The weather is terrible and the forecasts worse - why do we bother with holidays in August? | Simon Jenkins

The British summer is still based on pre-industrial events. It's time a government had the guts to shake up the holiday yearIf you had booked an August holiday in Britain 10 days ago, then heard the weather forecast, you probably would have taken the first train to Gatwick. The forecast for the following week was awful - for storms, clouds, rain and "unseasonably cold" weather. In other words, another typical August.In the event the forecast was wildly inaccurate. Where I was on the Welsh coast, just one day passed without sun for all or part of the day. It did rain heavily for part of one day and there was the odd shower. It certainly was not hot. But a week on the beach was feasible, the sea blue and the sunsets glorious. That we saw relatively few visitors was entirely the result of the forecast, according to local businesses. One publican told me he can predict his takings each day not by the weather but by the 8am forecast. Yet it is so often wrong. The weather forecast is England's economic sanction against Wales.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...