United Kingdom – Page 4 – Desdemona Despair

The dried-up river Tille in Lux, France in 2022. Photo: Nicholas Garriga / Associated Press

September 4, 2022

Europe was once green and water-rich. Now, it’s more and more like California – “Climate change kills. It kills people, kills our ecosystem, the biodiversity.”

By Jaweed Kaleem and Scott Johnson 4 September 2022 (Los Angeles Times) – Each spring and summer, Frederic Esniol plants millions of seeds for lettuce sold at big grocery chains, making his family farm a jewel of this historically bountiful region of France. But this year, a menacing combination of dry skies and record-setting heat […]

A British police officer stands guard on the beach of Dungeness, England, on 15 June 2022, as Royal National Lifeboat Institution's (RNLI) staff help migrants disembark from one of their lifeboats. Photo: Ben Stansall / AFP / Getty Images

September 3, 2022

Migrants crossing English Channel hit new 24-hour record – Nearly 1,300 people detected crossing from France in small boats in one day

23 August 2022 (DW) – The British Defense Ministry has said nearly 1,300 people were detected crossing from France in small boats in a day. Nearly 23,000 people have made the crossing this year alone. The UK Defense Ministry has noted a substantial increase in the amount of people crossing the English Channel British authorities […]

Firefighters embrace as they work to contain a fire in Saint-Magne, as wildfires continue to spread in the Gironde region of southwestern France, 11 August 2022. Stephane Mahe / REUTERS

August 14, 2022

Drought in England, fires rage in France as heatwave persists

By Stephane Mahe and Manuel Ausloos 13 August 2022 SAINT-MAGNE, France (Reuters) – Firefighters from across Europe came to France’s rescue on Friday to battle a massive wildfire, while fire also raged in Portugal and parts of England faced a severe drought, as successive heatwaves renewed the focus on climate change risks. Much of Europe […]

In August 2022, Colliford Lake near Bodmin, Cornwall, England had dried up. Water levels at Cornwall’s largest reservoir on Bodmin Moor were only 40 percent full. Photo: Matt Cardy / Getty Images

August 14, 2022

Drought in England could carry on into new year, experts warn – “If this weather persists, we will need a winter far wetter than average to recover”

By Helena Horton and Fiona Harvey 14 August 2022 (The Guardian) – South-east England could be tipped into severe and devastating drought without above-average rainfall this winter, while current water use restrictions in London and surrounding areas are expected to last until the new year even if rainfall returns, ministers have been told. Severe drought […]

A wildfire burns near a wind turbine at night outside Tabara, Zamora, during the second heatwave of the year in Spain, 18 July 2022. Photo: Isabel Infantes / REUTERS

July 19, 2022

UK shatters record for highest temperature as Europe sizzles – Major incident declared in London as fires burn – Dozens of temperature records fall in France as fires rage in southwest

By Danica Kirka and Jill Lawless 19 July 2022 LONDON (AP) – Britain shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered Tuesday amid a heat wave that has seared swaths of Europe — and the national weather forecaster predicted it would get hotter still in a country ill prepared for such extremes. The typically temperate nation […]

Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5–19 years in the WHO European Region, by sex, 1975–2016. Graphic: WHO

May 5, 2022

World Health Organization warns of obesity epidemic in Europe – “Overweight and obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions across the region and are still escalating”

3 May 2022 (AFP) – The WHO said Tuesday that “epidemic” overweight and obesity rates are linked to over 1.2 million deaths annually across Europe, calling for swift policy changes to reverse the dangerous trend. Obesity rates in the region have ballooned by 138 percent in the past five decades, the World Health Organization said […]

Evolution of democracy by category, 2008-2021. The EIU Democracy Index score ranges from 0 to 10, with 10 being best. this chart shows what has happened to the average global score across the five categories of the index between 2008 — before the global financial crisis — and 2021. The categories that have recorded the biggest deterioration in global terms are civil liberties (-1.00 on a 0-10 scale) and electoral process and pluralism (-0.47). Suggesting a possible correlation, functioning of government and political culture both recorded a very similar decline in their average global scores (-0.38 and -0.37 respectively). Graphic: EIU

May 3, 2022

EIU Democracy Index reached all-time low in 2021 – Fewer than half (45.7 percent) of the world’s people now live in a democracy of some sort – “Another bad year for democracy”

By Chauncey Devega 2 May 2022 (Salon) – Global democracy is sick. In the United States, Donald Trump’s supporters in the Republican Party continue to steamroll the Democrats and other pro-democracy forces. To say that the latter have for the most part been hapless, uncoordinated and paralyzed by denial is not overstating the case. Political scientists and […]

Vandals defaced Jewish gravestones with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti at a Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg in eastern France, 3 December 2019. Photo: AFP

April 30, 2022

Antisemitism rose dramatically in 2021 – “Right at the outset of the pandemic in 2020, conspiracy theories began to sprout around the world, blaming the Jews and Israel for spreading the virus”

27 April 2022 (BBC News) – The number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world dramatically increased last year, a study by Tel Aviv University has found. The report identifies the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, and Australia as among countries where there was a sharp rise. This was fuelled by radical left- and right-wing political […]

ITV Host Richard Madeley and student activist Miranda Whelehan on “Good Morning Britain” on Monday, 11 April 2022. Whelehan was there on behalf of “Just Stop Oil”, an activist group that has been engaging in direct action by blockading oil terminals and demanding that the UK government ends all new oil licenses, exploration, and consent in the North Sea. Madeley, the host, criticized the group by saying, “But you’d accept, wouldn’t you, that it’s a very complicated discussion to be had, it’s a very complicated thing. And this ‘Just Stop Oil’ slogan is very playground-ish isn’t it? It’s very Vicky Pollard, quite childish.” Observers were quick to point out the parallels with the film “Don’t Look Up”. Photo: ITV

April 18, 2022

Miranda Whelehan: I went on TV to explain “Just Stop Oil” – and it became a parody of “Don’t Look Up”

By Miranda Whelehan 13 April 2022 (The Guardian) – I hadn’t seen the 2021 satirical film Don’t Look Up when I went on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday. I was there on behalf of Just Stop Oil – a group that has been engaging in direct action by blockading oil terminals. We’re demanding that the UK government ends all new oil […]

Futures prices of West Texas intermediate crude oil and lithium, May 2021-March 2022. Graphic: Bloomberg

March 29, 2022

A world that’s more expensive is starting to destroy demand – “A renewed spike in gas prices would see demand destruction become more widespread”

By David R Baker, Allison Smith, and Sheela Tobben 27 March 2022 (Bloomberg) – Prices for some of the world’s most pivotal products – foods, fuels, plastics, metals – are spiking beyond what many buyers can afford. That’s forcing consumers to cut back and, if the trend grows, may tip economies already buffeted by pandemic […]