Global heating hits home up north as it sizzles along with UK south

Analysis: as heat records break across the UK, the north of England and Scotland are reassessing the effects of climate crisis there

Newspaper readers in the UK's northern half were used to scowling at the front pages every time they declared a sizzling summer. It may well be sizzling in the south but it's chucking it down in Hull/freezing in Wrexham/blowing a hoolie in Aberdeen" they grumbled, as they put on another cardigan or rescued the washing from a downpour.

Not this time. With a few exceptions (it's still coat weather for those living in the Shetland islands) much of the UK really has been outrageously hot this week. Whether it is asphalt melting, schools shutting or allotments withering, all but the most hardcore of climate crisis deniers now accept people are experiencing the effects of global heating in their own communities.