Newscast - Andy Burnham's Emergency Cobra Meeting On Extreme Heat - BBC Sounds

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Episode details

News,·12 Aug 2026,·33 mins

Andy Burnham's Emergency Cobra Meeting On Extreme Heat

Available for over a year

Today, we look at the government’s response to extreme heat, and fires around the country, as he chairs a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee, as temperatures are set to soar again. Firefighters are continuing to tackle a wildfire in the New Forest, Hampshire, which started on Sunday, and in Scotland fire crews are still fighting a wildfire in the Cairngorms that first broke out on 15 July. We look at what the government is doing and the political position it puts Andy Bunham, in with Green Party leader Zack Polanski saying it means there should be no new oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. Scotland editor James Cook is back on, as well as broadcasting legend Kirsty Wark, who we try to convince that solar eclipses aren’t boring. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Miranda Slade with Shiler Mahmoudi. The social producer was Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was Noah Dunnett. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Reporting from BBC contributed to this story.