[3] The G8 summits during the 21st-century have inspired widespread debates, protests and demonstrations; and the two- or three-day event becomes more than the sum of its parts, elevating the participants, the issues and the venue as focal points for activist pressure.

As host, the UK stated its intent to focus this G8 meeting on the issues of global climate change and the lack of economic development in Africa.

The British government set the priorities of supporting Africa's economic development (by agreeing to write off debts of the poorest countries, and to significantly increase aid) and of moving forward initiatives to research and combat global warming.

In mid-July, objections by Belgium raised the possibility of the debt relief bill not being approved by the International Monetary Fund, a development that was harshly criticized by many activists.

Agreement was not reached on Brown's proposed International Finance Facility, partly because the United States said that its budget procedures meant it was unable to make the necessary long-term funding commitments.

The other seven G8 nations – France, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, and the United Kingdom – have ratified the Kyoto Protocol and have committed to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions by 2010.

Hopes had been raised that the unprecedented joint declaration by the G8 countries' academies of sciences on the need for urgent action on global warming would help moderate the US negotiating position.

On July 6, US President George W. Bush recognised "that the surface of the Earth is warmer and that an increase in greenhouse gases is contributing to the problem".

The action plan, without any targets or timetables, will deliver very little to reduce emissions, or to roll out renewables to the scale required", said a spokesperson for Friends of the Earth.

[1] Archived 2005-07-30 at the Wayback Machine The US also pulled out of financial pledges to fund a network of regional climate centers throughout Africa which were designed to monitor the unfolding impact of global warming.

New US move to spoil climate accord To address claims that flying so many people around the world to talk about global warming actually contributes substantially to it, the entire G8 Presidency was designed to be carbon neutral, with calculated resulting carbon emissions being offset by purchasing Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) from a Clean Development Mechanism project.

As a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions.

[9] Protest took a variety of forms: On 19 June details of the security for the summit were leaked to the British newspaper The Independent on Sunday, because of concerns by an intelligence source that ministers were being "complacent".

Most people were released with strict bail conditions, having to leave the districts of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, and/or Stirling or even Scotland altogether.

[12] More than one analyst suggests that a G8 summit is not the place to flesh out the details of any difficult or controversial policy issue in the context of a three-day event.

Breaking with historical practice, the British government had allowed non-governmental organizations to play a key role in deliberations, perhaps prompted by the public pressure of the Make Poverty History movement and Live 8.

The leaders of seven African nations attended, as well as the five leading developing countries: China, India, Brazil, Mexico, and, South Africa.

The partial debt cancellation has done some good – Zambia for example is now able to provide universal free healthcare and Tanzania has increased its education spending.

Reports suggest that the bombings may have been planned that day because the terrorists knew that a large number of London police officers would be deployed in Scotland, weakening the city.

The Metropolitan Police SOR, Special Operations Room, had been stood up and so there was a full Command Team in place with units immediately able to be deployed.