Readers will remember the resignation of Nature editor Philip Campbell from the Muir Russell inquiry - Campbell's position became untenable when he was found to have prejudged the outcome of the inquiry by telling a television interviewer that the scientists involved in the Climategate emails had done nothing wrong.
Campbell's membership on the panel was ostensibly because of his expertise in matters of peer review and there was some speculation in the wake of his departure as to whether a replacement should be sought. Indeed, I wrote to Sir Muir and suggested a way in which a suitable replacement might be found. My suggestion was that he might try contacting COPE, the Committee on Publishing Ethics, which is an industry body for scientific journals that offers advice on matters of, well, publishing ethics. They have considerable expertise in the peer review process.
It looks as though my advice may have been followed since the previous minutes refer to contacting COPE and the latest minutes show that Richard Horton, the editor of the Lancet, has been invited to address the panel on the subject of peer review. Horton is closely involved with COPE. He doesn't appear to have been made a full panel member, however.
Great. But I think it would be worth checking for Dr Horton's views on climate change wouldn't you? Just in case?
Global warming is the biggest threat to our future health. This isn't a message that has yet seeped into the public consciousness. It isn't a message that most doctors and nurses think is relevant to health. But it's time that health professionals stood on the front lines of political debate to explain why climate change is the most serious danger to our wellbeing, even to our survival. The threat of climate change is with us now.
Oh dear.