Have you noticed that some TV weather presenters seem faintly conflicted as they forecast soaring temperatures in the south of these islands?  Is it glorious news for a gloomy population?  Or a calamity for crops and the countryside?   

Should they smile and predict “scorchio?”  Or look solemn?  The latter, of course.  Much of England and Wales is facing a disastrous drought – with a concomitant threat to life.  Yet it still fails to register entirely.  

Faced with the magnitude of this global, apocalyptic challenge, it is perhaps unsurprising that the political reaction seems to fall short.   

Our new Prime Minister Andy Burnham says he will address climate change.  The opening gambit?  A temporary ban on disposable barbecues.  Perhaps with statute to follow in time.   

I appreciate the dilemma.  Our species wrestles ineffectively with climate change.  After decades of indecision, we have learned not to look for easy answers.   

But disposable barbecues?  It sounded glib and insufficient.  Not least because the devastating blaze in the New Forest was apparently caused by a van catching fire.      

To be fair, there is a degree of vacillation in the wider political sphere.  And that carries over into a big decision about to be confronted by the UK government.  

Read more by Brian Taylor: 

 Why Scottish Labour's leadership contest has come too early 

 Andy Burnham’s big ideas and the huge, yawning gap in his plans so far 

The PM and his Ministers have to determine whether to grant production licences for the Jackdaw gas field 150 miles east of Aberdeen and the Rosebank oil field 80 miles northwest of Shetland.  Consultation on Jackdaw has just closed.  For Rosebank,........

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