There’s a great scene in The West Wing where the White House is engulfed by a crisis in the Middle East and President Bartlet’s daughter, Ellie, is learning about the region at school. Her teacher, Mr Pordy, asks why there has always been conflict in the Middle East and she gives a response stressing the centuries-old conflicts over land and culture. Bartlet quotes her teacher as telling the class: ‘No. It’s because it’s incredibly hot and there’s no water.’

August is always the silly season, but this one has been sinister too

August is always the silly season, but this one has been sinister too

At times over the past few weeks it has seemed as if the best explanation for the heated exchanges raging across the political spectrum is the historic heatwave. Bluntly, people have had too much time, too much temperature and not enough air conditioning on their hands. Quaffing buckets of Aperol, Sancerre or Whispering Angel, the summer........

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