Bread and Roses

Review of the film "Pride" from The Guardian
featuring the song "Bread and Roses"

"Bread and Roses" is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song. It originated from a speech given by Rose Schneiderman; a line in that speech ("The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.") inspired the title of the poem Bread and Roses by James Oppenheim. The poem was first published in The American Magazine in December 1911, with the attribution line "'Bread for all, and Roses, too'—a slogan of the women in the West." The poem has been translated into other languages and has been set to music by at least three composers.

It is commonly associated with the successful textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts during January–March 1912, now often known as the "Bread and Roses strike".

The slogan pairing bread and roses, appealing for both fair wages and dignified conditions, found resonance as transcending "the sometimes tedious struggles for marginal economic advances" in the "light of labor struggles as based on striving for dignity and respect", as Robert J. S. Ross wrote in 2013. 
(more on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_Roses)

Spin out of control

Brussel on the 6 of November 2014...

If activities or events spin out of control, they change very quickly and in an uncontrolled way

cars on fire in Brussel on November the 6th

To go out of control, to get off track - déraper

• The country's economy seemed to be spinning out of control.

http://www.rtbf.be/video/detail_violences-durant-la-manifestation-nationale?id=1969097


Following the simultaneous federal elections and regional elections of 25 May 2014, Belgium has finally a new government since mid-October...the schedule is pretty good if we remember that we had to wait 536 days after the previous election to form a new government. As usual, the formation of the Belgian government led  to a strike but this time it went out of control: more than a hundred police officers were injured, the demonstration spinned out of control when dockers from Antwerpen came into action.

Catch-22

 "Between a rock and a hard place", in other words - there is no way out/solution because of the conflicting rules or pressures one is facing.

• It's a real Catch-22: to get a job you need experience, but to get experience you need a job.
• John would be hurt if she didn't invite him, but if she did, Mary wouldn't come. It was a Catch-22

Catch-22 is a satirical novel by the American author Joseph Heller.  It is about a pilot in the Second World War. It is frequently cited as one of the greatest literary works of the twentieth century.

The phrase "Catch-22" has entered the English language, referring to a type of unsolvable logic puzzle.

Pigeon holing

to classify or categorize, esp. in a rigid manner, to treat or classify according to a mental stereotype

    
to put somebody in a pigeon-hole - cataloguer quelqu'un  

• Because I had an unusual accent people were not able to put me into a pigeon-hole.
• He felt they had pigeonholed him ...        

to be pigeonholed as sth - être catalogué comme quelque chose 

• I don't want to be pigeonholed as a kids' presenter.