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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Our friends at the Good Law Project

983 replies

Gymnopedie · 04/08/2026 13:52

I know this doesn't belong here but given the bollocks from the GLP about issues that do I thought people might be interested.

It's about Professor Jason Arday, a Cambridge academic. The story started when there was a claim that large chunks of his PhD thesis had been taken from another (sometimes not even changing typo errors) published a few years earlier. His justification is that he's autistic and his way of coping is 'mimicry'.

Sine then his many claims about his charity work, fundraising and physical exploits have come under increasing scrutiny - much from the Guardian - and are unravelling fast. He's having to backtrack and 'explain' a lot. He's claimed to have been on a TV programme that he never was and it was chronologically impossible for him to be on it. He has claimed a lot of nasty harassment but has no evidence of it, no photos, no messages, and didn't report any of it to the police. (Well he claims he did once, but the police have no record of it and the story doesn't stack up.)

What does the GLP have to do with it? They're organising an open letter in his support, claiming that there is nothing to see here except that he's a victim of vile racism.

Support for a left wing cause that bears no relationship to the facts? Where have I heard that before?

Charity casts doubts on volunteering record of Cambridge professor (The Telegraph via MSN)

Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor | University of Cambridge | The Guardian

Glasgow University denies Jason Arday visiting prof claim | The Herald

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nauticant · 08/08/2026 13:31

lcakethereforeIam · 07/08/2026 20:55

Oh no! He's lost James O'brien

James O’Brien: I feel like a mug for defending Arday https://share.google/Lvytjk3I7Td3GCfpK

I'll try to find an archive of the article.

Eta https://archive.ph/gMPEL

Forgive me but dismissing allegations against a person only because of that person's skin colour, isn't that a teensy bit racist?

Edited

If you want to hear at least part of the source if O'Brien's upset, it's this:

https://x.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/2085967079027401167

where he was played like a fiddle by Arday. Flatter O'Brien enough and he'll subscribe to anything it seems.

lcakethereforeIam · 08/08/2026 13:33

He should start a line of soft soap.

DontStopMe · 08/08/2026 13:38

@BoiledBeetle's proposal in itself most definitely deserves a professorship, if she doesn't already have one.

Shedmistress · 08/08/2026 13:41

nauticant · 08/08/2026 13:31

If you want to hear at least part of the source if O'Brien's upset, it's this:

https://x.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/2085967079027401167

where he was played like a fiddle by Arday. Flatter O'Brien enough and he'll subscribe to anything it seems.

Wait til he finds out men are not women!

Igneococcus · 08/08/2026 14:15

SylvanMoon · 08/08/2026 13:08

Arday view of the academics who swallowed his lies and facilitated his deceptions could be quite the scoop. Might be worthy of a PHd.

Perhaps @BoiledBeetle on the other thread should send him her proposal.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5561878-jason-arday-cambridge-plagiarist?page=15&reply=153959459

He could plagiarise the Boily Ploy. I fear he left it a tad too late.

JustTryingToBeMe · 08/08/2026 22:35

Shedmistress · 08/08/2026 13:41

Wait til he finds out men are not women!

Isn’t this (or similar) at the root of many of the current problems? Shouty men who want what they want get shoutier and shoutier until people, including some women, feel bull dozed into believing their version of the truth. Then those who say it isn’t true (ala emperor’s new clothes) are vilified as bigots. Sound familiar?

Gymnopedie · 09/08/2026 12:20

oldtiredcyclist · 09/08/2026 10:44

We can always trust the BBC to be fair and unbiased over this - can't we?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ts2s

It genuinely wouldn't surprise me if they had a TIM doing it one day.

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Gymnopedie · 09/08/2026 17:04

Posted on the other thread too. I hope the TikToker in question is legit:

I've just picked this up. Supposedly a school friend of Arday's laughing at his claims to have been mute. (Video taken from the 'friend's' TikTok.)
Bing Videos

We and many others have said all along that there must be people who knew him when he was younger and could verify/counter his claims.

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Hoardasurass · 10/08/2026 00:14

Gymnopedie · 09/08/2026 17:04

Posted on the other thread too. I hope the TikToker in question is legit:

I've just picked this up. Supposedly a school friend of Arday's laughing at his claims to have been mute. (Video taken from the 'friend's' TikTok.)
Bing Videos

We and many others have said all along that there must be people who knew him when he was younger and could verify/counter his claims.

The daily mail have an article about this, they've talked to the guy and checked school records and according to the article they were at the same school at the same time.

Hoardasurass · 10/08/2026 00:15

oldtiredcyclist · 09/08/2026 10:44

We can always trust the BBC to be fair and unbiased over this - can't we?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ts2s

That episode is currently unavailable I wonder why 🤔

nauticant · 10/08/2026 07:23

The other episodes from around that time are also unavailable.

MrPrettyDamnCosmic · 10/08/2026 07:32

Hoardasurass · 10/08/2026 00:15

That episode is currently unavailable I wonder why 🤔

The BBC only keeps editions of the Today programme online for a month. This one was broadcast on Sat 30 Dec 2023 so is over 2.5 years old.

nicepotoftea · 10/08/2026 09:10

https://substack.com/home/post/p-210354498

Maugham really wants you to know that this whole Arday thing WASN'T HIS FAULT!. His explanation seems to be that the people behind the letter are black, which might be mystifying to many, but perhaps just mirrors the many rather racist decisions that led to Arday's promotion and eventual but inevitable banishment.

Maugham also says that we "know that Dr Arday is profoundly neurodivergent.", although doesn't explain how we know this or what 'profoundly neurodivergent' means.

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 10/08/2026 09:14

nicepotoftea · 10/08/2026 09:10

https://substack.com/home/post/p-210354498

Maugham really wants you to know that this whole Arday thing WASN'T HIS FAULT!. His explanation seems to be that the people behind the letter are black, which might be mystifying to many, but perhaps just mirrors the many rather racist decisions that led to Arday's promotion and eventual but inevitable banishment.

Maugham also says that we "know that Dr Arday is profoundly neurodivergent.", although doesn't explain how we know this or what 'profoundly neurodivergent' means.

If you do the work we do then being criticised by your enemies comes with the territory

‘enemies’ no less. Oh dear, why is Britain so divided?, why can’t people just talk to each other etc?

could it be partly down to numpties like Jolyon wanging on about ‘enemies’ when they mean ‘people with different views to me’?

SlackJawedDisbeliefXY · 10/08/2026 09:26

nicepotoftea · 10/08/2026 09:10

https://substack.com/home/post/p-210354498

Maugham really wants you to know that this whole Arday thing WASN'T HIS FAULT!. His explanation seems to be that the people behind the letter are black, which might be mystifying to many, but perhaps just mirrors the many rather racist decisions that led to Arday's promotion and eventual but inevitable banishment.

Maugham also says that we "know that Dr Arday is profoundly neurodivergent.", although doesn't explain how we know this or what 'profoundly neurodivergent' means.

Would the correct term be veritate divergens ?

lcakethereforeIam · 10/08/2026 10:52

I read this article in Unherd, written anonymously by someone who claims she was a student of Arday at Roehampton. I think she uses an excellent analogy at the end

https://archive.ph/q89X1

https://unherd.com/newsroom/jason-arday-taught-me-heres-what-i-learnt/?edition=us

I’m reminded here of the tale of the Post Turtle, where a farmer finds a turtle stuck on a fencepost. “That Post Turtle didn’t get up there by himself,” the farmer says. “He doesn’t belong there, and you wonder who put him there. He has no idea what to do while he’s up there, and having been elevated beyond his ability to function, he’s never going to get anything done while he is there.” He adds: “You just want to help the poor bugger get down, and you can’t help but wonder what kind of idiot put him up there in the first place.” It’s a question Arday’s many backers may now wish to ask.

The students who were 'taught' by this prickly chancer were failed by his enablers. They're owed apologies and reparations by the institutions that took their money and time to waste on this man.

Jason Arday taught me. Here’s what I learnt

The song lyrics were the first red flag. The way he’d ramble about Tinie Tempah or Eminem, or how black artists like Beyoncé were sexualised by white men, without offering any evidence to substantiate his claims. Or else there were the film clips, from...

https://unherd.com/newsroom/jason-arday-taught-me-heres-what-i-learnt/?edition=us

moto748e · 11/08/2026 18:45

During the hearings, Prentice defended the rejection of one of Evans’s grievances by the University on the grounds that she had undertaken a full review of the relevant papers. The tribunal found this claim “highly unlikely given the volume of material going back very many years and the time and effort that would have taken for anyone, let alone someone in Professor Prentice’s very senior position”. It also concluded that a letter drafted in response to Evans’s claims under the Vice-Chancellor’s name had been “written solely” by then-University Registrary Emma Rampton, and that “Professor Prentice had very little to do with it, save for putting her name to it.”

Liar, lair, pants on fire!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 11/08/2026 19:43

lcakethereforeIam · 10/08/2026 10:52

I read this article in Unherd, written anonymously by someone who claims she was a student of Arday at Roehampton. I think she uses an excellent analogy at the end

https://archive.ph/q89X1

https://unherd.com/newsroom/jason-arday-taught-me-heres-what-i-learnt/?edition=us

I’m reminded here of the tale of the Post Turtle, where a farmer finds a turtle stuck on a fencepost. “That Post Turtle didn’t get up there by himself,” the farmer says. “He doesn’t belong there, and you wonder who put him there. He has no idea what to do while he’s up there, and having been elevated beyond his ability to function, he’s never going to get anything done while he is there.” He adds: “You just want to help the poor bugger get down, and you can’t help but wonder what kind of idiot put him up there in the first place.” It’s a question Arday’s many backers may now wish to ask.

The students who were 'taught' by this prickly chancer were failed by his enablers. They're owed apologies and reparations by the institutions that took their money and time to waste on this man.

Thanks for that. Here's a non-paywalled version. https://archive.ph/bsWFK

Igneococcus · 12/08/2026 07:29

From a Daniel Finkelstein comment about Arday in the Times:

"When this work was exposed as not merely without merit but actually part of an elaborate fantasy, Arday found defenders inside and outside academe, led by the inevitable and ludicrous barrister Jolyon Maugham, forever seeking a fresh way to make a fool of himself. The offensive suggestion is that it was racist to point out Arday’s numerous untruths."

SidewaysOtter · 12/08/2026 10:02

Jolyon Maugham, forever seeking a fresh way to make a fool of himself

Grin A very accurate description Grin

Gymnopedie · 12/08/2026 10:25

SidewaysOtter · 12/08/2026 10:02

Jolyon Maugham, forever seeking a fresh way to make a fool of himself

Grin A very accurate description Grin

It should go on his gravestone.

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