Boris Johnson will use a meeting of G7 leaders on Tuesday to push President Biden to extend the August 31 deadline for the US withdrawal.

But UK ministers are increasingly resigned to having to conclude the UK evacuation from Kabul by the end of the week amid increasing security fears.

Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary, said on Tuesday morning that it is “unlikely” the 31 August deadline to pull troops out of Afghanistan will be extended as it gets “more and more dangerous”.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “As we get closer it’s correct to say the security risk goes up, it gets more and more dangerous.

“Add-on groups and other terrorist groups like ISIS would like to be seen taking credit, would like to be seen chasing the West out of Afghanistan – that will feed their narrative and ambitions.”

Wallace said that although the Taliban control the outer ring outside the airport, which makes it harder for ISIS to get through, the UK troops are still “very vulnerable should a terrorist choose to do something”.

His concern was echoed by James Heappey, the armed forces minister, who said that extending beyond a week today risked turning Kabul into a “war zone”, with soldiers attempting to manage the evacuation while fending off potential Taliban attacks.

Sir Laurie Bristow, Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan, also warned MPs that remaining longer would “provoke a reaction”, describing the Taliban’s commitment to the 31 August deadline as “uncompromising”.

The warnings came after Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News that the evacuation effort continuing in Afghanistan past the end of the month would be a “red line” and would “provoke a reaction”, which the Taliban leadership would decide.

“Foreign forces should withdraw on the deadline they have announced earlier. Otherwise, it is a clear violation.”

A total of 7,109 people have now been moved from Afghanistan by the RAF, and UK forces are now racing against the clock to rescue the remaining UK citizens and local allies from Kabul airport before next week’s deadline.

One government source told The Times that the “vast majority” of the 4,000 British passport holders, Afghan interpreters and other support staff in Afghanistan were expected to have been evacuated by the end of the week.

But Wallace admitted: “Our focus is to get as many people out… but the scale of the challenge means that not everyone will get out. We are ruthlessly prioritising people.”

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Forced migration

The dictator of Belarus, President Lukashenko, is forcing thousands of migrants across the border with Poland at gunpoint, as a form of political reprisal against EU sanctions. The Polish army has been deployed to try and prevent the influx.

Pro-vax

The UK has ordered 35 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which will be delivered in the second half of 2022. Sajid Javid said the move was intended “to future-proof our vaccine programme”. The details of this year’s booster programme are yet to be announced.

Anti-vax

Hundreds of anti-vax demonstrators – protesting against Covid passports and vaccinating children – have stormed the Channel 4 and ITV News headquarters and clashed with police, demanding to speak to the broadcasters’ bosses.

Olivia Gavoyannis,
Reaction Reporter

It comes as the Taliban issued a stark warning to both US and UK forces over their reported desire to extend troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, describing the move as a “red line”.

Biden had previously said the US military operation in the country will end on August 31, by which point he is aiming to have evacuated all Americans from the country.

But with the Taliban tightening their grip at the airport, Boris Johnson is set to use an emergency meeting of G7 world leaders on Tuesday to ask US president Biden to reconsider his decision.

On Sunday, there were reports of Taliban fighters firing into the air and using batons to force people into queues at Kabul’s airport, where US and UK evacuations are taking place.

This morning, a firefight broke out between unidentified gunmen, Western security forces and Afghan guards at the North Gate of Kabul airport. One Afghan guard was killed and three others were injured in the battle, which also involved US and German forces, the German military said on Twitter. 

It was not known who the attackers were, or whether the dead Afghan was one of the Taliban fighters deployed to guard the airport. The Taliban have until now not opened fire on NATO or Afghan troops.

Over the weekend, Biden said discussions were already taking place about extending the deadline, but that “our hope is we will not have to”.

UK government officials have said there is “no fixed date” on when the UK will withdraw, but it is feared that without US troops on the ground, the remaining allied forces would be unable to secure the area.

On Sunday, Johnson tweeted: “I will convene G7 leaders on Tuesday for urgent talks on the situation in Afghanistan. It is vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people to secure the gains of the last 20 years.”

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace have already held talks with their Washington counterparts, urging them to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond the August deadline.

UK pressure on the US comes as the Taliban issued a stark warning to allied forces against extending troop withdrawal, describing the move as a “red line”.

During a meeting with Sky News in Doha, the militant group’s spokesperson Dr Suhail Shaheen said: “If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations – the answer is no. Or there would be consequences.”

“It will create mistrust between us. If they are intent on continuing the occupation it will provoke a reaction.”

Russian sanctions 

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has imposed sanctions on seven Russian nationals, accused of involvement in the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The seven individuals, thought to be directly responsible for planning or carrying out the attack on Navalny, will be subject to travel bans and asset freezes.


Shock precipitation 

For the first time on record, rain has fallen on the summit of Greenland’s huge ice cap – where temperatures are normally well below freezing. The rain fell during an exceptionally hot three days in Greenland when temperatures were 18C higher than average. 


New Covid treatment 

A new Covid drug called Ronapreve – which uses a pair of laboratory-made antibodies to attack the virus- has been approved for use in the UK. The treatment has been shown to prevent infection and reduce the need for hospital treatment.


Olivia Gavoyannis,
Reaction Reporter

A NATO official said on Friday that more than 18,000 people had been flown out of Kabul since the Taliban took over last week, but that allied forces were working to redouble their efforts over the weekend.

At least 12 people have died from gunshot wounds and stampedes at Kabul airport since Sunday as thousands of Afghans make a desperate attempt to flee from a future under Taliban rule.

Despite Taliban assurances that those seeking to leave the country would be granted “safe passage”, there are reports of militant fighters blocking the gates to the airport, letting few through, and beating and shooting at some who tried to pass.

The scramble to evacuate Western forces and their allies comes amid reports of intimidation and violence by Taliban forces.

The hard-line Islamist group has tried to reassure Afghans that there will be “no revenge” on western allies after seizing power last week – using its first speech to promise peace at home and urge the world to look past its history of violence and repression.

However, a leaked UN document revealed that Taliban fighters are going door to door threatening to take family members of Afghans who worked with UK and US forces hostage, unless the targets surrender themselves.

The document by RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses , which provides intelligence to the UN, said: “The Taliban are intensifying the hunt-down of all individuals and collaborators with the former regime, and if unsuccessful, target and arrest the families and punish them according to their own interpretation of Sharia law.”

A separate report by Amnesty International revealed that Taliban fighters killed nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Ghazni province last month.

The Hazara community is Afghanistan’s third largest ethnic group. They mainly practise Shia Islam and have faced long-term discrimination and persecution in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The killings, which took place between 4 and 6 July in the village of Mundarakht, Malistan district, saw six men shot and three others tortured to death.

Amnesty’s Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said: “The cold-blooded brutality of these killings is a reminder of the Taliban’s past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring.”

There are also reports of the Taliban carrying out organised searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. 

According to Germany’s Deutsche Welle, Taliban fighters are hunting a journalist who works for the media company and have shot dead one member of his family and seriously injured another.

Olivia Gavoyannis,
Reaction Reporter

The President had aimed to remove US forces from the country by the end of this month to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, but up to 15,000 US citizens are stranded in the country – along with 50,000 to 65,000 local allies.

Asked about the possibility of US citizens being stranded after this month’s symbolic withdrawal deadline, Biden told ABC News: “If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out.”

The announcement comes amid ongoing reports of chaos and confusion at Kabul airport, where at least twelve people have died since Sunday.

According to the latest reports, evacuation flights out of Kabul are taking off near-empty after the Taliban formed a ring of steel around the airport. Forces are said to be blocking tens of thousands of Afghans from entering the compound and making it difficult for British and German expats to board planes.

Footage has also emerged of Afghan children being passed to foreign soldiers at the edge of the airport complex in the hope they might be able to escape the country.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that the Taliban are cooperating with the British by letting people through to be evacuated but that the real challenge for embassy staff is “crowd issues” as hundreds surround the airport in an attempt to flee to safety.

Asked about the footage of the children being passed to Western soldiers, he said: “We can’t just take a minor on their own.”

Biden confirmed some of the issues at the airport, telling interviewers that the Taliban were letting Americans leave, but that some of their local allies were being denied access to the airport.

Asked if he thought the handling of the crisis could have gone better, Biden said: “No”.

“We’re gonna go back in hindsight and look … but the idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens.”

This contradicts an earlier statement made by the President a few weeks ago, when he insisted that the “likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely”.

In the first year, 5,000 refugees will be eligible – with women, girls and religious minorities, who are most at risk from the Taliban, given priority.

The scheme is based on the government’s previous Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, which resettled 20,000 Syrian refugees over a seven-year period from 2014 to 2021. 

The government emphasised the new Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme would “not compromise on national security” and has promised all those arriving will have to pass “strict security checks”.

The new scheme is separate to the existing “Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy,” which aims to relocate 5,000 former Afghan staff members and their families who are under serious threat to Britain by the end of this year.

The Home Office admitted the new scheme faced “significant challenges” due to the “complex picture on the ground” in the country, but said ministers were “working at speed” to address those obstacles.

On Tuesday evening, Home Secretary Priti Patel chaired a meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States – to identify safe and legal routes for those who need to leave Afghanistan.

Announcing the scheme, Patel said the it would “save lives”, and promised that the UK would “not abandon people who have been forced to flee their homes and are now living in terror of what might come next”.

However, critics from across the political spectrum have accused the government of failing to meet its moral duty to those abandoned after two decades of failed Western intervention.

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Defence Select Committee, told the Daily Mirror the scheme was a “woefully inadequate response”. He criticised the government for capping numbers at 5,000 for the first year when “the threat is at its greatest”.

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the UK should aim to grant asylum to 35,000 or more Afghan refugees, while the Liberal Democrats said the resettlement of 20,000 Afghans in Britain should be “the starting point” and “not the target”.

Labour said the government’s proposed resettlement scheme “does not meet the scale of the challenge” and risked “leaving people in Afghanistan in deadly danger”.

Boris Johnson is expected to announce further details of additional humanitarian aid and diplomatic support in the Commons on Wednesday, when Parliament will be recalled to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Raab, who is said to be under pressure for having been on holiday as the Taliban seized Kabul, said ministers were also working on a “bespoke” asylum scheme to help the most vulnerable Afghan nationals to resettle in the UK, claiming it has “always been a country that has provided safe haven for those fleeing persecution”.

But who are these refugees? And where will they go?

Amid the chaos, the UK has already brought home some UK citizens and resettled Afghan nationals who have supported British efforts in the country through the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP), launched in April.

After the Taliban took control just over a week after the US withdrawal, the UK sent around 900 troops to Afghanistan to help evacuate British nationals and Afghans who are eligible to resettle in the UK – a group that includes those who worked for the British government as interpreters, cultural advisers and embassy staff.

Vice-Admiral Sir Ben Key, who is running the UK part of the evacuation, said around 300 people had been flown out so far and that more flights to Kabul were planned. He said that military aircraft are also flying from Afghanistan to airports across the region, where people can then be put on civilian charter flights. Rescue flight destinations have included the UAE and Qatar.

Sir Laurie Bristow, the British Ambassador who has emerged as something of a hero among the chaos, is also helping the effort. After refusing to be evacuated from the country over the weekend, Sir Laurie has set up an emergency consular operation at the airport and pledged to stay “for as long as possible” to lead efforts to evacuate stranded Brits and Afghan staff.

According to reports, the government already has 2,000 offers of accommodation from 104 councils as part of ARAP, but needs more – especially larger properties, as the average size of families being resettled is understood to be six people. In total, the UK hopes to help 6,000 to 7,000 British nationals and eligible Afghan staff to leave.

But there are concerns that many more are vulnerable to retaliation from the Taliban.

Responding to increasing pressure from MPs and campaign groups from across the political spectrum, Raab said a “bespoke” resettlement scheme would be set out by the home secretary and PM “in due course”.

The scheme will reportedly be modelled on the Syrian refugee resettlement drawn up by David Cameron in 2015, which has resettled 20,319 Syrians from camps on the country’s borders straight to the UK. 

The Home Office offered no detail on how many Afghans would be permitted asylum in the UK under the new scheme, saying “it will be guided by the capacity of local authorities”.

But with reports that women are already being forced to marry fighters, quit their jobs and remain at home, pressure is growing on the government to reinstate foreign aid and to work with allies to provide routes, funding and safety for millions more Afghans who fear for their future in the country.

At a Nato press conference this afternoon, Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general, confirmed that along with the US and UK rescue efforts, other allies were working to help evacuate foreign personnel along with Afghans wanting to leave. 

Stoltenberg said the Turkish forces were helping to maintain the airport while the Norwegian forces were running the airport hospital. 

He added that at today’s North Atlantic Council, several Allies had also announced that they are sending in airplanes to the region, so as to build air bridges to get people out. 

Returning on Monday to the White House to make his first public remarks on Afghanistan in nearly a week, Biden defended his decision to bring back US troops, despite scenes of chaos as residents scrambled to evacuate Kabul:

“Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country; the Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight… If anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that ending US military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.”

Biden said the mission had never been about nation-building but counter-terrorism – a threat that has now “metastasised” well beyond Afghanistan.

He insisted he did not “regret” the decision to pull out of Afghanistan, saying it would be wrong to take the US into a third decade of military engagement in the country.

The President admitted that the situation “did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated” and said “‘I am President of the United States of America... and the buck stops with me.”

However, Biden did place some of the blame for the Taliban’s rapid takeover on political leaders who fled the country and the Afghan army’s unwillingness to fight.

“American troops cannot and should not be fighting the war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”

Biden also blamed his predecessor, Donald Trump, for empowering the Taliban and leaving them “in the strongest position militarily since 2001”.

The address came after a day of chaos in Kabul prompted heavy criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. 

Seven people died at the capital’s main airport on Monday as desperate Afghans surged onto the runway, some clinging to the wheels of departing US aircraft. Two fell to their deaths after planes took off. Some 640 Afghans clambered onto a US C-17 cargo jet designed to carry 150 before troops could close the door. It took off anyway, ferrying the refugees to Qatar. Thousands more were not so lucky.

Republican congressmen said the situation amounted to “the embarrassment of a superpower laid low” and demanded an investigation. They were joined by several Democrats and former Obama administration officials who publicly criticised Biden’s handling of the situation. 

Ryan Crocker, who was ambassador to Afghanistan in the Obama administration, said the Biden administration had “a total lack of coordinated, post-withdrawal planning,” and that the predicament was a “self-inflicted wound.”

After the conference, Biden walked away without taking press questions and returned to the presidential country retreat, Camp David.

The Wall Street Journal and Reuters cited witnesses who saw bloodied bodies lying on the ground, although it is unclear whether they were killed by gunfire or stampede.

The US military took over Kabul airport on Monday morning in a bid to manage a chaotic evacuation of residents. 

Video footage from Monday morning showed people trying to climb the outside of passenger stairs and running across the tarmac as they tried to get on board flights out of the country, while US troops fired bullets into the air to deter civilians from trying to board a plane.

The militants completed their takeover on Sunday, sweeping unopposed into Kabul and occupying the presidential palace less than two weeks after taking their first Afghan city.

President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the Taliban entered the capital, saying he wanted to “avoid bloodshed.” Reports claim that he has now flown to Tajikistan.

On Sunday, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said, “the war is over in the country”, and emphasised that the Taliban wanted a peaceful transition of power. He said they respected womens’ rights and freedom for minorities under sharia law.

Naeem emphasised that the Taliban did not want to rule the country in isolation and said: “We ask all countries and entities to sit with us to settle any issues.”

Another spokesperson said the Taliban is now holding talks aimed at forming an “open, inclusive Islamic government” in Afghanistan.

Western governments have rapidly accelerated plans to evacuate thousands of citizens amid fears they could become trapped.

The US is sending another 1,000 troops to Kabul to assist the safe withdrawal of US nationals and Afghan support staff, while 600 UK troops are expected to take part in Operation Pitting, to assist in the evacuation of UK nationals remaining in Afghanistan.

More than 60 countries have issued a joint statement saying Afghans and international citizens who want to leave Afghanistan must be allowed to depart and that airports and border crossings must remain open.

Countries including the US, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea and Qatar said in a joint statement that “those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan bear responsibility – and accountability – for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order”.

The rapid takeover of Kabul has led to severe criticism of both Boris Johnson and Joe Biden for their handling of the withdrawal of Western troops, with former President Donald Trump calling on Biden to “resign in disgrace”.

There are fears that the Taliban victory could create catastrophic consequences for the Afghan population and a return to hard-line Islamist government.  

In a statement, Boris Johnson conceded that the Taliban would be Afghanistan’s next rulers, and pledged to do “everything we can to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a breeding ground for terrorists”. He also called on allies not to recognise the Taliban.

He said: “We’ve known for a long time that this was the way things would go. This was a mission whose military component really ended for the UK in 2014. What we’re dealing with now is the very likely advent of a new regime in Kabul.”

Parliament will be recalled on Wednesday for a statement by the PM and a debate on the situation in Afghanistan. 

President Biden is yet to make a statement. However, Antony Blinken, America’s top diplomat, has defended the US mission in Afghanistan. 

He said: “We went into Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission in mind, and that was to deal with the people who attacked us on 9/11, and that mission has been successful.”

It comes as the Taliban continue to make rapid gains across Afghanistan. In recent days, militants seized the country’s second-largest city, Kandahar, as well as the cities of Ghazni, Lashkar Gah and Herat.

The Taliban now control a third of Afghanistan’s regional cities and there are fears over the security of the capital, Kabul. According to the Associated Press, US military intelligence assessments warn the capital could come under pressure within 30 days and the entire country could fall to the Taliban within months.

Ben Wallace, the UK Defence Secretary, said the security of British nationals, military personnel and former Afghan staff was the government’s first priority and that it “must do everything we can to ensure their safety”.

He said the deployment of troops, who will be arriving in the coming days, was a “pre-planned phase” and was to “enable the next step of leaving”.

However, the Ministry of Defence admitted the additional deployment was “in light of the increasing violence and rapidly deteriorating security environment in the country”.

The UK embassy in Kabul, which will be reduced to a core team, will be relocated outside of the city to a safer place in the green zone.

The US has also announced that it is deploying about 3,000 soldiers to help the “safe and orderly reduction” of US nationals and Afghans who worked with the Americans and have been granted special immigrant visas.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last night, telling him the US “remains invested in the security and stability of Afghanistan”.

However, the Biden administration is facing widespread criticism over its decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, with critics warning the move will cause a humanitarian disaster and allow the Taliban to take control of the country.

Mitch McConnell, the most senior Republican in Congress, said: “President [Joe] Biden’s decisions have us hurtling toward an even worse sequel to the humiliating fall of Saigon in 1975.” 

He said: “President Biden is finding that the quickest way to end a war is to lose it.” 

The theory behind their hopes was a solid one. In the natural world, the body relies on millions of proteins to keep itself alive, and it uses mRNA to tell cells which proteins to make. So, the idea was, if scientists worked out how to manipulate the body’s mRNA, they could create any protein they wanted – to fight infection, mend damaged tissue or reverse a rare disease.

But for a long time, success was elusive. Katalin Karikó, one of the earliest mRNA pioneers, was first exposed to the idea as an undergraduate student in 1976. She began a PhD, studying how mRNA might be used to target viruses, but her first real moment of hope came when scientists found a way to generate mRNA from scratch in 1989.

She told WIRED: “Suddenly we felt like we could do anything” –  and more than twenty years later, scientists are having this epiphany all over again.

In normal times, it can take anything from a few years to decades to produce a vaccine. But the funding and urgency of the Covid pandemic helped the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna teams to harness the power of mRNA technology to create safe, effective vaccines for the virus in less than a year.

The rapid pace of the innovation has sparked hope about what else the technology could be used for.

Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, the co-founders behind the BioNTech, gave a TED talk explaining how mRNA vaccines could be used to target a specific issue within the body without inhibiting the whole immune system like the current treatments do – and even be tailored to target an individual’s specific tumour.

They said: “The development of the coronavirus mRNA vaccine shows the power of the mRNA and it shows also the safety of this approach… it opens up a door for new technology and for new types of treatments.”

And these new therapies might not be too far around the corner. Currently, several phase one and phase two clinical trials are either underway or recruiting participants to assess the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of therapeutic mRNA vaccines to treat various forms of cancer. These include melanoma, non-small cell lung cancers, gastrointestinal cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic cancer, among others.

There is also hope that mRNA vaccines could be used to treat Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia. Scientists are still unsure what causes the phenomenon, but there is growing evidence to suggest that mRNA vaccines generate a systemic immune response that can reduce inflammation in the brain, combatting neuron loss and cognitive decline.

As Kate Bingham, the former head of the UK Vaccine Taskforce told Reaction: “Immunology is the fundamental basis of how we are going to change medicine around the world”.

She argued that the pandemic could shift medicine from a model of cure to one of prevention and she speculated that there could be a world in which people in their middle age were given vaccinations against the top five cancers at their routine check-up, because “we will know enough about the drivers or markers of those different cancers such that we can induce your immune response to be on special lookout for those ones.”

At the moment, this is only blue-sky thinking. But it is heartening to think that the pandemic, for all its pain and suffering, has driven the kind of innovation that could – in the not-so-distant future – revolutionise the way that healthcare is administered around the world. 

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GCSE record results 

GCSE students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have recieved record numbers of top grades, after the second year of exam cancellation, but the rise remained well below that recorded for the highest A-level grades earlier this week.
 

Starmer defends WFH

The Labour leader has said it is “wrongheaded” of ministers, civil service leaders and employers to force people back to the office against their will or to threaten them with pay cuts, insisting that flexible working is one of few good things to have come out of the pandemic. 

Taliban tightens its grip 

Taliban fighters have captured the cities of Ghazni and Herat in the same day, taking control of 11 provincial capitals in less than a week. The victory in Ghazni, which gives the insurgents access to a key main road south of the capital, leaves those in Kabul in an increasingly perilous position. 

Olivia Gavoyannis,
Reaction Reporter

The results mark a return to growth in the second quarter, after a 1.6 per cent contraction from January to March.

The main driver of growth was consumer spending, which rose by 7.3 per cent over the quarter as Covid restrictions lifted, exceeding expectations.

In April, non-essential retailers reopened across England, as well as gyms, hairdressers and outdoor dining. In May, pubs, restaurants and cafes were allowed to serve customers indoors, while theatres, galleries and cinemas were allowed to open their doors.

The ONS said that the UK’s GDP growth for the quarter was faster than those recorded by the US, France, Germany, and Spain. 

Separate figures show that UK exports to the EU continued to recover in June and are now back to pre-pandemic levels

In June alone, the UK economy grew by 1.0 per cent, driven by sectors including health, advertising, restaurants and bars. This is the fifth month of growth in a row and is stronger than expected.

Output across the rest of the economy, however, was essentially flat. Industrial production fell by 0.7 per cent, primarily due to sharp declines in output in the energy supply and mining and quarrying sectors, while construction output fell by 0.5 per cent.

Overall, the 4.8 per cent growth in Q2 was slightly below the 5 per cent the Bank of England expected, and GDP is still around two per cent below its pre-pandemic peak.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the latest figures showed the UK was “bouncing back” from the Covid crisis and “showing strong signs of recovery.”

He said: “I know there are still challenges to overcome, but I feel confident in the strength of the UK economy and the resilience of the British people.”

Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said the latest data confirms a “robust rebound in output” in the second quarter, but warned that business investment remained low, and may limit UK productivity.

He said: “Growth in the second quarter may be the high point for the UK economy with economic activity likely to moderate in the third quarter as staff shortages, supply chain disruption and consumer caution to spend limits any gains from the lifting of restrictions in July.

He warned policymakers to guard against “complacency” over the underlying strength of the recovery and urged for a “comprehensive rebuild strategy to turbocharge growth post Covid”.

The proportion of students receiving top A* and A grades has risen by almost 75 per cent since the last time conventional exams were taken in 2019, with nearly half of A-levels – 44.8 per cent – marked at an A or A* this year. The record haul is being put down to the teacher-assessed grading system. 

Gavin Williamson, England’s Education Secretary, defended the system, insisting that debate about how this year’s grades have been awarded should not “undermine or question the value” of students’ results.

Bit Neil Sheldon, a former chief examiner, warned that teachers’ predictions needed some form of standardisation “in order to avoid a descent into meaninglessness through inflation”.

Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the education select committee, said “a hard rock cake of grade inflation” had now been baked into exam results.

There was also concern about the widening attainment gap between private and state school pupils, after 70 per cent of entries from private school pupils received at least an A, while 40 per cent received an A*.

Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, said that while students deserved to be congratulated for their hard work, “the Conservatives’ chaotic last-minute decision making has opened the door to unfairness”.

She said: “The increase in A grades is 50% higher among private schools, while black students, students on free school meals and in areas of high deprivation, are being increasingly out-performed by their more advantaged peers.”

According to The Telegraph, one of the options under consideration by the Department for Education (DfE) is the replacement of alphabetical A to E grades with the grading system of 9 to 1 used in GCSEs.

Robert Halfon said that A-levels should be replaced with the international baccalaureate to “ensure a new gold standard in post-16 qualifications.”

The government is also looking at reducing the proportion of students allowed the top grades gradually from year to year until the pre-pandemic 2019 baseline is restored, according to The i.

Under this system, the government would tackle grade inflation over a period of years rather than solve it rapidly with a “sudden shock to the system”.

There are also reports that the PM wants the equalities minister Kemi Badenoch to replace Williamson as Education Secretary at the next reshuffle, which could take place early next year.

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Andrew sued

Virginia Robert Giuffre has filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in a New York court, alleging that the Duke of York sexually abused her when she just 17, after she was trafficked to him by Jeffrey Epstein. 

AI vs Alzheimers

An artificial intelligence system, trained to recognise abnormalities in the brain, may be able to diagnose dementia from a single brain scan years before symptoms develop, according to scientists working on a new trial in Cambridge. 

Princess in Iceland 

The campaign to free Princess Latifa, the daughter of the ruler of Dubai, has been disbanded, according to a statement from the official Free Latifa campaign, after a photo of the 35-year-old holidaying in Iceland surfaced on Instagram.

Olivia Gavoyannis,
Reaction Reporter

The latest official figures show that there has been a sharp increase in the top grades awarded at A-level – with As and A*s increasing 6.3 percentage points to 44.8 per cent from 38.5 per cent last year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The sharp rise in top grades means that the proportion getting top A* and A grades has risen by almost 75 per cent since the last time conventional exams were taken in 2019.

The pass rate for Scottish school qualifications dropped slightly this year – but scores were still well above pre-pandemic levels.

The percentage of pupils achieving A to C grades in their Highers fell from 89.3 per cent in 2020 to 87.3 per cent in 2021. But that total is still significantly above the 75 per cent pass rate from 2019, and a record high number of awards overall.

BTec students will get their results today and on Thursday.

Critics say the teacher-assessed grading system, which was put in place after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row, has devalued exams and created grade inflation. There are also concerns that children at privileged schools are more likely to have the support and resources to appeal their grades.

Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee, said: “There’s likely to be grade inflation. The government has got to make sure the appeals system is fair and easy to engage in and not just accessible to those with barristers for parents.”

But Gavin Williamson, England’s Education Secretary, defended the system, insisting that debate about how this year’s grades have been awarded should not “undermine or question the value” of students’ results.

He said: “Students have worked very hard in what has been an extraordinary and challenging year, and each and every one of them should feel incredibly proud of their achievements. We should all celebrate their resilience and ability to overcome adversity.”

Schools could use a range of evidence for grades, including “mini-exams”, coursework and mock exams to determine grades – with one in five schools having a sample of their grades checked by exam boards.

Several education leaders have also thrown their weight behind the teacher-assessed grades.

Geoff Barton, head of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that comparing this year’s results with previous years’ was like “comparing apples with oranges”.

He said: “This cohort of students has suffered more educational disruption than any cohort since the Second World War.”

The higher-than-average results are expected to trigger a scramble for university places. The number of students with a live Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) application who do not currently hold a place is understood to be 20 per cent higher than on results day last year, meaning many will be hoping to secure a spot in the clearing process in the coming days.