The Conversation (0)
Liam O'Dell
Jul 18, 2022
Dominic Raab responds to the heatwave
BBC
It is hot right now in the UK – very hot. Both weather and health experts are telling us to avoid the sun and keep cool as it’s predicted temperatures could reach 40C for the first time and the Met Office issued its first red warning for extreme heat on Monday and Tuesday.
The weather agency said it is “potentially a very serious situation” with “exceptionally warm nights” – all of which, they say, is likely to lead to “widespread impacts on people and infrastructure”.
Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency – which replaced Public Health England last year – has issued a Level 4 alert, meaning serious heatwaves “could have impacts beyond health and social care, with potential effects on transport systems, food, water, energy supplies and business”.
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Yet despite the concerning picture being painted by the professionals – and rightly so – there’s still prominent right-wingers out there who think being able to nom a Magnum outside in a deadly heatwave is a show of bravery or something.
Just take the weather seriously, for goodness’ sake.
Here’s 10 of the worst takes we’ve seen about this week’s heatwave, but trust us when we say we could have added many, many more:
\u201cIt\u2019s very hot in the south of France but so far as I know, there\u2019s no DefCon 8 level 3 killer death heatwave warning in place.\u201d— Jeremy Clarkson (@Jeremy Clarkson) 1658055974
\u201cWhy are they writing this up as if England\u2019s beaten the Sahara in the football? It\u2019s BAD news, lads.\u201d— welprich (@welprich) 1658094216
\u201cTHE WOKE SUN\u201d— Joe Kassabian (@Joe Kassabian) 1657968406
\u201cDominic Raab after the Met Office issues a red alert for 40\u00b0+ temperatures.\n\n"We ought to enjoy the sunshine"\n\n#Ridge #SundayMorning\u201d— Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Haggis_UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1658043962
\u201cI was a 13 year-old boy during the summer of 76 and had the time of my life \u2013 skateboarding, swimming, playing cricket. Happily, there were no climate change alarmists and health fascists ordering children to stay inside https://t.co/8gBxyD76HR\u201d— Toby Young (@Toby Young) 1657472410
\u201c30\u00ba in the UK is \u201ctoo hot\u201d and a national emergency. But 30\u00ba abroad is an escape to the sun.\u201d— James Melville (@James Melville) 1657863744
\u201cI just switched on the BBC, the weather woman was waxing lyrical about how she\u2019s never known heat like this as she pointed to a map of the UK in blood red colours, to make the earth look scorched. The hyperbole and rhetoric of fear is utterly shameful. It\u2019s summer for God\u2019s sake.\u201d— Darren Grimes (@Darren Grimes) 1657958254
\u201c"It's another excuse just like Covid, people just want to stay at home... we're opening the floodgates for all the snowflakes"\n\nCharlie Mullins says he would sack anyone who asked to work from home during a heatwave.\n\n@CharlieM_OBE | @ClaudiaLizaTV | #JeremyVine\u201d— Jeremy Vine On 5 (@Jeremy Vine On 5) 1658136708
\u201cQuite agree. We need more hot days here\u201d— Kate Hoey (@Kate Hoey) 1658093026
\u201cCan\u2019t believe I had to fly two and a half hours only to find a place the same temperature as London.\n\nThis isn\u2019t climate justice. I feel I deserve reparations.\n\nGood news is that everyone on the beach is still alive.\n\nTick tock as sir Gary of Wokeville says.\n\nStay vigilant!\u201d— Laurence Fox (@Laurence Fox) 1658142498
And it isn’t just on social media where individuals are trying to downplay the worsening climate crisis, as on Thursday, GB News presenter Bev Turner told an actual Meteorolgist to just be “happy” about the rising temperatures we’ve been getting at the moment.
In scenes which have been compared to the Netflix film Don’t Look Up, Turner told John Hammond: “I want us to be happy about the weather. I don’t know whether something’s happened to meteorologists to make you all a little bit fatalistic and harbingers of doom.”
Ah, that “something” would be global warming, Bev.
And all of this is before we get to those making the argument that they “survived” a heatwave back in 1976…
It’s too hot for us to be having a headache from all the ridiculous climate denial…
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