Leading article: It's an ill wind...
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Given that the great British barbecue is usually a washout – a provocation to the gods to be as vicious as possible – Met Office predictions that we were in for "a barbecue summer" may have been more accurate than people give credit for.
After all, they never spelled out precisely what kind of barbecue weather we were in for: the usual British variety, marked by granite skies and a heavy rain beating a tattoo on the marquee, or the less usual variety, featuring boiling sunshine, sun cream and wasps.
We should scrutinise the facial gestures of these human oracles more carefully as they deliver their predictions. In the meantime, we do have barbecue summer to look forward to – of the hot variety. The catch? It will be next year. El Nino, the periodical warming of the Pacific, is on its way, bringing drought to Africa, spoiling harvests and killing fish stocks. It sounds appalling – except for us, possible beneficiaries of a real summer. Get ready for a hot 2010. So they say.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments