domingo, 2 de agosto de 2026
School of Woke: How Critical Race Theory Infiltrated American Schools and Why We Must Reclaim Them, by Kenny Xu .
School of
Woke: How Critical Race Theory Infiltrated American Schools and Why We Must
Reclaim Them
by Kenny
Xu (Author)
From one
of America’s most relentless critics of Critical Race Theory comes this
far-reaching, on-the-ground investigation of how CRT infiltrated our public
schools and transformed them into activism factories—with disastrous results.
Awareness
of the rise of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools and how it has
shaped our education system took the U.S. by storm over the last few years.
Parents truly became aware for the first time how deeply entrenched CRT was in
the classrooms, and their eyes were opened to the insidious agenda thoroughly
embedded in public schools. As a result, CRT and parental rights in education
became some of the most explosive issues facing Americans today.
Kenny Xu
is a perceptive and relentless critic of CRT and our culture’s war on
meritocracy. And now, in School of Woke, Xu exposes how CRT is transforming
public schools and having a destructive impact on our children’s education—and
their future.
In School
of Woke, Xu provides historical context to the rise of Critical Race Theory in
education, tracing it back to elite graduate schools in the 1970s and showing
how the ideology became institutionalized and credentialed. Xu covers the
battles taking place in the most problematic and contested school districts in
the nation, including Loudoun and Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern
Virginia and Santa Barbara High School in California. He also exposes the
lucrative business model behind the diversity consulting industrial complex
that is instrumental in the curricular wars, revealing how educators and
administrators have been gaslighting the public about the prevalence of this
radical ideology in the classrooms, where children as young as five are being
segregated in the classroom by race and are being taught that whiteness is
inherently evil.
A work of
colorful reportage, historical analysis, and cultural commentary, School of
Woke reveals what it will take to extricate our next generation from the
destructive trends in our once-vaunted public school education system.
WOKE and declining standards in Western higher education
Debates over
declining standards in Western higher education center on whether ideological
shifts, administrative changes, and "decolonization" efforts
compromise traditional merit and rigorous scholarship, or if these critiques
exaggerate adaptation to modern societal needs. Critics argue that political
agendas undermine academic integrity, while defenders view curriculum updates
as necessary for inclusivity.
Key
Criticisms of Modern Academic Trends
- Curriculum Shifts: Critics contend that movements
to "decolonize" reading lists dilute the historical prominence
of classical Western thinkers by prioritizing identity-based or
non-Western frameworks.
- Grading and Assessment: Concerns exist that inclusive
marking policies or relaxed penalties for linguistic and structural errors
lower traditional objective standards. [1,
2]
- Free Inquiry: Instances of de-platforming
speakers or self-censorship among faculty are cited as evidence of an
eroding culture of open debate.
Counter-Perspectives
and Institutional Realities
- Inclusivity and Relevance: Proponents of reform argue that
expanding syllabuses reflects globalized scholarship and makes education
relevant to diverse student bodies.
- Broader Pressures: Many academics attribute
shifting standards not to ideology alone, but to the corporatization of
universities, grade inflation, and market-driven incentives to retain
underprepared students.
- Political Interference: Supporters of institutional
autonomy warn that state-level legislative mandates attempting to restrict
specific coursework or diversity funding pose an equal or greater threat
to true academic freedom
The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time by Yascha Mounk
The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in
Our Time – September 26, 2023
by Yascha Mounk
“The most comprehensive and reasonable story of
this shift that has yet been attempted . . . Mounk has told the story of the
Great Awokening better than any other writer who has attempted to make sense of
it.” —The Washington Post
"An intellectual tour de force about the
origins of identity politics and the threat it presents to genuine, honest,
old-fashioned liberalism.” —Bret Stephens, The New York Times
“Among the most insightful and important books
written in the last decade on American democracy and its current torments,
because it also shows us a way out of the trap.” —Jonathan Haidt, author of The
Righteous Mind, and coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind
"Outstanding." —David Brooks, The New
York Times
One of our
leading public intellectuals traces the origin of a set of ideas about identity
and social justice that is rapidly transforming America—and explains why it
will fail to accomplish its noble goals.
For much of
history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious, and sexual
minorities. It is no surprise that many who passionately believe in social
justice came to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride
in their identity to resist injustice.
But over
the past decades, a healthy appreciation for the culture and heritage of
minority groups has transformed into a counterproductive obsession with group
identity in all its forms. A new ideology aiming to place each person’s matrix
of identities at the center of social, cultural, and political life has quickly
become highly influential. It stifles discourse, vilifies mutual influence as
cultural appropriation, denies that members of different groups can truly
understand one another, and insists that the way governments treat their
citizens should depend on the color of their skin.
This,
Yascha Mounk argues, is the identity trap. Though those who battle for these
ideas are full of good intentions, they will ultimately make it harder to
achieve progress toward the genuine equality we desperately need. Mounk has
built his acclaimed scholarly career on being one of the first to warn of the
risks right-wing populists pose to American democracy. But, he shows, those on
the left and center who are stuck in the identity trap are now inadvertent
allies to the MAGA movement.
In The
Identity Trap, Mounk provides the most ambitious and comprehensive account to
date of the origins, consequences, and limitations of so-called “wokeness.” He
is the first to show how postmodernism, postcolonialism, and critical race
theory forged the “identity synthesis” that conquered many college campuses by
2010. He lays out how a relatively marginal set of ideas came to gain
tremendous influence in business, media, and government by 2020. He makes a
nuanced philosophical case for why the application of these ideas to areas from
education to public policy is proving to be so deeply counterproductive—and why
universal, humanist values can best serve the vital goal of true equality. In
explaining the huge political and cultural transformations of the past decade,
The Identity Trap provides truth and clarity where they are needed most.
Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt by Nigel Biggar
Reparations:
Slavery and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt
Many now
claim that Western countries should pay reparations to former colonies for the
lasting damage they caused, especially through slavery. Why is this claim being
made now? How far does it make sense? And, more generally, how can historic
wrongs be righted?
Reparations
removes the sloganeering from a newly fashionable cause, sets the issue in its
proper historical context, and mounts an ethical counter-argument. The natural
sequel to Nigel Biggar's bestselling and widely acclaimed Colonialism: A Moral
Reckoning, it makes a powerful contribution to an increasingly prominent public
debate.
Nigel Biggar “Ethics and Empire”
Nigel Biggar
“Ethics and Empire”
“Ethics
and Empire” was a
controversial, six-year interdisciplinary academic project led by Nigel
Biggar, the former Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the
University of Oxford, and Krishan Kumar of the University of Virginia.
Launched in July 2017 under Oxford's McDonald Centre, the project aimed to
evaluate historical apologies and critiques of imperial rule—from ancient
history to modernity—against hard factual data.
Core
Premises
- Rejection of Inherent Wickedness: Biggar argued against the
prevailing academic assumption that all empires are inherently evil,
oppressive, and morally illegitimate.
- Moral Nuance: The project operated on the
belief that imperial histories, particularly that of the British Empire,
are morally mixed, containing elements of both good and bad governance.
- Historical Data vs. Rhetoric: It evaluated moral claims by
cross-referencing how contemporaries viewed empires against actual
historical records.
The
Backlash and Controversy
The project
triggered a massive intellectual and public firestorm within the academic
community:
- The Oxford Backlash: Up to 60 Oxford historians and
researchers signed open letters firmly rejecting the project. They accused
Biggar of attempting to create a false "balance sheet" to
justify colonial violence.
- Methodological Criticism: Opponents argued that the
project lacked academic credibility, skipped rigorous peer review, and
ignored extensive modern post-colonial scholarship.
- The "Cancel Culture"
Debate: Biggar
and his supporters characterized the backlash as "collective online
bullying" and an assault on academic freedom, making him a prominent
figure in public free-speech debates.
Legacy
and Resulting Publications
Despite the
intense scrutiny, the project continued its annual workshops through August
2023. It served as the foundation for Biggar’s later, highly debated writings
on the topic: [1, 2,
3]
- Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (2023): A direct byproduct of the
project, this Sunday Times bestselling book evaluates the moral
nature of Western colonialism. It was famously dropped by its initial
publisher, Bloomsbury, due to public pressure before being picked up by
HarperCollins.
- The Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt: A book expanding his argument
against the pervasive historical guilt and institutional self-flagellation
present in contemporary British society.
sábado, 1 de agosto de 2026
The University of Cambridge faces an internal staff revolt over its handling of plagiarism and CV padding allegations against Professor Jason Arday.
The
University of Cambridge faces an internal staff revolt over its handling of
plagiarism and CV padding allegations against Professor Jason Arday. While
leadership defends him as the target of a malicious campaign, senior academics
argue that refusing an independent inquiry damages institutional credibility.
Core
Controversy & Allegations
- Plagiarism Claims: An analysis of Professor
Arday's 2015 PhD thesis (awarded by Liverpool John Moores University)
revealed over 100 passages closely matching another student's work.
- Broader Scrutiny: Critics have raised questions
about his published journal papers, research interview citations, and
extraordinary personal/athletic claims.
- Arday’s Response: In recent interviews, Professor
Arday admitted to mistakes and errors—attributing some challenges to his
autism and reliance on mimicry—but firmly stated, "What I am not is a
liar," and asserted he is facing a coordinated smear campaign.
Institutional
& Leadership Stance
- Cambridge Leadership: The university maintains that
Professor Arday has been cleared by existing institutional checks and
describes the attacks as a "vile campaign".
- Concessions: Under growing pressure from the
internal staff revolt, Cambridge announced that research misconduct will
be addressed at an upcoming committee meeting.
- External Support: Defender groups and
organizations like the Good Law Project argue the attacks are a targeted,
racially and politically motivated effort to undermine a high-profile
neurodiverse Black scholar
The Jason Arday scandal centers on serious allegations of serial plagiarism, academic misconduct, and fabrication of personal achievements leveled against the University of Cambridge professor
.jpeg)
Jason Arday
scandal
The Jason
Arday scandal centers on serious allegations of serial plagiarism,
academic misconduct, and fabrication of personal achievements leveled
against the University of Cambridge professor.
Arday, who
gained widespread prominence in 2023 as the youngest Black professor in
Cambridge's history, is a scholar of race, inequality, and education. The
controversy has sparked a fierce national debate in the UK regarding academic
integrity, institutional governance, and diversity initiatives.
Core
Allegations
- Dissertation Plagiarism: In July 2026, critics pointed
out that multiple long passages in Arday’s 2015 PhD dissertation from
Liverpool John Moores University were identical or nearly identical to a
doctoral thesis published six years prior by another academic. Statistical
calculations reported by the media placed the odds of the text overlap
occurring by chance at one in 100 billion.
- Research and Citation Anomalies: Journalists and academics
uncovered systemic flaws in Arday's subsequent journal articles. These
included inconsistent references to research participants and the total
omission of a participant Arday had previously claimed took their own
life. Two of his research papers have been formally corrected.
- Fabricated Life Feats: Investigations cast intense
skepticism on Arday's famous personal back-story. He faced scrutiny over
claims of elite endurance running and raising £5.5 million single-handedly
for charity. Inaccurate university profiles also wrongly claimed he played
professional snooker and football.
Arday’s
Defense and Explanations
In a
comprehensive interview with 
The Times, Arday
defended his character, stating, "What I am not is a liar".
- The Autism Context: Arday did not dispute the text
overlaps but attributed his early academic errors to lacking proper
supervision and navigating severe neurodivergence. Diagnosed with autism
and global development delay, Arday was non-verbal until age 11 and
illiterate until 18. He explained that his early academic writing relied
heavily on "mimicry" to process information.
- Charity and Sports
Clarifications:
He conceded that the £5.5 million was raised by a "syndicate" of
roughly 100 people rather than by him alone. The University of Bath also
issued an apology for misquoting him regarding his sports history,
clarifying he only ever played semi-professional football.
- Targeting Campaign: Arday claims he has been
subjected to a coordinated, racially motivated, and ableist campaign
designed to unseat him since he arrived at Cambridge. He further revealed
he has faced severe real-world harassment, including being targeted by
masked men and having a pig's head delivered to his parents' home.
Institutional
and Academic Backlash
The scandal
has sharply divided the academic community and triggered internal chaos at
Cambridge:
- Official Exoneration: An academic misconduct panel at
Liverpool John Moores University concluded in March 2026 that Arday’s
citation issues were an "honest and reasonable error," noting
that his PhD supervisory team had been severely depleted.
- Cambridge Staff Revolt: Despite the official clearance,
The Telegraph reported
a growing revolt among Cambridge staff. Many senior academics expressed
deep concern over the university leadership's refusal to independently
re-examine Arday's credentials, arguing that protecting him blindly
compromises the institution's credibility. - Politicized Divide: The case has turned into a
ideological proxy war. Prominent right-wing figures and anti-DEI
(Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) advocates, such as former Cambridge
philosopher Nathan Cofnas, have cited Arday as proof of lowered academic
standards under the guise of diversity. Conversely, left-wing advocacy
groups like the
Good Law Project launched
petitions signed by over 10,000 supporters, characterizing the scrutiny as
a "vile campaign" to destroy a distinguished Black academic. - Impact on Race Studies: Multiple academics of color
have privately expressed panic to
The Guardian, stating that
the plagiarism is obvious and that defending it risks setting the
legitimacy of race and education scholarship in Britain back by 20 years
Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism row defends his work
.jpeg)
Cambridge
professor at centre of plagiarism row defends his work
9 hours
ago
Vicky
Wong
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78gmp7zylvo
Prof
Jason Arday said he was not a liar after accusations of plagiarism emerged
A
Cambridge University professor has defended his academic work after finding
himself at the centre of a plagiarism row.
The row
erupted after another academic - self-defined "race realist" Nathan
Cofnas, who was sacked from his Cambridge role in 2024 - said he found numerous
instances of plagiarism in Prof Jason Arday's work and questioned some of his
stated achievements.
While
some critics say the treatment of Arday, who is black, has been motivated by
racism, others have said the claims of plagiarism were legitimate.
Arday
admitted errors in his work, telling the Times in an interview on Saturday that
he was accountable for those mistakes but that "what I am not is a
liar".
He told
the newspaper: "There has been, since I arrived at Cambridge, a very well
orchestrated and co-ordinated campaign to unseat me from my position."
He argued
this was "racially motivated" and that he had become a
"lightning rod" for criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion
(DEI) policy.
Arday
said some errors in his early academic work was because of his autism, as he
relied on using mimicry to make sense of information, and that similar scrutiny
would find similar errors in work by other academics.
"We're
talking about academia here. I didn't murder somebody. I think the cruelty that
I've experienced and the positioning of me as this kind of liar and fantasist
is totally unacceptable," he told the newspaper.
In 2023,
the then 37-year-old sociologist became the youngest ever black professor at
Cambridge, telling the BBC at the time his work focused on neurodivergence and
race in education.
He was
diagnosed with autism and global development delay in his early years, to which
his being unable to speak until the age of 11 and unable to read or write until
18 was attributed.
Arday
worked as a PE teacher before earning his doctorate at Liverpool John Moores
University and going on to teach at Roehampton, Durham and Glasgow.
Accusations
of plagiarism in Arday's work were first voiced by Cofnas - a US researcher
whose role at a Cambridge college was terminated after backlash to his view
that under a true meritocracy black people would "disappear from almost
all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment".
He
claimed on Substack that he had put Arday's work through a plagiarism detection
software, which found that "many passages are lifted with minimal editing,
sometimes retaining copy-editing mistakes from the original source".
Cofnas
reproduced several tracts of Arday's PhD dissertation which he said the
software had found to be copied verbatim or lightly rephrased from prior
academic works by other authors.
He also
noted that a retired professor had previously raised concerns about Arday's
subsequent academic articles, which led to two journals issuing correction
notes.
Cofnas
also questioned Arday's claims that he ran 30 marathons in 35 days, and 300
miles in three days for charity, which Arday said had raised more than £5m for
charity, as well as running 600 miles on a treadmill in six days.
Arday
told the Guardian that the £5m was raised with the help of others over a
20-year period, but said he could not name these people as he had signed
non-disclosure agreements.
When
asked by the newspaper about the 600 miles challenge, he said it was actually
completed over a 12-day period to allow for rest days because of the
"cumulative wear and tear of training" from previous challenges.
He told
the Times that he stood by the other running records.
"I
can't make people believe me," he said. "Nobody lives their life
having a receipt for every single thing they say or they've done."
Arday did
not dispute the allegations of plagiarism, but defended himself by arguing that
he had not received adequate supervision during his PhD given his autism and
learning disabilities, and that he could not afford a proofreader to catch
mistakes when he started out in academia.
More than
12,000 people - including Green Party leader Zack Polanski, at least five
Labour MPs and some Cambridge academics - have signed a petition set up by the
Good Law Project supporting Arday.
Kehinde
Andrews, professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, said Arday
was the victim of a "smear campaign" that was "as predictable as
it is baseless", while Alan Lester, a University of Sussex geography
professor who specialises in colonialism, called it a "non-story".
Simon
Baron-Cohen - a cognitive neuroscientist and fellow at Trinity College,
Cambridge - raised concerns about the impact the media coverage was having on
Arday.
"We
should of course always investigate plagiarism to protect academic
standards," he wrote on Friday. "However, I cannot stand by and watch
when an autistic man is on the ground and the kicking continues. This is
relentless bullying of a vulnerable autistic man and raises safe-guarding
issues. It's time to stop."
But some
academics say there are questions to answer over academic propriety.
John
Preston, an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Essex, said
"there is a case to answer here".
"Mistakes
happen. If sociology of education is to ever be a field with any credibility,
we need to be able to point these out, correct them, and move on," he
wrote, adding that there was "no personal shame in making mistakes and
admitting them".
A
Cambridge University spokesperson told the BBC it took allegations of academic
misconduct "incredibly seriously" but that it was "standard
practice" that investigations were carried out by the institution at which
the research was done.
They
added: "Allegations of plagiarism regarding Professor Arday's thesis and
some of his journal publications have been investigated by Liverpool John
Moores University and the journals in question."
Ceuta crisis: 22 EU leaders gang up against Spain’s Sánchez over his migration policy
Ceuta
crisis: 22 EU leaders gang up against Spain’s Sánchez over his migration policy
Twenty-two
EU leaders have signed a joint letter rebuking Spanish Prime Minister Pedro
Sánchez following a
massive migration crisis in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, where
roughly 50,000 to 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco in a single day. The
letter, spearheaded by Italy and Denmark, accuses Sánchez's administration of
implementing lenient policies that create a "pull factor" and
undermine the collective security of the European Union's external borders.
The Core
Conflict
The
diplomatic rift highlights a sharp rightward shift in European migration
politics, leaving Spain increasingly isolated on the continental stage.
- The Accusations: Signatories—including German
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk—claim that Spain's domestic policies
triggered the influx. They specifically targeted Spain’s recent
regularisation program for 500,000 irregular migrants and a Supreme Court
ruling that mandates individual asylum assessments for migrants arriving
by sea.
- Demands for Action: The 22 leaders have called on
the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU to urgently convene an
extraordinary meeting of interior ministers. They argue that uncontrolled
mass crossings cannot be allowed to create the perception that illegal
entry into the EU is permissible.
- Border Closures: In immediate retaliation to
the crisis, Italy formally suspended Schengen cooperation with Spain,
closing its air and maritime borders to the country. Prominent right-wing
figures across Europe have publicly demanded that Spain be suspended from
the Schengen Area entirely.
Spain's
Response
Prime
Minister Sánchez and his cabinet have aggressively pushed back against the
internal EU backlash:
- Condemning
"Selfishness": Sánchez strongly criticized the response of the 22 EU
nations as "selfish," sending his own letter to EU institutions
to defend Spain's actions.
- National Sovereignty: Sánchez deployed the Spanish
military to Ceuta, closed the border of Spain's other enclave, Melilla,
and characterized the mass border breach as an attack on Spanish
territorial integrity orchestrated by human smuggling networks.
- Status of the Crisis: Spain's Interior Ministry
reported that the situation has been almost entirely reversed and returned
to normal. Over 48,000 of the Moroccans who crossed have already been
repatriated or returned voluntarily. To prevent future surges, Spain has
begun installing a specialized inflatable maritime barrier along the Ceuta
coastline.
Member
State Breakdown
The letter
has exposed deep ideological fractures across the bloc regarding border
enforcement:
|
Stance
on Spain's Policy |
Countries
/ Leaders |
Key
Arguments |
|
Opposed
to Sánchez |
22 EU
nations (led by Italy, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Greece) |
Mass
regularisations and sea-return bans threaten EU-wide border integrity. |
|
Abstained
/ Supported |
Spain,
France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal |
Refused to
sign the rebuke; emphasize managed coordination or back Madrid's sovereignty. |
Human-caused global heating has dramatically increased the risk of extreme wildfire weather across Europe, making hot, dry, and windy conditions at least 20 times more likely in Spain and twice as likely in France.
.jpeg)
‘Extremely
scary findings’ show climate crisis is supercharging Europe’s wildfire weather
Human-caused
global heating has dramatically increased the risk of extreme wildfire weather
across Europe, making hot, dry, and windy conditions at least 20 times more
likely in Spain and twice as likely in France. This finding stems from an rapid
attribution analysis by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) consortium, who described
the results as "extremely scary".
The
scientific data connects fossil-fuel pollution directly to the devastating
megafires that have forced over 300,000 people to flee their homes across
Western Europe.
Key
Scientific Findings
- Spain's Fire Weather: Global warming has made the
combination of extreme heat, low humidity, and high winds at least 20
times more likely.
- France's Fire Weather: The exact same dangerous
weather combinations are now twice as likely due to climate change.
- Soil Dryness: Driven by unprecedented
atmospheric demand for moisture, the current level of soil dryness in
Western Europe is five times more likely than it would be in a
world without fossil-fuel emissions.
- Weather Whiplash: A very wet winter and spring
promoted rapid vegetation growth; a sudden switch to intense summer heat
quickly turned that plant life into a vast fuel surplus for
uncontrollable blazes.
Current
Impact Across Europe
According to
monitoring data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), the
area burned across the European Union is currently the second
highest on record for this time of year, trailing only the historic 2022
season.
|
Country |
Wildfire
Severity & Climate Status |
|
Spain |
Experiencing
severe megafires; climate change increased extreme fire weather twentyfold. |
|
France |
More land
has burned than in any previous full year on record; facing severe air
pollution. |
|
Italy
& Portugal |
Recording
near-record numbers of fires and burned areas well above historical averages. |
|
United
Kingdom |
Confronting
unusual large-scale wildfire breakouts due to relentless heatwaves. |
Broader
Consequences
- Human Cost: The intense, climate-driven
heatwaves feeding these fires have already claimed an estimated 10,000
to 20,000 lives across Europe.
- Economic Losses: Extreme drought and heat have
cost grain farmers €2 billion ($2.17 billion) in lost crops,
heavily impacting agricultural output.
- Air Quality Crisis: Wildfire smoke has severely
degraded air quality across Northern Italy and Spain, prompting
authorities to distribute millions of face masks in worst-hit
French regions to prevent smoke inhalation.
The Path
Forward
Wildfire
researchers note that the issue is compounded by socio-economic shifts: rural
southern Europe is experiencing population decline, leaving abandoned farms to
overgrow with dense vegetation that fuels larger fires. Climate experts and UN
officials emphasize that nations must urgently accelerate the transition from
fossil fuels to renewables while implementing aggressive local adaptation
measures—such as improved water management, land clearing, and parametric
insurance
‘Extremely scary findings’ show climate crisis is supercharging Europe’s wildfire weather
.jpeg)
“Humanity continuing to burn colossal amounts of
coal, oil and gas is making these conditions more dangerous, and these
megafires more deadly and destructive,” he said. “But the solutions are equally
clear: all countries must move faster from fossil fuels to renewables and
protect people from worsening climate impacts, from wildfires, to megastorms
and floods, to droughts hitting food production.”
‘Extremely
scary findings’ show climate crisis is supercharging Europe’s wildfire weather
Latest
study says global heating has made hot, dry and windy conditions in Spain at
least 20 times more likely
Damian
Carrington Environment editor
Fri 31
Jul 2026 08.00 BST
The
extreme heat and drought stoking huge wildfires in Spain and France were made
far more likely by the climate crisis, a scientific analysis has found.
Global
heating made hot, dry and windy weather at least 20 times more likely in Spain
and twice as likely in France, experts from the World Weather Attribution (WWA)
consortium calculated. The finding is the latest to pin the blame for the
continent’s sweltering and deadly summer firmly on the heating caused by the
burning of oil, gas and coal.
The
intense heatwave at the end of June, which is estimated to have killed 20,000
people, could not have happened without the extra heat trapped by carbon
pollution, a previous WWA study showed. Another found that the climate
crisis-driven heat was “sucking soils dry” as extreme drought spread across
Europe.
Searing
heat and parched land led to very high “daily severity ratings”, the metric
that was used in the new analysis and which measures how severe a wildfire will
be if ignited. Studies of the 2025 wildfires also found they were supercharged
by the climate crisis.
This
year’s wildfires in western Europe have been made worse by a wet winter and
spring, which boosted the growth of vegetation, which then dried out and
provided fuel for the fires – so-called whiplash conditions. Global heating is
making winters wetter and summers drier and hotter in Europe.
“What’s
unique about [the July fires in Spain and France] is that it’s still early in
the season – and with another heatwave looming, these findings are extremely
scary. What we’re seeing is a clear sign of the escalating impacts of
[human-caused] warming.”
Julie
Arrighi, the director of programmes at Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre,
said: “What we are seeing now in Spain and France goes well beyond what we
would expect from past events.”
The
wildfires have released huge plumes of toxic smoke. Dr Augustin Colette, at the
French National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks, said: “The
smoke increased particulate [pollution] peak levels up to 20 times above what
is considered ‘fair air quality’, and extremely poor air quality was felt up to
400 km away from the fires.” About 1.5 million people a year are estimated to
have their lives shortened by wildfire smoke.
Severe
wildfires have burned across Spain and France since early July, killing people,
destroying thousands of homes, and forcing more than 300,000 people to flee.
The WWA analysis assessed the seven-day period with the highest daily severity
ratings (DSR) for each country. The scientists used weather records and
established statistical methods to estimate how much more likely a week of
extremely high DSR is in today’s heated world compared with in the world before
mass fossil-fuel burning raised the global temperature by 1.4C (2.5F).
Big
wildfires have also broken out in the UK and Greece, where three firefighters
lost their lives.
The UN’s
climate chief, Simon Stiell, said: “These European megafires show how fast
climate-driven extreme heat and dry landscapes can turn wildfires into
devastating national disasters.
“Humanity
continuing to burn colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas is making these
conditions more dangerous, and these megafires more deadly and destructive,” he
said. “But the solutions are equally clear: all countries must move faster from
fossil fuels to renewables and protect people from worsening climate impacts,
from wildfires, to megastorms and floods, to droughts hitting food production.”
Suicide of a Nation: Immigration, Islam, Identity by Matt Goodwin
Suicide
of a Nation: Immigration, Islam, Identity
by Matt
Goodwin (Author)
THE NO.1
SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A searing
examination of Britain's political crisis and the growing chasm between
Westminster and the people it governs.
Suicide
of a Nation is a story of how Britain, one of the most remarkable countries on
earth, is not just in decline but is committing national suicide. It is a story
of how a people are losing their own country. Mass uncontrolled immigration,
porous borders, 'two-tier multiculturalism', and a draconian regime of
censorship are all contributing to not just the transformation of a country and
a people but their very replacement.
Drawing
on a huge amount of data, rigorous analysis, and demographic forecasts, Suicide
of a Nation pulls back the curtain to show readers how their population, how
their country, is now being completely transformed -and in ways they never
voted for, nor ever asked for.
Through
an unflinching look at reality, a reality the politicians would rather you
ignore, Suicide of a Nation asks and then answers a series of uncomfortable but
urgent questions.
What is
happening to Britain, and why? On current demographic trends, where will the
country be at the end of the century, only 74 years from now? Why are millions
of people, including their wishes, concerns, and worries, being ignored? Why
has the country's political and cultural elite become so utterly disconnected
from the rest of the country? What might happen if none of this is addressed?
And what must change before it is too late?
The Ceuta local authorities will become more and more firm to send the last Moroccans back to Morocco
.jpeg)
The Ceuta
local authorities will become more and more firm to send the last Moroccans
back to Morocco
The
Spanish government and Ceuta local authorities have already taken an
exceptionally firm stance, actively repatriating the vast majority of the
estimated 60,000 migrants who recently crossed from Morocco. Following an unprecedented border
surge in late July 2026, Spain's central government deployed the military to
reinforce the border and reached a formal security agreement with Rabat to
execute rapid repatriations.
By August 1,
2026, Spain's Interior Ministry reported that more than 48,300 migrants had
already been returned to Morocco.
The
Context Behind the Mass Return
- The Influx Trigger: The surge occurred after human
trafficking networks misinterpreted a Spanish Supreme Court ruling
regarding immediate maritime pushbacks, falsely spreading word that
entering through the water would guarantee legal status.
- Rapid Evacuations: According to data tracking
from Deutsche Welle (DW) and news reports from Reuters,
thousands of migrants voluntarily walked back to Morocco after
encountering a complete lack of food, shelter, or open businesses in
Ceuta.
- State Action: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro
Sánchez labeled the situation an "attack" on territorial
integrity and deployed troops to assist the Guardia Civil. The
administration is using accelerated legal processing hearings to quickly
deport the remaining irregular arrivals.
Measures
Implemented to Stop Future Crossings
|
Measure
Implemented |
Objective |
|
Military
Deployment |
Guarding
beaches and structural gaps in the Ceuta fence. |
|
Floating
Barriers |
Installing
buoys near the breakwaters to block maritime access. |
|
Rabat
Security Alliance |
Direct
coordination with Moroccan riot police to disperse crowds. |
|
Schengen
Suspensions |
Neighboring
countries like Italy have temporarily halted border-free travel with Spain to
prevent further movement into Europe. |
While local
regional leaders under Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas have requested the
declaration of a "national emergency", Madrid has stated that
standard migration laws and bilateral treaties with Morocco are already
sufficient to handle and return the remaining individuals
