The tabloid headline of my youth at the top of this article used to be rolled out when we had hot days. We used Fahrenheit then, a more sensitive and large scale way of judging the temperature. We all knew during summer that 70 degrees was pleasant day, 80 was a warm day and 90 was a hot day. As temperatures sometimes soared into the high 90s that was a too hot day. Nonetheless those with money opted to go to the south of Europe in search of the 100 degree fix for a holiday , equipped with sun tan lotion and often then a passion to lie out in the very hot sun. Today we call those temperatures 21.2 Celsius, 26.67, 32.22 and 37.77 which are more difficult to remember and not so clear in the message they send. Maybe we need to unite around 20,25,30 and 35 as benchmarks of how hot it is.
I remember those hot days when young. In August we went to stay with my grandparents who lived in Broadstairs. The long walk to the sea was worth it, and was downhill. On arrival the sand was sometime too hot to walk on in bare feet. You needed to run to the wet sand for relief , or even better plunge into the water. The tarmac on the roads might be melting, and the rails were sometimes bending as they faced the sun. It takes a higher temperature than 100 degrees to do that, but the tarmac and the steel sitting beneath a relentless sun get far hotter than the air temperature used to measure the general warmth.
It is curious that some people complain about the hot days in the UK yet think it relaxing to go to a holiday location where it is that hot most of the time. When in Italy, Spain or Greece they might observe that government and people have adjusted to higher summer temperatures. Many eat outside, but always in the shade. Shops, cars and hotels are air conditioned. Many people have a long break in their working day when the sun is hottest, working into the evening as it cools a bit. The authorities ensure enough water is collected and stored to see them through a long summer with little rain. Evening meals are much later than in the UK. People do not lie around in the hottest sun, and protect themselves from sunburn. Large hats are common. The sombrero is part of the armour against the weather.
If we are to have more of the very hot days in the years ahead as some forecast it reinforces the case I have been making for more reservoirs. It also implies we need to install more air conditioning, as they have in the US. What is clear is even if the UK stopped burning all fossil fuels, importing everything that needs such energy instead, it would not reduce world CO 2 let alone suddenly cool us all off.
August 13, 2026
Back then I still watched or listened to the BBC. I don’t recall any “weather warnings” like they and the Met Office put out now. They assumed people were sensible and intelligent enough to decide for themselves if a certain temperature, rain or wind forecast meant they should take precautions (sun hat, umbrella, raincoat…).
August 13, 2026
I worked for 22 years in Africa and the Middle East. Summer temperatures were often mid to high 40s, occasionally pipping 50 degrees. We were contractors in the power industry. If a machine broke down we were expected to fix it. No account of temperature was given or expected.
The Met Office and the BBC have been captured by the global warming scam and are a disgrace. I’m still waiting for the Maldives to sink below the ocean. I first went in 66 and then again last year. Nothing has changed despite the alarmist predictions.
August 13, 2026
‘ Today we call those temperatures 21.2 Celsius, 26.67, 32.22 and 37.77 which are more difficult to remember and not so clear in the message they send.’
Today South West Rail call those temperatures ‘extreme weather’. It’s another useful excuse for them.
Drinking more water is essential. I have a blood pressure monitor similar to the one my GP uses. At home my blood pressure is usually within the normal range though it rises if it is taken at the surgery which is a common experience. At home it has dropped to low. Water and activity bring it back to normal.
I don’t think sombreros are common in Europe anymore. British tourists in Spain used to buy one decades ago, but not nowadays.
August 13, 2026
What is clear is even if the UK stopped burning all fossil fuels, importing everything that needs such energy instead, it would not reduce world CO 2 let alone suddenly cool us all off.
I remember very well the summer of 76 in the beer gardens with me mates getting legless and having the time of our lives I also remember floods and getting snowed in the 50s and 60s in the long drawn out winters, as you say Sir John if the UK stopped burning all fossil fuels, importing everything that needs such energy instead, it would not reduce world CO 2 let alone suddenly cool us all off, but then governments wouldn’t have a big fat lie to screw every penny from us, but no doubt someone would think of some other way to screw us
August 13, 2026
The weather has been weaponised by the movement to stop the use of fossil fuels. The brutal truth is the evolution of CO2 from burning oil gas and coal makes no measurable difference to the global temperature.
The climate is in a constant state of change, always was and always will be.
The drivers of that change has nothing to do with mankind or the burning of fossil fuels.
The big hitter when it comes to air temperature and conditions we experience on the ground is cloud cover.
Incredibly, the one feature none of the IPCC climate models can factor into their outputs is cloud formation. Cloud evolution, its movement and complexity simply can’t be modelled.
Lacking that fundamental driver of climate i.e. cloud formation/evolution makes the computer modelling not just incomplete, but completely wrong. Not one of the models running for the past thirty years have come close to the actual measured temperatures we are experiencing. They are all running and reporting outputs hotter thn real world conditions.
No matter, the doom mongers continue on their mission. Guided by the Guardian newspaper whose official duty as declared by them, is to ensure the world press agencies use the most compelling words when advancing climate change and man made influence on climate.
The beautiful summer we are having is perfect but for the lack of rain. We need rain for obvious reasons, but summer is meant to be sunny and warm, we should be celebrating not carping and complaining.
August 13, 2026
Comfort depends upon Humidity as well as Temperature.
Out in the desert of Arizona a few years ago it still felt comfortable when over 100 Degrees F, but humidity was only 2 %.
85 Degrees F can feel uncomfortable when humidity is above 60%, not unusual in the UK at Night.
Sun protection needs to be considered and used whatever the temperature when the skin is exposed to direct sunlight for long periods.
At least sun screen has a numbered factor for guidence now, way back in the 1960’s it was like cooking oil !
August 13, 2026
The climate alarmists are opposed to air conditioning – indeed I think it is banned in new builds ? Even though they promise us abundant cheap energy that could run it. They want us to suffer for our historic climate crimes. More sensible countries I’ve been to – Kuwait for example – have no such guilt and have adapted to the heat.