From my Substack diary for Saturday, 27th. June 2026

Yes, the heatwave is pretty much over in south Devon. The breeze this morning is having a cooling effect on the home, bringing internal temperatures down as low as 22 degrees celsius by 9am this morning, but they are already beginning to creep up. This is the cumulative effect of heat building up over a period of days, meaning that today, which would ordinarily be a perfectly comfortable warm summer’s day outside, remains warmer than it ordinarily would be inside. But there is an end in sight! Until the next heatwave…

This heatwave has taught me that I am not as well able to survive a series of prolonged heatwaves as I previously thought I was. Before I left Southwark Council in 2004 I was working with colleagues in other local authorities and the NHS to produce a heat strategy. Whereas our fuel poverty strategies had focussed primarily on the health and other impacts of living in cold and damp homes, we became acutely aware that heat would become a serious problem in the future. Our research led us to a number of conclusions, but perhaps the most morbid was a graph showing two lines that would cross at some point; the intersection of these two lines was where deaths attributed to extreme heat would overtake deaths known by health professionals as ‘excess winter mortality’ – in other words, fuel poverty.

The primary solution to excess winter mortality, which I spent years explaining to NHS staff and voluntary organisations, was to stop building energy inefficient homes. Homes that could be heated affordably and which had passive or, if necessary, mechanical ventilation systems. This would substantially reduce the risk of cardio-vascular and respiratory medical conditions. They listened politely, and some were genuinely interested. But did anything happen? No. We continue to build energy inefficient homes to this day, although there has been some marginal improvement.

The early 21st.century heat strategy that I had a hand in writing for London has also fallen largely on deaf ears. We are fast approaching a time when deaths linked to the heat overtake those linked to excess winter mortality; indeed, they may have already, but I have not been keeping up with latest statistics. The solution is the same: build better homes – and retrofit existing homes. We know how to do it, and we have known how to do it for 30 years, but we choose not to. It saddens, horrifies and amuses me when I hear ‘experts’ being asked for solutions on Radio 4 this last week. The Building Research Establishment and other worthy organisations have been publishing detailed advice and solutions for architects and house builders since the 90’s. There is no mystery here. We could have started adapting our homes 30 years ago. We chose not to. Who do you blame for that? I know who I blame…