Reading right-wing newspapers in a heatwave

With temperatures soaring and a new Prime Minister on the way, this seems to be the approximate content of most right-wing newspapers in the UK this week:

Page 1: Labour must ditch lefty Net Zero targets!

Page 2: It’s very hot!

Page 3: Don’t let lefty climate zealots into Andy Burnham’s new cabinet

Page 4: Temperatures breaking records around the UK!

Page 5: Lock them up! Don’t go soft on extremist climate protesters

Page 6: Top tips on keeping cool in this sweltering heat

Page 7: Burnham must raise defence spending! We need to spend money on things that keep us safe, not on tackling climate change

Page 8: Why are we not better prepared for heatwaves?

Page 9: The Green Party are dangerous left-wing extremists

Page 10: Comment piece: Well, we coped in 1976! (Although that was a one-off and now heatwaves happen every year, but we won’t mention that).

Page 11: Comment piece: Why we must invest in North Sea oil & gas

Back page: Sports events cancelled due to the heat  

2 responses to “Reading right-wing newspapers in a heatwave

  1. It is unclear what point you are trying to make. Once again your use of the lazy “right-wing” ad hominem, which you don’t attempt to define or qualify in any way, makes you appear as ideological as you are (I assume) attempting to portray those newspapers as. It doesn’t help your cause that you make entirely false statements such as “heatwaves happen ever [sic] year”.

    • Hi Unholyjoe. Well, on this occasion, my post was meant to tongue-in-cheek rather than entirely serious. I realise you may not have appreciated the satire. By “right-wing”, I largely meant newspapers that support the Tories. Perhaps I should have said “Tory newspapers”. In the days before my post, newspapers such as the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Daily Express had run headlines attacking the possibility of Ed Miliband becoming Chancellor because of his support for tougher policies to tackle climate change (policies that seem to me to be woefully inadequate and only slightly tougher). There seemed to me to be something of a disconnect between their opposition to such policies and their coverage of the extreme weather.

      If I had been writing a more serious post, I would have dealt more with alternative views to my own and set out the reasons for my view, but I was intending to be light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek. If this didn’t come across, then perhaps satire is not my strong point!

      You’re right that heatwaves don’t happen *every* year. It was hyperbole (though perhaps I should have said “almost every”). Thanks for alerting me to the typing mistake.

Leave a comment