Britain: future global hot spot?

A thing of the past? A lone walker on
Brighton beach. Photograph: Graeme
Robertson/Getty ImagesClimate change will turn Britain into a Noah's ark for the world by the end of the century, an article in the Times suggests today.

It has picked out a patriotic silver lining from the gloomy predictions of James Lovelock, the creator of the Gaia theory, who reckons that more than 80% of the world's population will be wiped out by global heating.

Under the optimistic headline "Scientist predicts Britain will triumph over global warming" it says the UK is "perfectly placed to become the most desirable location in the world and one of the few areas able to feed itself".

The paper explains that, unlike the rest of Europe, Britain will be cooled sufficiently by the sea to sustain a technologically advanced nation. Britain will resemble Hong Kong, the Times predicts, as millions displaced by climate change flock to these shores.

But will what's left of Britain, after sea levels have risen, really be able to feed itself and so many others? Earlier this year, Lovelock pointed out that Britain was already so overcrowded that it has to rely on imported food.