The blonde weathergirl on Channel 3 said the temperature would peak at 110 that afternoon. The American attachment to fahrenheit somehow makes these numbers more dramatic than if she had said 43 degrees centigrade. But she didn’t bother with the drama. This was a July Sunday in Phoenix, Arizona, and the weathergirl gave her report the emphasis forecasters in most cities would bring to “a little light shower”. It was the 55th day over 100 in 2007, and there were plenty more to come.

Still, people like to know. The local paper, The Arizona Republic, gives the temperature for 252 cities worldwide. Only two of them beat Phoenix that day: Bullhead City, up near the California state line in Arizona, and Riyadh, both on 113. Baghdad was 110, a dead heat. By midweek, Phoenix had gone clear of the pack, at 114. And the other places all fell below 90 at night, an intermittent occurrence in mid-summer Phoenix. There is a more significant difference: the world is not flocking to Baghdad or Bullhead City or Riyadh. It is to Phoenix.