Good morning. Here we are, stumbling into an oddly warm autumn and with the aftermath of a ceaselessly dry summer all around us in our parched parks and fire-ravaged forests.
With the change in season, the headlines are no less gruelling. At the start of the week, more than 450,000 people are predicted to die from an unprecedented El Niño over the next six months. At the end of the week, a report by UK intelligence chiefs reveals the extent to which the collapse of natural systems threatens security and defence around the world – a report which, as the Guardian revealed, was suppressed under former prime minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. Meanwhile, as Hettie has written about in a previous newsletter, right-leaning climate sceptics continue to seed doubt about the glaring reality wherever they may.
