The first victim

The C of E plunges back into two old but still not yet entirely finished abuse stories, plus the fascist carols that weren't

Hello! You might think, like me, that everything that could or needed to be said about the John Smyth scandal had been said. But a new documentary was broadcast last week which was valuable in expanding the story to new places, just as a church judge ruled one vicar pursued by the C of E for their alleged complicity is actually entirely innocent.

Then we return to Tommy Robinson’s carol service, which turned out to be much less far-right and anti-immigrant than expected.

Finally, does Sarah Mullally, our incoming Archbishop of Canterbury, really have blood on her hands over another old safeguarding case?

Then there is also our latest podcast (What should Christians know about the menopause and how it’s treated?) and a list of links to interesting church news stories from around the internet. Including, this week, an astrological theory about the Christmas star, Canada tries to proscribe the Bible, and many, many, many other denominations struggle with abuse and safeguarding accusation…