Who is being tricked by Halloween, and who is being treated? ALL Hallows' Eve has a couple of Aussie doctors scared for children's health. Gillian Porter and Nathan Grills from the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne raise their concerns about the annual confectionary binge in the latest Medical Journal of Australia. "We are tricking ourselves if we believe that we have adopted the treat of Halloween as a cultural event of our own volition," they wrote. Australians should be aware that profit-driven corporate manipulation of our cultural choices could damage our health. Instead, we should promote healthy and family-friendly events that are consistent with our own cultural identity. If the desire to celebrate this Celtic tradition is strong, we should stick to pumpkins, fruit or toys as healthier alternatives. As we consider the rising popularity of Halloween among Australian children, we should ask ourselves, Who is being tricked, and who is being treated?" - SEAN PARNELL RACING: THE Melbourne Cup of the bush, the Dunkeld Cup country race meet in Victoria's Grampians, will be off and running on November 16. The course is billed as one of the state's most picturesque and the gathering includes Fashions on the Field and a picnic atmosphere. There'll be trackside marquees and live music from Jon Peters, Darryl Widle and Nick How (2.30pm to 5pm); junior racegoers will be entertained with a jumping castle, circus activities and sports clinics. Also in the region, Run from the Hills takes place that day from Mt Avoca Winery (7km or 21.5km options; 2km for youngsters).bighillevents.com.au; country racing.com.au. - SUSAN KUROSAWA BARS: ANYONE lucky enough to be visiting Barcelona may want to consider Bodega 1900. The new restaurant-cum-vermouth bar from the Adria brothers, Albert and Ferran. Bodega "captures the spirit of the turn of the century, classic Spanish vermouth bars with a decor and food selection inspired by these iconic places and culinary traditions." The menu is all little things. Despite El Bulli's passing, the Adria brothers are still very active on the hospitality front. They now have four establishments, all in Barcelona - tapas joint Tickets, Japanese-Peruvian cuisine at Pakta, and 41, which is a cocktail bar transformed into a 41-course, avant-garde diner. - JOHN LETHLEAN CARS: LEXUS has revealed prices for its new ES range, which goes on sale next month. The large sedan, which returns after a seven-year absence, will start from $63,000 for the ES300h hybrid and run to $74,000 for the ES350 Sports Luxury, exclusive of on-road costs. The hybrid combines a 2.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor to develop 151kW while the ES350 employs a 204kW, 3.5-litre V6. The ES started at $76,500 in 2005, when it last appeared in showrooms, and Australian chief executive Sean Hanley said the entry-level positioning of the hybrid would see more buyers opting for one. Lexus recently made the 1 1/2 millionth example of the ES, generation. While previous versions were based on the Toyota Camry, the current car shares engineering with the US market Toyota Avalon. - PHILIP KING GADGETS: NZ-based IkeGPS is on a winner with its Kickstarter project Spike, which harnesses laser technology to capture, measure, map, model, share and even 3D print any object up to 183m away with a smartphone. Spike sends out a laser light pulse and a diode receives a "ping" back to measure distance. The device even calculates measurements of an object from a photo, having first calculated its distance to it. Spike's laser, compass and Bluetooth integrate with a smartphone camera and GPS and it is operated with a smartphone app. The Spike project sought $US100,000 of funds but received more than $US164,000 crowd funding. - CHRIS GRIFFITH