The New Scientist article is behind a pay wall but there is a paragraph of introduction that make this claim: It is important to note that, while human-driven climate change continues to raise global temperatures, there is no evidence to suggest that the process is accelerating this year. Instead, specific warming conditions are being layered on top of the 1.3°C temperature rise caused by climate change so far, pushing records ever higher.
This is probably underplaying the problem - as James Hansen has only just come out with a study this week that explains global warming very likely is accelerating, though we await the next year or two with the new El Niņo to confirm. He may be wrong, but he's usually not wrong.