Analysis

Bushfires burn across British consciousness

Politicians and ordinary punters alike have been mesmerised by a crisis unfolding 17,000 km away.

Hans van LeeuwenEurope correspondent

Updated Jan 8, 2020 – 10.31am, first published at 10.30am

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London | On the school run this morning, a fellow dad rushed up to me: "Are you alright? Is your family alright?" he asked anxiously. It took me a minute to realise that he didn't mean my wife and kids, who were walking next to me, but my Australian kith and kin. He was talking about the bushfires.

I reassured him my inner-city relatives were all OK. He turned to his six-year-old daughter. "Those fires are burning an area the size of Europe!" he told her. "The whole of Europe!".

Hans van Leeuwen covers British and European politics, economics and business from London. He has worked as a reporter, editor and policy adviser in Sydney, Canberra, Hanoi and London.