From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Remembering our Diggers. One important question that is too often ignored as we mark the solemn and moving occasion of Anzac Day is: what were our Diggers wearing on their feet? Natty all-leather-upper hiking-ready lace-ups? A reader was rather surprised to see this ad for funky (and expensive) footware shop Zomp.

Excuse us, Zomp, but not only are you trying to exploit memories of dead soldiers to boost your orders, you have also criminally misused an apostrophe — and that’s unforgiveable. Crikey readers take a very dim view of this. Fail.

Not really such a story? There are reports up to 1000 people may have died in a factory collapse in Bangladesh, many of them female workers and children. Cracks showed in the building on Tuesday, and the police issued an evacuation order, but workers said they had been forced to enter on Wednesday by their bosses. Many of the workers were making clothing, with the largest factory in the building, New Wave Style, making clothes for Benetton (and others).

This story is not getting a fraction of the media coverage of the Boston bombings (death toll: three). The Bangladeshi disaster is not rolling on 24 news channels here. As of 10am today, the story is not a lead item on the websites of The Herald Sun, The Sydney Morning Herald, or The Australian (the story is leading the ABC website). But then, the Boston bombings were in the US, and the victims were … well, mostly white. That seems to be how the media judges these things.

Tips would like to know from insiders in the clothing industry (and unions) — are many of our clothes here in Australia made in Bangladesh? Which retailers use Bangladeshi suppliers? Have there been concerns raised here about safety standards in Bangladesh? If we’re buying clothes that are very cheap, partly because workers’ lives are being endangered in the manufacturing of them, some of us would like to know about it. Pass on any information here.

Primary school faux pas. This was apparently “published on Wednesday in the newsletter of an inner city Brisbane primary school, in Campbell Newman’s electorate”:

Ngutana-Lui is a Catholic-run education centre that aims “to promote reconciliation, through education and to develop and enhance cultural knowledge, understanding and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”. Looks way more interesting than the excursions this Tips scribe went on at primary school (Tasmanian museum, stroking the moth-eaten possum skin). So why liken it to Jaws? 

Bu hao. There’s been quite a fuss over the University of Sydney’s decision to block a visit and speech by the Dalai Lama (some said sensitivity to Chinese authorities was behind the decision). Here’s how Crikey broke the yarn. Now we hear from a mole that some Chinese students at the uni feel they are the victims of racism and bullying. “So sensitive is this problem that although common knowledge on campus, everyone is afraid to act,” our mole said.

*Heard anything that might interest Crikey? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or use our guaranteed anonymous form