A touch of frost in June? Truly this is more a cursed isle than a sceptred one

APPROXIMATELY 4.5 billion years ago, astrogeologists (that is, people who study planetary geology, not the grifters who ask for your star sign and suggest that while you might feel overwhelmed, now is a good time to address the big picture stuff in your life) hypothesise that a young Earth collided with a Mars-sized planet called Theia.

- Jack Kessler

This gave rise a couple of things. First, the Moon, and second, our planet's 23.5 degree tilt, thanks to which we experience the four seasons. Or to be precise, other countries do. Britain, despite what the Gregorian calendar alleges, is trapped in an endless November. As if the weather gods decided we would get an autumn election after all - it just so happens to be at the height of summer.

I suppose Britons ought not to complain. Our latitude (London is further north than Calgary and indeed any US state other than Alaska) makes our mild winters something of an underappreciated blessing, at least until the Atlantic Gulf Stream packs in. But it is unwise to expect people be grateful for things not being even worse than they might have been - just ask Joe Biden.