It’s Monday, July 21. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: The war on free speech comes for the British pub. Andrew Ferguson on what makes Dave Barry so funny. Are we prepared for a drone attack? Do Democrats need their own Trump? And more.

But first: Is air-conditioning the mark of civilization?

As the sole member of the Free Press London bureau, I spend half my working hours reminding my American colleagues of a truth I hold to be self-evident: Europe is just as good as the U.S.

And in some ways, better! Our cities are prettier. Our trains are faster. We believe in taking vacation and—wait for it—not answering emails from the beach. (Can someone please remind Bari of this next month when I retreat to Crete?)

But there is one concession I will reluctantly make, and it is this: The air-conditioning on this side of the pond is less than ideal. Over the weekend, a tweet went viral in which a good American patriot named Billy Binion claimed the lack of AC in European restaurants makes eating out feel like “hot yoga with bread.” I was tempted to reply: I love hot yoga! And bread! Sounds like a great dinner!

But Billy, as a substandard British patriot I’ll admit that you have a point. When the heat wave struck earlier this month, we suffered. The London Underground became a furnace. Every British newspaper ran an article about “how to keep cool.” Shut the curtains! Put cold towels on your bare legs! I did all this and more, in the apartment where I both sleep and work, which is but 15 years old and has no air con.

Believe it or not, I’m one of the lucky ones. I read last week, with horror, that over 250 people died in London during that heat wave. And I learned today, from Free Press columnist Tyler Cowen’s latest piece, that more Europeans die heat-related deaths than Americans suffer fatal gunshot wounds.

He argues that our lack of air-conditioning is a sign that my continent is wracked by civilizational decline. And when I think back to my trip last July to our New York office—where the air-conditioning is so competent that I had to wear a sweater—I almost believe him.

—Freya Sanders

Britain’s War on Speech Comes for the Pub Dominic Green From one tale of European malaise to another. . . . A new law could criminalize that most British tradition: ridiculing your friends at the pub. Dubbed the “Banter Bill,” the legislation is the latest threat to free speech in the UK—and, as Dominic Green argues, a profound assault on the British way of life. Read full story

A Funny Thing About Dave Barry Andrew Ferguson The humor writer’s new memoir, “Class Clown,” tackles everything from the absurd—exploding toilets—to the deeply insightful: modern media’s loss of credibility. Read this book, advises Andrew Ferguson. Read full story

WATCH: The U.S. Is Not Prepared for a Drone Attack Austyn Jeffs A drone attack on U.S. soil is all but inevitable, experts say. But are we properly prepared? In his latest documentary, Austyn Jeffs dives into the debate around an obscure and outdated law that some argue means we’re sitting ducks. Read full story

On Conversations with Coleman: Do Democrats Need Their Own Trump?

This week’s guest on Conversations with Coleman is Galen Druke. Galen is the founder of the GD Politics podcast and the former host of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast. Coleman sat down with Galen to talk about public opinion six months into Trump’s second term: what pollsters get wrong about the president, why some people viewed Donald Trump as the more moderate choice in 2016, what that says about how voters think, and how Democrats might get back into the national conversation in a real way. They also talked about how polls work, when they matter, and what they often miss about what voters actually care about.

Hit the play button below to listen to their conversation, and make sure you follow Conversations with Coleman wherever you get your podcasts.

President Trump watches the Ultimate Fighting Championship with Elon Musk and Dana White on April 12 in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle via Getty Images)

The Democratic National Committee’s forthcoming autopsy of the 2024 election will avoid discussing critical decisions—including whether Joe Biden should have dropped out earlier, the choice of Kamala Harris as the candidate, and the Harris campaign’s focus on social issues. “We are not interested in second-guessing campaign tactics or decisions of campaign operatives,” Jane Kleed, the head of the association of Democratic state chairs, told The New York Times.

Amid constant rumors that the president might fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before his term expires, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reportedly been lobbying the president to leave Powell alone. Trump has been demanding that the Federal Reserve lower interest rates, while Bessent and others have warned that the market will react poorly if the president interferes with the Fed’s independence.

Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigned on Saturday, days after he and the AI company’s “chief people officer” were caught canoodling on a Coldplay concert kiss cam. The video of the affair went viral, and at one point the CEO was the top trending Google search in the nation.

A Somali American socialist has won the backing of Minnesota Democrats in the race for Minneapolis mayor over Jacob Frey, the incumbent who oversaw the city during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Omar Fateh, a state senator, is running on many of the same policies as New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, including rent control and higher taxes on the wealthy.

President Trump is suing The Wall Street Journal, its parent companies, two of its reporters, and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for $10 billion over a story detailing a letter the president allegedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein. In a court filing in Florida, Trump accused the reporters and publishers of “malicious, deliberate, and despicable actions.”

Trump aides discussed ending SpaceX contracts after the Elon Musk–Donald Trump fallout, but the administration reportedly determined that it could not cut most of the federal government’s contracts with the rocket company because they were critical to the Department of Defense and NASA.

Americans may vehemently disagree about politics, but they increasingly agree on this: They love U.S. stocks. And they’re not alone. International investors increasingly want our stocks, too.

That insight is often overshadowed by negative media coverage of President Donald Trump, and especially over his plans to use tariffs to reshape the global order.

But recent earnings reports from Charles Schwab and Interactive Brokers Group show that an intense desire to own U.S. stocks is emerging as one of the big themes of 2025.

Rather than retreating to the safety of money-market funds, or watching the markets without trading, investors are increasingly embracing the volatility around Trump’s policies.

Schwab reported that strong transaction volumes drove a 60% increase in its second-quarter net income.

Interactive Brokers reported a 170% quarterly increase from 2024 in overnight trading volume, helped by international clients who want U.S. market access—and who are able to trade 10,000 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds, equity index futures and options, and bonds outside of regular U.S. trading hours.

Should the U.S. dollar remain weak—which seems to be a goal of the Trump administration—global consumers will likely find that U.S. goods will be cheaper. The phenomenon should further boost U.S. stocks with international sales.

The initial data points from two important brokerages is a positive for the U.S. stock market. It indicates strong demand for U.S. stocks, especially on declines.

We raise this point as many pundits and strategists are advising clients to hedge stocks in anticipation that primary benchmarks, like the S&P 500 index, may soon back off record levels.

Sure, there are always risks, especially when markets are at record highs, as they are now. But many investors seem to be taking a page from the playbook of crypto investors, who are increasingly active in the stock and options markets.

The price of Bitcoin has enjoyed extraordinary ups and downs, yet Bitcoin investors tend to stay invested. When the crypto markets are at their worst, crypto investors remind each other to HODL, for “Hold on for Dear Life.” Stock investors, conversely, often panic and sell. The influence of crypto investing styles on stock investors is too little appreciated.

The next few weeks of corporate earnings reports should make the world’s burgeoning love affair with U.S. stocks more apparent. Earnings results have thus far been good, and more positive news should strengthen investors’ bullishness. In addition, any good news from Trump’s tariff negotiations is likely to be interpreted as even more reason to buy stocks.

Investors can position for more stock market upside without sharply increasing their risk with call-option spreads. The strategy—buying a call and selling another with a higher strike price but the same expiration—increases in value if the associated securities increase in price.

With the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (ticker: SPY) at $628.86, investors can buy the September $635 call for $12.96 and sell the September $650 call for $5.89.

If SPY is at $650 at expiration, the spread is worth a maximum profit of $7.93. The risk: That the ETF is below $635 at expiration, which would mean the trade fails.

Aggressive investors could also sell a September $615 put option for $8.75. The put sale positions investors to buy SPY at $615. If the ETF is above $615 at expiration, investors keep the premium.

The continued embrace of U.S. stocks anticipates a continuation of the status quo. Any diversions from the script could trigger stock volatility—but stay cool and HODL. Over time, you’ll be glad you did.

Email: editors@barrons.com

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has suffered a cyberattack in which $44 million was reportedly stolen from its internal accounts by hackers.

The money was lost from an account the company was using to manage liquidity on a partner platform and CoinDCX has said that the breach does not affect customer assets.

While the investments of investors have been declared safe by the company, the incident spotlights the need for tighter systems-security.

Last year, WazirX, another crypto exchange, had lost $234 million in a cyber heist.

Such news can shake investor confidence, especially since the legal status of cryptocurrency in India remains in a regulatory grey zone.

While the government’s approach has been to tax crypto gains, it has neither explicitly banned such digital assets, nor offered a framework to regulate their trading and use.

This vacuum should not persist for long. India’s crypto policy needs clarity. If digital tokens used as a currency must only be issued by the central bank, then the Centre must say so.

Also read: Google flags over 500 million scam messages monthly as cybercrime soars in India

If private tokens are fine if backed by proper reserves, like stablecoins, then this should be specified. The current state of affairs means high uncertainty.

Rising summer temperatures have softened Europe’s resistance to air conditioning and touched off a new political fight about the wisdom of installing the technology everywhere, U.S.-style.

A heat wave that hit Western Europe in June and July spurred a run on air conditioners in appliance stores across the region. The scorching temperatures came unusually early, before many Europeans had a chance to decamp to the beach for summer vacation, exposing vulnerabilities in the cities where most people live. More than 1,000 French schools closed partially or completely because they lacked air conditioning.

Criticism quickly arose from politicians on the right who said authorities have left the continent woefully under-air conditioned. Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, proposed a major campaign to install air conditioning in schools, hospitals and other institutions. In the U.K., the Conservatives urged London’s Labour Party mayor to eliminate rules that restrict how air conditioning can be included in new housing. In Spain, the far-right Vox party has been highlighting air-conditioning breakdowns to criticize the country’s establishment parties.

“Public services are unable to function due to a lack of air conditioning, unlike dozens of countries around the world,” Le Pen said. “The government is still out of touch.”

French authorities pushed back. Energy minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said large-scale air conditioning would heat up streets with the machines’ exhaust, making heat waves worse. “It’s a bad solution,” she told reporters during the last heat wave, flanked by the perspiring prime minister, François Bayrou. “We should air-condition for vulnerable people to give them a break, but on the other hand we shouldn’t do it everywhere.”

Extreme heat is the biggest climate-change danger facing Europe, marring the continent’s once-mild summers with heat waves that are becoming more frequent and intense. Adapting to it is expected to require huge investments and a major shift in European attitudes toward air conditioning, which many have long regarded as a luxury that Americans use to excess.

“Abroad, the contrast is striking: the United States is investing several billion dollars to modernize the air conditioning of its schools, while hospitals there are already largely air-conditioned,” read legislation proposed by French conservatives this month that would require air conditioning installed in institutions across the country.

A resident at an eldercare facility in Belgium is helped to keep cool during a heat wave in Europe in July.

The prospect of U.S.-style air conditioning sends shivers through some Europeans. In France, media outlets often warn that cooling a room to more than 15 degrees Fahrenheit below the outside temperature can cause something called “thermal shock,” resulting in nausea, loss of consciousness and even respiratory arrest. That would be news to Americans who expect indoor temperatures to be cooled to around 75 degrees even when it is near 100 outside.

Others fear respiratory infections that might result from spending long periods in air-conditioned rooms. Europeans who are particularly concerned about climate change want to avoid using electricity for air conditioning that would generate additional greenhouse-gas emissions.

Still, the requirement to stay cool is overcoming such skepticism. Europe is the fastest-warming continent, heating twice as much as the global average since the 1980s, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Last month was the hottest June in Western Europe on record, according to Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Experts say more air conditioning is a necessity to prevent thousands of people from dying during heat waves. Death aside, Europeans from London to Madrid have increasingly decided they don’t want to endure another heat wave in an apartment that isn’t air-conditioned.

“I have the impression that it is getting hotter and hotter every year,” said Sophie Berto, an analyst who has lived in Paris for a decade. Berto broke down this year and snagged the last air conditioner at an appliance store in central Paris. “Maybe because I wasn’t here in previous years, but now it is too hot.”

A thermometer in Paris in early July shows a record temperature of 111 degrees Fahrenheit.

Air conditioning is expected to drive up annual power demand substantially in southern Europe—one study predicted an increase of around 10% in Italy by 2050. In Northern Europe, reduced need for heating in winter should offset some of the additional energy demand in the summer; but there the grid is expected to come under new stress from government plans to replace natural-gas heating with electric heat pumps, devices that can be used to either warm or cool. The dynamics are putting pressure on the continent to ensure it has enough renewable electricity sources to meet surging demand.

Some environmentalists and scientists say Europe can keep cool without relying on air conditioning on a massive scale. Incorporating more greenery into buildings and streets can lower extreme temperatures in cities. Designing buildings to allow ventilation can reduce the need for air conditioning, as can installing shutters that block sunlight from entering the building.

Yet regulations that require such measures have become a target in the current political debate. In London, construction firms must consider cooling design features before including air conditioning in new buildings. Andrew Bowie, a Conservative member of Parliament, this month called for Mayor Sadiq Khan to end “the ridiculous restrictions on air-conditioning units in new builds in London.”

“We must move away from this poverty mindset on reducing energy usage,” he said.

“The mayor is not banning air conditioning,” said a spokeswoman for Khan, adding that his development plan “recommends developers install other forms of ventilation in new homes, which help to lower energy costs for households.’”

French officials want to expand geothermal heating and cooling systems to avoid the need for traditional air conditioning. Such systems circulate water from deep underground, removing heat from buildings into the ground in the summer and putting it back in the winter. The process is much more efficient than normal air conditioning and avoids sending heat into the air. The upfront investment, however, is significant and possibly prohibitive for installation in buildings that are more than a century old and common in Europe’s old-world capitals.

Château Pontet-Canet, a winery near Bordeaux, has installed such a system that worked perfectly during the last heat wave, cooling the property’s wine tanks, cellar and offices, said technical director Mathieu Bessonnet.

“The ecological problem is whether we should air-condition or not,” Bessonnet said. “Wine is our business, and we don’t want to make vinegar. So we have to air condition… The idea of consuming energy to air-condition for comfort, well, that is what remains absurd.”

Write to Matthew Dalton at Matthew.Dalton@wsj.com