Can Cambridge weather the Arday storm?

They say August is the silly season for news. Well, during this endless heat wave of 2026, in the hallowed halls of British academia the season is not so much silly as batshit crazy. The headline reason will already be known to readers beyond the Ivory Towers: accusations leveled at Cambridge Professor Jason Arday. But as we will see, there is more to it than that. Now, you might well think that Arday’s is an open and shut case. After all, the evidence that he has committed extensive plagiarism, in his PhD thesis and at least two published articles, seems overwhelming. Nonetheless the university’s response has been not only to defend Arday to the hilt, including a blanket dismissal of any claim of wrongdoing, but also to accuse anybody raising questions about him of racism. As of writing,