Sunak is putting Tory populism before the climate crisis. It’s shameful

Just two years ago, Rishi Sunak laid out plans to transform the UK into a green financial hub to combat climate change. This week, his government quietly dropped the climate from its list of key priorities. Kowtowing to Tory populism as the world gets hotter is shocking, says Chris Blackhurst

A wildfire rages near Fort McMurray in Alberta in May 2016 (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press/AP)

Reading Fire Weather by John Vaillant is a deeply troubling experience.

The book, which deservedly won this year’s Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize, details the outbreak of a wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta in May 2016. In just one afternoon, entire neighbourhoods were destroyed and the conflagration drove 90,000 people from their homes.

Having emerged from a summer in which large parts of the world were similarly ravaged by fire, the horror of its destructive power is terrifyingly laid bare. As the world gets hotter, we can expect many more infernos like the one that Vaillant so vividly describes.