The Monocle Minute

It has become a painful August tradition: Athens’ suburbs are once again engulfed in flames. This week, while commissioning this newsletter from London, I have been checking my phone to see whether the fires have reached my family home in the city’s northern suburbs. At the time of writing, the inferno is just 2km from where my parents live. The issue has largely been left to the whims of nature and the government’s lack of meaningful preventative action has become exhausting. A good place to start would be for the authorities to accept that this kind of wildfire is not, as they often insist, an “unprecedented” event. Unprecedented events don’t happen every year.

The country’s worst blaze of the season broke out on Sunday in the village of Varnavas, 35km north of the capital. It has since spread south to Marathon, passing Mount Pentelikon into the city of Vrilissia, where one person has died. Though even a single death is tragic, the low casualty figure is a testament to the success of the government’s rescue efforts. Its new phone alerts that instantly send geolocated instructions on how to act are an effective tool for saving lives. But no one should be resting on their laurels. The government is sticking to the line that human lives are the priority and that homes can be rebuilt, and forests replanted. But without a long-term plan for offering victims financial support – and with the same kind of destruction occurring every year – the situation is not sustainable.

Greece is well placed to fight the blaze as the economy is growing and there’s still time to salvage something from the ashes. As well as protecting life, it must invest more in firefighting. A wildfire that started in Varnavas should not have reached so far south. Greece must source more fire engines, helicopters and heat detectors, grow its fleet of anti-wildfire aircraft and hire more help. It also needs to make use of its army. There are trained conscripts stationed across the mainland who are currently twiddling their thumbs. Wildfires are an existential threat and should be treated like any other invading force. We already knew in June that we would see record-breaking temperatures this year but many continue to act surprised at the destruction. Next year, the fires that scorch the earth across southern Europe, destroying lives and livelihoods, cannot be explained away as an unforeseen disaster.

Εmmanuil Papavasileiou is Monocle’s newsletters editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

In a bid to preserve Portofino’s beauty, Matteo Viacava, the commune’s mayor, has launched a crackdown on unsightly air conditioners. Italy’s wealthiest municipality forbids the mounting of bulky units on the front of properties. When it comes to enforcing the rule, however, local authorities must rely on whistleblowers. The municipality is asking residents to inform on transgressors, some of whom have camouflaged their units in, for example, bright pastel colours.

Since January, more than 30 residents have been ordered to remove their illicit units, generating as much as €43,000 in fines. But with temperatures peaking at 40C, life without air conditioners is becoming increasingly difficult – unsurprisingly, almost half of all Italian households rely on the devices. Next on the agenda is the town’s satellite dishes, which, according to its rules, must not be visible from ground level.

More than 20 years after the demise of Concorde, commercial supersonic flight finally looks set for a comeback. US aerospace company Boom Supersonic is developing an aircraft that could halve transatlantic travel times. Confident that there will be a market for the plane when it begins commercial service within the next five years, Boom recently opened the Overture Superfactory in North Carolina – the first US facility dedicated to building supersonic aircraft.

Issues such as noise pollution, the high cost of maintenance and fuel, and changes in the aviation sector following the September 11 terrorist attacks caused Concorde to fail. As the industry rapidly evolves, Boom will have to overcome similar challenges. “There isn’t a business case for this aircraft yet,” Murdo Morrison, head of strategic content at Flightglobal, told Monocle Radio’s The Globalist. Meanwhile, Boom is still struggling to find a provider for its engines. However, both American Airlines and Japan Airlines have already booked their first supersonic aircraft from Boom, expected to cater to the business class market.

To hear more about Boom Supersonic, tune in to Tuesday’s edition of‘The Globalist’, on Monocle Radio.

We discuss Copenhagen Fashion Week, continue our summer essentials series and highlight an exhibition that focuses on unusual book-spine design.