Portrait of the week | 5 February 2015

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MPs voted by 382 to 128 to make Britain the only country to allow genetic modification of embryos to prevent mitochondrial flaws: this could be done by the removal of the nucleus of a donor’s fertilised ovum and its replacement by the nucleus of two parents’ fertilised ovum, thus giving a child three parents. William Hague, the Leader of the House, outlined his plan for resolving the West Lothian question: ‘Before a Bill or parts of a Bill affecting only England was put to its final vote in the House of Commons, the English MPs would meet separately in what would be called the English Grand Committee and decide whether they agreed on it.’ Sir Martin Gilbert, the biographer of Churchill, died, aged 78. Two bronzes of naked men riding panthers, attributed to the Dutch sculptor Willem Danielsz Van Tetrode, were identified by Cambridge experts as the work of Michelangelo.

The Russian ambassador was asked by Britain for an explanation after Typhoon fighters had to be scrambled to escort two Russian Tu-95 Bear H bombers from the Channel. The Election Court — part of the High Court — convened to hear a challenge to the election last year of Lutfur Rahman as mayor of Tower Hamlets. Harry Redknapp resigned as manager of Queen’s Park Rangers. Queensway and South Wimbledon became the first London Underground stations to have their ticket offices permanently closed. The roof of a number 91 bus was ripped off when it hit a tree in Kingsway, central London.

A record number of 18-year-olds, 592,290, applied to university, with a higher number than ever from poorer areas, according to Ucas, the admissions service. Headteachers blamed the government for dropping recognition of IGCSE exams, taken by pupils at schools such as Eton and Harrow, which plummeted in league tables.