The Fool on the Hill

The Fool on the Hill

Exploration of what happened on 26th June this year

By Simon Brooke || 13 August 2026

The heat map from the Met Office blog post

Back in June this year, the Meteorological Office posted a blog post that really alarmed me. Since then, I've published a series of blog posts:

  1. The 'everyone dies' event comes home;
  2. Extreme Heat;
  3. Analysis of 2026 heatwaves UK

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Analysis of 2026 heatwaves UK

By Simon Brooke || 4 August 2026

Edited 13th August to add: This essay is misleading and alarmist. It was written in good faith, but I have since researched and done the maths to more fully explore the probable wet bulb temperatures given the Met Office's scenario, and my assumptions were wrong. This work is documented here.


A note on isobar charts linked from this essay: these are screen-shotted from digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk, which is where the Met Office serves historical data. I have chosen the isobar charts from midday of each day discussed, for comparability.

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Extreme Heat

By Simon Brooke || 31 July 2026

Edited 13th August to add: This essay is misleading and alarmist. It was written in good faith, but I have since researched and done the maths to more fully explore the probable wet bulb temperatures given the Met Office's scenario, and my assumptions were wrong. This work is documented here.


Skull of a steer in a desert

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Helping Gaza

By Simon Brooke || 20 July 2026

Refugee encampments in Gaza

The crisis in Gaza has been ongoing since 1947, if not before. That's (at least) 78 years; a lifetime. More than a lifetime, for people who live under continual oppression and attack.

Why is there a crisis in Gaza? Initially because Zionist terrorists drove Palestinians out from further north in Palestine in a bloodthirsty orgy of ruthless ethnic cleansing. There really is no pretty way to say this. The claim that the truly atrocious treatment of Jews by the Nazis and other regimes in Europe led to the the truly atrocious treatment of the people of Palestine by Zionists may have some explanatory force, but it has no justificatory force: evil may lead to evil, but does not excuse evil.

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The 'everyone dies' event comes home

By Simon Brooke || 15 July 2026

Edited 13th August to add: This essay is misleading and alarmist. It was written in good faith, but I have since researched and done the maths to more fully explore the probable wet bulb temperatures given the Met Office's scenario, and my assumptions were wrong. This work is documented here.


On 23rd June, the Meteorological Office published a blog post in which they claimed that 'UK could see 45°C by 2056'. As you'll know, I've blogged before of the issue of excessive heat events in our changing climate. So the fact that they projected temperatures above 35° Celsius without commenting on humidity triggered my attention.

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