‘Everyone is laughing’: Australia reacts to British heatwave hysteria
Aussies baffled by UK’s failure to cope with ‘average’ temperatures

Australians are struggling to muster much sympathy as whingeing Poms swelter in what may prove to be the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the UK.
In fact, Britain’s heatwave hysteria is causing much amusement down under, where the record stands at 50.7C.
“It was the hottest day of the year in the UK and Brits could not cope,” declares the headline in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Poms told not to go outside,” says Australian news site News.com.au. “Britain is melting, apparently, as it faces its hottest summer in a century. But don’t feel too sorry for our Pom mates - because it turns out their definition of ‘heatwave’ is dramatically different from ours.”
The site notes that the UK’s top hot spot, Santon Downham in Suffolk, saw the mercury soar to 33.3C, before dropping to 24.3C at 11pm - “a temperature most Aussies would probably welcome during out own scorching summers”.
The problem is that the English do not know how to cope with heat, said the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper yesterday in an article headlined, “Why British people can’t handle heat - and we can”.
The newspaper spoke to the president of Australia’s Climate and Health Alliance, Dr Elizabeth Hanna, who explained that Brits are not used to sweating so much and don’t understand the importance of staying out of the sun and drinking lots.
Abigail Malbon, a UK expat living in Australia, is also taken aback by the summer madness back home.
“I’m fully aware that everyone is laughing at the English. Look at them, with their ‘stifling’ heat, sunbaking in their gardens and complaining that it’s just too hot to bear. Can you believe they’re saying that they can’t sleep? That’s an average day here in January!” she writes on Nine.com.au.
But Malbon notes that if the tables were turned in winter and the temperatures dropped to minus degrees most days in Australia, it would be making the news.
“Aussies; give us a break,” writes Malbon. “We don’t get it very much, and when we do, we like to enjoy it the only way the Brits know how: by complaining, while simultaneously basking with a beer in hand.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 hilariously sparse cartoons about further DOGE cuts
Cartoons Artists take on free audits, report cards, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Following the Tea Horse Road in China
The Week Recommends This network of roads and trails served as vital trading routes
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: March 30, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weapons
The Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
By Abby Wilson Published
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarray
In the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?
The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Why Serbian protesters set off smoke bombs in parliament
THE EXPLAINER Ongoing anti-corruption protests erupted into full view this week as Serbian protesters threw the country's legislature into chaos
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Who is the Hat Man? 'Shadow people' and sleep paralysis
In Depth 'Sleep demons' have plagued our dreams throughout the centuries, but the explanation could be medical
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Aussie beach cabana drama
Row over using tents to reserve a spot on the sand has even drawn in the prime minister
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK Published
-
Romania's election rerun
The Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published