Portrait of the week | 2 August 2018

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When families and doctors are in agreement, medical staff will be able to remove tubes supplying food and water to people in a permanent vegetative state without applying to the Court of Protection, the Supreme Court ruled. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists called on Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, to allow women in England to take abortion pills at home rather than in a clinic. A man was jailed for four and a half years and his wife for three and a half years at Leeds Crown Court for tricking their daughter into travelling to Bangladesh in order to force her into marriage. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart during his visit to China, said: ‘My wife is Japanese. My wife is Chinese. Sorry, that’s a terrible mistake to make.’

Downing Street revealed that 70 ‘technical notices’ about Britain leaving the EU with no agreement, aimed at companies and consumers, would be issued in two sets this month and next. This followed remarks by Matt Hancock about plans to stockpile blood products and vaccines, and by Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, about stockpiling food. The Sunday Times reported plans for helicopters and army trucks to take supplies to vulnerable people outside the south-east. Some Brexiteers accused the government of mounting Project Fear mark II, to persuade Parliament and the public to accept an agreement on Brexit resembling the Chequers white paper. Theresa May, the Prime Minister, broke off her holiday to visit President Emmanuel Macron of France at his holiday fortress at Brégançon on the Côte d’Azur. Geraint Thomas won the Tour de France, bringing Team Sky’s victories to six in the past seven years.

The Jewish Chronicle published a recording of Peter Willsman suggesting at a meeting of Labour’s National Executive Committee that Jewish ‘Trump fanatics’, were behind accusations of anti-Semitism in the party.