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GB News and TalkTV pushed climate denial during deadly heatwaves

newsSep 3, 2026311,632

During the record-breaking UK heatwaves this summer, presenters on GB News and TalkTV repeatedly downplayed harms and promoted climate denial, even as official data showed thousands of heat-related deaths. On 23 May GB News host Cristo Foufas dismissed warnings as alarmism, and co-host Renée Hoenderkamp replied “We used to call it Darwinism.” Contributors including Will Kingston and Ross Clark compared heat deaths to vending machines and coconuts, and on 24 June Julia Hartley-Brewer said she was “very sorry if someone dies because of the heat” but opposed lifestyle changes. TalkTV host Kevin O’Sullivan called concern “hysterical hysteria” and later denounced a study linking the May and June heatwaves to about 2,700 premature deaths as “disgraceful climate change scaremongering” and “absolute poppycock.” On 13 July an analysis estimated about 2,700 heat-related deaths in England and Wales; on 30 July the UK Health Security Agency reported 2,877 deaths linked to the May and June heatwaves using recorded death data. The Office for National Statistics shows 2,805 heat-related deaths in England and Wales in 2025 compared with 2,244 cold-related deaths, contradicting presenters who argued rising heat deaths were offset by fewer winter deaths.

Dr Charlie Gardner
@charliejgardner.bsky.social

It's astonishing that these disinformation machines are given a broadcasting license They are putting their viewers in danger, and they are putting us all in danger

111345d ago
Otto English
@ottoenglish.bsky.social

"People die each year from vending machines falling on them, and coconuts hitting their heads. People die, unfortunately, that’s a reality of life, and things get hot." How GB News and Talk Radio presenters lost their cool offsetting their climate change denial www.theguardian.com/environment/...

26045d ago
Damian Carrington
@dpcarrington.bsky.social

‘Psyops’, ‘Darwinism’ and ‘asinine snowflakery’: How GB News and Talk TV lost their cool in the heatwaves - What happened when record temperatures hit the TV stations that regularly deny the #climatecrisis? I took a look ... www.theguardian.com/environment/...

9845d ago
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