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Breaking the silence on prostate cancer: man’s family legacy highlights importance of early detection

<p>James Murray, 55, an architect from Melbourne, always knew he was living with a genetic "time bomb." A fifth-generation prostate cancer sufferer, his family’s battle with the disease spans over 170 years. From his great-great-grandfather, who chronicled his symptoms in 1847, to his uncles and father who also faced the disease, prostate cancer has been a grim constant in his family.</p> <p>“My family has what's been called a ‘spectacular history’ with prostate cancer,” James reflects. “But that’s not the kind of thing you want to hear. My great-great-grandfather had it, though they couldn’t test for it back then. My grandfather died from it, my father got it, and both of his brothers had it as well. It’s been a constant in our family for generations.”</p> <p>James' great-great-grandfather, Robert William Felton Lathrop Murray, a soldier and the founder of the <em>Hobart Town Gazette</em>, documented his battle with the disease long before modern medicine could provide a diagnosis. Since then, generation after generation of Murrays has grappled with the same fate. </p> <p>For James, however, early detection was key. Diagnosed in February 2022, he underwent surgery just a few months later in May, removing what doctors described as an aggressive form of the disease. But his story, unlike his ancestors, had a different ending.</p> <p>“In a way, we’ve been cursed by prostate cancer," explains James. "But it’s also been a blessing because it made us all hyper-aware of the importance of early detection. My dad was incredibly diligent, and that saved his life. He made sure I was on top of my PSA testing from my mid-40s, and that’s how we caught it early for me.” </p> <p>Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) testing and early detection are now recognised as crucial, particularly for men with a family history of prostate cancer. Yet, dangerous myths surrounding prostate cancer testing continue to cost lives, warns Associate Professor Weranja Ranasinghe, Deputy Leader of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand’s (USANZ) GU-Oncology Special Advisory Group.</p> <p>“Many men believe that they need to have urinary symptoms to be concerned about prostate cancer,” explains Ranasinghe. “The reality is that most prostate cancers develop without any symptoms at all. Urinary symptoms are not reliable – most of these symptoms are caused by non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate but advanced cancer can also give you urinary symptoms. So it is important to get checked.”</p> <p>An even greater barrier, however, is the outdated belief that prostate cancer screening requires an invasive rectal exam. Ranasinghe stresses that this is no longer the case: “A simple PSA blood test, combined with advanced imaging like MRI, is now the standard approach. Many men are avoiding tests due to this outdated fear, but in the GP setting, a rectal exam is currently not required for detecting prostate cancer."</p> <p>With over 26,000 Australian men expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ) is raising awareness during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month about the importance of early testing and debunking these misconceptions.</p> <p>Ranasinghe also points out that men with a strong family history should be particularly vigilant. “Men with female relatives who have had breast or ovarian cancer are also at an increased risk of prostate cancer due to the same genetic mutations. So we recommend that men with a strong family history get a PSA test at the age of 40, which is earlier than the recommended age.”</p> <p>For James Murray, the decision to undergo surgery quickly after his diagnosis proved life-saving. “When my PSA levels started rising in February 2022, I wasn’t shocked," he recalls. "I had always known this day would come. It wasn’t something I feared, but more something I was prepared for. I told myself, ‘Okay, it’s here, let’s deal with it,’ and I just focused on getting through the surgery as quickly as possible.”</p> <p>James feels fortunate compared to his uncles, whose diagnoses came much later in life, leading to more severe outcomes. His surgery went well, and he's had a quick recovery, returning to work and feeling grateful that they caught it early. That's why James is advocating for early PSA testing, particularly for men with a family history of prostate cancer. He plans to ensure his 19-year-old son is aware of the need for testing in the future.</p> <p>"We often see men wait until a friend or relative is diagnosed before thinking about getting a prostate cancer PSA test done," says Ranasinghe. "This reactive approach is dangerous. Men need to be proactive and take ownership of their prostate health and talk to their GPs about this, just like they would with cholesterol or other routine health checks."</p> <p>As prostate cancer awareness grows, James hopes his story will encourage others to get tested. It’s something no one wants to face, but the sooner you catch it, the better chance you have.</p> <p>For more information on prostate cancer screening and to find a urologist, visit the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ) at <a href="https://www.usanz.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.usanz.org.au</a>.</p> <p><em>Images: Supplied</em></p>

Caring

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Stamp duty is holding us back from moving homes – we’ve worked out how much

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nick-garvin-1453835">Nick Garvin</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a></em></p> <p>If just one state of Australia, New South Wales, scrapped its stamp duty on real-estate transactions, about 100,000 more Australians would move homes each year, according to our <a href="https://e61.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Stamp-duty-effects-on-purchases-and-moves.pdf">best estimates</a>.</p> <p>Stamp duty is an unquestioned part of buying a home in Australia – you put your details in an online mortgage calculator, and stamp duty is automatically deducted from the amount you have to contribute.</p> <p>It’s easy to overlook how much more affordable a home would be without it.</p> <p>That means it’s also easy to overlook how much more Australians would buy and move if stamp duty wasn’t there.</p> <p>The 2010 Henry Tax Review found stamp duty was <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-10/afts_final_report_part_2_vol_1_consolidated.pdf">inequitable</a>. It taxes most the people who most need to or want to move.</p> <p>The review reported: "Ideally, there would be no role for any stamp duties, including conveyancing stamp duties, in a modern Australian tax system. Recognising the revenue needs of the States, the removal of stamp duty should be achieved through a switch to more efficient taxes, such as those levied on broad consumption or land bases."</p> <p>But does stamp duty actually stop anyone moving? It’s a claim more often made than assessed, which is what our team at the <a href="https://e61.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Stamp-duty-effects-on-purchases-and-moves.pdf">e61 Institute</a> set out to do.</p> <p>We used real-estate transaction data and a natural experiment.</p> <h2>What happened when Queensland hiked stamp duty</h2> <p>In 2011, Queensland hiked stamp duty for most buyers by removing some concessions for owner-occupiers at short notice.</p> <p>For owner-occupiers it increased stamp duty by about one percentage point, lifting the average rate from 1.26% of the purchase price to 2.27%.</p> <p>What we found gives us the best estimate to date of what stamp duty does to home purchases.</p> <p>A one percentage point increase in stamp duty causes the number of home purchases to decline by 7.2%.</p> <p>The number of moves (changes of address) falls by about as much.</p> <p>The effect appears to be indiscriminate. Purchases of houses fell about as much as purchases of apartments, and purchases in cities fell about as much as purchases in regions.</p> <p>Moves between suburbs and moves interstate dropped by similar rates.</p> <p>With NSW stamp duty currently averaging about <a href="https://conveyancing.com.au/need-to-know/stamp-duty-nsw">3.5%</a> of the purchase price, our estimates suggest there would be about 25% more purchases and moves by home owners if it were scrapped completely. That’s 100,000 moves.</p> <p>Victoria’s higher rate of stamp duty, about <a href="https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/rates-taxes-duties-and-levies/general-land-transfer-duty-property-current-rates">4.2%</a>, means if it was scrapped there would be about 30% more purchases. That’s another 90,000 moves.</p> <h2>Even low headline rates have big effects</h2> <p>The big effect from small-looking headline rates ought not to be surprising.</p> <p>When someone buys a home, they typically front up much less cash than the purchase price. While stamp duty seems low as a percentage of the purchase price, it is high as a percentage of the cash the buyer needs to find.</p> <p>Here’s an example. If stamp duty is 4% of the purchase price, and a purchaser pays $800,000 for a property with a mortgage deposit of $160,000, the $32,000 stamp duty adds 20%, not 4%, to what’s needed.</p> <p>If the deposit takes five years to save, stamp duty makes it six.</p> <p>A similar thing happens when an owner-occupier changes address. If the buyer sells a fully owned home for $700,000 and buys a new home for $800,000, the upgrade ought to cost them $100,000. A 4% stamp duty lifts that to $132,000.</p> <p>Averaged across all Australian cities, stamp duty costs about <a href="https://e61.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Stepped-on-by-Stamp-Duty.pdf">five months</a> of after-tax earnings. In Sydney and Melbourne, it’s six.</p> <h2>Stamp duty has bracket creep</h2> <p>This cost has steadily climbed from around <a href="https://e61.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Stepped-on-by-Stamp-Duty.pdf">six weeks</a> of total earnings in the 1990s. It has happened because home prices have climbed faster than incomes and because stamp duty has brackets, meaning more buyers have been pushed into higher ones.</p> <p>Replacing the stamp duty revenue that states have come to rely on would not be easy, but a switch would almost certainly help the economy function better.</p> <p>The more that people are able to move, the more they will move to jobs to which they are better suited, boosting productivity.</p> <p>The more that people downsize when they want to, the more housing will be made available for others.</p> <p>Our findings suggest the costs are far from trivial, making a switch away from stamp duty worthwhile, even if it is disruptive and takes time.<!-- 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/225773/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/nick-garvin-1453835">Nick Garvin</a>, Adjunct Fellow, Department of Economics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</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/stamp-duty-is-holding-us-back-from-moving-homes-weve-worked-out-how-much-225773">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Money & Banking

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Why a one-cent stamp is set to sell for millions

<p>An extremely rare stamp that was once bought for a measly one cent is set to sell for millions of dollars, breaking records at a US auction house. </p> <p>While to the untrained eye, the blue stamp seems like any old stamp, the 1868 one-cent Z-grill is actually the rarest stamp in America due to its unique history and rarity. </p> <p>On June 14th, the one-cent Z-grill will be put up for sale by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, marking the first time the rare stamp has been on auction since 1998. </p> <p>Experts from the New York auction house say it could fetch $6 million to $7.5 million (AUD), which would make it the single most expensive US stamp ever sold.</p> <p>The reason for the extraordinary price comes down to the fact that out of the two known Z-grill stamp copies, the one up for auction is the only copy available for private purchase by collectors, while other historic copy is held at the New York Public Library.</p> <p>The Z-grill is unique due to its signature embossed paper, which was introduced to the US postal service after the Civil War to prevent stamps from being reused. </p> <p>Since 2005, the coveted stamp has belonged to billionaire investor and “bond king” Bill Gross.</p> <p>“It’s considered the trophy of collecting United States stamps,” said Charles Shreve, who has managed and built Gross’ extensive stamp collection for years and serves as director of international auctions at Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries.</p> <p>“There’s only one. If you want to brag, that’s the stamp.”</p> <p>Mr Gross' entire collection is estimated to be worth $22.6 million to $30 million AUD. The top 100 stamps from the collection will be auctioned off on June 14th, while the remaining stamps will be sold on June 15th.</p> <p>“There’s multiple stamps that’ll bring $500,000 or $750,000 (USD) but the (one-cent) Z-grill is the star of the show,” Shreve said.</p> <p>“I just know some people who are lusting for it, and we want to try to get as many people interested in it as possible.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Fear of ageing is really a fear of the unknown – and modern society is making things worse

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/chao-fang-1010933">Chao Fang</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-liverpool-1198">University of Liverpool</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alastair-comery-1501915">Alastair Comery</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-bath-1325">University of Bath</a></em></p> <p>For the first time in human history, we have entered an era in which reaching old age is taken for granted. Unlike in ages past, when living to an older age was a luxury afforded mainly to the privileged, globally around <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TO65.FE.ZS?locations=1W">79% of women</a> and <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TO65.MA.ZS?locations=1W">70% of men</a> can expect to reach the age of 65 and beyond.</p> <p>Despite longer life expectancy, many people in the contemporary west see growing old as undesirable and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/apr/02/ageing-and-the-mortality-alarm-i-started-panicking-about-future-me">even scary</a>. Research shows, however, that anxiety about ageing may in fact be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0164027500225004">fear of the unknown</a>.</p> <p>Society’s <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/articles/199409/learning-love-growing-old">focus on youthfulness</a> and <a href="https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psychology-teacher-network/introductory-psychology/ableism-negative-reactions-disability">capability</a> can cause anxiety about becoming weak and unwanted. Adverts for anti-ageing products <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-20th-century-rejuvenation-techniques-gave-rise-to-the-modern-anti-ageing-industry-133569">are everywhere</a>, reinforcing the idea that growing older is inherently unattractive.</p> <p>Some people fear ageing so much that it becomes a pathological condition <a href="https://mind.help/topic/gerascophobia/">called gerascophobia</a>, leading to irrational thoughts and behaviour, for example, a fixation on health, illness and mortality and a preoccupation with hiding the signs of ageing.</p> <p>We frequently hear about attempts to reverse ageing, often by the super rich. For example, <a href="https://fortune.com/well/2023/01/26/bryan-johnson-extreme-anti-aging/">Bryan Johnson</a>, a 45-year-old American entrepreneur, is spending millions of dollars a year to obtain the physical age of 18.</p> <p>While the desire to reverse ageing is not a new phenomenon, advancements in biomedicine have brought it closer.</p> <p>Work published by genetics professor <a href="https://lifespanbook.com/">David Sinclair</a> at Harvard University in 2019 suggests that it may be possible to challenge the limits of cell reproduction to extend our lifespan, for example. His <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-023-00527-6">information theory of ageing</a> argues that <a href="https://epigeneticsandchromatin.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1756-8935-6-3">reprogramming DNA</a> can improve damaged and old tissues, and delay or even reverse ageing. However, these new possibilities can also heighten our fear of ageing.</p> <h2>From the unproductive to undervalued</h2> <p>People haven’t always dreaded growing older. In many societies, older people used to be widely regarded as wise and important – and in some they still are.</p> <p>In ancient China, there was a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/605890">culture</a> of respecting and seeking advice from older family members. There is still an ethos of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6363941/">filial piety</a> (showing reverence and care for elders and ancestors) today, even if it’s not as pronounced as it used to be. The same went for <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ageing-and-society/article/abs/old-age-in-the-dark-ages-the-status-of-old-age-during-the-early-middle-ages/3699DC4100DE852BDA1E1B3BBF33DDBC">medieval Europe</a>, where older people’s experiences and wisdom were highly valued.</p> <p>However, the industrial revolution in the west from the 18th century led to a cultural shift where older people <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1014358415896">became excluded from society</a> and were considered unproductive. People who had surpassed the age to work, alongside those with incurable diseases, were regarded by society as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13607860903228762">“evils”</a> in need of assistance.</p> <p>The treatment of older people has taken a different form since the early 20th century. The introduction of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/business/retirement/why-the-world-needs-to-rethink-retirement.html">universal pension systems</a> made ageing a central concern in welfare systems. But as the demands for social and health care have increased, journalists increasingly portray ageing as a <a href="https://www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-news/archive/older-people-feel-a-burden-to-society/">burden</a> on society.</p> <p>Consequently, growing older is often associated with managing the risk of ill health and alleviating the onus of care from younger relatives. This can result in the <a href="https://utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/utq.90.2.09">institutionalisation</a> of older people in residential facilities that keep them hidden, sequestered from the awareness of younger generations.</p> <p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0164027500225004">Research</a> analysing the responses of 1,200 US adults from the American Association of Retired Persons’ Images of Ageing survey shows that much of the perceived fear of ageing is closely aligned with the fear of the unknown, rather than the ageing process itself. This fear is only exacerbated by the largely separate lives lived by older and younger generations.</p> <p>The prevalence of nuclear families and the decline of <a href="https://www.cpc.ac.uk/docs/BP45_UnAffordable_housing_and_the_residential_separation_of_age_groups.pdf">traditional mixed-generational communities</a> have deprived younger people of the opportunity to more fully understand the experiences of older people. Plus, the rapid increase in <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/why-its-more-difficult-for-young-people-to-buy-a-house-now-than-it-was-fifty-years-ago-12537254">house prices</a> means many young people cannot afford to live near their older relatives.</p> <p>The separation of older people from children and young people has sparked generational conflicts that seemingly continue to <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2017/05/04/britains-generational-divide-has-never-been-wider">grow wider than ever</a>. Older people are frequently portrayed in the media as conservative and privileged, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/12/old-young-gap-britain-generation-dysfunctional-family">making it difficult</a> for younger generations to comprehend why older people act and think the way they do.</p> <h2>Intergenerational interactions</h2> <p>Academics suggest that creating <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.996520/full">a system</a> for older and younger generations to interact in everyday settings is vital.</p> <p>A set of three <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031197/#bjso12146-bib-0004">UK-based studies</a> in 2016 analysed and compared the effects of direct contact, extended contact and interactions between younger (aged 17 to 30) and older people (65 and over). The findings indicated that good quality direct intergenerational contact can improve young people’s attitudes towards older adults (especially when sustained over time).</p> <p>Intergenerational programmes have been adopted globally, including mixed and <a href="https://www.cohousing.org/multigenerational-cohousing/">intergenerational housing</a>, <a href="https://www.nurseryinbelong.org.uk/intergenerational-choir-hits-high-note-at-belong-chester/">community choirs</a> and <a href="https://www.shareable.net/how-sharing-can-bring-japans-elderly-and-youth-together/">senior volunteers reading to young children in nurseries</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10433-018-00497-4">Studies show</a> that these activities can not only enhance the wellbeing of older people but also help younger people gain an appreciation of ageing as a valuable and fulfilling life stage.</p> <p>Getting worried about growing older is normal, just as we experience anxieties in other stages of life, such as adolescence and marriage. But here’s the thing – instead of seeing ageing as a looming figure, it is important to realise it is just a part of life.</p> <p>Once we understand ageing as a regular experience, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/changepower/202106/do-you-have-fogo-taming-the-fear-getting-old">we can let go</a> of these worries and approach the journey through different life stages with a positive attitude and a fortified will to enrich our lives and the lives of those around us.<!-- 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/220925/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/chao-fang-1010933"><em>Chao Fang</em></a><em>, Lecturer in Sociology, Deputy Director of the Centre for Ageing and the Life Course, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-liverpool-1198">University of Liverpool</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alastair-comery-1501915">Alastair Comery</a>, PhD Candidate, Sociology, Centre for Death and Society, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-bath-1325">University of Bath</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/fear-of-ageing-is-really-a-fear-of-the-unknown-and-modern-society-is-making-things-worse-220925">original article</a>.</em></p>

Beauty & Style

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The move to a cashless society isn’t just a possibility, it’s well underway

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/angel-zhong-1204643">Angel Zhong</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a></em></p> <p>When was the last time you used cash? For many Australians using cash or even swiping a card has become a rare event.</p> <p>The move towards a cashless society started 50 years ago with the introduction of the Bankcard and was driven by technological advancements. But it really took off with the COVID pandemic when consumers and retailers were reluctant to handle potentially infected notes and coins.</p> <p>The federal government last week underscored its recognition of this trend by <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/modernising-payments-regulation">unveiling reforms</a> to regulate digital payment providers.</p> <p>Treasurer Jim Chalmers said: "As payments increasingly become digital, our payments system needs to remain fit for purpose so that it delivers for consumers and small businesses. We want to make sure the shift to digital payments occurs in a way that promotes greater competition, innovation and productivity across our entire economy."</p> <p>From big cities to remote rural corners the shift towards digital payments is evident. This raises the question, is a cashless society inevitable?</p> <h2>The phenomenal growth of the digital payments</h2> <p>The convenience of digital transactions has become irresistible for consumers and businesses and has led to the sector eclipsing traditional payment methods.</p> <p>The relentless march of technology has produced myriad innovative platforms from mobile wallets to buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) schemes, each vying for a piece of this burgeoning market.</p> <p>A recent <a href="https://www.ausbanking.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Bank-On-It-%E2%80%93-Customer-Trends-2023-1.pdf">report</a> by the Australian Banking Association paints a vivid picture of the digital payment industry’s explosive expansion.</p> <p>The use of digital wallet payments on smartphones and watches has soared from $746 million in 2018 to over $93 billion in 2022. Cash only accounts for 13% of consumer payments in Australia as of the end of 2022, a stark contrast to 70% in 2007.</p> <p>Digital wallets are popular with most age groups. Young Australians aged between 18 and 29 are leading the pack, with two thirds <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2023/jun/consumer-payment-behaviour-in-australia.html">using digital wallets</a> to pay for goods and services.</p> <p>About <a href="https://www.ausbanking.org.au/almost-40-leave-wallets-at-home/">40% of Australians</a> are comfortable leaving home without their actual wallets or even credit or debit cards, as long as they have their mobile devices with digital wallets.</p> <p>The astonishing speed at which Australians have embraced digital payments places the country among the top users of cashless payments globally, surpassing the United States and European countries.</p> <p>Digital wallets are not the only players in this space. The use of BNPL products is also growing rapidly in Australia, which was where many of the large-scale products in this category started.</p> <p>The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) reports the total value of all BNPL transactions increased by <a href="https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/find-a-document/reports/rep-672-buy-now-pay-later-an-industry-update/">79% in the 2018–19 financial year</a>. This continues into 2022 with an annual growth beyond 30% according to the <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/annual-reports/psb/2022/the-evolving-retail-payments-landscape.html">Reserve Bank of Australia</a> (RBA).</p> <p>PayID and PayPal payments are also claiming their shares in this space.</p> <h2>Are government regulations necessary?</h2> <p>The government’s planned regulation of the system, contained in amendments to the Reforms to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998, is a big step towards establishing a secure and trustworthy cashless society in Australia.</p> <p>It will subject BNPL and digital wallet service providers like Apple Pay and Google Pay to the same oversight by the RBA as traditional credit and debit cards.</p> <p>The regulations will require providers meet clear standards for security measures, data protection and dispute resolution to give Australians confidence their funds and personal information are safeguarded.</p> <p>With increasing concern over cyber attacks, the regulations will help reduce the risk of fraudulent activities and money laundering and help identify suspicious transactions, maintaining the integrity of the financial system.</p> <p>Also, regulation will promote fair competition and market stability by levelling the playing field and by preventing monopolies.</p> <p>While banks support the forthcoming regulation, new market players are less positive. For example, Apple Pay says it is merely <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/new-rba-powers-to-regulate-apple-google-payments-20231010-p5eb6d">providing technical architecture</a> rather than payment services.</p> <p>The current regulatory debate is not new. When credit cards made their debut in Australia in the early 1970s, there were hardly any safeguards for consumers. This led to card users being hit with high interest rates on money owed, sneaky fees and aggressive marketing tactics.</p> <p>Consequently, regulations were introduced to hold card providers to a standard of responsible behaviour. Today, they must openly disclose interest rates, fees and charges, and follow stringent guidelines in advertising their products and services.</p> <p>Regulating digital wallet providers strikes a crucial balance between innovation and accountability, ensuring life-changing technology continues to serve the public interest.</p> <p>The shift towards a cashless society in Australia isn’t just a possibility, it’s already well underway.</p> <p>The blend of technological advancements, changing consumer preferences and regulatory adaptations has set the stage for this transformation. The new regulations will help Australians navigate this transition more confidently.<!-- 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/215446/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/angel-zhong-1204643"><em>Angel Zhong</em></a><em>, Associate Professor of Finance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</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/the-move-to-a-cashless-society-isnt-just-a-possibility-its-well-underway-215446">original article</a>.</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Princess Mary's son gets his own stamp for 18th birthday!

<p dir="ltr">Prince Christian of Denmark is celebrating his 18th birthday, with the country of Greenland offering him a unique gift for the occasion. </p> <p dir="ltr">Christian, who is the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, has been honoured with his very own stamp from the Greenlandic postal service to mark his coming of age birthday on October 15th.</p> <p dir="ltr">He's wearing a traditional white anorak that forms part of the male version of the Greenlandic national costume.</p> <p dir="ltr">It's the first time Prince Christian has been pictured solo on a postage stamp in Greenland, which is a territory of Denmark.</p> <p dir="ltr">Prince Christian’s birthday will be honoured across Denmark, with a documentary about the young prince airing on his birthday eve. </p> <p dir="ltr">Prince Christian - A Royal Journey will see the royal's rise from baby to man, with a special focus on how he has been preparing for his eventual role as King.</p> <p dir="ltr">The prince’s parents are also expected to appear in the documentary, as the royal couple tour key areas of Copenhagen relating to the country's constitution, including the parliament.</p> <p dir="ltr">Prince Christian's birthday will be marked by a changing of the guard at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, to be followed by a balcony appearance by the royal family, including his grandmother Queen Margrethe II.</p> <p dir="ltr">Later on his birthday evening, Prince Christian will be the guest of honour at a gala banquet to be held inside the nearby Christianborg Palace.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images / Danish Royal Family</em></p>

Family & Pets

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“I have not looked back”: Stamp out cramps as easy as you please

<p>Muscle cramps can be excruciating and disruptive, causing sudden, involuntary contractions that leave you wincing in pain. These spasms can occur in various parts of the body, most commonly in the legs, and they often strike at the most inconvenient times.</p> <p>While the exact causes of muscle cramps can vary, one potential remedy that has gained popularity is Magnesium. However, what most people don’t realise is that taking Magnesium supplements by themselves will actually address only ONE of the major causes of cramps: mineral deficiency.</p> <p>Fortunately, there is a better way; one that covers a multitude of common triggers for cramps, and which will help you rest easy and move more for active days and restful nights.</p> <h3>What causes muscle cramps?</h3> <p>Muscle cramps can occur for a variety of reasons, and sometimes the exact cause remains elusive. Some of the most common triggers include:</p> <ol> <li>Dehydration: Insufficient fluid intake can lead to an electrolyte imbalance, causing muscles to contract involuntarily.</li> <li>Overexertion: Strenuous physical activity, especially in hot weather, can lead to muscle fatigue and cramps.</li> <li>Mineral deficiencies: An imbalance of essential minerals like potassium, calcium and magnesium can contribute to cramping.</li> <li>Poor blood circulation: Reduced blood flow to muscles can result in cramps, especially during prolonged periods of immobility.</li> <li>Medications: Certain medications, such as diuretics and statins, can increase the risk of muscle cramps as a side effect.</li> </ol> <blockquote> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Crampeze Testimonial:</strong> “Started getting really bad cramps in my feet and calf muscles in both legs. I have never experienced cramp this severe, ever. I Googled ‘severe cramping’ and this is when I came across Crampeze… I have not looked back since I started on them. So glad I found them.” – Julie Daniels, Product Review</p> </blockquote> <h3>How Crampeze and Crampeze Forte can help</h3> <p><a href="https://crampeze.com.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crampeze</a> is a supplement designed to address the root causes of muscle cramps, providing relief and promoting overall muscle health. Here's how it can help:</p> <ol> <li>Magnesium: Crampeze contains magnesium, an essential mineral that plays a crucial role in muscle function and relaxation. Magnesium helps prevent cramps by regulating muscle contractions and maintaining proper electrolyte balance.</li> <li>Vitamin B Complex: This supplement includes a blend of B vitamins, such as B1 (thiamine), B3 (niacin), and B6 (pyridoxine), which are important for nerve and muscle health. .</li> <li>Herbal ingredients: Crampeze also contains natural ingredients like feverfew extract, Viburnum Opulus (Cramp Bark), can help alleviate muscle cramps and mild muscle spasms and twitches, as well as Ginkgo Biloba that acts as an antioxidant, reducing free radicals formed in the body, while supporting blood circulation to the legs, hands and feet.</li> </ol> <h3>How Crampeze Forte differs</h3> <p>Crampeze Forte is an added benefit formulation of Crampeze, with nicotinamide, feverfew extract and vitamin B5 providing comprehensive support for cramp prevention and relief. Ideal for intermittent sufferers or sports related cramps.</p> <blockquote> <p style="text-align: center;">Crampeze Testimonial: “Just to say a huge thank you for your Crampeze Forte! Bedtime is no longer terror time. I am cramp free at last.” – Betty H, Product Review</p> </blockquote> <p>By offering a more holistic approach to managing and preventing muscle cramps, the 2-in-1 benefits of <a href="https://crampeze.com.au/product/crampeze" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crampeze</a> and <a href="https://crampeze.com.au/product/crampeze-forte" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crampeze Forte</a> help address the root causes of cramps through their unique formulations. Of course if you suffer from frequent muscle cramps, it's advisable to consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new supplement regimen to determine the best option for your specific needs – but with the right approach, you can find relief and enjoy a more comfortable, cramp-free life.</p> <p><em><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2023/10/CrampezePackaging_1280.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="520" /></em></p> <p><em>All images: Supplied.</em></p> <p><em>This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Crampeze.</em></p>

Body

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Concerns for seniors in shift to cashless society

<p>Experts have voiced their concerns that senior Aussies will be left behind as the banking industry continues to move away from using cash.</p> <p>National Seniors Australia chief operating officer Chris Grice said there has been a "big shift to getting people off cash", as many financial institutions favour digital transactions. </p> <p>While this shift is geared towards leaning into technological and advancements and making things as convenient as possible, there are worries that older Aussies will be left struggling with the change. </p> <p>"The feedback we're getting it is not as easy as, you know, just tap and go and away you go," Mr Grice told <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/today/commonwealth-bank-statement-on-claims-of-cashless-branches/63ed8948-8dbc-40a9-a2cc-a58b2b94255e" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Today</em></a>.</p> <p>"Some of these regional communities in particular, have challenges around internet access."</p> <p>While cash will still be readily available, Mr Grice warned that people trying to access their cash could face increasing transaction fees at ATMs. </p> <p>Meanwhile,  Commonwealth Bank has responded to reports that it has increased the number of "cashless" branches, where a general banking teller is not provided to service customers, saying Cash withdrawals and deposits are available at all Commonwealth Bank branches and Specialist Centres."</p> <p>They went on to say that Specialist Centres, for people who require a face-to-face service, will remain in "major metropolitan locations".</p> <p>There are fears that a growing number of cashless branches across the entire banking industry would disadvantage older Australians who rely on cash as their primary form of banking, leaving many wonder how they will access their money given the limitations. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Money & Banking

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How 1920s high society fashion pushed gender boundaries through ‘freaking’ parties

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dominic-janes-347508">Dominic Janes</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/keele-university-1012">Keele University</a></em></p> <p>The 1920s brought about a rise in androgynous fashion among a high society set that broke boundaries and caused controversy. This drew on a subculture that had existed for decades, perhaps centuries, but after the first world war gender-bending fashions became front page news.</p> <p>It was a time of upheaval. Established regimes were toppling across Europe. In Britain, women over 30 had finally been given the vote and there was widespread concern about the new hedonism of their younger “flapper” sisters.</p> <p>There was also a new market for novels, such as Radcylffe Hall’s <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2019/4/1/radclyffe-hall-well-of-loneliness-legacy#:%7E:text=On%20November%2016%2C%201928%2C%20Biron,its%20immediate%20removal%20from%20circulation.">banned book</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20221121-the-well-of-loneliness-the-most-corrosive-book-ever">The Well of Loneliness</a> (1928) that focused on, rather than merely hinted at, queer lives. Daring male university students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwab036">started wearing makeup</a>. One of these was <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/cecil-beaton-an-introduction">Cecil Beaton</a>, the future celebrity photographer, who <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/ht24wj66t">delighted in cross-dressing</a> both on stage and off.</p> <p>Beaton became part of a set of high society socialites who were known as the “<a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/cecil-beaton-bright-young-things/exhibition">bright young things</a>”. They were often socially privileged, many of them were queer and their antics were <a href="https://djtaylorwriter.co.uk/page10.htm">widely followed in the media</a> with a mixture of horror and fascination.</p> <p>The “things” took partying seriously and paid great attention to their outfits. They dressed to transgress. In 1920, high society magazine <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/freak-to-chic-9781350172609/">The Sketch reported</a> that what it termed “freak parties” were suddenly in vogue with the younger set.</p> <p>Before the war, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/freak-to-chic-9781350172609/">articles had appeared</a> condemning unusual styles as “freak fashions”, but suddenly “<a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/freak-to-chic-9781350248083/">freaking</a>” was all the rage.</p> <p>Until this point, menswear had been heavily circumscribed. Black was the default colour for formal occasions and tweed for informal settings. But suddenly there was a circle who were keen to try out new looks, no matter how bizarre – or queer-looking – the results.</p> <h2>Queer parties, queer fashions</h2> <p>These styles were often worn as fancy dress, but they borrowed looks from marginalised queer communities such as feminine-styled queer men, some of whom made a living by selling sexual services.</p> <p>One such man was Quentin Crisp, whose memoir <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/324730/the-naked-civil-servant-by-quentin-crisp/">The Naked Civil Servant</a> (1968) was dramatised as a <a href="http://www.crisperanto.org/news/NCSusa2007.html">pioneering TV drama</a>.</p> <p>Another source of inspiration was the <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3682948.html">freak show</a>. These displays, horrifying from a 21st century point of view, were a popular element of circuses at the time. They featured such stock characters as the muscled giant and the bearded lady, some of whom <a href="https://www.thehumanmarvels.com/annie-jones-the-esau-woman/">became celebrities</a> in their own right.</p> <p>Masquerade and fancy dress parties had long been a feature of urban social life, but the bright young things innovated in that they impressed less through the expense of their outfits and more through their queer implications.</p> <p>Many such parties were themed, such as a Greek-themed freak party that was hailed as the greatest “Dionysia” of 1929 (Dionysus being the Greek god of sex and pleasure). Androgynous and cross dressing looks were common and men such as Beaton designed their own frocks.</p> <p>In July 1927, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Her-Husband-was-a-Woman-Womens-Gender-Crossing-in-Modern-British-Popular/Oram/p/book/9780415400077">one magazine declared</a> that an event attended by Beaton’s friend Stephen Tennant dressed as the Queen of Sheba and bisexual actress Tallulah Bankhead dressed as a male tennis star was: “one of the queerest of all the ‘freak’ parties ever given in London”.</p> <h2>The party’s over</h2> <p>The Wall Street crash of 1929 led to a rapid shift in public mood. Economic recession led people to favour sobriety over flamboyance. Money for the parties ran out and media attention faltered.</p> <p>Gender-bending style vanished from the fashionable arena, although it persisted on inner cities streets. Quentin Crisp’s mode of <a href="https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/british-dandies">queer dandyism</a> was daring for its time, but it only became extraordinary by virtue of his unwillingness to modernise.</p> <p>Seemingly he, and pretty much he alone, continued to wear the queer looks of the interwar period into the television age. He duly <a href="http://www.crisperanto.org/news/AnEnglishmanInNYmovie.html">became a transatlantic celebrity</a> late in life when he became the inspiration for Sting’s song <a href="https://www.sting.com/discography/album/189/Singles">Englishman in New York</a> in 1987.</p> <p>Cecil Beaton, meanwhile, became a leading photographer for Vogue magazine and was commissioned to take official <a href="https://www.rct.uk/cecil-beaton-1904-80">coronation portraits of Elizabeth II</a>. He also designed the fantastic dresses worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/in-cecil-beatons-show-stopping-designs-for-my-fair-lady-lies-a-story-of-tantrums-and-top-hats">My Fair Lady</a> (1964), inspired by the gowns he and his compatriots had dreamed up for themselves some 40 years earlier.<!-- 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/205893/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/dominic-janes-347508">Dominic Janes</a>, Professor of Modern History, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/keele-university-1012">Keele University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty </em><em>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/how-1920s-high-society-fashion-pushed-gender-boundaries-through-freaking-parties-205893">original article</a>.</em></p>

Beauty & Style

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Can you lend a paw this tax time to help cats in need?

<p>With a proud reputation of caring for cats for more than 60 years, the Cat Protection Society of NSW runs Sydney’s only no-kill shelter just for cats, as well as providing feline welfare programs to help cats and the people who love them. </p> <p>Cat Protection began in 1958 as a small group of people dedicated to reducing the number of street cats and while our organisation has grown over the years, our vision remains the same; that every cat deserves a loving and responsible home.</p> <p>Over the years, Cat Protection has helped literally hundreds of thousands of cats, kittens, and people. We’ve led the way in setting the standards for best-practice feline sheltering, and our health and welfare services extend far beyond our adoption centre. And while technology means we can offer a great range of free cat care resources online, we’ve never lost our human touch and we still help thousands of people every year with advice and tips on cat care by phone or in-person, at no cost. </p> <p>Our subsidised desexing, vaccination and microchipping programs promote cat health and welfare in the community and our newest program, Adopt-a-Stray, offers a complete and affordable package for those who wish to fully welcome a street cat into their heart and home. </p> <p>What sets us apart from many other animal shelters is our holistic approach to each individual cat or human client. Cats are not given a time limit, although most are adopted within days or weeks. Every cat is individually assessed and provided with a care plan to meet their unique needs. If they need complex surgery, allergy trials or behavioural interventions our highly qualified team will work with veterinarians and specialists to ensure the cat gets everything they need to set them on the path to living their best life.</p> <p>A kind person found Snake, a four-week-old sickly orphaned kitten. In addition to cat flu, our vets identified corneal scarring in his right eye, a blocked tear duct, and an adhesion on his eyelid restricting the normal movement of his third eyelid. Treatment resolved the flu and improved his eye, but Snake will live with limited vision in that eye. This has not dampened his playfulness or zest for life.</p> <p>As well as poor physical health, orphaned kittens miss out on the important lessons of being a cat from their mum and siblings, and this can lead to behavioural issues. Where we can, we will make sure such kittens get to join a stepfamily, but in cases such as Snake’s, illness means that isn’t always possible. It is then up to our human team to work with these little ones to help them learn to navigate the world with good manners!</p> <p>In contrast, Banjo had all the behavioural benefits of his brother but alas at seven weeks of age Banjo weighed only 560 grams while his brother Clancy weighed 900 grams!  </p> <p>Banjo was diagnosed with a rare form of congenital hypothyroidism. Because his condition was diagnosed early, his prognosis is very good. He was started on a medication called Thyroxine and went back into foster care so that we could monitor his progress and adjust the dose of his medication as necessary with follow-up blood tests. After six weeks in foster care, Banjo graduated to the adoption centre. He will need to be on Thyroxine for the rest of his life, but that didn’t daunt his new family who’ve told us Banjo is now thriving in his loving forever home.</p> <p>From individualised TLC and veterinary care for every cat and kitten, to helping human clients resolve cat challenges (from furniture scratching to strata bans) and strategic research and advocacy on behalf of people and cats, Cat Protection’s impact is so much greater than our budget. </p> <p>As an independent registered charity for cats, we’re dependent on donations and bequests to do our work. We are compliant, open and transparent; on our website you can see our audited annual reports for details of what we do and what it costs.</p> <p>We have a strict “no harassment” fundraising policy which means under no circumstances will your information be sold on, and we do not employ pressure-tactics or door-to-door solicitations. </p> <p>We don’t spend money paying fundraising companies to ring you at dinner time asking for money or send you five-page long letters insisting you give more. And we never will. </p> <p>Donations are invested in helping our feline friends and nurturing the unique bond between cats and people. Your generosity will mean that we can continue to help thousands of cats and people each year.</p> <p>If you can lend a paw, please <a href="https://www.givenow.com.au/catprotectionsocietynsw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make your tax-deductible donation here</a>! </p> <p>For general advice on cat care and everything feline, call the Cat Protection Society of NSW on 02 9557 4818 or visit <a href="https://catprotection.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">catprotection.org.au</a>  </p> <p><em>Images: Supplied.</em></p> <p><em>This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with the <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Cat Protection Society of NSW.</span></em></p>

Family & Pets

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Tiredness of life: the growing phenomenon in western society

<p>Molly was 88 years old and in good health. She had outlived two husbands, her siblings, most of her friends and her only son. </p> <p>“I don’t have any meaningful relationships left, dear,” she told me. “They’ve all died. And you know what? Underneath it all, I want to leave this world too.”</p> <p>Leaning a little closer, as though she was telling me a secret, she continued: "Shall I tell you what I am? I’m strong. I can admit to myself and to you that there’s nothing left for me here. I’m more than ready to leave when it’s my time. In fact, it can’t come quickly enough."</p> <p>I’ve <a href="https://theconversation.com/loneliness-loss-and-regret-what-getting-old-really-feels-like-new-study-157731">interviewed</a> many older people for research. Every so often, I’m struck by the sincerity with which some people feel that their life is completed. They seem tired of being alive. </p> <p>I’m a member of of the European <a href="https://research.ugent.be/web/result/project/6d511516-39ad-4c2e-ad46-44d5ce25ca29/details/en">Understanding Tiredness of Life in Older People Research Network</a>, a group of geriatricians, psychiatrists, social scientists, psychologists and death scholars. We want to better understand the phenomenon and unpick what is unique about it. The network is also working on advice for politicians and healthcare practices, as well as caregiver and patient support.</p> <p>Professor of care ethics Els van Wijngaarden and colleagues in the Netherlands <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615002889">listened to a group of older people</a> who were not seriously ill, yet felt a yearning to end their lives. The key issues they identified in such people were: aching loneliness, pain associated with not mattering, struggles with self-expression, existential tiredness, and fear of being reduced to a completely dependent state.</p> <p>This need not be the consequence of a lifetime of suffering, or a response to intolerable physical pain. Tiredness of life also seems to arise in people who consider themselves to have lived fulfilling lives.</p> <p>One man of 92 told the network’s researchers: "You have no effect on anything. The ship sets sail and everyone has a job, but you just sail along. I am cargo to them. That’s not easy. That’s not me. Humiliation is too strong a word, but it is bordering on it. I simply feel ignored, completely marginalised."</p> <p>Another man said: "Look at the condition of those old ladies in the building opposite. Gaunt and half-dead, pointlessly driven around in a wheelchair … It has nothing to do with being human anymore. It is a stage of life I simply don’t want to go through."</p> <h2>A unique suffering</h2> <p>The American novelist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/review/07gord.html">Philip Roth wrote</a> that “old age is not a battle, old age is a massacre”. If we live long enough, we can lose our identity, physical capabilities, partner, friends and careers. </p> <p>For some people, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ageing-and-society/article/abs/gradual-separation-from-the-world-a-qualitative-exploration-of-existential-loneliness-in-old-age/5567288AD35DFB878F3F756FF233FB1C">this elicits</a> a deep-rooted sense that life has been stripped of meaning – and that the tools we need to rebuild a sense of purpose are irretrievable.</p> <p>Care professor Helena Larsson and colleagues in Sweden have <a href="https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12877-017-0533-1.pdf#:%7E:text=This%20study%20is%20part%20of%20a%20larger%20research,was%20analysed%20using%20Hsiehand%20Shannon%E2%80%99s%20conventional%20content%20analysis.">written about</a> a gradual “turning out of the lights” in old age. They argue that people steadily let go of life, until they reach a point where they are ready to turn off the outside world. Larsson’s team raises the question of whether this might be inevitable for us all. </p> <p>Of course, this sort of suffering shares characteristics (it’s depressing and painful) with anguish we encounter at other points in life. But it’s not the same. Consider the existential suffering that might arise from a terminal illness or recent divorce. In these examples, part of the suffering is connected to the fact that there is more of life’s voyage to make – but that the rest of the journey feels uncertain and no longer looks the way we fantasised it would. </p> <p>This sort of suffering is often tied to mourning a future we feel we should have had, or fearing a future we are uncertain about. One of the distinctions in tiredness of life is that there is no desire for, or mourning of, a future; only a profound sense that the journey is over, yet drags on painfully and indefinitely.</p> <h2>The global view</h2> <p>In countries where euthanasia and assisted suicide are <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n147">legal</a>, doctors and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2021.2013981?casa_token=XEzfqjWH8uUAAAAA:GD6c6mZEv7q9eq2fqfSNcrbGWYD1-0ehOU3tTTJ2Zbnyraf3VvdvQcIRXF847Dp6T9k_yWctt3E">researchers are debating</a> whether tiredness of life meets the threshold for the sort of <a href="http://www.bioethics.org.au/Resources/Online%20Articles/Opinion%20Pieces/2201%20Tired%20of%20Life.pdf">unceasing emotional suffering</a> that grants people the right to euthanasia. </p> <p>The fact that this problem is common enough for researchers to debate it may suggest that modern life has shut older people out of western society. Perhaps elders are <a href="https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/703688/">no longer revered</a> for their wisdom and experience. But it’s not inevitable. In Japan, age is seen as a spring or rebirth after a busy period of working and raising children. One study found older adults in Japan showed <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3183740/#R34">higher scores on personal growth</a> compared with midlife adults, whereas the opposite age pattern was found in the US.</p> <p>Surgeon and medical professor <a href="https://mh.bmj.com/content/41/2/145">Atul Gawande</a> argues that in western societies, medicine has created the ideal conditions for transforming ageing into a “long, slow fade”. He believes quality of life has been overlooked as we channel our resources towards biological survival. This is unprecedented in history. Tiredness of life may be evidence of the cost.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/tiredness-of-life-the-growing-phenomenon-in-western-society-203934" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Caring

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Why reading books is good for society, wellbeing and your career

<p>TikTok allows video up to 10 minutes, but says surveys show almost half its users are stressed by anything <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/tiktok-wants-longer-videos-like-not">longer than a minute</a>. An Instagram video can be up to 90 seconds, but experts reckon the ideal time to maximise engagement is <a href="https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-reel-length/">less than 15 seconds</a>. Twitter doubled the length of tweets in 2017 to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/30/twitters-doubling-of-character-count-from-140-to-280-had-little-impact-on-length-of-tweets/?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE7Ou03VeQ_VU9SZA2zdsZOLh6KKtVl5dj2ti0R3YgY_T_G9h7s3Ry9GOzQNecfcZbs_ko9I9YGELzKTM_2Ox9PTglVrcKM_xbBwh23aBAm12Q126TLMvre8SujfV3KkZnRIisVGD19Q3j5uP-P3RMMJuATO_ooLJgkF19ECOs3g">280 characters</a>, but the typical length is more like <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/10/many-characters-tweet-ask-experts/">33 characters</a>.</p> <p>It’s easy to get sucked into short and sensational content. But if you’re worried this may be harming your attention span, you <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media">should be</a>. There’s solid evidence that so many demands on our attention make us <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/news/media-release/short-attention-spans-linked-to-social-media-distress/">more stressed</a>, and that the endless social comparison <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-social-media-makes-you-feel-bad-and-what-to-do-about-it-197691">makes us feel worse</a> about ourselves.</p> <p>For better mental health, read a book.</p> <p>Studies show a range of psychological benefits from book-reading. Reading fiction can increase your capacity for <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1239918">empathy</a>, through the process of seeing the world through a relatable character. Reading has been found to reduce stress as effectively as <a href="https://clutejournals.com/index.php/TLC/article/view/1117">yoga</a>. It is being prescribed for depression – a treatment <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-95164-009">known as bibliotherapy</a>.</p> <p>Book-reading is also a strong marker of curiosity – a <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-business-case-for-curiosity">quality prized</a> by employers such as Google. Our research shows reading is as strongly associated with curiosity as interest in science, and more strongly than mathematical ability.</p> <p>And it’s not just that curious minds are more likely to read because of a thirst for knowledge and understanding. That happens too, but our research has specifically been to investigate the role of reading in the development of curious minds.</p> <h2>Tracking reading and curiosity</h2> <p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00036846.2023.2174943">findings</a> come from analysing data from the <a href="https://www.lsay.edu.au/aboutlsay">Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth</a>, which tracks the progress of young Australians from the age of 15 till 25.</p> <p>Longitudinal surveys provide valuable insights by surveying the same people – in this case a group of about 10,000 young people. Every year for ten years they are asked about their achievements, aspirations, education, employment and life satisfaction.</p> <p>There have been five survey cohorts since 1998, the most recent starting in 2016. We analysed three of them – those beginning in 2003, 2006 and 2009, looking at the data up to age 20, at which age most have a job or are looking for one.</p> <p>The survey data is rich enough to develop proxy measures of reading and curiosity levels. It includes participants’ scores in the OECD <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment</a> tests for reading, mathematics and science ability. There are survey questions about time spent reading for pleasure, time reading newspapers or magazines, and library use.</p> <p>To measure curiosity, we used respondents’ answers to questions about their interest in the following:</p> <ul> <li>learning new things</li> <li>thinking about why the world is in the state it is</li> <li>finding out more about things you don’t understand</li> <li>finding out about a new idea</li> <li>finding out how something works.</li> </ul> <p>We used statistical modelling to control for environmental and demographic variables and distinguish the effect of reading activity as a teenager on greater curiosity as a young adult. This modelling gives us confidence that reading is not just correlated with curiosity. Reading books helps build curiosity.</p> <h2>Gloom and doom-scrolling</h2> <p>Does this mean if you’re older that it’s too late to start reading? No. Our results relate to young people because the data was available. No matter what your age, deep reading has benefits over social-media scrolling.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Dopamine-Nation-Finding-Balance-Indulgence/dp/152474672X">short-term dopamine rush</a> of scrolling on a device is an elusive promise. It depletes rather than uplifts us. Our limbic brain – the part of the brain associated with our emotional and behavioural responses – remains trapped in a spiral of pleasure-seeking.</p> <p>Studies show a high correlation between <a href="https://academic.oup.com/hcr/article-abstract/44/1/3/4760433">media multitasking and attention problems</a> due to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315167275/emotional-cognitive-overload-anne-fran%C3%A7oise-rutkowski-carol-saunders">cognitive overload</a>. The effect is most evident among young people, who have grown up with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11126-017-9535-6">social media overexposure</a>.</p> <p>US social psychologist <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00296-x">Jonathan Haidt</a> is among the researchers <a href="https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/social-media-mental-illness-epidemic">warning</a> that high social media use is a major contributor to declining mental health for teenage girls, "Boys are doing badly too, but their rates of depression and anxiety are not as high, and their increases since 2011 are smaller."</p> <p>Why this “giant, obvious, international, and gendered cause”? Haidt writes, "Instagram was founded in 2010. The iPhone 4 was released then too — the first smartphone with a front-facing camera. In 2012 Facebook bought Instagram, and that’s the year that its user base exploded. By 2015, it was becoming normal for 12-year-old girls to spend hours each day taking selfies, editing selfies, and posting them for friends, enemies, and strangers to comment on, while also spending hours each day scrolling through photos of other girls and fabulously wealthy female celebrities with (seemingly) vastly superior bodies and lives."</p> <p>In 2020 Haidt published <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00296-x">research</a> showing girls are more vulnerable to “fear of missing out” and the aggression that social media tends to amplify. Since then he’s become even more convinced of the correlation.</p> <p>Social media, by design, is addictive.</p> <p>With TikTok, for example, videos start automatically, based on what the algorithm already knows about you. But it doesn’t just validate your preferences and feed you opinions that confirm your biases. It also varies the content so you don’t know what is coming next. This is the same trick that keeps gamblers addicted.</p> <h2>Tips to get back into books</h2> <p>If you are having difficulty choosing between your phone and a book, here’s a simple tip <a href="https://www.katymilkman.com/book">proven by behavioural science</a>. To change behaviour it also helps to change your environment.</p> <p>Try the following:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Carry a book at all times, or leave books around the house in convenient places.</p> </li> <li> <p>Schedule reading time into your day. <a href="https://howtoliveameaningfullife.com/you-should-read-everyday-but-for-how-long-the-science-says/?fbclid=IwAR03mbaXPpM19aoaO4p1AsTD0EvZsLgFQJy0RoJo8JTx9g1Q6ukh4_FEbIU">20 minutes is enough</a>. This reinforces the habit and ensures regular immersion in the book world.</p> </li> <li> <p>If you’re not enjoying a book, try another. Don’t force yourself.</p> </li> </ul> <p>You’ll feel better for it – and be prepared for a future employer asking you what books you’re reading.</p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-reading-books-is-good-for-society-wellbeing-and-your-career-200447" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Books

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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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Dental care for cats

<p>Do you brush your cat’s teeth?</p> <p>Probably not. You’re not alone either. Most cat owners, even cat-owning veterinarians, choose not to risk furry fury or injury to themselves and avoid brushing their cat’s teeth. We would all prefer not to offend our feline friends by poking around in their mouths, even if it may be for their benefit – just try telling your cat flossing is for their own good! But we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of feline dental care. Tooth and gum problems don’t just cause pain to your cat but can lead to serious systemic disease.</p> <p>Estimates vary, but all agree that most cats will get some form of dental disease in their lifetime. Cats can get a variety of problems such as build-up of tartar, fractured teeth or gum disease that can lead to infection and subsequent tooth loss and pain. But with proper care of your cat’s teeth, you can help to avoid some of these problems. </p> <p><strong>What does dental disease look like?</strong>  </p> <p>You might notice:</p> <ul> <li>Bad breath </li> <li>Loss of appetite </li> <li>Yellow/brown tartar on teeth</li> <li>Reddened or bleeding gums </li> <li>Drooling </li> <li>Missing teeth </li> <li>Pawing at the mouth</li> </ul> <p>If your cat has any of these symptoms, or you have difficulty examining your cat’s mouth, you should consult your veterinarian as soon as possible. Bacteria from plaque can cause infection in your cat’s vital organs: dental health is essential to good health.</p> <p><strong>Dental diets and treats </strong>  </p> <p>A relatively simple way to reduce the risk of tooth problems is to use specifically designed cat foods, such as Hill's Science Diet Oral Care. These cat biscuits help to reduce plaque and tartar, leaving your cat’s teeth cleaner and their breath fresher. </p> <p>Don’t suddenly change your cat’s diet, as this can upset their stomach. Any dietary changes should be slowly transitioned, and biscuits such as Oral Care, which are complete and balanced from a nutritional standpoint, can form a part of your cat’s normal daily diet. Treats such as Greenies are designed with dental care in mind and can also help prevent dental disease. </p> <p>Some people like to give their cats raw bones but be very careful as these can shatter, and they can present a choking hazard. You should never let your cat eat bones unsupervised. There are other risks associated with raw meat, so consult your veterinarian if this is something you’re considering for your cat.</p> <p><strong>Brushing your cat’s teeth</strong> </p> <p>Depending on your cat’s temperament, brushing your cat’s teeth can be an option. It’s important to consult your vet first, as your cat’s dental health needs to be considered when it comes to whether, how, and how often you brush your cat’s teeth. </p> <p>Your vet or vet nurse will be able to show you how to brush your cat’s teeth in a stress-free way (but remember, some cats simply won’t tolerate it at all). It is best to start gradually, using a pet finger toothbrush or gauze around your finger to familiarise your cat with the feeling of having their gums and teeth touched. </p> <p>Be sure to provide positive reinforcement by using treats or toys. Over time, more teeth can be brushed, and pet toothpaste can be incorporated to increase the effectiveness of brushing. NEVER use human toothpaste; it will make your cat sick.</p> <p>Tooth brushing is something many cats will not enjoy. If your cat seems stressed during brushing, don’t persist. </p> <p><strong>Water additives</strong></p> <p>There are also products on the market that can be safely added to your cat’s water to decrease plaque and tartar build-up. However, it is important to slowly introduce these to ensure your cat still drinks enough water with these additives. </p> <p><strong>Regular veterinary dental clean</strong> </p> <p>Yearly dental health checks are highly recommended and are easy to schedule with your cat’s yearly vaccination and general health check. Senior cats should have six-monthly check-ups.</p> <p>If your cat has early-stage dental disease, your vet might recommend a ‘scale and polish’ under general anaesthesia. During this process, vets will thoroughly remove tartar using an ultrasonic scaler and polish any unevenness of the tooth surface. If your cat has chipped teeth or baby teeth that haven’t fallen out, they might also need extractions. </p> <p>Follow your veterinarian’s advice after any dental procedure as your cat might not be able to eat normally for a little while afterwards. </p> <p>Even if brushing your cat’s teeth is out of the question, you can protect your cat’s pearly whites with regular dental check-ups, a scale and polish when needed and a good diet, which will also help to keep your cat’s breath sweet, and their mouth and body in optimal health.</p> <p>For general advice on cat care and everything feline, call the Cat Protection Society of NSW on 02 9557 4818 or visit their website, <a href="https://catprotection.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">catprotection.org.au</a> </p> <p><em>Images: Supplied by Cat Protection Society of NSW</em></p> <p><em>This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with the <a href="https://catprotection.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cat Protection Society of NSW</a>. </em></p>

Family & Pets

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Swapping stamp duty for land tax would push down house prices but push up apartment prices, new modelling finds

<p>In the state budget, NSW have announced a switch from stamp duty to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-to-phase-out-stamp-duty-introduce-property-tax-20220612-p5at3p.html">land tax</a>.</p> <p>It will become the second Australian jurisdiction to do so, with the ACT halfway through a <a href="https://www.treasury.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1618407/cops-final-report.pdf">20-year</a> switchover.</p> <p>Homebuyers who accept the offer will be taxed annually on the value of their land, instead of hit with an upfront fee (that averaged $50,000 for Sydney in 2018) when they buy.</p> <p>Once they have accepted, their property will be out of the stamp duty system and subject only to land tax for future owners.</p> <p>It’s become conventional wisdom to say that such a revenue-neutral switch would <a href="https://www.treasury.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-10/FFR%20Final%20Report%20-%20200828%20%281%29.pdf">boost productivity</a>.</p> <p>Why? Moving house sets in motion a chain of transactions: residents engage lawyers to transfer titles, real estate agents to manage the property sale, removalists to transport possessions, and so on.</p> <p>Stamp duties compound these costs, by adding a significant, additional layer of taxation, which in some states makes up 80% of the total cost of moving house.</p> <p>Land tax, in contrast, is one of the least-damaging taxes. It encourages land owners to put land to its <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/publication/understanding-the-economy-wide-efficiency-and-incidence-of-major-australian-taxes">highest-value use</a>.</p> <p>In a landmark <a href="https://www.copsmodels.com/ftp/workpapr/g-330.pdf">modelling exercise</a> completed this month, my team at the Victoria University Centre of Policy Studies finds that the productivity gains are large by the standards of tax swaps.</p> <p>After 20 years, replacing stamp duty with a land tax would boost national income by A$0.30 for each dollar of revenue swapped, or up to $720 per household if implemented Australia-wide, about 0.34% of annual gross domestic product.</p> <p>Of greater interest for homeowners and buyers is what it would do to prices.</p> <h2>Houses versus apartments</h2> <p>Broadly, we find that the switch would put downward pressure on prices, but not for every type of home.</p> <p>Across the market as a whole, we expect downward pressure on the price paid by buyers of about 4.7%, and downward pressure on the price received by sellers of about 0.1%.</p> <p>But for houses, we expect much stronger downward pressure than the average suggests.</p> <p>We expect the price paid by house buyers to fall by about 7.6%, and the price received by sellers to fall 3%.</p> <p>Interestingly, for apartments we expect movements in the other direction, pushing up the price paid by buyers by 2%, and pushing up the price received by sellers by 6.4%.</p> <h2>What’s so different about apartments?</h2> <p>Why would the switch put downward pressure on the price of houses but upward pressure on the price of apartments?</p> <p>It is because of how two offsetting effects play out.</p> <p>One is that higher land taxes depress land prices. Buyers who know they will be lumbered with future bills find their purchases less valuable. This effect is much bigger on house prices than apartment prices, because houses occupy more land on average.</p> <p>The other effect is that removing stamp duty not only removes an impost on the current buyer, but also removes an impost that will have to be paid when the current buyer sells, and when the subsequent buyer sells, and so on, making resale more valuable to the current buyer than it would have been.</p> <p>For properties that aren’t turned over often this effect isn’t very important, but for properties that are turned over frequently, it becomes significant.</p> <p>Apartments are turned over twice as frequently as houses, meaning that for apartments the upward effect on prices from removing stamp duty overwhelms the downward effect from imposing land tax.</p> <h2>Much depends on exactly what’s proposed</h2> <p>It would be possible to lessen this upward pressure on apartment prices by imposing higher land taxes on higher density housing, an idea canvassed by the <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/review/the-australias-future-tax-system-review/publications">Henry Tax Review</a> in 2010. Planning and zoning rules could also play a role.</p> <p>Other policy design decisions could have other effects on prices. Our modelling is based on an immediate swap of stamp duty for land tax.</p> <p>This is not the same as the NSW government’s opt-in proposal, which could have different price consequences to the policy we modelled.</p> <p>The NSW government is also reported to be considering excluding the most <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/stamp-duty-move-puts-pressure-on-other-states-20220613-p5ataj.html">expensive 20%</a> of properties from the switchover, so it can continue to collect stamp duties on high-value transfers.</p> <p>In future work we plan to extend our modelling beyond a simple swap of stamp duty and land tax.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/swapping-stamp-duty-for-land-tax-would-push-down-house-prices-but-push-up-apartment-prices-new-modelling-finds-184381" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Real Estate

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When pets are family, the benefits extend into society

<p>There is a growing global trend to consider pets as part of the family. In fact, millions of people around the world love their pets, enjoying their companionship, going for walks, playing and even talking to them. And there is evidence suggesting that attachment to pets is good for human health and even helps build community.</p> <p>More and more often, animals are included in family events and become important to all members of the family. This can be particularly significant in single-parent families, where <a href="https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2214.2001.00202.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a pet can be an important companion to children</a>. Children with pets may have higher levels of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2752/089279306785593801" target="_blank" rel="noopener">empathy</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2009.01296.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">self-esteem</a> compared to those who do not have pets. Thinking of pets as family members can actually make the chores associated with pet care less stressful than they are for those who consider pets as property. Spending more time caring for a pet increases attachment to that animal which in turn <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2018.1505269" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduces stress in owners</a>.</p> <p>In the research my colleagues and I have done on <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3417/3/4/75/htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aging and social participation</a>, we found considerable analysis showing that interactions involving pets, especially if we care about them, can have a health-protective effect. Zooeyia (pronounced zoo-AY-uh) is the idea that pets, also known as companion animals, can be <a href="https://www.jabfm.org/content/28/4/526" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good for human health</a>. In fact, pet owners in Germany and Australia were found to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-5072-z" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visit their doctor 15 per cent fewer times annually than non-pet owners</a>.</p> <h2>Healthy, emotional connections</h2> <p>Many health benefits to humans occur when there is an emotional attachment to pets. And we tend to care the most for animals that live with us. For example, a study that looked at attachment to dogs found that people tended to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/089279306785415466" target="_blank" rel="noopener">care about their house dogs more than those that lived in the yard</a>. Higher levels of attachment to dogs has been associated with a greater likelihood of walking the dog and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnw051" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spending more time on those walks as compared with those with a weaker bond to their dogs</a>.</p> <p>Sharing your life with a pet has been associated with a decreased risk of <a href="https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00005792-201703310-00028" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coronary artery disease, a reduction in stress levels and increased physical activity (especially through dog walking)</a>. The presence of a pet during stressful activities has been shown to <a href="https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Citation/1998/01000/SOCIAL_INTERACTION_AND_CARDIOVASCULAR_REACTIVITY.52.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lower the blood pressure of couples taking part in a stressful task</a>. In fact, <a href="http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/12672376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">levels of beta-endorphin, oxytocin and dopamine, among other markers, increased in both humans and their dogs</a> during caring interactions, demonstrating that time spent together is physiologically beneficial for both species. And owning a pet has been associated with an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000001214" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improved cardiovascular disease survival among older adults (aged 65 to 84 years old) being treated for hypertension</a>.</p> <h2>Pets as family and community members</h2> <p>Because pets are considered family members by many people, the loss of a dog or cat is often a cause for deep grief. A missing or dead pet is hard for many to replace because the relationship between the person and pet was specific to those individuals. The attachment between humans and animals is often so strong that it is common to <a href="https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.26.3.udj040fw2gj75lqp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mourn in a way that is very similar to the feelings and behaviours associated with the loss of a human family member</a>.</p> <p>The bond between humans and animals is not just good for human health, it can also help <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122085" target="_blank" rel="noopener">build community</a>. People with pets often find that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.01.017" target="_blank" rel="noopener">activities with their companion animal creates connections with other people</a>. Social networks that are developed based on shared concern over the welfare of animals can lead to increased human-human interaction, as well as activities involving pets (e.g. dog-walking clubs). Walking a dog gets people out of private spaces, which can be isolating, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2015.04.140254" target="_blank" rel="noopener">into public areas where interactions with neighbors and other walkers are possible</a>.</p> <h2>Protecting pets</h2> <p>Societies create laws and institutions to protect companion animals from cruelty and neglect. In most jurisdictions, regulation of shelters and pounds has not evolved to reflect the beloved status of many pets, and instead consider pets as property. If a lost pet is not reunited with an owner within a few days it can be <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90a22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sold to a new family, to a research lab, or be euthanized</a>. However, some countries, such as <a href="https://helpanimalsindia.org/news/library/saving-indias-street-dogs-from-abc-to-arv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4415/ann_12_01_16" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Italy</a> and <a href="https://eng.coa.gov.tw/theme_data.php?theme=eng_news&amp;id=481" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taiwan</a> have legislated against the euthanasia of healthy shelter animals.</p> <p>But in North America euthanasia is still common. In 2017, Humane Canada found that among the shelters they surveyed, <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cfhs/pages/427/attachments/original/1542135547/Humane_Canada_-_2017_Shelter_Statistics_-_FINAL.pdf?1542135547" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 70 per cent of lost dogs and cats were unclaimed, and tens of thousands of dogs and cats were euthanized</a>. In 2016, <a href="https://www.ccac.ca/en/facts-and-legislation/animal-data/annual-animal-data-reports.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4,308,921 animals were experimented on</a> in Canadian laboratories. Approximately <a href="https://www.animalalliance.ca/campaigns/pets-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17,000 were pet dogs and cats who were provided by shelters to research laboratories</a> and later euthanized.</p> <p>The strength of the human-animal bond has resulted in the creation of not-for-profit animal rescues whose mission is to ‘pull’ lost and abandoned animals from shelters before they are euthanized or sold for research. For example, <a href="http://marleyshope.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marley’s Hope</a> is a Nova Scotia all-breed rescue organization. The organisation also partners with the Sipekne’katik First Nation to help <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/sipekne-katik-first-nation-implementing-dog-population-control-program-1.3094215" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rehome roaming dogs as well as spay and neuter where possible</a>. The <a href="http://www.underdograilroadcanada.com/who-are-we.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Underdog Railroad</a> in Toronto, Ontario, rescues dogs and cats from high-kill shelters as well as those offered “free to a good home” online. And <a href="http://www.elderdog.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elderdog</a> provides older adults with help to care for their pets as well as rescuing abandoned older dogs.</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Humane Society International — Canada</a> assists in <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/news/releases/2018/06/spay-neuter-la-romaine-060718.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spay-neuter programs</a> as well as <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/work/endanimaltesting/qa/cosmetics_qa_canada.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advocating for</a> and rescuing animals, including in the <a href="http://www.hsi.org/issues/dog_meat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">international dog and cat meat industries</a>. They closed three South Korean dog meat farms and two slaughterhouses in 2018, rescuing 512 dogs, many of whom found homes in Canada and the USA.</p> <p>Mohandas Ghandi understood the importance of the human animal bond. In his autobiography he said “<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/gandhi/part1/117chapter.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">man’s supremacy over the lower animals meant not that the former should prey upon the latter, but that the higher should protect the lower, and that there should be mutual aid between the two</a>.” Recognizing the ways that companion animals enrich human lives, and understanding the depth of the affection between many humans and animals, may be the key to not only better health, but to improving the welfare of society as a whole.</p> <p><em><strong>This article originally appeared on The Conversation.</strong></em></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Family & Pets

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Young woman on $100k-plus salary shares her spending habits

<p dir="ltr">A woman who earns $104,600 a year has shared how she spends her lavish pay cheque. </p> <p dir="ltr">The 24-year-old producer based in Melbourne, Australia, submitted her salary and breakdown of her spending habits to Smart Women Society.</p> <p dir="ltr">The breakdown is then shared into a short clip on TikTok revealing how much money goes where.</p> <p dir="ltr">After tax, HECS and superannuation, the young woman is left with $5,468 to take home. She also has a side hustle which brings in $1,000 monthly.</p> <p dir="ltr">The woman’s main goal is to set aside at least $60,000 for a house deposit, as well as having a safety emergency fund.</p> <p dir="ltr">A breakdown of her monthly spending habits shows $1,424 on rent, $140 on bills, $40 on her phone, $50 on transport, $90 on the internet, $74 on insurance, $300 on groceries and $160 on psychologist appointments. </p> <p dir="ltr">Once she’s got the important stuff out of the way, the woman is left with $3,728 of which $700 of it goes towards her home savings and $300 to the emergency fund.</p> <p dir="ltr">The only debts she has are a $363-a-month Invisalign treatment and her $26,000 HECS which is automatically taken out from her pay. </p> <p dir="ltr">She is then left with $2,582 for “fun” stuff such as shopping and eating out. </p> <p dir="ltr">Viewers shared their suggestions to the woman saying it would be better to put more toward the home savings.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That's a lot of money spent on 'fun' - I think I would try and save $1500 for my house,” one commented.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You need to live like you actually have a mortgage now and add those extra bills into it because when you have a mortgage you don’t get 2500 a month fun,” another added.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’d be dropping an extra bit of cash into the house/emergency fund,” someone else shared.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Shutterstock</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Two amazing new stamps for QEII's jubilee

<p>To celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's historic platinum Jubilee, two new postage stamps featuring Her Majesty have been released in Australia to honour the longevity of her extraordinary 70-year reign.</p> <p>The designs feature the colour platinum, in recognition of the Jubilee. The first of the two stamps will feature a portrait of the Queen from 1962 and costs $1.10.</p> <p>The photo was taken by Dorothy Wilding, the first woman appointed as official royal photographer. Images from the photo shoot helped to create the Queen's likeness on new coins, banknotes and stamps, including in Australia, to mark her Coronation.</p> <p>The Queen is wearing the St Edwards Crown, the most important and sacred of all crowns. It was worn at the Queen's coronation on the 2nd of June, 1953 and the next person who will wear the crown is Prince Charles, as heir to the throne.</p> <p>A photograph of the Queen from 2019 is the design for the second postage stamp, taken during an event to mark the centenary of British Airways in London. This one is $3.50 and will be used for international mail.</p> <p>The Queen wears blue and a diamond and turquoise brooch, once owned by the Queen's grandmother, Queen Mary. The brooch was a wedding gift from Queen Mary's in-laws, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.</p> <p>"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the most featured person on Australian stamps, and we were the first postal authority in the Commonwealth to produce a stamp for the Queen's Birthday each year," Australia Post Group Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt said in a statement.</p> <p>Australia Post have previously released stamps to commemorate the Queen's golden and diamond jubilees.</p> <p><em>Images: Australia Post </em></p>

Beauty & Style

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The bid to stamp out puppy mills for good

<p dir="ltr">A bill to ban intensive puppy farming in NSW hits fierce opposition from the state’s peak body for dog breeders, who insist the rules are “heavy-handed” and would hurt responsible breeders. </p> <p dir="ltr">The Companion Animals Amendment (Puppy Farms) Bill in 2021, a signature policy of Animal Justice Party upper house member Emma Hurst, would limit breeders of cats and dogs to a maximum of 10 breeding females, consistent with Victorian legislation.</p> <p dir="ltr">The bill, which is being co-sponsored by independent MP Alex Greenwich in the lower house, would also limit female cats and dogs to two litters, cap the age of male dogs used for breeding at six years old, and require a ratio of one staff member to every five animals.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Puppy farms” or “puppy mills” refers to the intensive factory farming of dogs for the pet trade industry, often in huge sheds on rural properties. </p> <p dir="ltr">The problem has increased during the pandemic. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) has confirmed many intensive breeders moved across the border to NSW after Victoria passed legislation.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We’ve got these massive, large-scale puppy farms right here in NSW - somebody could have hundreds of female dogs and force them to pump out litter after litter for their entire lives,” Ms Hurst said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The pandemic puppy buying has really exploded the issue of puppy farms where people are able to make a huge amount of money because a lot of these dogs are selling for thousands of dollars each.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms Hurst said the dogs often had behavioural issues from poor socialisation and health problems from in-breeding. </p> <p dir="ltr">Dogs NSW president Lyn Brand said the legislation would affect good breeders, while not reducing underground puppy farming.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We’re happy to cooperate with eradicating puppy farms - they’re abhorrent,” Ms Brand said. “But they’re untraceable because a lot of the people who are puppy farming don’t microchip all their puppies, and they’re meeting people in car parks to hand over the puppies.”</p> <p dir="ltr">She said the limit of 10 breeding females would include animals that are not used for breeding but kept for shows - they would be disqualified from shows if desexed - and puppies that are older than 12 months. She also said limiting the number of litters could reduce genetic diversity in purebred dogs.</p> <p dir="ltr">Dogs NSW recently started a petition on Change.org, warning the bill could “prevent normal families from getting their family pet from a reputable, responsible breeder”. Ms Hurst’s response, accusing Dogs NSW of providing “false and misleading information”, was sent to everyone who signed the petition and is posted underneath.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms Hurst has also had a petition in support of the bill on her website for several months and there are nearly 43,000 signatures so far.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

Family & Pets

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