Heatwave hysteria

As predicted, parts of the country came to a grinding halt as the arrival of two days of extremely hot weather led to cancellations and closures across the board. In London, the Tube was running a limited service which merely meant that the few trains that did operate were crammed, making the commute even more intolerable than usual. The East Coast Main Line between London and Leeds and York will close today, when the temperatures are expected to peak at above 40C with warnings issued to potential passengers not to travel. But how can they if there are no trains? Schools shut early, offices stayed closed despite having air conditioning and even some GP surgeries refused to open their doors.

The default position with any severe weather nowadays is to encourage people to stay at home and then make it impossible to move around easily rather than find ways to keep the country going. Of course, there are infrastructure issues when the weather is extreme. This country is not set up for exceptional heat or cold. Complaints in the winter about the impact of a smattering of snow compared with countries that see half a dozen blizzards a year ignore the costs of investing in expensive equipment that will hardly ever be used.

Similarly, railways in the UK are not designed for the sort of temperatures we are seeing. But investing in more heat-resistant tracks would be an unreasonable expense given how rare these conditions are, unless there are signs that they will return every year. Mercifully, normal summer conditions are forecast to return tomorrow. By the time we get to the next “health-heat emergency”, is it too much to ask that there is better planning for dealing with it and less hysteria?