A war over the weather has blown over the United Kingdom, with media outlets giving this week’s heatwave urgent, alarming coverage, but government spokesmen are saying to take sensible precautions but enjoy the good weather.
While the British public have been bombarded with alarmingly red heat maps warning of the seasonal heat, with estimates that some places could reach as high as 40C (104F) on Monday, media pundits have turned to the government to take this cue to preach on the importance of fighting climate change. Yet government spokesmen have so far resisted the bait, it seems, with leaders counselling the British public to take sensible precautions in the sun, but to also enjoy themselves.
Cabinet minister Kit Malthouse was grilled on the heat during an appearance on Sky News on Monday morning, where he was invited to speak on the supposed crisis of hot weather in the summertime. Doling out the obvious advice, Malthouse told the host: “Be sensible, drink lots of water, stay in the shade. We’ve got a hot 48 hours coming.”
Pressed further on the disaster of a 40C day, Malthouse advised people again to stay hydrated and take it easy, and wished those lucky enough to have the day off work today to enjoy the beach. He told Sky:
[W]e broadly know what to do, and what we’re asking people to do is to take it easy… if you’re lucky enough to be not working today and you’re going to the beach, I know you’ll take lots of suncream and water, an umbrella, all those sorts of things… [I]t’ll be cooler at the coast than it is in the centre of the country, particularly in the Midlands and in London. We’re telling people they need to take responsibility for themselves…
There has been a lot of alarming commentary in the media over this week’s hot spell — which, it is predicted, could make an all-time heat record for the United Kingdom — and while Malthouse said vulnerable people like very young children and the elderly should be checked on regularly, ultimately “lots of people will go about their lives perfectly normally”.
One particularly lurid news report about the weather has invited pushback in the newspapers, with The Huddersfield Daily Examiner reporting watchers voicing their displeasure over a doom-laden television report by meteorologist Laura Toobin, who told viewers: “There will be hundreds if not thousands of fatalities due to this heatwave.”
Indeed, Kit Malthouse’s interview with Sky on Monday was accompanied by a weather-watch ticker bar on screen, which informed viewers in real-time that the hottest place in Britain was at that moment Camborne in Cornwall, positively sweltering in 23C (73F) heat.
Malthouse’s comments on Monday followed others given by fellow government spokesman Dominic Raab, who also urged Britons to enjoy the nice weather. Telling people to employ “common sense” like drinking water, not staying out in direct sunlight in the middle of the day, and wearing sunscreen, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “We ought to enjoy the sunshine and actually we ought to be resilient enough”.
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