Portrait of the week: Brexit uncertainty, Turkey in Syria and a Chinese threat

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Brexit teetered from uncertainty to uncertainty. Parliament had been summoned to sit on Saturday 19 October to debate what Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, had brought back from a European Union summit. He had held talks before the week began with Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach of Ireland, at Thornton Manor in the Wirral, from which optimistic noises emerged. Margaret Atwood, 79, from Ottawa, and Bernardine Evaristo, 60, from Eltham, shared the Booker Prize.

The Queen wore the George IV diadem at the State Opening of Parliament instead of the heavy Imperial State Crown. Among 26 Bills set out in the Queen’s Speech were seven relating to Brexit, one of them to pave the way for a points-based immigration system from 2021 and others to establish new regulatory frameworks for fishing, farming, trade and financial services. Seven criminal justice Bills included measures to increase sentences for serious criminals. A Bill would stop import of animals shot by trophy hunters and another oblige restaurants to give waiters all the tips left for them. Downing Street said that the Prime Minister would not resign if the government was defeated in the debate on the Queen’s Speech. John Henry Newman (1801-90) was canonised.

Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said that Britain would not grant new export licences for weapons that might be used in military operations in Syria. Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National party, said she would ask the UK government by the end of this year for formal consent to hold another referendum on independence for Scotland. Police, invoking Section 14 of the Public Order Act, requiring protesters to stop demonstrations in central London, began to clear Trafalgar Square of Extinction Rebellion supporters. Administrators decided that Neil Woodford would be removed as investment manager of the Woodford Equity Income Fund, which would be shut down.