Digested week: Humid New York or London’s oven-blast heat? Tough one to call

A boy cools off during a heatwave in New York City. Photograph: Jordan Tovin/Reuters

Monday

I’ve been in New York for two weeks, where the unthinkable has happened. Even for a city accustomed to extremes, it is so hot, so humid, so reminiscent of Mobile in Alabama, or Mumbai that, all over New York, people have been forced to break persona to talk about the weather. “Was it always like this?” (No.) “Can you believe this?” (No.) “Are you having a stroke?” (Possibly.)