Schools are closing early and parents are buying air conditioning units for classrooms as the UK faces another record-breaking heatwave.
Temperatures are expected to reach 39°C (102°F) this week. Britain is warming fast: Summer 2025 was the hottest on record, and this year has seen new spring peaks. But UK housing stock — Europe’s oldest — and infrastructure is built for a cooler climate.
Compounding the problem are stringent restrictions on AC, despite analysts arguing that because electricity demand peaks in winter, greater AC use in summer would help balance the grid.
Continental Europe is suffering too: 40 people drowned in France trying to escape the record heat, Reuters reported, and Paris is having its own political row about AC.
