"Points of View 2026"

5 May 2026

60s

Pointed points of view.

DAVID will take any opportunity to watch The Guardian's Points of View ad - unquestionably, one of the greatest commercials of all time, so it's a delight to learn that The Guardian has reissued the original advert while drawing attention to a cameo by a future star. For it turns out that the woman lurking in a doorway as the skinhead rips past is none other than Kathy Burke... who knew? (Probably everyone – DAVID doesn't know everything, you know!)

These days, Burke is as well known for her evisceration of online trolls as she is for her occasional returns to acting, directing and the authorship of fantastic memoirs, so she's a perfect choice to front an addendum to the original film, stressing the importance of seeing the whole picture forty years on.

There was a reunion behind the camera as well as OG director Paul Weiland joined forces with directing team The Weiland Brothers who are, as you might imagine from the name, chips off the old block.

The messaging of the 1986 film is as relevant as it ever was with journalism in an existential crisis in the face of a growing authoritarian threat. We journalists haven't always made the greatest case for the survival of our trade because of a willingness to trample over other people's lives in pursuit of a story but, in reality, our role is vital.

As Kathy Burke emphasises in her piece to camera at the end, there are new threats as media owners demonstrate a callous disregard for the value of journalism provided by humans as against that churned out by AI chatbots. Ultimately, it is up to the public to determine the future of journalism, and it is hard to think of anything that makes a better case for free-thinking journalism than this brilliant take on the importance of understanding the whole story.

UK

National Newspapers