Plus, climate change sceptics have lost the plot as Europe burns
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I don’t know about you, but watching climate change deniers declare it's too late to stop climate change, so we should simply embrace rising temperatures, has sent me into a boiling rage this week.
Of course, there is an argument that we need to better adapt to the changing weather patterns in terms of town planning, farming and air conditioning in schools and hospitals, but imagine for a moment you’re one of the scientists who has spent years trying to get people to listen about how rapidly things are changing? How it must stick in the craw of climate scientists to hear commentators insist we should simply "embrace the Mediterranean lifestyle" as Bordeaux burns. Alan Rusbridger feels just as strongly about it as I do. You can read his burning riposte to such comments here
This weekend is traditionally Le Grand Départ, when hundreds of thousands of people on the Continent (as my grandad used to call it) start heading off on their August jaunts. I think I mentioned last weekend that my husband is Portuguese, and he took off on his motorbike yesterday morning from London, heading to Lisbon via the south of France and Madrid. Watching the map update with new fire outbreaks was slightly terrifying, and I’m sorry to say Helen Coffey wasn’t on hand with any comforting words after she looked into the latest warnings from the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC). They believe this summer is on track to become the biggest fire season in European history and warn that much of Europe could be ablaze next week. To find out where is most at risk, Helen’s dispatch is essential reading.
Add Hannah Twiggs's reports on how soaring grain prices and shortages of basics like broccoli and potatoes could soon hit supermarkets, not to mention how Bordeaux's wine harvest has been affected by the wildfires in the region, and it's hard not to feel what Katie Rosseinsky dubs "doomism". But if you are feeling a bit end-of-the-world-y about it all, check out what the experts advise about how to quieten those intrusive thoughts.
On a brighter note, the Burnham Bounce seems to be having an uplifting effect on the nation’s mood. He has continued to flood the zone with policy announcements that are big on promise, but lacking in detail. Firmly in his honeymoon phase, we’ll let him bask in his self-made sunshine for a bit (although Katie does have a good-natured pop at performative Northerness here). However, he would do well to listen to some words of caution from Dani Payne, head of education and social mobility at the Social Market Foundation. As a teenage carer turned Oxbridge graduate, she argues for Andy Burnham’s announcements on technical education to work, middle-class parents need to change their ways.
Change is also in the air in the way China is approaching the AI arms race. As it makes significant gains on US dominance, Chris Stokel-Walker asks if it is because the country is better at putting humans at the heart of AI policy? From banning AI companions to overhauling university courses, by combining industrial goals with workplace strategies and government regulation, their approach couldn’t be more different from the free-for-all market happening in the States.
Meanwhile, Chloe Combi turns her attention to the Gen Z “cockroach” protests in Modi’s India that brought down his government’s education minister. It was an extraordinary victory for the protesters; in 12 years there has only been one resignation in the Modi government. If students can do it in a country with a repressive and draconian regime like India, Combi asks, what could disgruntled young people achieve elsewhere?
Could the “cockroach protests” come here and fix the student loan crisis for good?
With holidays in full swing, we’ll have to wait for the autumn term to find out I guess.
I’m now off for two weeks (hoping to reunite with my husband on his midlife-crisis bike tour at some point around Marseille, then on to the Douro Valley and Lisbon!). I’ll be checking back in mid-August and, until then, I bid you a safe and very happy summer.
Victoria Harper
Executive editor
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Climate change sceptics have lost the plot as Europe burns |
Reading the Telegraph, it’s hard to work out whether their climate columns are a work of satire, writes Alan Rusbridger. Unfortunately, Kemi Badenoch has bought into the anti net-zero zeal – and we could all be left paying the price
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