It is hot in Europe, in the Netherlands the thermometer rises to tropical temperatures. At The Hague, retired Dutch colonials got out their old tropical outfits, relics of Java days.

In London, where any temperature above 80° is called a heat wave, it was so hot last week that ten extra waiters were engaged to serve cooling drinks to perspiring legislators in the House of Commons terrace restaurant. A woman fainted from heat in a Gravesend bus and, as her…