"The Century of the Self is an award-winning British television documentary series by Adam Curtis. It focuses on how the work of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, and Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have analyzed, dealt with, and controlled people.

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings. His influence on the twentieth century is generally considered profound. The series describes the propaganda that Western governments and corporations have utilized stemming from Freud's theories. ... Freud ...was the first to use psychological techniques in public relations....

"Along these general themes, The Century of the Self asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism.... It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitudes to fashion and superficiality....

"Where once the political process was about engaging people's rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a society, the documentary shows how by employing the tactics of psychoanalysis, politicians appeal to irrational, primitive impulses that have little apparent bearing on issues outside of the narrow self-interest of a consumer population./

"Paul Mazur, a Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in the 1930s, is cited as declaring "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs".

Episodes:
1. Happiness Machines (17 March 2002)
2. The Engineering of Consent (24 March 2002)
3. There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed (31 March 2002)
4. Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering (7 April 2002)

In Episode 4 the main subjects are Philip Gould and Matthew Freud, the great grandson of Sigmund, a PR consultant. They were part of the efforts during the nineties to bring the Democrats in the US and New Labour in the United Kingdom back into power. Adam Curtis explores the psychological methods they have now massively introduced into politics."

CATEGORY . Teachers should give lessons in pornography and tell pupils 'it's not all bad', experts say [U.K.] : Teachers have been encouraged to introduce pornography into the classroom, using sex education lessons to explain that porn is 'not all bad' and 'hugely diverse'. The recommendations, included in an educational guide, suggest that teachers confront 'myths' about porn and inform children as young as five about sexualisation. The guidance could have significant influence in British schools after the Government's decision to keep sex education lessons voluntary, leaving schools to devise their own ways of teaching the subject. ...The Family Education Trust's Norman Wells criticised the guide, saying: 'The intention appears to be to steer children and young people away from a belief in moral absolutes and to encourage them to think that there are no rights and wrongs when it comes to sexual expression.'....'To take a no-holds barred approach to sex education has the potential to break down pupils' natural sense of reserve and to encourage casual attitudes towards sex.' See ARTICLE