Are these rising temperatures a terrible thing?

The Met Office, mindful of predictions it made a few years ago of a barbecue summer that never took place, is being understandably cautious.

Many people in Sussex would welcome a long hot summer after a spring which has been generally cool.

But a record-breaking heatwave would inevitably lead to a revival of the arguments about whether we are in for a prolonged period of climate change.

This subject seems to be one of passionate argument. On one side are those like Christopher Booker and Nigel Lawson who say that nothing is happening and there is no need to worry.

On the other side are environmentalists who claim we are already doomed because of our profligate lifestyles leading us into unstoppable global warming.

To me, it is clear that climate change is taking place and it can be proved by records. In our little corner of the country, every summer of this century has been hotter than any in the 1960s.

Worldwide all the hottest years have been those just past and while the rate of increase has slowed, the trend of higher temperatures is still marked.

The more important question is whether climate change is a bad thing. The doom-mongers moan on about rising sea levels drowning low lying areas and parts of Saharan Africa becoming a dust bowl.

But for every square metre of southern Spain made impossible for agriculture by heat and drought, another area of Labrador or Siberia becomes free of ice and available for crops.

Warm summers benefit tourism in counties such as Sussex. Milder winters save on heating costs. Handsome birds like egrets have been attracted to our wetlands while there is also a flourishing wine industry these days which would not have been possible in the past.

Cold is a much bigger killer than heat and warmer winters will cut the number of deaths by many thousands.

I do my little bit to help the environment, through recycling, riding a bike, not eating meat and tending an allotment. I think it’s probably best to keep Old Stepmother Nature firmly in her place.

But I don’t regard climate change as in any way the biggest problem facing the world. That indubitably is the growth in population.

Here in Sussex the birth rate is low but we are living longer and many people are moving here from other places. The result is an overcrowded county, its frail beauty constantly under threat.

Migration is increasing the numbers of people living in Italy and Germany where otherwise the population would be slowly declining.

But the really worrying increases are in continents like Africa and Asia where there is also acute poverty. Scientific advances are producing much more food worldwide but they cannot keep pace with the rising number of people.

Solve this problem and you will also make a dent in global warming. It will probably happen eventually but more through war, disease and famine than by co-operation and persuasion.

In the meantime, we can enjoy the scorching summer – if there is one. I remain fairly sceptical about that.

Back in the 1960s, when we had the coldest winter on record, boffins and pundits were confidently predicting that we were entering a mini ice age.

It never happened and the summer of 1976, so far still the hottest of them all, put an end to those fallacious forecasts.

See you on the beach shortly if we can find a small spot or two amid the growing crowds on which to place our towels.

The 50th Brighton Festival this month has been the largest and liveliest of them all.

There seems to be no end to artistic talent in the city by the sea.

I’ve been to concerts, plays, exhibitions and open houses while only scratching the surface of what is on offer.

Occasionally I wonder if many of the offerings are just too wild and wacky even for a famously outlandish resort like Brighton.

Too many seem to have an element of the Emperor’s new clothes with people applauding something which isn’t there.

But when I see audiences patently enjoying themselves or customers splashing cash on dubious delights at open houses, I think it doesn’t really matter.

And there’s still more to come with the festival at Charleston in full swing plus a full weekend in Brighton. After that the Fringe staggers on for another week.

Next year it will be the 50th anniversary of the festival, as distinct from the 50th festival. The challenge facing Andrew Comben and his team will be – how do you follow that? But I have little doubt that they will manage it.