Portrait of the week: the chaotic evacuation from Kabul

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At the virtual G7 emergency summit that he was chairing, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, urged President Joe Biden of the United States to prolong the evacuation from Kabul of Nato forces, nationals and dependants beyond 31 August. But the Taliban said no. Britain took 8,600 people out of Afghanistan in ten days, but Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said: ‘We won’t get them all out.’ Tony Blair, the former prime minister who had sent British forces to join in the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, said that America’s decision to withdraw had been made ‘in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending “the forever wars”’. One person flown to the UK from Kabul was found to be on the British no-fly watchlist on security grounds.

In the seven days up to the beginning of the week, 697 people had died with coronavirus, bringing the total of deaths (within 28 days of testing positive) to 130,894. (In the previous week deaths had numbered 613.) In a week, numbers remaining in hospital rose from 5,927 to 6,441. Protection given by the AstraZeneca vaccine was found to fall from 77 per cent to 67 per cent after five months. A new anti-Covid drug Ronapreve was approved for use in the United Kingdom. Known as Regen-Cov in America, it was one of the medicines given to President Donald Trump last year. Costing between £1,000 to £2,000 for a course of treatment, it might be given to those who do not respond to the vaccine. Charlie Watts, the drummer of the Rolling Stones, died aged 80. Peter Corby, the inventor of the electric trouser press, died aged 97.

Government borrowing for July fell below the level forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, thanks to higher tax receipts, but total government debt reached 98.8