This was part of a wave of 'social realism' films:
British New Wave
50s-60s films which reinvigorated cinema
Britain today is still a society in many ways defined by class, but in the 1950s divisions were far more rigid. The 'new wave' films and the sources that inspired them gave a voice to a working-class that was for the first time gaining some economic power.
Previously, working-class characters in British cinema had largely been used for comic effect or as 'salt of the earth' cannon fodder. Here we see their lives at the centre of the action. That action, such as it is, details everyday dramas - hence 'the kitchen sink' tag. We see events through the emotional journeys of the characters.
Interestingly, only Room at the Top (d. Jack Clayton, 1958) and Look Back in Anger (d. Tony Richardson, 1959) look directly at conflict between working-class and middle-class characters.
The later films concentrate on conflicts within the working-class contrasting 'rough' (the very poor, unskilled, criminal and hedonistic - represented by characters like Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (d. Karel Reisz, 1960) and Colin Smith and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, d. Richardson, 1962) with 'respectable' (skilled, aspirational, educated and 'moral' - such as the heroes of John Schlesinger's films: Vic Brown in A Kind of Loving (1962) and the life that Billy Fisher in Billy Liar (1963) appears to lead).
The debates around class are complex. There is recognition that social change and affluence will make the system more fluid. There is also an understanding that the essentials of power will not change - the mindset that reinforces divisions is still very much there.
Murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue. Harriet Vanger disappeared over forty years ago. Her aged uncle hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist to investigate. He is aided by Lisbeth Salander; a loner, a hacker, and a supremely talented researcher.
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Programme Website: BBC Two - Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
A stellar cast including Paapa Essiedu, Tim Minchin, Benedict
Cumberbatch, David Tennant, Rory Kinnear, Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Judi
Dench, HRH the Prince of Wales.
This map shows the countries where journalists are free to report the news – and the places in which the media is most strictly controlled.
The nations with the least press freedom are Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan.
The UK is rated as having a “satisfactory situation” – worse than Germany, Ireland and Costa Rica which are all described as having a “good situation”.
The map, created for the Independent by statistics agency Statista, uses data from the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2016 World Press Freedom Index, which assessed how much freedom the media holds in 180 countries.
Press freedom around the world has fallen by nearly four per cent since last year, according to the report's measurements.
The secretary-general of RSF, Christophe Deloire, wrote in a statement that many world leaders are “developing a form of paranoia about legitimate journalism”, resulting in clampdowns on debate and independent reporting.
The country with the highest degree of press freedom is Finland, followed by the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand, which are all classed as having a "good situation" when it comes to reporting.
While Europe is still by far the continent with the highest degree of press freedom – followed by Africa, which overtook the Americas for the first time this year – it is far from perfect and the situation is worsening, according to RSF.
“The continent that respects media freedom most seemed to be on a downhill course,” RSF said in its report.
“Counter-espionage and counter-terrorist measures were misused. Laws were passed allowing mass surveillance. Conflicts of interest increased. Authorities tightened their grip on state media and sometimes privately owned media as well,” it said.
Poland has dropped 29 places in the rankings since 2015, despite still being described as “satisfactory”.
Earlier this year, the Polish government attracted criticism when it enacted a new law enabling the state to appoint management positions in public radio and television.
China is among the countries listed as having a "very serious situation" for press freedom.
Censorship and controls on press freedom in China are said to be tightening since president Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.
French journalist Ursula Gauthier was expelled from Beijing in December, after publishing an article that the government said “supported terrorism”.
Challenges to press freedom in the UK include a lack of laws guaranteeing press freedom, as well as pressure from the government following the publication of certain stories such as Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing allegations, according to a 2014 report by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
RSF has published the World Press Freedom Index annually since 2002.
'Speciesism' is the idea that being human is a good enough reason for human animals to have greater moral rights than non-human animals.
...a prejudice or bias in favour of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species.
Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, 1975
Speciesism and bigotry
Speciesism is often condemned as the same sort of bigotry as racism or sexism.
People who oppose speciesiesm say that giving human beings greater rights than non-human animals is as arbitrary (and as morally wrong) as giving white people greater rights than non-white people.
NB: Those working for racial or sexual equality often find this comparison insulting - they say that their struggle for equality has a moral and social importance that animal rights can never have.
Speciesism is common
Most people, faced with a difficult choice between a human and an animal, would probably react in a speciesist (or 'homocentric') way.
Consider this example:
A child and a dog are trapped in a fire. You can only save one of them. Which will you save?
Most people don't have to think about this for even one second.
Most people don't consider the relative moral status of the dog and the child relevant to their choice.
Society would condemn anyone who delayed in order to consider the correct moral choice.
Pure speciesism
Pure speciesism carries the idea of human superiority to the extreme of saying that the most trivial human wish is more important that the vital needs of other species... for example a pure speciesist would argue that it's ok for animals to be cruelly treated and killed to provide fur decorations for human beings to wear.
Few people take speciesism to this length. More commonly, they say that all other things being more or less equal, it's morally correct to take the human side when considering an ethical issue.
Species is not a moral factor
People who object to speciesism say that a difference of species is not a morally relevant difference - in the same way that a difference of race is not a morally relevant difference between human beings.
They say that speciesism amounts to treating morally similar individuals in morally different ways for an irrelevant reason.
Justifying speciesism
Supporters of speciesism say that there is a clear difference between humans and other species, and that this difference affects their moral status.
They argue that human beings are more self-aware, and more able to choose their own course of action than other animals. This, they say, enables them to think and act morally, and so entitles them to a higher moral status.
But the argument that there are morally relevant differences between human animals and non-human animals is not a speciesist argument, since the argument is about the particular characteristics that are being put forward to justify the different moral status of human and non-human animals.
Speciesism as 'natural'
One argument in favour of speciesism is that it is biologically natural to treat one's own species favourably. Virtually all non-human animals treat members of their own species better than those of other species.
Journalist Bryan Appleyard presents a polemic that tilts at
the current cult of optimism, of positive thinking and the relentlessly
upbeat mantras of corporations.
Optimism is trumpeted in books, from the walls
of yoga studios, the podiums of leadership conferences and in political
life, especially in the United States. The optimistic cast of mind is
key, apparently, to marital success, health and progress at work.
Pessimism
is stigmatised. But if we could only dump our current and historical
imperative to look on the bright side of life, Bryan argues, we'd all be
a lot happier.
We weren't always so positive.
Bryan points to post-war Britain, when we embraced a pessimism, a
philosophy of endurance and amiably black humour. This was reflected in
our cinema which, contrary to many Hollywood movies, embarked on a dark
celebration of the fragilities exposed by the war, with films such as
Brief Encounter.
We hear from the philosophers
Roger Scruton and John Gray on the pleasures of pessimism. Writer
Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of the American positive thinking
industry from Norman Vincent Peale's sermons to multimillion-selling
books such as Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People
and Rhonda Byrne's The Secret. Psychologist Tali Sharot explains how
optimism and pessimism drive our economy and Dragons' Den's Deborah
Meaden reveals the dangers of blind optimism in business.
Bryan,
a committed pessimist, also considers how learning to be more
optimistic could enhance his life. He meets sales, marketing and
personal growth strategist Bruce King for a class in positive thinking.
With archive including Noel Coward, Tony Blair, Peter Cook and Frank Muir.
