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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Business
Martin Farrer

‘Hellfire’: what the papers say about UK’s hottest ever day

United Kingdom Britain Liz Truss London Mail Sun
How the papers covered the hottest day ever recorded in Britain.
How the papers covered the hottest day ever recorded in Britain. Composite: Daily Mirror / Daily Mail / Metro / The Sun / The Daily Telegraph

The hottest temperature ever recorded in Britain makes the focal point of several front pages on a day when the heatwave triggered wildfires, people were urged to save water, and experts warned that we can expect more extreme heat in years to come.

The Mirror’s splash headline says “40C Britain’s burning” across a dramatic aerial picture of houses on fire in the village of Wennington on the eastern outskirts of London. A strap line across the top of the front page says “Hottest day in history”.

The Metro picks out the record temperature of 40.3C in flaming orange and has the headline “Burning hot Britain”.

The Sun simply says “Hellfire” over the top of a similar picture and says the heatwave “brings UK to standstill”, but also adds at the bottom “now bring on the rain” with some showers and storms forecast in the next 24 hours.

The Guardian uses the burning houses on its front page as well and its splash headline reads: “‘A wakeup call’: UK hits highest ever temperature”, with a warning from scientists that action is needed urgently to mitigate the impact of climate change on the UK.

“Britain ignites as temperatures break 40C barrier for first time” says the Telegraph, which also uses the burning houses as its main image.

In a change of tone picked up by several observers on social media, the Mail has the headline “Nightmare of the wildfires”. It comes after its “snowflake Britain” headline the previous day. It still does not see the heatwave as the main story though, instead going with the latest in the Tory leadership race: “Truss allies warn: no dirty backroom deals”.

The Times also sees the Tory machinations as the top story with the lead reading “Truss closing on Mordaunt”. A so-called “hamper” story across the top of the page says “Record high of 40.3C sparks wildfires in tinderbox Britain”, and it also promotes a feature on the “summer’s best (grown-up) swimsuits”.

The Express says “Britain burns in 40.3C heat” but its lead is also the Conservative race and it – like the Mail – appears to be favouring Liz Truss with the gushing headline: “Surging Truss: you can trust me to be bold and cut bills”.

The i says “Tinderbox UK ignites at record 40.3C” whilst also reporting that “Jubilant Truss revives her campaign to become PM”.

It was also very hot in Scotland, the Daily Record notes, with a new record high of 34.5C set in Charterhall in the Borders. “Britain’s burning” the splash says.

The Financial Times has a picture story to report the weather – “Burning Britain: Houses blaze in record heat” – but its lead is “ECB and BoE follow Fed lead with signal of more hawkish rate rises”

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