UK’s most talked about topics are weather & politics. Put together, they can be a potent barometer of public opinion, ignored by politicians at their peril. Bob Dylan sang: ‘You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,’ (Subterranean Homesick Blues, 1965), but in politics, those who keep an eye on the weather usually do themselves big favours. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (1894-1986) is attributed with warning in response to a question from a journalist about what is most likely to blow a government off course: ‘Events, dear boy, events’. The weather is the ultimate event. When sporting events go well at a national level (like England winning the football World Cup in 1966, tennis doing better than normal or Olympic golds coming home), politicians bask in the … Read entire article »