We planted these hornbeams in our front garden about 8 years ago, because I loved this UK native tree’s bright autumn colours and they tend to grow straight up rather than out so I could fit a little hornbeam wood in my front garden. But I feared for their lives in the heat and drought of this past summer. I lost at least one of my young silver birch trees in the back garden and I saw other trees in the village that were clearly struggling. Here we are at the end of October, though, and they look just as I hoped they would - on fire with eye-catching yellows and oranges. And isn’t it amazing how quickly the green returned once we got a bit of rain - proof of the resilience of nature, which has been through many climactic changes in Earth’s long history!

But the news continues to be worrying. Some good news - the far right defeated in Brazil and Serbia, an Olympic bid for the North of England, UK renewable electricity generation reaching a new record share of 55.8 percent of generation, according to the government’s June 2026 Energy Trends Report. But also some horrifying news, especially from Palestine, Ukraine and Yemen. And lots of confusing news. Whose ally is the US now? How at risk are our pipelines and national grid? Should we be prepping? And how is this Super El Niño thing going to pan out?

On that last question I have some information. Last month I attended a seminar on the effects of the El Niño led by Professors Hayley Fowler and Paul Behrens and learned a lot.