French Regional Elections: Noone Can Dismiss Le Pen As An Also-Ran Now

Taking it in her stride. EPA

By Paul Smith, University of Nottingham

Marine Le Pen probably won’t be the next president of France, but the regional elections are proving that her Front National has truly become a major player.

Le Pen’s party has taken 28% of the vote in the first of two rounds to elect regional assemblies. The right-wing Republicans, led by former president Nicolas Sarkozy, came a close second, with a shade under 27%. The ruling Socialist Party trailed, with just 23% of the vote.

There is one week to go until the decisive second round, but even if the left and right somehow manage to block their path, the FN has already struck a major blow ahead of the presidential election in 2017.

It is a crushing blow for the ruling Socialists and bad news for Sarkozy and the Republicans, too.

Mamoru Hosoda's "The Boy And The Beast" Nominated For 43rd Annie Awards

The Boy and The Beast

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced on Tuesday the nominations for its 43rd Annual Annie Awards™ which recognize the best in the field of animation. The list included a Best Animated Feature-Independent nomination for Mamoru Hosoda's "The Boy and The Beast" – the critically acclaimed anime film from Studio Chizu, which is being distributed in the U.S. by FUNimation Entertainment. ASIFA - Hollywood voting members will receive ballots onJanuary 1, 2016. Winners will be announced on February 6, 2016 at a black tie ceremony in Royce Hall atUCLA.

"The Boy and The Beast" is one of four inaugural nominations in the new Best Animated Feature-Independent category debuting at the 43rd annual awards.  In the words of ASIFA - Hollywood President Jerry Beck, "We will now recognize not only features in wide-release, but also the independent animators, international studios, anime and special productions that might not otherwise get the attention they deserve."

Can Christmas Tree Lights Really Play Havoc With Your Wi-Fi?

Very pretty, but could they be ruining your connection? Chris_J/flickr

By Andrew Smith, The Open University

Ofcom, the UK’s independent telephony regulator, has recently released a Wi-Fi checker app for your smart phone. At the same time, it warned in its press release that your Christmas tree fairy lights could affect the quality of your Wi-Fi connection.

Before the terrible jokes start and we all declare that this is a fit of “Bah Humbug!” from the telephone regulator, the warning is correct – your fairy lights could indeed be a Wi-Fi downer. But then so could many other devices. Ultimately, it is a matter of how much of a problem they actually cause.

When Fear Is A Weapon: How Terror Attacks Influence Mental Health

By Daniel Antonius, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

On November 13 2015, a series of coordinated attacks in Paris left 130 people dead. A week later, armed gunmen stormed a hotel in Mali, seizing hostages while also firing indiscriminately at guests, killing 27 people. And this week a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, left 14 dead. While the motive is not known, the FBI has assigned counterterrorism agents to the case, sparking public speculation that the shooting may have been an act of terrorism.

You could spend hours every day watching, reading and listening to news related to these events. This level of exposure can significantly influence your worldviews and how you live your life.

The aftermath of events like these can make people feel more vulnerable. And as cities go on alert because of the threat of future attacks, fear can color our daily routines and world views.

With my colleague S Justin Sinclair at Harvard Medical School, I have been studying the complexity of terrorism fears, and how fear can affect and motivate people.

It is probably not a surprise that a terror attack can have a major impact on people’s mental health. But what sort of effects are common, and how long do they last?

To answer that question, we can turn to a growing body of research examining the psychological aftermath of terror attacks.

Mein Kampf Publication – The Best Way To Destroy Hitler's Hateful Legacy

A toxic text – but we can learn from it… Adam Jones/flickr, CC BY-SA

By Alexander von Lunen, University of Huddersfield

The Institute for Contemporary History in Munich plans to publish an annotated version of Mein Kampf in 2016; the main idea being that a critical edition of the book should be available to counter the anticipated reprint of it by neo-Nazis.

For 70 years, reprinting Mein Kampf has been illegal in Germany. However, the copyright, which is owned by the Bavarian government – and is used to enforce the law – expires this year. From 2016, anyone can reprint it.

L.A. TV News Pioneer, David Sheehan, To Be Awarded at Monaco International Film Festival

Los Angeles television's first and longest running entertainment reporter David Sheehan is being honored by the Monaco International Film Festival with its 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award Sunday December 6 in Monte Carlo.

With this year's festival and its Angel Film Awards being a celebration of non-violent movies, the David Sheehan tribute particularly honors his 44 years of campaigning against onscreen violence in his nightly reviews on KNBC-TV and KCBS-TV.

L.A. TV NEWS PIONEER HONORED IN MONTE CARLO 
(PRNewsFoto/David Sheehan)

The award is auspicious timing for Sheehan, coming just as the longtime TV broadcaster prepares to launch his "David Sheehan's Hollywood Icons" series of 12 half-hour shows spotlighting his over-the-years interviews with 27 major stars ranging from Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep to Tom Cruise and Clint Eastwood and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The series even includes visits during various decades with three stars no longer with us: Robin Williams, Paul Newman and Marlon Brando.

Beautiful Images Of Humanity And #ClimateChange To Be Projected Onto St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 8

Morning rays burst through a window illuminating the brilliant reefs of Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Credit: Shawn Heinrichs (PRNewsFoto/Vulcan Inc.)

Public art projection featuring images of humanity and climate change to illuminate St. Peter's Basilica on the opening of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy on Dec. 8

On Dec. 8, a humanitarian coalition comprised of Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Inc., the Li Ka Shing Foundation and Okeanos, in partnership with The Oceanic Preservation Society and Obscura Digital, and under the auspices of the World Bank Group's Connect4Climate initiative, will present a gift of contemporary public art entitled "Fiat Lux: Illuminating our Common Home" to Pope Francis on the opening day of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. 

Frankenstein Or Krampus? What Our Monsters Say About Us

By Natalie Lawrence, University of Cambridge

Two new monster movies are being released in the lead-up to Christmas, and each sports a very different kind of beast. There’s the man-made creation of Victor Frankenstein in the latest rendition of Mary Shelley’s gothic tale, a grotesque creature cobbled together from “the dissecting room and the slaughter-house”. And then there’s Krampus, an American re-working of the evil Austrian counterpart to Father Christmas.

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.