The mercury is rising, and with it, the fragility of our modern lives. Europe’s latest heatwave has broken temperature records in Germany, with the city of Frankfurt peaking at 42.6°C.
The elderly and homeless are paying the highest price. In a mark of solidarity, British public events have been halted, though our own temperatures are a comparatively mild 35°C. This is not just a weather phenomenon.
It is a social stress test. We see it in the empty streets, the cooled marquees, the hospitals on alert. The human cost is more than a number; it is a reminder that climate change is not a future abstraction but a present reality.
The wealthy retreat to air-conditioned homes, while the vulnerable gasp in stifling council flats. The cultural shift is palpable: a newfound respect for shade, a communal sigh as the heat eases each evening. Yet this is a pause, not a solution.
The question remains: how many more records must shatter before we act?
