In today’s newsletter: Is it really that cold for this time of year or have we just got used to recent warmer summers? Meteorologists say it’s a bit of both
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Good morning. Isn’t it an unseasonably chilly one? Yesterday I found myself fishing out a winter wooly hat for the morning dog walk here in London. But is it really that cold for mid-June or do we all just think it’s cold because we’ve got used to recent warmer summers caused by the climate crisis and global heating?
To try and find out, I asked some of the country’s leading meteorologists. The long answer is “it’s complicated”, the shorter answer is “yes, it’s exceptionally unseasonably cold”. But June 2024 is unlikely to challenge the record for the coldest June – that title is firmly held by June 1975 when snow stopped play at several county cricket matches, including an inch settling on the pitch at Buxton cricket club in Derbyshire.
General election | The Green Party launches its manifesto today with proposals to spend £49bn insulating homes and public buildings and to let councils requisition empty properties.
Child exploitation | Hundreds of unaccompanied child migrants across Europe are being forced to work as soldiers for increasingly powerful drug cartels to meet the continent’s soaring appetite for cocaine, a Guardian investigation has found, with police warning of industrial-scale exploitation of African children in western European cities including Paris and Brussels.
Israel-Gaza | The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said endorsement of the UN security council’s ceasefire resolution by Hamas officials was a “hopeful sign”, but the group’s leadership in Gaza needed to sign off on the deal.
Heath | Tobacco, alcohol, processed foods and fossil fuels kill 2.7 million people a year in Europe, according to the World Health Organization, which has called on governments to impose tougher regulation of health-harming products.
France | Éric Ciotti, the leader of France’s mainstream rightwing Les Republicains party, has said he would back an alliance with Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally in the snap legislative elections later this month, shocking opponents and party members and throwing French politics into further disarray.
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