Editorial: Beyond the dreams of Bing Crosby?

A white Christmas is one thing. But were any of us dreaming of a white Easter – before the past week’s icy blast from the north-east, that is?

Here we are, though, more than a week after the official start of spring, with swathes of the country still wreathed in snow.

Amid the shivering, spare a thought for James Burke-Dunsmore – the “Jesus of Trafalgar” – whose performance of Christ’s Passion in central London yesterday took place in temperatures a far cry from the balmy climes of Jerusalem. Being crucified, even only in appearance, can be little fun in any event. Worse still in freezing winds and nothing but a loincloth.

Nor does the unseasonally chilly Good Friday presage a more spring-like weekend. Quite the reverse. Forecasters are warning that Britain is facing the coldest Easter on record, with the thermometer set to dip near a positively Arctic ‑10C overnight. Even daytime temperatures are not expected to make it into double figures. The only consolation is that, thanks to the (somewhat ironic) start of British Summer Time tonight, the weekend will be one wintry hour shorter.