, while sharing the story of how Zahra was diagnosed with Leigh syndrome, a rare neurometabolic disorder that affects the central nervous system.</p> <p dir="ltr">“On Zahra’s last day, she got a special visit from her fav Wiggles,” Zahra’s mum wrote in the video shared on her TikTok account. </p> <div class="embed" style="font-size: 16px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: none !important;"><iframe class="embedly-embed" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 611px; max-width: 100%; outline: none !important;" title="tiktok embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2Fembed%2Fv2%2F7254527205701733633&amp;display_name=tiktok&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40keish_el%2Fvideo%2F7254527205701733633&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fp16-sign-sg.tiktokcdn.com%2Fobj%2Ftos-alisg-p-0037%2FoACeAheW25teaIoFQJHPEC2YgpcNAKrzDgaksj%3Fx-expires%3D1689325200%26x-signature%3D8aPR7s6As4g3eiheXA%252B7PmnZSBk%253D&amp;key=59e3ae3acaa649a5a98672932445e203&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=tiktok" width="340" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> <p dir="ltr">In the caption, she added, “This day was so special to us, Zahra was obsessed with the Wiggles and for them to come and see her is a memory we will never forget.”</p> <p dir="ltr">She went on to say that on her last day on earth, her doctors and parents gave her “one full day” off the tube where she got to do “all her favourite things with family and friends”, including the Wiggles.</p> <p dir="ltr">Lucia, who is the daughter of original Blue Wiggle Anthony Field, commented, “Lachy and I were so grateful to have met your beautiful family. May your beautiful little girl be happily resting”.</p> <p dir="ltr">The video has racked up over two million views, with many sharing their condolences for the grieving family. </p> <p dir="ltr">One user said, “I can't handle it. I'm so sorry… my heart breaks for you.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Another emotional viewer wrote, “RIP you little angel, you have earned your wings.”</p> <p dir="ltr">One person wrote that they were praying for Zahra and her family, and her grieving mother responded, “Thank you so much for those prayers. I know they would have kept her with us for as long as she could.”</p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"><em>Image credits: TikTok</em><span id="docs-internal-guid-efb41070-7fff-f887-2ec2-5f55686b6eca"></span></p>

Caring

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Fan throws mother’s ashes on stage at Pink concert

<p>Singing sensation Pink was left momentarily speechless after a fan threw a bag of their mother’s ashes on stage mid-performance.</p> <p>The singer was just four songs into her headlining set at the British Summer Time festival in London’s Hyde Park when she grabbed a large package of white powder that had been thrown across the stage.</p> <p>“Is this your mum?” a confused Pink asked.</p> <p>“I don’t know how I feel about this.”</p> <p>Simply stunned, the singer then placed the package down behind the front-of-stage speakers and continued performing the current song, <em>Just Like A Pill</em>.</p> <p>Pink did not speak out about the bizarre situation, but social media users put the concert-goer on blast for the act.</p> <p>“Someone gave their Mothers ashes to Pink. I need yall to have boundaries like girl what?” one fan wrote.</p> <p>“She handled it well cause I’d definitely be mad that someone handed me their mom’s ashes,” another added.</p> <p>“I feel like security at a concert will be like going thru TSA if people don’t stop being WEIRD,” a third wrote.</p> <p>Other online users had more extreme takes, “I would have started snorting their mother on stage,” one person wrote on twitter, while another insisted they would’ve “sprinkled it on the crowd.”</p> <p>This incident follows a string of boundary-breaking events at pop stars’ concerts, with singer Bebe Rexha receiving stitches after a fan threw a phone at her head, and another singer Ava Max having to end her show abruptly after a concert-goer rushed the stage and slapped her in the face.</p> <p>Pink will be returning to Australia for a string of stadium shows in February 2024.</p> <p>While the star hasn’t touched on the matter, there’s a good chance she'd recommend leaving the deceased at home.</p> <p><em>Image credit: TikTok</em></p>

Caring

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Jimmy Barnes joins his family for special live performance

<p>Jimmy Barnes and his talented family have wowed the <em>Today Extra</em> viewers with a rousing musical performance. </p> <p>Appearing on the breakfast show to promote the upcoming Jane Barnes Band tour, Jimmy was joined by his wife Jane, and daughter Mahalia, with a special addition of his son and <em>Today Extra</em> co-host David Campbell. </p> <p>To mark the family affair, the Barnes took the opportunity to perform a beautiful acoustic rendition of Nat King Cole's <em>Around The World</em> for the <em>Today Extra</em> audience.</p> <p>David admitted it was not the family's first time playing the song, saying it was their "party trick tune".</p> <p>"This is the first time you've heard it live on national television guys," an excited Sylvia Jeffreys said before introducing them.</p> <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-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CrzRx78SMeX/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;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/CrzRx78SMeX/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Sylvia Jeffreys (@sylviajeffreys)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Before their performance, David admitted that he was still tossing up whether he will join his family on tour with the Jane Barnes Band.</p> <p>"You were one of the original members," Jane told David.</p> <p>"I'm going to be singing with the two best singers in the land, sometimes three - I haven't negotiated with you yet."</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Here I am trying to take the run through seriously and they are, as usual being clowns. Will have to see if David can join us in one of the shows. I love him 💙 😂😂🎶🙏🏻 🕺<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/family?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#family</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/music?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#music</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/laughter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#laughter</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Todayextra?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Todayextra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidCampbell73?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DavidCampbell73</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JimmyBarnes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JimmyBarnes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MahaliaBarnes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MahaliaBarnes</a> <a href="https://t.co/tms6NjNiQI">pic.twitter.com/tms6NjNiQI</a></p> <p>— 💧Jane Barnes (@jane13barnes) <a href="https://twitter.com/jane13barnes/status/1653919562994429953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>Sylvia joked that David should do it for "mates rates" and he said he "used to be higher up" in the family hierarchy.</p> <p>"No offence, I'm calling my therapist after this," he laughed.</p> <p>You can check out the full video of their performance <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/today/jimmy-barnes-david-campbell-perform-today-extra-host-sings-with-dad/3e9a5368-0590-4e2e-a180-23891b09eeb8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Today Extra </em></p>

Music

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Live art exists only while it is being performed, and then it disappears. How do we create an archive of the ephemeral?

<p>Live performance exists only in the moment it is being performed. Its ephemeral nature means it is transient and impermanent, and cannot be experienced again in precisely the same way. </p> <p>How do artists hold on to the works that they make? What of the invisible labour that is rarely acknowledged or named? </p> <p>Over the last ten years, performance artist Leisa Shelton has completed a series of participatory artworks which focus on the mutability of the archive: gathering audience testimonies and mapping artistic lineages. </p> <p>Now her new show, Archiving the Ephemeral, brings five works together in a beautifully curated installation. </p> <p>Archiving the Ephemeral is a celebration of the artist, the artistic process and the audience experience. </p> <p>Shelton’s expansive career, built on collaboration, care and conversation, grounds the exhibition. The show reflects her focus on curating and re-framing interdisciplinary work to address the limited opportunities for recognition of contemporary independent Australian performance.</p> <h2>Meticulous design</h2> <p>Marked by a spare, distinctive design, Archiving the Ephemeral is located in the Magdalen Laundry at the Abbotsford Convent. </p> <p>Rich with a bright green wooden industrial interior and aged painted walls, the laundry is a perfect background for the specifically placed items, the carefully lit tables and the long lines of patterned artefacts. </p> <p>Fragile ideas are framed and held within a crafted, artisan aesthetic. Objects are carefully made and remnants are meticulously gathered.</p> <p>Along one side of the space, 132 brown paper packets are laid out in a continuous line on the floor. Each package contains a set of archival materials, burned to ash, which corresponds to an artistic project from Shelton’s career.</p> <p>An accompanying video depicts Shelton’s meticulous process of burning, piece by piece, her entire performance archive to ash. </p> <p>In a methodical and meditative process, the ash is sifted and packaged into the hand-crafted paper bags. The bags are then hand-punched and sewn with twine, typed, labelled and categorised: a kind of devotional honouring of the materials even as they are brought to dust. </p> <h2>A living archive</h2> <p>The exhibition includes an opportunity for each of us to become part of the living archive through conversations with two ground-breaking elders of Australia’s performance art scene, <a href="https://abbotsfordconvent.com.au/news/in-conversation-with-stelarc-and-jill-orr/">Jill Orr and Stelarc</a>. </p> <p>On the night I attend, I sit with Stelarc. We discuss Kantian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant">notions of time</a> as he tells me about his <a href="http://stelarc.org/?catID=20353">Re-Wired/Re-Mixed Event for Dismembered Body</a> (2015). It’s a delightful moment of personal connection with an artist I’ve admired for years.</p> <p>Across one wall are four large hanging papers listing the name of every artist on every <a href="https://www.artshouse.com.au/about-us/">Arts House</a> program from 2006-2016, laboriously typed. </p> <p>On the night I attend, these lists elicit lively conversations among the artists present as we study the names and dates (in my case, slightly desperately searching to see if my own name is there), and recall shows, people, events, stories and collaborations.</p> <p>Much of Shelton’s work is gathered from conversations with audience members about art and artists. </p> <p>In Mapping, a set of burnished stainless-steel canisters, beautifully marked with engraved identifications, sit on a bench underneath a suspended video screen on which artist names appear and disappear in an endless, floating loop. </p> <p>The canisters contain details of profoundly memorable artists and performances collected from 1,000 interviews, dated and stamped. They are hand-welded, sumptuous objects which hold the interview cards securely locked under fireproof glass designed to withstand cyclones, fires and floods.</p> <p>The many hand-written files of Scribe contain multiple documents which can be taken out and read. The sheer number of pages is overwhelming, and the breadth of audience commentary – joyful, moved, connected, inspired – is breathtaking.</p> <p>It’s a poignant reminder of the traces borne out beyond the artist’s own experience of performing a work: an often surreal and lonely moment once the audience has left the room.</p> <h2>A practice of care</h2> <p>Archiving the Ephemeral fosters a practice of care and acknowledgement which extends to the practical ways in which our trajectory through the room and engagement with the artworks is enabled. </p> <p>The Convent is an apt site for such a careful collection. Analogue processes and objects are foregrounded. Typewriters, brown paper, string, awls and aprons are part of the painstaking construction process. Attendants and scribes act as custodians in the space, facilitating a gentle holding of the material.</p> <p>We are given the opportunity to continue the archive as it evolves and devolves around us. As I make my way through the space, I notice my own embodied archival actions - taking notes, speaking to others - as I continue the trajectory of documenting the documents. We are not just witnessing one artist’s body of work. Archiving the Ephemeral focuses on the need for greater visibility, recognition and honouring of Australia’s experimental and independent artists, and speaks to the many collaborations, associations, and intricate connections that mark a significant – if unacknowledged – cultural legacy.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/live-art-exists-only-while-it-is-being-performed-and-then-it-disappears-how-do-we-create-an-archive-of-the-ephemeral-201939" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

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Ever feel like your life is a performance? Everyone does – and this 1959 book explains roles, scripts and hiding backstage

<p>Shakespeare’s adage — “All the world’s a stage” — suggests human beings are conditioned to perform, and to possess an acute social awareness of how they appear in front of others.</p> <p>It resonates in the age of social media, where we’re all performing ourselves on our screens and watching each other’s performances play out. Increasingly, those screen performances are how we meet people, and how we form relationships: from online dating, to remote work, to staying in touch with family.</p> <p>While the idea of performance as central to social life has been around for centuries, <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0228.xml">Erving Goffman</a> was the first to attempt a comprehensive account of society and everyday life using theatre as an analogy.</p> <p>His influential 1959 book <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life-9780241547991">The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life</a> is something of a “bible” for scholars interested in questions of how we operate in everyday life. It became a surprise US bestseller on publication, crossing over to a general readership.</p> <p>Goffman wrote about how we perform different versions of ourselves in different social environments, while keeping our “backstage” essential selves private. He called his idea <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003160861-3/dramaturgy-charles-edgley?context=ubx&amp;refId=6e9b71d0-973c-4ebe-b90b-41a372d12623">dramaturgy</a>.</p> <p>Playwright Alan Bennett <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v03/n19/alan-bennett/cold-sweat">wrote admiringly</a> of him, “Individuals knew they behaved in this way, but Goffman knew everybody behaved like this and so did I.”</p> <h2>Goffman as influencer (and suspected spy)</h2> <p>In a <a href="https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/about-isa/history-of-isa/books-of-the-xx-century">poll of professional sociologists</a>, Goffman’s book ranked in the top ten publications of the 20th century.</p> <p>It influenced playwrights such as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/019027250907200402">Tom Stoppard</a> and, of course, Bennett, who <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Alan-Bennett-A-Critical-Introduction/OMealy/p/book/9780815335405">was interested in</a> depicting and analysing the role-playing of everyday life that Goffman identified.</p> <p>Goffman was <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444396621.ch24">born in Mannville</a>, Alberta in 1922 to Ukrainian Jewish parents who migrated to Canada. The sister of the man who would become famous for his theatre analogies was an actor, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0062844/">Frances Bay</a>: late in life, she would play quirky, recognisable roles such as the “marble rye” lady on <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-of-seinfeld-131606">Seinfeld</a> and a recurring part on <a href="https://theconversation.com/ill-see-you-again-in-25-years-the-return-to-twin-peaks-32624">Twin Peaks</a> (as Mrs Tremond/Chalfant).</p> <p>The path to Goffman’s book was an unusual one. It didn’t come from directly studying the theatre, or even from asking questions about theatregoers.</p> <p>While completing postgraduate studies at the the University of Chicago, Goffman was given the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in the Shetland Islands, an isolated part of northern Scotland, for his <a href="https://www.mediastudies.press/pub/ns-ccic/release/4">PhD dissertation</a>.</p> <p>Goffman pretended to be there to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470999912.ch3">study agricultural techniques</a>. But his actual reason was to examine the everyday life of the Shetland Islanders. As he observed the everyday practices and rituals of the remote island community, he had to negotiate suspicions he may <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Goffman-Social-Organization-Sociological-Routledge/dp/0415112044">have been a spy</a>.</p> <p>In Goffman’s published book, the ethnography of the Shetland Islands takes a back seat to his dramaturgical theory.</p> <h2>More than a popular how-to manual</h2> <p><a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life-9780241547991">The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life</a> quickly became <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Sociological-Bent-InsideMetro-Culture/dp/0170120015">a national bestseller</a>. It was picked up by general readers “as a guide to social manners and on how to be clever and calculating in social intercourse without being obvious”.</p> <p>This fascinating and complex academic work could indeed be read as a “how-to” manual on how to impress others and mitigate negative impressions. But Goffman <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Erving-Goffman/Smith/p/book/9780415355919">didn’t mean</a> “performance” literally. Reading the book as a guide to middle-class etiquette misses some of its nuances.</p> <p>One is the sophisticated understanding of how reality and contrivance relate to each other. A good performance is one that appears “unselfconscious”; a “contrived” performance is one where the fact the social actor is performing a role is “painstakingly evident”.</p> <p>In everyday language, we tend to describe the latter as trying too hard. But Goffman is making a more general point, about the way we all perform ourselves, all the time – whether the effort is visible or not.</p> <p>If “All the world is not, of course, a stage”, then “the crucial ways in which it isn’t are not easy to specify”.</p> <h2>Playing roles and being in character</h2> <p>Today, we regularly use theatrical terms like “role”, “script”, “props”, “audience” and being “in and out of character” to describe how people behave in their everyday social life. But Goffman is the one who introduced these concepts, which have become part of our shared language.</p> <p>Together, they highlight how social life depends on what Goffman terms a shared definition of particular situations.</p> <p>Whether we are performing our work roles, having dinner with someone for whom we have romantic affections, or dealing with strangers in a public setting, we need to produce and maintain the appropriate definition of that reality.</p> <p>These activities are “performances”, according to Goffman, because they involve mutual awareness or attentiveness to the information others emit. This mutual awareness, or attention to others, means humans are constantly performing for audiences in their everyday lives.</p> <h2>Being in and out of character</h2> <p>It matters who the audience is – and what type of audience we have for our performances. When thinking about how people adapt their behaviour for others, Goffman differentiates between “front regions” and “back regions”.</p> <p>Front regions are where we must present what is often referred to as the “best version of ourselves”. In an open-plan office, a worker needs to look busy if their supervisor is about. So, in the front region, they need to look engaged, industrious and generally perform the role of being a worker. In an open-plan office, a worker needs to be constantly “in character”, as Goffman puts it.</p> <p>Back regions are where a social actor can “let their guard down”. In the context of a workplace, the back regions might refer to the bathroom, the lunchroom or anywhere else where the worker can relax their performance and potentially resort to “out of character” behaviour.</p> <p>If the worker takes a diversionary break to gossip with a colleague when their supervisor is no longer in earshot, they could be said to be engaging in back region conduct.</p> <p>Front and back regions are not defined by physical locations. A back region is any situation in which the individual can relax and drop their performance. (Of course, this means regions overlap with physical locations to some extent – people are more likely to be able to relax when they’re in more private settings.)</p> <p>Thus, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/opinion/open-plan-office-awful.html">open-plan offices</a> are often unpopular because workers feel they are constantly under surveillance. Conversely, the work-from-home arrangements that have become more common since the era of COVID lockdowns are popular because they allow people to relax their work personae.</p> <p>Renowned writer Jenny Diski <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v26/n05/jenny-diski/think-of-mrs-darling">reflected</a> in 2004, "reading Goffman now is alarmingly claustrophobic. He presents a world where there is nowhere to run; a perpetual dinner party of status seeking, jockeying for position and saving face. Any idea of an authentic self becomes a nonsense. You may or may not believe in what you are performing; either type of performance is believed in or it is not."</p> <h2>21st-century Goffman</h2> <p>Dramaturgy has survived the onset of our new media environment, where the presentation of the self has migrated to platforms as diverse as <a href="https://theconversation.com/instagram-and-facebook-are-stalking-you-on-websites-accessed-through-their-apps-what-can-you-do-about-it-188645">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-corn-how-the-online-viral-corn-kid-is-on-a-well-worn-path-to-fame-in-the-child-influencer-industry-189974">TikTok</a>. In some ways, it’s more relevant than ever.</p> <p>Goffman’s approach has been applied to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/no-sense-of-place-9780195042313?cc=au&amp;lang=en&amp;">electronic media</a>, radio and <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Media_and_Modernity/asB7QgAACAAJ?hl=en">television</a> <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003160861-19/reception-goffman-work-media-studies-peter-lunt">studies</a>, <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262515047/new-tech-new-ties/">mobile phones</a> – and, more recently, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548565211036797">social media</a> and even <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0263276419829541">AI studies</a>.</p> <p>The “successful staging” (as Goffman terms it) of our social roles has only become more complex. This is perfectly illustrated by “BBC Dad” Robert Kelly, whose 2017 <a href="https://junkee.com/bbc-dad-pictures-kids-now-marion-james/324165">live television interview</a> from his home study was interrupted when his children wandered into the room. This was before COVID lockdowns, when our home and work lives (and personae) increasingly merged.</p> <p>“Everyone understands that now,” <a href="https://junkee.com/bbc-dad-pictures-kids-now-marion-james/324165">wrote Reena Gupta</a> in 2022. “You or someone in your family or circle of friends has been BBC Dad.”</p> <p>Maintaining and maximising performances still matters. And so does Goffman.</p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/ever-feel-like-your-life-is-a-performance-everyone-does-and-this-1959-book-explains-roles-scripts-and-hiding-backstage-195939" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Books

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Daryl Braithwaite joins Harry Styles on stage for a show-stopping performance

<p>As Harry Styles finished up his Love on Tour shows in Australia, he was joined by an impressive 70,000-strong crowd in Sydney's Accor Stadium.</p> <p>On Saturday night, after two weeks Down Under, Styles performed his final show in Australia before heading to New Zealand. </p> <p>As a special treat for his fans to commemorate the final Aussie show, the British pop icon brought an Aussie legend to the stage. </p> <p>“It’s our last show in Australia, so it only felt right to do something a little bit special,” Harry told his fans. “Please welcome, Mr Daryl Braithwaite!”</p> <p>In a true display of Australianism, Daryl Braithwaite led a duet of <em>The Horses</em> as the entire crowd sang along, with Styles dancing alongside him. </p> <div class="embed" style="font-size: 16px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: none !important;"><iframe class="embedly-embed" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 610px; max-width: 100%; outline: none !important;" title="tiktok embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2Fembed%2Fv2%2F7206678993213426945&display_name=tiktok&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40yourislandgyalmb%2Fvideo%2F7206678993213426945&image=https%3A%2F%2Fp16-sign-sg.tiktokcdn.com%2Fobj%2Ftos-alisg-p-0037%2F15d698da8fda4e8e9aea6713dcd8c6bf_1677935718%3Fx-expires%3D1678075200%26x-signature%3Dn3BzCrm7n9lxLVMnztJiIKKoiTA%253D&key=59e3ae3acaa649a5a98672932445e203&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=tiktok" width="340" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> <p>As the song finished, Harry told the crowd the "Aussie was coursing through my veins," before explaining, “He’s a TimTam, he’s a shoey, he’s Vegemite ... He’s Mr Daryl Braithwaite!”</p> <p>The iconic on-stage moment comes just days after Daryl attended Harry's Melbourne show, in which Styles also sang a cover of <em>The Horses</em>, not knowing the man behind the song's Aussie fame was in the crowd. </p> <p>Braithwaite was impressed by Styles' cover, sharing his admiration for him on Facebook, writing, “What an extraordinary night it was at Harry’s gig."</p> <p>"I just love the feeling of these massive concerts as they take on a life of their own."</p> <p>“Harry Styles is so good at what he does and they loved him. I was completely overwhelmed by the night.”</p> <p>When Styles first performed The Horses in Perth, he described the track as "catnip" to Aussies, with every member of the audience knowing every word to the iconic song. </p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Daryl Braithwaite watching Harry cover The Horses at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia - February 25 (via fenellamai) <a href="https://t.co/zsEot2TbQt">pic.twitter.com/zsEot2TbQt</a></p> <p>— HSD Love On Tour (@hsdlot) <a href="https://twitter.com/hsdlot/status/1629529137680351232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>“I’ve been playing that a couple of times here and there,” Styles said of the song. “And every time you are around an Australian, this happens.”</p> <p>Styles then turned his back to the Perth audience, pretended to hear the song, quickly twisting his head with interest, and asked, “Is that Daryl Braithwaite?”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram </em></p>

Music

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Australia’s worst performing hospitals exposed

<p>The Australian Medical Association (AMA) shared a report on Tuesday that shed light on problems for the country’s public hospitals, revealing that only three out of 201 public hospitals in Australia are delivering care to patients within the recommended timeframes. One year ago, the count was at 15. </p> <p>The three “green lit” hospitals were Young Hospital in NSW, as well as South Coast District and Riverland General hospitals in South Australia. </p> <p>As AMA President Professor Steve Robson explained, “the logjam in Australia’s public hospitals has worsened, with continued workforce shortages, increased ambulance ramping, emergency departments beyond capacity and hospital beds unavailable when they’re needed.”</p> <p>Professor Robson went on to stress that the report “paints a worsening picture of emergency department and essential surgery performance”. </p> <p>He called the findings shocking, and urged Australians to stand up and review their local hospitals, stating that they were “asking people to tell us their stories and email their MPs so state and federal governments can hear their voices.”</p> <p>Australians can check out how their local hospitals are performing by inputting their postcode to the <a href="https://www.ama.com.au/clear-the-hospital-logjam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AMA’s logjam finder</a>.</p> <p>The logjam finder utilises hospital data sourced from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to rank hospital performances in the areas of their emergency departments and elective surgeries. </p> <p>The AMA stated that “Australia urgently needs a recovery plan to address the backlog of elective surgeries, build enough capacity to meet the growing needs of the community, and clear the hospital logjam.”</p> <p>“When National Cabinet sits down on Friday,” Professor Robson said, “we want ministers to tackle the backlog of surgeries that we estimate will top half a million at the end of June, because it’s devastating for every person waiting and dealing with months and months of pain.”</p> <p>“It’s unlikely hospitals will be able to expand their capacity to address this backlog if there is no intervention,” he added, “we are calling for a new national plan funded by all governments but with an up-front advance payment provided by the Commonwealth to support state and territory governments to expand their hospital capacity, including the workforce, to address the elective surgery backlog.” </p> <p>He went on to say that the AMA has called on the federal government to “increase its share of hospital funding from 45 to 50 per cent, and to remove the annual cap on activity.”</p> <p>“For their part, the states and territories need to commit to improve hospital performance by re-investing that extra five per cent,” Professor Robson concluded, “and both need to fund additional ongoing performance improvement, capacity expansion, and ways to reduce avoidable admissions.” </p> <p><em>Images: Getty </em></p>

Caring

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“An exciting place to be”: Carmen becomes first opera performed on Cockatoo Island

<p dir="ltr">Operas as we know them conjure up images of concert halls with soaring ceilings, tiered, cushiony seats, and singers projecting their voices for the whole audience to hear.</p> <p dir="ltr">To take opera beyond the theatre and into the great outdoors comes with plenty of challenges, many of which conductor Tahu Matheson has become all too familiar with while conducting the orchestra for <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/travel/domestic-travel/fireworks-motorbikes-and-opera-carmen-on-cockatoo-island-review"><em>Carmen </em>on Sydney’s Cockatoo Island</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s quite tricky,” he tells <em>OverSixty</em>. “In particular, it’s the distance. The orchestra is a long, long way away from the grand outdoor stage.”</p> <p dir="ltr">With the orchestra located in one of the island’s historic buildings and the opera’s main stage on the water’s edge, Matheson and the cast rely on monitors to see each other and stay in time.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I can see the stage but only really from a distance,” he explains. “So really, I just listen, basically, and try and follow the singers as much as possible.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And they've got a big monitor, and when they can they take note of the monitor.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Naturally, the elements present another challenge to be overcome with the help of microphones, and the help of sound designer Tony David Cray, who Matheson describes as a “sound genius”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He never stops working. When we’re all having a break, we hear moments of stuff that we’ve just done, and then he's just working on the sound and seeing if we can make this clearer and more beautiful, and more articulated,” Matheson says.</p> <p dir="ltr">But the most interesting part of this production for Matheson has been how it has changed from the original under the guidance of director Liesel Badorrek.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Carmen, probably one of the strongest women in opera, is being sort of interpreted just slightly differently, from a woman’s point of view,” he says.</p> <p dir="ltr">“There’s always a little bit of Carmen where, yes, she’s an incredibly strong character, but it’s definitely been written by a man, so a man’s idea of a strong woman.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And so Liesel just interprets that in a slightly different way… a strong woman from a woman’s perspective. I think it’s timely and it’s also slightly more interesting than we’ve had in the past.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Opera Australia’s version of <em>Carmen </em>draws attention to themes of violence against women at a time when sexual violence and coercive control have been in the spotlight.</p> <p dir="ltr">It also modernises the appearance of <em>Carmen</em> through costuming and set design, opening up questions of whether future productions could follow suit in a bid to appeal to modern audiences.</p> <p dir="ltr">But, Matheson says this can be tricky when dealing with an artform like opera.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I think there are some things about opera, just the artform itself, that are so thrilling and exciting that I don’t think you're going to experience them in any other artform,” he says.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s very difficult because it’s a hybrid of three or four different artforms, each of which, in itself, is capable of reducing the audience members to tears, whether it’s just the spoken word alone, or just music in a concert, or just a singer with a piano.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And then you bring all these things together and then you add a dramatic plot to it - it has the ability to be something so thrilling and so amazing.</p> <p dir="ltr">“But it also has this fragility because it depends on all four or five disparate parts working together. And so it can fail, and sometimes it does.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And I think it’s worth remembering as a member of the public that it has the possibility to be the most stunning experience that you’ve ever had in your life. </p> <p dir="ltr">“At the same time, we do need to modernise, think forward a little bit and [think]: How do we engage with people as well as wanting them to engage in the artform itself?’</p> <p dir="ltr">“I don’t think it’s as simple as going, ‘We’ll add more people in jeans and t-shirts so that people empathise with characters’, but somehow a mixture of both, I think it’s what we need.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Carmen </em>on Cockatoo Island is showing Tuesday through Sunday nights from November 25 until December 18, with tickets available <a href="https://opera.org.au/productions/carmen-on-cockatoo-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-307abfe6-7fff-5780-c848-baefb1e73f21"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Prudence Upton / Opera Australia</em></p>

Domestic Travel

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"You have to beg for help": how our welfare system pressures people to perform vulnerability

<p>People who rely on welfare payments to survive are often required to repeatedly tell stories of their personal hardships.</p> <p>In a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/07/job-seekers-could-have-welfare-stopped-under-onerous-new-points-based-system-advocates-warn">conditional welfare system</a>, many must regularly attend compulsory appointments, job search training courses, and self-development and treatment programs simply to receive their payments.</p> <p>People in extreme hardship often tell their stories even more frequently as they seek extra relief from non-government charities and community providers.</p> <p>Those on income support payments below the relative poverty line feel the crunch of <a href="https://www.ncoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NCOSS_CostOfLiving22_FINAL_DESIGNED.pdf">inflation and rising living costs</a> most severely. This means many will require extra support from welfare services to meet their basic needs.</p> <p>Integral to this system is the idea of “performing vulnerability”.</p> <p>“Performing vulnerability” – a term I borrow from UK-based researcher <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/vulnerability-and-young-people">Kate Brown</a> to update Australian academic <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/lowest-rung/FA159318C2D046EDD3C9347C8B8E4F2E">Mark Peel’s</a> idea of “performing poverty” – is not just about repeatedly describing personal hardship. </p> <p>It points to the expectation to describe hardship in particular ways that are recognisable – and hence believable – to support providers.</p> <p>My book, <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/making-a-life-on-mean-welfare">Making a Life on Mean Welfare: Voices from Multicultural Sydney </a>shows how the expectation to perform vulnerability to access support shapes experiences on both sides of the welfare frontline. </p> <p>It can compound the cycle of disadvantage associated with receiving welfare in the long term. It does so by <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038026119876775">fostering mistrust</a> between welfare users and providers, as well as tainting how people in need of support see themselves and their situation.</p> <h2>‘Tell me your story’</h2> <p>For my doctoral research, I spent 18 months speaking to welfare users and workers in culturally and linguistically diverse southwest Sydney. I also observed different aspects of service delivery while volunteering at a community welfare organisation. I interviewed 25 welfare users and 11 community welfare practitioners.</p> <p>As a researcher of everyday experiences of welfare and poverty, I know all too well what it is like to ask people to tell their stories of hardship yet again.</p> <p>I also grew up in an impoverished family reliant on welfare to get by. I know firsthand what the impact of retelling stories of hardship can be, particularly when the audience is, as Peel <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/lowest-rung/FA159318C2D046EDD3C9347C8B8E4F2E">puts</a> it, “someone who has the power to give or deny them something they need”.</p> <p>One of the community welfare practitioners I interviewed summed it up by saying: "They’re coming again feeling ashamed. They’ve knocked on someone’s door, to tell yet again how shitty their situation is."</p> <p>Her response was to chat and put them at ease before saying, “Can you tell me your story?” She would follow up by saying, “You’ve given me some insight, let’s formalise your story a little bit.”</p> <p>Some welfare workers showed more scepticism, particularly when it came to giving out emergency relief. </p> <p>When someone refused to share more than the minimum information required to be eligible for extra assistance, one welfare worker commented: "That person doesn’t want to take responsibility."</p> <p>Another practitioner told me, “That woman dramatised her situation,” but quickly added, “That doesn’t mean she wasn’t genuine.”</p> <p>The willingness of people seeking assistance to disclose personal hardships and do so convincingly impacts on how deserving they may come across to those delivering support. The pressure to perform can overshadow encounters between welfare users and workers even when it doesn’t determine the outcome.</p> <h2>‘It’s your dignity’</h2> <p>Among the most marginal welfare recipients I spoke to, “performing vulnerability” was another toll of poverty.</p> <p>Those experiencing the worst hardship frequently told me about having to explain “the ins and outs” and feeling “embarrassed”, “intimidated” or “uncomfortable” when they had to present to welfare agencies.</p> <p>Two young people (whom I have given fictional names) powerfully conveyed the cost of telling all about their struggles:</p> <blockquote> <p>Kane: Often if you go to them sorts of people (welfare agencies) you’ve gotta put it all out there, that you’re homeless, that you got nothing, you got no friends, no family – and then they’re gonna go boom “alright” (you get the help you came for)…</p> <p>Nessa: Yeah, that’s what I had to do to get a house and it’s embarrassing (talking over each other) I think it’s embarrassing.</p> <p>Kane: You gotta go down to those levels you know – it’s wrong.</p> <p>Nessa: When you gotta expose everything and don’t want to, it’s, like, your dignity.</p> <p>Kane: Yeah, it’s everything.</p> </blockquote> <h2>Performing is not pretending</h2> <p>The most marginal welfare users get a great deal of practice performing their hardship. But knowing how to tell their story a certain way is not the same as pretending.</p> <p>Not only do people at the sharp end of the welfare system have to endure the hardships of poverty, but they must then recite it in a way that registers as genuine, pressing and beyond reprieve.</p> <p>As a woman living on the disability support pension put it:"You don’t have the flexibility that a rich person has to respond to crisis, so you have to beg for help. That takes time! And you know you’ll be judged like it’s your fault."</p> <p>A welfare system that demands disclosure of personal hardships – even when geared towards being <a href="https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/doi/full/10.1111/1468-4446.12740">supportive</a> rather than suspicious – can undermine dignity and hold back those unwilling or unable to tell their story convincingly or in enough detail.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-have-to-beg-for-help-how-our-welfare-system-pressures-people-to-perform-vulnerability-180975" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Retirement Income

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Why Rod Stewart turned down a $1 million gig

<p>Rod Stewart has shared why he turned down a $1 million deal to perform in Qatar. </p> <p>The 77-year-old rockstar said that he was offered the seven-figure deal over a year ago, but refused because of the Gulf state's human rights record.</p> <p>When discussing the controversy surrounding the World Cup host nation, where homosexuality is illegal, the singer told the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dfab9724-5f6f-11ed-8611-a128c33d7159?shareToken=f282a0832e5a291ac08bf40e06ba678c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sunday Times</a> he thought it would be wrong to play a set there. </p> <p>"I was actually offered a lot of money, over $1m, to play there 15 months ago," he said. </p> <p>"I turned it down. It's not right to go. And the Iranians should be out too for supplying arms," he said in reference to drones supplied by the country to Russia, which was barred from the tournament.</p> <p>He added that he thinks fans attending matches in Qatar, where being gay can lead to imprisonment and even the death sentence for Muslims, "have got to watch out".</p> <p>Stewart has been considered an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, previously saying he was "surrounded by gay men in the 70s".</p> <p>One of the singer's hit songs, The Killing of Georgie, is about the murder of a gay friend and made waves when it came out in 1976, when very few mainstream songs discussed the experiences of gay men. </p> <p>He said it would have been "good" to sing the song as a protest during the opening ceremony of the football tournament. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Money & Banking

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High score: Video game play linked to better cognitive performance

<p>Children playing video games for more than three hours a day score better on cognitive performance compared to non-gamers.</p> <p>A study involving more than 1,800 children aged nine and ten by researchers at the University of Vermont in the United States, is believed to be the largest investigation looking at the association between <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/good-games/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video games</a>, cognition and brain function. </p> <p>The researchers found children who played more than 21 hours of video games per week recorded better scores for <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/can-games-tell-if-you-are-impulsive/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">response inhibition</a> and working memory than those who never played. The article is <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2797596?utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_term=102422" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> in JAMA Network Open.</p> <p>Lead author Dr Bader Chaarani told Cosmos, “it makes sense that if you consider the brain is like a muscle, the more you train it, the better it performs.” </p> <p>Impulse control is considered important as it is linked to substance use in adolescence, while working memory is connected to IQ and language processing, Chaarani says.</p> <p>In the study, the children performed two tasks inside an MRI scanner. The first was a ‘stop signal task’ measuring impulse control. The task required children to press a button when arrows pointed left or right, but not press anything when the arrows point up. The second, a working memory task showed children pictures of faces and tested their recall.</p> <p>Children were also tested outside the scanner using oral and verbal tasks.</p> <p>In contrast to the findings of other research, the study did not find any significant difference between gamers and non-gamers in terms of mental health or behaviour. </p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p220302-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/technology/high-score-video-game-play-linked-to-better-cognitive-performance/#wpcf7-f6-p220302-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <p style="display: none !important;"><span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap referer-page"><input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" aria-invalid="false" /></span></p> <p><!-- Chimpmail extension by Renzo Johnson --></form> </div> </div> <p>Chaarani says, “many parents today are concerned about the effects of video games on their children’s health and development, and as these games continue to proliferate among young people, it is crucial that we better understand both the positive and negative impact that such games may have.”</p> <p>In Australia, 78% of children and teenagers play video games, averaging 106 minutes per day, according to <a href="https://igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DA22-Report-FINAL-19-10-21.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research commissioned</a> by the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association.</p> <p>In the University of Vermont study, non-video gamers (who spent zero hours a week playing games) and gamers (who played more than 21 hours a week) were recruited from a mix of 21 public, private and charter schools across the United States.</p> <p>The two groups did not differ in terms of characteristics such as age, BMI or IQ. However, the gamers group had a higher share of boys, and lower parental income on average.</p> <p>The research forms part of the <a href="https://abcdstudy.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study</a>, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. This allows children to be tracked over time into early adulthood to see if changes in video gaming behaviour are linked to changes in cognitive skills, brain activity, behaviour, and mental health.</p> <p>While the results showed an association between playing video games and higher cognitive performance, the paper notes it does not evidence for causality. This will be the focus of further research, given the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study follows children every two years.</p> <p>Chaarani says they also plan to look at the effect of video game genre in future work. The current study did not differentiate by the type of video games children played, whether puzzle games, action adventure, sports, simulation or shooters; or single versus multi-player games. </p> <p>“There are some smaller studies reporting that different types of games may engage different areas in the brain, different functions of the brain… but because of the sample size we cannot trust them enough,” he says.</p> <p>“For the nine and ten years old, we’ve been looking at surveys done internationally. So, these kids tend to play more fast-paced games like action, adventure and shooters that give you immediate reward rather than slow paced games.”</p> <p><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --></p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=220302&amp;title=High+score%3A+Video+game+play+linked+to+better+cognitive+performance" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><!-- End of tracking content syndication --></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/high-score-video-game-play-linked-to-better-cognitive-performance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on Cosmos Magazine and was written by Petra Stock.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Technology

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AGT judges moved to tears after "brave" act

<p>An emotionally charged backstory to a card trick has left the judges of <em>Australia's Got Talent </em>in tears. </p> <p>On Monday night's episode of the variety talent show, contestant Michael Webb shared a story about a man named Jack who decided to seek help for his mental health issues. </p> <p>However, the story of “Jack” was Michael’s own story, and it moved the judges immensely.</p> <p>While the story alone brought tears to the eyes, it was the “perfect” card trick supporting the story that stunned the audience and judges.</p> <p>“I have a deck of cards to help me tell the story,” said Michael, who was standing in front of the judges’ desk.</p> <p>He asked Alesha Dixon to shuffle the cards well, before instructing Shane Jacobson to choose any card, sign his name on it and show the other judges and audience the card.</p> <p>Michael took that signed card - without seeing which one it was - and shuffled it into the deck.</p> <p>“I came here to tell you all a story that means a lot to me. And I hope you like it,” Michael began, holding onto the deck of cards.</p> <p>“It’s actually a story about a guy I know named Jack,” he said, as he drew a Jack card from the deck, stunning the audience.</p> <p>“And if you met Jack, you’d probably think he’s the luckiest guy in the world."</p> <p>“He’s got a loving family and plenty of mates. And they think he’s kind of funny, they always think of him as a bit of a joker,” he said pulling out a Joker card.</p> <p>“When he’s out on the town with his mates, they really get around him. They call him the king,” he said, drawing a King card.</p> <p>“Which is kind of ironic,” he continued, as he pulled out a Queen card, “because whenever the night ends up at the karaoke bar, he’s always the one always singing Queen.”</p> <p>The story continued and Michael kept drawing cards that perfectly linked to his story such as “full house” and “flush” and relevant numbers.</p> <p>“But even on the most joyous of occasions, like Christmas, or even his birthday, he would often look around at the full house of family and friends having such a good time."</p> <div> <p>“And he’d stop and think, what’s wrong with me? Like, why can’t I have fun?"</p> <p>“The more he thought about this, the worse he felt, and the worst he felt the more guilty he felt."</p> <p>“And all of a sudden, he’d have shame and become flushed with emotion. So what would Jack do? He’d find a nice quiet room in the house and cry."</p> <p>“You see, Jack was a 28-year-old man and, in his mind, 28-year-old males - they need to be strong, and they don’t talk about their feelings.”</p> <p>Michael said that it was not until “Jack” learned that one in 10 Australians actually sought professional help that he realised he wasn’t alone, and told his friends about his struggles.</p> <p>“(Jack’s friends) thought it showed true heart to talk about his feelings,” Michael said.</p> <p>“So he started to do some research and he was shocked to learn that, in the most recent year, 3318 Australians took their own lives.</p> <p>“That’s 63 people every single week, and, for every person that did, another 20 attempted to.</p> <p>“In Australia, suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged between 15 to 44 - and he didn’t want to become another statistic.”</p> <p>Michael added that "Jack" was inspired by hearing other people's stories, including those from “Australian royalty” such as Miranda Kerr, Julia Gillard and Buddy Franklin.</p> <p>“Hearing these people share their own personal stories about their struggles helped Jack recognise his fears and made him realise he’s not alone,” Michael said.</p> <p>“So do you know what Jack decided to do?"</p> <p>“Jack decided to share his story on <em>Australia’s Got Talent</em>, and by sharing this story today, I hope I can make just at least one person get their head straight,” Michael said, holding back tears.</p> <p>Trying to control his emotions, Shane whispered to him, “You’re doing great, mate.”</p> <p>Michael continued, “I want all Australians genuinely who are struggling with their mental health to remember that without the rain there can be no rainbow.</p> <p>”So I want all Australians to shine bright like a diamond,” he said, pulling on Shane’s signed ace of diamonds card - stunning the room.</p> <p>Shane told Michael that the issue of mental health awareness is very close to his heart, and he praised him for sharing his "incredibly personal" story on such a public stage. </p> <p>“You, my friend, are incredibly brave, know that,” he said.</p> <p>“Thank you so much for sharing your story and making people aware that they are not alone,” Kate Ritchie told the talent.</p> <p>David Walliams said he has never heard the audience so quiet during an act, before saying, “You are magic because you’ll have changed people’s lives.”</p> <p>Michael went on to get four yes votes from the judges, moving on to the next round.</p> <p><strong><em>If you or someone you know needs mental health advice, or help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. </em></strong></p> <p><em>Image credits: Australia's Got Talent</em></p> </div>

Mind

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Incredible moment as Andrea Bocelli steps up as a last-minute understudy

<p>An eager Italian audience who were expecting to enjoy a performance from beloved Italian singer Matteo Bocelli were left speechless when he was unable to take the stage – and his even more famous father suddenly walked onto the stage.</p> <p>Acting as a last-minute understudy, Matteo’s beloved and talented dad accepted a last-minute invitation after Matteo became stranded in Germany while trying to return home. He was expected to sing at a concert in the Tuscan town of Marina di Pietrasanta.</p> <p>“Normally in life it’s the sons who replace the fathers," Andrea Bocelli said to the gob-smacked audience. "In this case it’s up to me, I have to replace my son.”</p> <p>Reportedly Andrea continued: “I’m sorry for all those of the fair sex who were expecting Matteo, who is young and handsome, but I will have to sing what he was due to sing, and which I have been practising in the car on the way over here!”</p> <p>The iconic Italian singer then performed two songs while also playing the piano – ‘Ci vorrebbe il mare’ ('We Need the Sea') and his signature song 'Con te partirò' (Time to Say Goodbye). As is common for an Andrea Bocelli performance, he was met with a standing ovation.</p> <p>Matteo Bocelli’s career began in earnest in 2018, after appearing on his father’s album Sì in the best-selling duet “Fall On Me”. Then father-son duo then went on to perform for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Royal Variety Performance later that same year.</p> <p>Comparing his son’s voice with his own, the senior Bocelli said: “Technically they are very different, but there is one thing that makes them most similar: the attitude. That characteristic way of expressing yourself through your voice."</p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

Music

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Musician sells artworks she created live on stage

<p dir="ltr">Grammy-nominated pop star Halsey is doing her bit to support reproductive rights in the US, as she enters the world of fine arts. </p> <p dir="ltr">Currently on tour around America, Halsey has created five artworks while performing live on stage, with the pieces now for sale at Sotheby’s. </p> <p dir="ltr">All proceeds from the sales will benefit the National Network of Abortion Funds. </p> <p dir="ltr">The drawings are included in the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/contemporary-discoveries-4?locale=en">Contemporary Discoveries</a> exhibition, which features artists such as David Hockney, Andy Warhol, and Os Gêmeos. </p> <p dir="ltr">Halsey’s works are expected to fetch around $7,000 each, with bids currently ranging </p> <p dir="ltr">between $5,500 and $6,500.</p> <p dir="ltr">She created each piece on different nights of her Love and Power Tour, while singing an untitled three-minute song. </p> <p dir="ltr">Hand moving in tandem with the melody, Halsey swiftly brought to life on white canvas androgynous faces punctuated by primary colours. </p> <p dir="ltr">According to the artist, the paintings are meant to symbolise the individual energies of each audience.</p> <p dir="ltr">Halsey has long been an outspoken advocate for women's rights and reproductive healthcare access. </p> <p dir="ltr">After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in July, she <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/my-abortion-saved-my-life-roe-v-wade-halsey">shared her personal experience</a> with a life-saving abortion procedure in an essay for Vogue. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I miscarried three times before my 24th birthday,” She wrote. “One of my miscarriages required ‘aftercare,’ a gentle way of saying that I would need an abortion, because my body could not terminate the pregnancy completely on its own and I would risk going into sepsis without medical intervention.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“Many people have asked me if, since carrying a child to term after years of struggling to do so, I have reconsidered my stance on abortion,” Halsey continued. “The answer is firmly no. In fact, I have never felt more strongly about it.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images / Sotheby’s</em></p>

Art

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