As I sit shivering in my garden office, debating with my wife whether it is time to put on the central heating, I try to conjure up the halcyon days of the summer of 2024 when we languished in the garden, cold beer in hand and the traditional handkerchiefs knotted round our heads. Except that it never happened. Perhaps the definition of ‘heatwave’ has been changed; I recall no such thing.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), a heatwave is “a period where local excess heat accumulates over a sequence of unusually hot days and nights”, which does not really narrow it down much. There is no precise definition related to actual temperatures or actual number of days, meaning that a heatwave can be pretty much anything the meteorological mavericks at the WMO or our own illustrious MetOffice decide it is (or want it to be).
The WMO, for those of us who had never heard of it, is “a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is the UN system’s authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere…” so we can rest assured that, like most of the other specialized agencies of the United Nations (viz the WHO), it speaks a complete load of old cobblers.
Still convinced we were due a heatwave this year I consulted various oracles to confirm my belief and, indeed, all were on the same page as me. In mid-July the BBC asked if a heatwave was “on the way”, The Guardian warned that “warmer temperatures on the horizon after hottest day of year”, Time Out reckoned “The UK is about to get a scorching 10-day 40C heatwave”, and in mid-August Birmingham Live claimed “’final’ heatwave of 2024 next week will send temperatures ‘into mid-30s’”. Note the ‘final’ there, suggesting that there had been other heatwaves.
To escape the predicted UK heatwaves and ensure that we did not perish here, my wife and I decided to go to Greece only to find out shortly before our departure that the place was on fire due to ‘heatwaves’ there. Our first destination was Athens which, according to the BBC, was about to be razed to the ground by “deadly fires” that were encroaching on the city. Expecting to see nothing but a charred heap of rubble as the plane landed at Athens airport, we were pleasantly surprised to see, much to our surprise, that Athens was intact.
We took a five-hour train journey to Thessaloniki, expecting to see the remains of burned-out towns. Instead, we saw vast forests and arable plains with hundreds of square miles of olive groves, fruit trees and crops. When we arrived at our destination our hosts did not even mention forest fires. One begins to suspect that, if not completely fabricated, most of this stuff is vastly exaggerated outside of Greece to instil fear, restrict tourism and thereby flights and, of course, to further convince the gullible that we are experiencing a climate emergency.
But I must admit, it was a tad hot in Greece with the temperature hovering around 30 degrees centigrade day and night. The beach within sight of the villa where we were staying was crowded all day with families sunbathing, swimming and snorkelling. The nearby resort was at capacity, and the coastal towns were packed in the evenings. The word ‘heatwave’ was never uttered once, although this late August, early September Greek weather was much hotter than anything we have experienced in the UK…probably ever!
We continue to be gaslighted—a concept that we have previously covered in these pages—regarding climate change and everything to do with it: its existence; its extent and seriousness and, of course, its causes. Most sensible adults can see through the nonsense, but are probably too afraid to speak out. Others—Guardian readers, vegetarians and the incurably woke seem convinced about the veracity of the climate emergency narrative. It probably provides some meaning to their lives, and a warm feeling when they drop another empty organic wine bottle into their recycling bin. These people will never be convinced regardless of facts and figures as their belief is quasi-religious in nature.
In school, children are also being bombarded with climate emergency propaganda at the behest of our government, and through campaigns such as Let’s go Zero 2030. But, unlike adults, children are more malleable and perhaps something can be done. Climate: The Movie (reviewed in these pages) is, remarkably, still available on YouTube. As part of science or geography lessons—wherever weather and climate are taught—this film should be shown to every child in year 7, and shown again in subsequent years. Climate: The Movie counters nearly every claim made by the climate catastrophists, it does so with credible facts and with incredibly good humour. I think I feel a campaign coming on.
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He is a columnist with Unity News Network and writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
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There are ‘feelers’ and ‘facters’.
Feelers base their opinions on virtue signalling, feelings and emotion.
Facters base their opinions on facts, logic and reasoning.
So:
Feeler sees picture of old polar bear on a lump of ice beneath the headline ‘Ice melting, polar bears extinction risk’ and says “We must stop the ice melting and save the bears”.
Facter checks the evidence and says “but there is more Arctic ice now than in 1974 and (depending on the source) 2 to 5 times more bears than then”.
Feeler says “We must stop the ice melting and save the bears”.
There is no reasoning with these people.