The Jason Arday scandal

I’m aware. That why is said ‘if all they found was spelling mistakes’. My comment was in response to a post suggesting he was brought down by spelling mistakes.

Because the two factors exist, and posters are excusing the racists because they found plagiarism?

The "admiral" who dressed in a uniform to lay a wreath was prosecuted for far less of an offence.
Well, he was white and middle class.

I agreed with you until your last two sentences:
"Still not on the BBC though I'm guessing. I don't watch it so I could be wrong..."

Of course it's "on the BBC" - it's being widely reported and discussed. It's absurd to think the BBC wouldn't discuss this story 😂😂

It was a student, not a "DEI hiring".

Utterly ridiculous. If they can't check out a CV how on earth are they assessing student's work and awarding degrees.

Whoever appointed him needs sacking.

So you disagreed that I could be wrong?

I'm don't watch the BBC as I live in France and rarely watch TV anyway.

I am genuinely surprised that they are covering this.

Didn't that student get in with crap grades <for Oxford> so a DEI/contextual admission?

Targeted due to racism?
Or the fact he's a blatant liar who fabricated pretty much ... everything?

I have no idea what his A-level grades were, and neither do you.

There were a raft of other lies Arday had made up to complement plagiarism. Had he stopped at plagiarism, he might have got away with it, if people were hesitant to speak up. He did it, so now he's paid the price, the same as every other plagiarist. He just made his discovery a lot easier.

The Emperor has no clothes was written when? This is not the first and not the last time people were defrauded, happens in every walk of life. Cringeworthy, but not lethal this time.

Hardly untouched. That’s batshit to think they haven’t been affected by the world wide interest in this.

Indeed.
A pattern isn't just 'emerging'... its kicking the front door door down and coming out playing a trumpet.

A total fantasist who has helpfully lifted the veil to (once more) show the rot in modern progressivism, but as usual people will simply take whatever side they think will get them into the least trouble with their in group.

Heads should roll at Cambridge, minority academics who deserve better will be harmed because of the selfish actions of a modern day baron Munchausen who was too willing the play on race and disability to excuse his terrible behaviour, and dangerous morons Jolyon Maugham and Zack Polanski are in the middle of it, looking forward to their reverse ferret (which Jolly will probably beat to death in a kimono).

Only good for showing bad actors (anyone who employed him, signed letters of support to him without knowing the facts, and his publishers).

It is staggering that the reporter uncovering this was investigated for harassment. Arday's delusion and arrogance knows no bounds!

So he's retreated with a 'poor me' speech. Will there be formal charges of fraud, surely being paid as a professor is fraud?

There is a miss held belief that he was initially targeted by a right wing figure. He wasn’t. It is true that right wing people did add to the accusations but it was later.

The simple explanation is he was investigated. The journalist who investigated him was bona fide. JA used high powered lawyers and the police to try to silence the journalist. The police should never have interfered with a legitimate journalist doing his job. This is a pilar of our democracy. The ability to have a press that can call out the elite. Be it this journalist or the sky news and Farage.

JA and whoever backed him used bullying tactics to silence critics. He built a career on his identity- one he defined which was as an obvious charade. Cambridge wanted in on that identity and knew what he was claiming. They trumpeted his appointment. When people asked questions they went into denial and JA bullied and threatened anyone who challenged him. This is the disgrace.

His boss was so so happy to hire his as he really is the best in his field. Well, if the field is 'pulling the wool over your eyes love' then yes. He was great at that.

We actually are naturally inclined to assume people are telling the truth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth-default_theory

That works well most of the time but it also means pathological liars can go a lot further than you would think. Add to that a tendency to trust the judgement of others (other people believe this guy so I will) and a natural default to authority and it's possible for them to climb very high before being noticed. As they progress their authority increases and it becomes less believable they could have got that far by lying. Eventually when it does all come tumbling down the fall is greater of course

By his own admission he had the reading ability of a 3 year old whilst doing his undergrad.

The whole sorry episode is a terrible reflection of our academic institutions - not just Cambridge but frankly every institution before that that humoured his belief that the only thing you need to succeed in life is "will". Saw a clip of him being interviewed by Krishnan Guru-Murthy where he boldly states that he has "no skill but lots of will" and that this is the reason for his success. WTF. The real victims are any students that had the misfortune to be supervised or taught by him and who have paid tens of thousands to do so, and the other academics who were passed by for jobs in order to give them to this chancer.

You'd think. But the cult of Charismatic Personality and idolising narcissitic temperaments as though they are superior is endemic now. Trump, Bojo, Farage, Arday.

And universities, including Oxbridge, are now run by bean counters who have zero interest in genuine, provable academic excellence. Which is how they could appoint someone without a flicker of interest in the work he was alleged to have produced.

He claimed he passed only two GCSEs at school - PE and Textiles. That was prior to him becoming literate at 18. In order to pass an exam in textiles, one must put together a folder of work some of which will contain written appraisals of fashion designers and artists who have been inspirational, plus notes accompanying your own work. How did he do this?

I think the scandal reflects much more on our priors than Cambridge, to be honest. For some of us, as shown in the replies, this is an illustration of all that is wrong with the progressive/woke/black/neurodiverse modern world. For others, it is telling that this all started with a racist who openly says that black people are only good for the entertainment of others pursuing a vendetta against a high-profile black professor.

It is noticeable that there was none of this fuss about a white history professor (William O'Reilly) at the same institution who kept his position in 2023 despite plagiarising his own student's work.

None of this is great for the University, but it isn't really any of our business.

My son is severely autistic, he was diagnosed with classic kanners autism, he was non verbal until he was 8 and in the 30 odd years I’ve visited autism forums I’ve never come across anyone else who’s child started speaking as late as my son did.