This article is based on an Ecclesiastical Law Society London Lecture delivered on 17 November 2021. It builds on a previous lecture entitled ‘Safeguarding in church and state over the last 50 years: “from Ball and Banks to Beech via Bell”’, which also formed the basis of an article published in this Journal in 2020. That article, among other things, identified a number of significant cases of sexual abuse by clergy which were/are the subject of ‘lessons learned’ reviews and concluded by suggesting how investigation and fact-finding might take place in the future, independent of the bishops, but under the supervision of a ‘judge’, and argued that effective risk assessments could only be based on findings of fact. The author was subsequently asked to chair a working party for the Ecclesiastical Law Society aimed at addressing how the Clergy Disciplinary Measure 2003 (‘CDM’) should be reformed. This article now deals with events that have occurred since, from the publication of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA)'s investigative reports into the Anglican Church (inter alia), the Lambeth group's proposals for reform of the CDM, through to General Synod's responses to both sets of recommendations. It also surveys in some detail the approach the church has taken to the assessment of risk within its safeguarding policy in recent years, as well as its historical approach to clergy discipline. The article concludes by drawing some threads together as a result of the author's own work and research into these two subjects over the past two years, and finishes by suggesting some possible directions in which the church ought now to move.

We present the data and initial results from the first pilot survey of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), observed at 944 MHz with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. The survey covers $270 \,\mathrm{deg}^2$ of an area covered by the Dark Energy Survey, reaching a depth of 25–30 $\mu\mathrm{Jy\ beam}^{-1}$ rms at a spatial resolution of $\sim$ 11–18 arcsec, resulting in a catalogue of $\sim$ 220 000 sources, of which $\sim$ 180 000 are single-component sources. Here we present the catalogue of single-component sources, together with (where available) optical and infrared cross-identifications, classifications, and redshifts. This survey explores a new region of parameter space compared to previous surveys. Specifically, the EMU Pilot Survey has a high density of sources, and also a high sensitivity to low surface brightness emission. These properties result in the detection of types of sources that were rarely seen in or absent from previous surveys. We present some of these new results here.

We have found a class of circular radio objects in the Evolutionary Map of the Universe Pilot Survey, using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. The objects appear in radio images as circular edge-brightened discs, about one arcmin diameter, that are unlike other objects previously reported in the literature. We explore several possible mechanisms that might cause these objects, but none seems to be a compelling explanation.

This article describes the changes in criminal law and procedure that the author saw take place during 50 years of practice, turning a criminal justice system in which it was difficult to prosecute cases involving multiple child witnesses into one much better adapted to cases alleging sexual assault and the needs of vulnerable witnesses. The article reviews, decade by decade, the major developments in people's understanding and perception of the prevalence of physical and sexual abuse, touching on a number of high-profile events. It traces the development of the Church of England's safeguarding policy, noting how it tracks the development of secular policies. In parallel it identifies a number of significant cases of sexual abuse by clergy which were/are the subject of ‘lessons learned’ reviews. A note of caution is however sounded arising from the cases of Carl Beech and Bishop Bell, in particular the danger of not following well-established investigative procedures but jumping to judgement. The article concludes by suggesting how investigation and fact-finding might take place in the future, independent of the bishops, but under the supervision of a ‘judge’, and argues that effective risk assessments can only be based on findings of fact.

Gut bacteria from the genus Prevotella are found in high abundance in faeces of non-industrialised communities but low abundance in industrialised, Westernised communities. Prevotella copri is one of the principal Prevotella species within the human gut. As it has been associated with developmental health and disease states, we sought to (i) develop a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to rapidly determine P. copri abundance and (ii) investigate its abundance in a large group of Australian pregnant mothers.

The Barwon Infant Study is a pre-birth cohort study (n = 1074). Faecal samples were collected from mothers at 36 weeks gestation. Primers with a probe specific to the V3 region of P. copri 16S rRNA gene were designed and optimised for real-time PCR. Universal 16S rRNA gene primers amplified pan-bacterial DNA in parallel. Relative abundance of P. copri was calculated using a 2-ΔCt method.

Relative abundance of P. copri by PCR was observed in 165/605 (27.3%) women. The distribution was distinctly bimodal, defining women with substantial (n = 115/165, 69.7%) versus very low P. copri expression (n = 50/165, 30.3%). In addition, abundance of P. copri by PCR correlated with 16S rRNA gene MiSeq sequencing data (r2 = 0.67, P < 0.0001, n = 61).

We have developed a rapid and cost-effective technique for identifying the relative abundance of P. copri using real-time PCR. The expression of P. copri was evident in only a quarter of the mothers, and either at substantial or very low levels. PCR detection of P. copri may facilitate assessment of this species in large, longitudinal studies across multiple populations and in various clinical settings.

Maternal mental health during pregnancy has been linked to health outcomes in progeny. Mounting evidence implicates fetal “programming” in this process, possibly via epigenetic disruption. Maternal mental health has been associated with glucocorticoid receptor methylation (nuclear receptor subfamily 3, group C, member 1 [NR3C1]) in the neonate; however, most studies have been small (n < 100) and have failed to control for multiple testing in the statistical analysis. The Barwon Infant Study is a population-derived birth cohort with antenatal recruitment. Maternal depression and anxiety were assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and psychological distress using the Perceived Stress Scale. NR3C1 cord blood methylation levels were determined using Sequenom MassArray for 481 participants. Maternal psychological distress and anxiety were associated with a small increase in neonate NR3C1 methylation at specific CpG sites, thus replicating some previous findings. However, associations were only nominally significant and did not remain after correction for the number of CpG sites and exposures investigated. As the largest study to explore the relationship between maternal well-being and offspring NR3C1 cord blood methylation, our results highlight the need for caution when interpreting previous findings in this area. Future studies must ensure they are adequately powered to detect the likely small effect sizes while controlling for multiple testing.

The IAU Working Group on Extrasolar Planets (WGESP) was created by the Executive Council as a Working Group of Division III. This decision took place in June 1999, that is only 7 years after the discovery of planets around the pulsar PSR B1257+12 and 4 years after the discovery of 51 Peg b. This working group was renewed for 3 years at the General Assembly in 2003 in Sydney, Australia. It was chaired by Alan Boss from Carnegie Institution of Washington. The WGESP members were Paul Butler, William Hubbard, Philip Ianna, Martin Kürster, Jack Lissauer, Michel Mayor, Karen Meech, Francois Mignard, Alan Penny, Andreas Quirrenbach, Jill Tarter, and Alfred Vidal-Madjar.

Commission 53 was created at the 2006 Prague General Assembly (GA) of the IAU, in recognition of the outburst of astronomical progress in the field of extrasolar planet discovery, characterization, and theoretical work that has occurred since the discovery of the first planet in orbit around a solar-type star in 1995. Commission 53 is the logical successor to the IAU Working Group on Extrasolar Planets (WGESP), which ended its six years of existence in August 2006. The founding President of Commission 53 was Michael Mayor, in honor of his seminal contributions to this new field of astronomy. The current President is Alan Boss, the former chair of the WGESP. The current members of the Commission 53 (C53) Organizing Committee (OC) began their service in August 2009 at the conclusion of the Rio de Janeiro IAU GA.

Commission 53 met in August 12, 2009. Outgoing President Michel Mayor chaired the meeting, and there were several dozen members present, including incoming President Alan Boss, incoming Vice President Alain Lecavelier des Etangs. Commission 53 (C53) was founded at the 2006 Prague General Assembly of the IAU. After a period of 6 years, C53 will come up for renewal at the 2012 IAU General Assembly in Beijing, China. For the moment, more than 150 IAU members have asked to be members of C53 and few dozen non-IAU members having asked to be informed of the commission activity.

To examine the potential to apply chemically modified surfaces in organic thin film transistors (TFT), we report the synthesis and characterization of two tailored series of oligothiophene compounds. The oligomers have thiol end groups for coupling to gold electrodes and have regio-regular alkyl substitutions corresponding to Head-Head (HH-) and Head-Tail (HT-) molecular conformations. Variations in chain length, structures and end groups have enabled a detailed study of the deposition of films from solution and the films' properties.

The assumption that a high proportion of immature herd ungulates in an archaeological site indicates a domestic population implies (a) there is a 'natural' population structure common to all wild herds, and (b) predators will kill a representative sample of this population. We challenge these implications by demonstrating that wide variations occur in the population structures of non-domestic herds, in the vulnerability of age and sex classes to predation, and in the selective hunting of herd animals by predators, including man. We conclude that the initial assumption cannot be sustained.

Among some additional MSS., belonging to the Trevelyan family, recently placed in my hands, I find many of especial interest and value in an historical point of view; and, as I know nobody more capable of estimating them than yourself, I have addressed to you the following account of one of the most important. The particulars will be given in greater detail in a volume on the preparation of which I am at present engaged, but it seemed to me that a statement of a few of the most prominent features would be highly acceptable to our Society; and Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, who enrolled himself among our Fellows during the last season, has promptly and liberally allowed me so far to anticipate what will appear more at large hereafter.