They came, they saw a mountain town devastated by an earthquake, and on Friday they hot-footed back to the coast to a fleet of waiting aircraft. Will the world remember what was agreed in L’Aquila? And will the G8 leaders keep their promises?

Every year the G8 circus is attended by questions about whether the summits achieve anything and whether the format of eight “industrialised” countries – including Canada but excluding China – should be scrapped and replaced by a bigger “G”.