Don't Buy The Stereotype: White Working-Class In England Are Not All Against Multiculturalism

By Harris Beider, Coventry University

Once upon a time white working-class people were seen as a political problem. Now they are back in fashion – celebrities such as Adele and David Beckham are proud to talk about their working-class roots and politicians are falling over themselves to win their support.Their votes have also been a key battleground in the Oldham by-election.

Political parties and politicians – albeit for different reasons – are keen to win the support of white working-class communities. This is partly the result of the rise of the right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP) as a political force – despite only having one seat in the House of Commons, the party managed to secure 3.8m votes – and a disproportionate amount of coverage – in the May 2015 general election.

#COP21 - Al Gore: 'The Will To Act Is A Renewable Resource In Itself'

Al Gore lays some facts on the COP21 meeting. Reuters/Jacky Naegelen

By Ralph Sims, Massey University

With the main negotiations getting bogged down in such issues as whether to include a 1.5℃ target along with the accepted 2℃ goal (St Lucia and small island states say yes; Saudi Arabia and oil-exporting countries say no), much of the interest is found at the many side events going on at the same time.

One of them was today’s appearance by Al Gore – climate campaigner, former US vice-president, and winner of a Nobel Peace Prize shared with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Hitler At home: How The Nazi PR Machine Remade The Führer's Domestic Image And Duped The World

Walter Frentz photographed Adolf Hitler strolling with German diplomat Walther Hewel in the Berchtesgaden Alps, near the dictator’s mountain home. ww2gallery/flickr, CC BY-NC

By Despina Stratigakos, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

On March 16, 1941 – with European cities ablaze and Jews being herded into ghettos – The New York Times Magazine featured an illustrated story on Adolf Hitler’s retreat in the Berchtesgaden Alps.

Adopting a neutral tone, correspondent C Brooks Peters noted that historians of the future would do well to look at the importance of “the Führer’s private and personal domain,” where discussions about the war front were interspersed with “strolls with his three sheep dogs along majestic mountain trails.”

For more than 70 years, we have ignored Peters’s call to take Hitler’s domestic spaces seriously. When we think of the stage sets of Hitler’s political power, we are more apt to envision the Nuremberg Rally Grounds than his living room.

Yet it was through the architecture, design and media depictions of his homes that the Nazi regime fostered a myth of the private Hitler as peaceable homebody and good neighbor.

In the years leading up to World War II, this image was used strategically and effectively, both within Germany and abroad, to distance the dictator from his violent and cruel policies. Even after the war began, the favorable impression of the off-duty Führer playing with dogs and children did not immediately fade.

UK Parliament Voted To Bomb Islamic State In Syria – So, What Will That Mean Internationally?

RAF Tornados. Reuters/Russell Cheyne

By Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham

The British parliament has approved a government plan to join the international alliance bombing Islamic State targets in Syria. After more than 10 hours debating, the motion in favour of action passed with 397 votes for and 223 votes against the government.

Ahead of the vote, British newspaper columns had been filled with discussion of a new “war”, while those opposed to the airstrikes drew parallels with the catastrophe of the intervention in Iraq in 2003.

Both of these are exaggerations. Britain’s bombing will not be significant and it certainly will not be part of a coherent strategy against the Islamic State, let alone a reasonable approach to Syria’s 56-month conflict.

This is no more than a political sideshow, a diversion from the core issue – namely the continuing civil war between president Bashar al-Assad and his opponents.

Academy Award® Nominee David O. Russell Set to Receive the Cinematic Imagery Award at the Art Directors Guild Awards

Filmmaker David O. Russell on the set of JOY (PRNewsFoto/Art Directors Guild)

Oscar®-nominated filmmaker David O. Russell, whose films have consistently reflected the highest quality of production design, will receive the prestigious Cinematic Imagery Award, from the Art Directors Guild (ADG) at its 20th Annual Art Directors Guild's Excellence in Production Design Awards, presented by DXV from American Standard, it was announced today by ADG Council Chair Marcia Hinds and Awards Producer Thomas Wilkins.  

Set for January 31, 2016, the ceremony, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, hosted by Owen Benjamin, will honor the prestigious spectrum of Russell's extraordinary award-winning work.

Could The Hunger Games Turn Your Teen Into A Revolutionary?

By Tom van Laer, City University London

The Hunger Games novels and films have fascinated me for more than seven years.

And I’m not alone.

The popular books by Suzanne Collins are the most visible example of a genre of stories today’s teens are reading voraciously: young adult dystopian fiction.

Dystopian fiction is set in a world where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives. Typically, these worlds are environmentally degraded or governed by totalitarian regimes.

My favorite example is George Orwell’s 1984, a hugely ambitious novel that deals with themes of both personal threat and universal oppression. Orwell’s vision is expressed in phrases like Big Brother, doublethink and Thought Police that are now part of everyday speech.

Even though they may have read 1984 as kids, some of today’s parents worry their teens' obsession with dark fiction means they’ll grow up and overthrow the government – like Katniss Everdeen in Hunger Games or Tris Prior in Divergent.

How real is this concern?

Secret, Immersive Cinema Is Likely To Change The Future Of Film

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back at Secret Cinema. © Mike Massaro

By Sarah Atkinson, King's College London 
and Helen W. Kennedy, University of Brighton

The soon-to-be-released Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is tipped to be the box office success of 2015. Hardly surprising given that fans have been waiting ten years since the last installment.

A lot has changed in how films are produced and promoted in the intervening decade. Last summer, for example, there was a huge Secret Cinema Star Wars event. Their immersive The Empire Strikes Back experience sold a staggering 100,000 tickets, generating over £6 million at the box office.

Running over four months, the event brought to the fore a new form of immersive cinematic entertainment which exploded in the UK over the summer of 2015. In addition to Secret Cinema’s event, the largest season of Open Air Cinema concluded its 125 outdoor screening run. In fact, a dizzying number of organisations now turn cinema into events: in the UK these include Sneaky Experience, Floating Cinema, Sing-alonga, Rooftop Film Club and Nomad Cinema.

#ClimateChange - NGO Bandeiras Brancas (White Banners) Creates A Video To Warn Of The Dangers Of Global Warming

NGO takes advantage of the UN Conference in Paris to send a message to people all over the world

#ClimateChange - Global Warming 'Pause' Was A Myth All Along, Says New Study

By Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol

The idea that global warming has “stopped” is a contrarian talking point that dates back to at least 2006. This framing was first created on blogs, then picked up by segments of the media – and it ultimately found entry into the scientific literature itself. There are now numerous peer-reviewed articles that address a presumed recent “pause” or “hiatus” in global warming, including the latest IPCC report.

So did global warming really pause, stop, or enter a hiatus? At least six academic studies have been published in 2015 that argue against the existence of a pause or hiatus, including three that were authored by me and colleagues James Risbey of CSIRO in Hobart, Tasmania, and Naomi Oreskes of Harvard University.

#COP21 - Let's Ask David Cameron To Stand With Climate Vulnerable Countries!

30 vulnerable countries -- including amazing island paradises on the verge of drowning -- are calling for a 100% clean energy future.It’s the best chance to bring together rich countries like Britain and the global south -- but we need a public statement from David Cameron to help make it happen.  

Click here to tweet him now

#COP21 - Political Leaders, Climate Experts And Mayors To Speak On Cities' Role In Tackling Climate Change

NEW YORK and PARIS, Nov. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire 

World famous speakers including Al Gore and Robert Redford will join a range of mayors, climate experts and celebrities at the Climate Summit for Local Leaders at Paris City Hall this December 4th, alongside COP21.

Co-hosted by Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Michael Bloomberg, the Climate Summit for Local Leaders is a historic gathering of Mayors, Governors and local leaders from all over the world, aiming to bring a decisive contribution to the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) and strengthen the significant role they are playing in tackling Climate Change.

The Summit is the first of its kind and scale, and represents major progress in local and global leadership on Climate policies.

#ClimateMarch - This Is The Movement Our World Has Been Waiting For

Dear extraordinary Avaazers,  We did it! Despite losing our flagship Paris event, this weekend's Global Climate March still broke records as the largest climate mobilisation in history! From São Paulo to Sydney, 785,000 of us shook the ground in over 2,300 events in 175 countries, united in one voice calling for a 100% clean energy future to save everything we love. It was front page media worldwide, and the impact is already being felt at the summit here in Paris.