The continent is burning. Red heat alerts have been slapped on France, Italy, and Spain. The mercury is forecast to hit 40C. The UK Met Office has issued travel warnings. This is not a drill.
Whitehall is twitchy. The chatter in the Lobby is about the cascading effects. Transport disruption is a given. The NHS is bracing for a surge. Ministers are huddling. They know the optics. A heatwave is a test of competence.
France is under a canicule. Paris is sweltering. The Tour de France is on. The riders will be suffering. The crowds might be thinner. The government there has activated emergency measures. Italy is baking. Rome, Florence, Naples. Tourists will be wilting. The Spanish heat is brutal. Madrid, Seville, Barcelona. The siesta might become mandatory.
The Met Office has a yellow warning for parts of the UK. But the chatter is about a potential upgrade. The real story is the travel disruption. Eurostar trains may slow down. The Channel Tunnel could be affected. Flights might be grounded. The Foreign Office is advising care. But the real action is in the background. Contingency plans being dusted off.
This is a political weather event. Sunak's team is watching. They remember the 2022 heatwave. The criticism of the government's response. They will not be caught out again. The COBRA committee might meet. The messaging will be 'stay safe, stay hydrated, check on the vulnerable.' But the subtext is 'we are in control.'
The real fear is infrastructure failure. Rails buckling. Power outages. Wildfires. Already there are fires in Spain and France. The fear is a repeat of last year's blaze in France's Gironde region. The politics of climate change will be unavoidable. The green lobbies will be out. The government will be defensive.
Backbenchers are murmuring. Some are worried about their constituents. Others see an opportunity to bash net zero. The narrative is fragile. A heatwave can be spun many ways.
We will have more as this develops. The situation is fluid. Temperatures are rising. Tempers too.
