Plagiarism prof is just a thinking man’s Lee Andrews – beggars belief that woke Cambridge & BBC made him a poster boy

JASON ARDAY: Cambridge University’s widely publicised youngest black professor. Now its youngest black ex-professor after he resigned last week. Ex Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s lies have not so much caught up with him, more snowballed over him completely and absolutely Credit: Unknown Arday is little more than a thinking man’s Lee Andrews: A smiling assassin who has single-handedly almost brought down an academic institution Credit: Instagram On some level, it is hard not to have some sympathy with a sweet-looking chap whose lies have not so much caught up with him, more snowballed over him completely and absolutely. But those who really deserve our sympathy are the hard-working Cambridge students, whose degrees may forever now be called into question. And the cerebral candidates whose dream job he snatched by virtue of what appears to be a largely fabricated CV. And the bleeding-heart liberals who slammed the right-wing Press for trying to bring down a trailblazer. They have just taken back their collective DEI cause 30 years. Because Arday is little more than a thinking man’s Lee Andrews: A smiling assassin who has single-handedly almost brought down an academic institution. Make no bones about it, this is Cambridge’s Ratner moment. His departmental boss, Hilary Cremin, came out to laud his anorexically thin body of “work” as the “best in the world”. Which, as one commentator observed, might not sit well with students of, say, Harvard’s Lawrence D Bobo, Stanford’s Thomas Sowell or the profound insights on race of Britain’s luminary, Heidi Safia Mirza of UCL. How those Dark Blues must be chuckling to themselves across the River Thames. At the time of writing, publishers at Simon & Schuster still plan to go ahead with Arday’s memoir, Great And Unfortunate Things. Presumably, then, it will sit in the fantasy section of Waterstones, near Harry Potter. Not even JK Rowling in her pomp could have come up with such a tale, though. Wild claims of running 600 miles in six days and 30 marathons in 35 days, completing the latter feat with a broken leg, one that had ballooned to twice its normal width. Alas, a photo of him crossing the finish line of said run showed a normal-looking appendage. And here lies Mr Arday’s biggest problem. As a millennial, he grew up in an age of receipts. That is to say, anything anyone under-45 has ever done is plastered all over the internet. Every spit and cough documented for all to see. I mean, there is a literal photo of me spitting on Facebook circa 2007, which is lovely. Yet very few photos appear to exist of any of this fantasist’s spurious claims. You’d think Cambridge — who came out on the veritable rampage when the first allegations of plagiarism surfaced — might have done even a cursory background/social media check when they first actively championed this fall guy. Likewise the BBC, who pompously declare themselves the world’s “most trusted broadcaster”, might have done some due diligence before breathlessly highlighting interviewing him. The clues about Mr Arday, who denies being a liar, were all there. After all, a man who scraped two GCSEs in textiles and PE might not be our next Great Mind. But no. So desperate to find a poster boy were these two veritable institutions, all basic common sense went out the window. Now, it emerges, Cambridge’s own newspaper is refusing to cover the story. Which is, at best, an embarrassing oversight for what is rapidly becoming the most talked-about news story of 2026, and, at worst, pernicious censorship. Elevating a man so ill-equipped to deal with the inevitable fallout is cruel. Although if it’s any consolation to Jason, his story makes for a Bafta-winning documentary. The Tinder Swindler for the internet age: The Professor Who Never Was, perhaps. Naturally, TikTok and Instagram are going wild with their own hot takes. One meme showed an AI Jason overtaking Sir Mo Farah to win Olympic gold in 2012, another showed him landing on the moon before Neil Armstrong (not unreasonable given Jason claimed to have been in the series Seven- Up, which first aired decades before his birth) and others are questioning whether he also managed to survive the Titanic. One meme showed an AI Jason overtaking Sir Mo Farah to win Olympic gold in 2012, another showed him landing on the moon before Neil Armstrong (not unreasonable given Jason claimed to have been in the series Seven-Up, which first aired decades before his birth) and others are questioning whether he also managed to survive the Titanic. It would all be funny if it wasn’t so unavoidably sad. SMACKS OF FILM FIONA Melanie Bull, who has a touch of Princess Fiona, receives more than £1,000 a month in benefits including disability and is selling sexual services on adult websites as a side hustle The fifth instalment of Shrek is due for release next summer Credit: Ray Collins PRINCESS Fiona is alive and well. Ahead of the fifth instalment of Shrek, due for release next summer, up popped this X-rated preview. Is it just me, or does this dominatrix have a touch of the green ogre about her? Maybe it’s just unfortunate lighting. Whatever, Melanie Bull, who receives more than £1,000 a month in benefits including disability, is selling sexual services on adult websites as a side hustle. But hey, whatever floats your boat. POLITICIAN Jo Galer took a live zoom straight from the toilet. The utterly unbothered New Zealand councillor joined a live-stream meeting from her bathroom, with drying undergarments and laundry on full display. Politician Jo Galer took a live zoom straight from the toilet Credit: Unknown Thus sharing precisely what she thinks of antipodean politics. MR BIG BUCKS ANOTHER fine mess by Thames Water chiefs this weekend. Six weeks after implementing a hosepipe ban in my West London borough – where environmentalist Sir David Attenborough lives – a water main burst, causing millions of litres of flooding. Naturally, barely a peep from Thames Water. And no sign of boots on the ground, despite the fact countless homes have been left without running water. Oh that’s right. They’re too busy paying Steve Buck, their new chief financial officer, a £1million signing-on fee. Grrr. OLD JOKE, RICHARD Richard Gere spotted ‘getting close’ to his latest, much younger co-star Diana Silvers on the set of their new romantic drama, Asymmetry Credit: MEGA Quite how producers and script writers think it’s OK to cast a 76-year-old opposite a 28-year-old female love interest baffles Credit: GC Images AND so, gerbils the world over exhaled a collective sigh of relief*. Because here’s Richard Gere spotted “getting close” to his latest, much younger co-star Diana Silvers on the set of their new romantic drama, Asymmetry. Quite how producers and script writers, in this day and age, think it’s OK to cast a 76-year-old opposite a 28-year-old female love interest baffles. *Only funny if you’re familiar with the notorious urban myth about the Hollywood actor. SPEED ZONE RUSE Lynda La Plante has now been handed a six-month driving ban Credit: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images CAN we all stop pretending, please, and admit that 20mph speed limits are little more than money-making ruses. Lynda La Plante, she of Prime Suspect fame, is the latest to fall foul of such endlessly opportunist cameras. The 83-year-old, who drives her dog to the park and uses the car to “meet criminals for research”, was done for by confusing signs, and one camera only ten seconds beyond the 20mph sign. She has now been handed a six-month ban, something she fears might end her writing career. These cameras aren’t catching Premier League footballers in souped-up Lamborghinis or 17-year-old boy racers. They’re crippling hard-working, otherwise law-abiding citizens. OUTLAW IDIOCY THANKS to reader Roger L for this one . . . Rog tells me he watched 1976 cowboy film The Outlaw Josey Wales on Sunday night, an entirely fictional movie about someone who shoots bad guys to avenge his family. It’s a 50-year-old classic, starring Clint Eastwood, and watched, quite happily, by millions of folk across the world. Until now. Baffled Roger writes: “As the credits rolled on the 5Action channel, a sombre voiceover announced: “If you or anyone you know have been affected by the events or themes portrayed in this film . . . blah blah blah” – and then gave viewers several contacts for people to talk about their grief. How many people are really going to ring to express their distress about a made-up gunslinger tale set 170 years ago? It is performative nonsense at its finest. As Roger observes, “What next? A helpline after Jurassic Park in case you’ve ever been chased by a bloody T-Rex?”