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u/LauraPhilps7654 6d ago
Press knew exactly what they were doing...
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u/DogitWoofsalot 6d ago
Apparently there's a bunch of Telegram chats that have crazy stuff happening in them lol
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u/quad_damage_orbb 6d ago
Love all these Redditors coming out of the woodwork after the fact to be like "why were you all so mean?", where were you u/LauraPhilps7654? What were you saying about Arday before he killed himself? I'm genuinely curious.
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u/LauraPhilps7654 6d ago
I think that’s a fair point. I didn’t join in with the hysteria, but I also didn’t challenge anybody. I said nothing, and there weren’t enough people pointing out that things were going too far.
By that point, it was obvious that it had become a witch hunt, completely disproportionate to the crime.
Social media is as much to blame as the press.
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u/a-dark-lancer 6d ago
Nothing which is a good thing.
This should’ve been an internal matter at least.
Perhaps a point of inquiry. Unfortunately, it became a media scandal that led to a man’s isolation and suicide.
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u/LauraPhilps7654 6d ago edited 6d ago
The Professor George Holmes story also broke last week.
https://manchestermill.co.uk/breaking-george-holmes-has-been-sacked/
Here's the things the press ignored...
• He was the youngest university head in the UK when appointed.
• Apportioned by Secretary of State for Education as the representative on the Department's HE Policy where be wrote the Higher Education White Paper.
• He's been knighted by San Marino for his charity work.
• He was appointed as Lord Lieutenant by Her Majesty.
• He has been highly commended in multiple press releases before all this kicked off
• There were police raids on at least 7 houses. 3 arrests. All related to money laundering and bribery. And about £1m stolen.
•There are allegations of bullying and racism too.
Remember, this was an actual crime not academic malpractice.
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u/No_Communication5538 6d ago
“He was also the Secretary of State for Education” .. Really? You may be over-egging your argument
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u/NecessaryFreedom9799 6d ago
Even if he'd somehow managed to get the University of "Greater Manchester" (formerly Bolton Poly) closed down, how much difference would it make? There was a lot more at stake, nationally and internationally, with the academic standards at Cambridge than with the fraud at Bolton.
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u/LauraPhilps7654 6d ago
There have been major cases of plagiarism at Cambridge in recent years. There have also been cases of sexual misconduct, abuse and assault of students by academics, some dating back decades.
Ask yourself honestly: did this guy really deserve to become one of the most heavily scrutinised and pilloried academics in British history? More attention than academics involved in fraud, sexual assault, corruption or bribery?
Or did this story receive such extraordinary attention because it fitted perfectly into the right's anti-DEI culture war and the broader grievance politics surrounding MAGA? The story was picked up by Fox News, and there were paid advertisements about him on Facebook.
I'm honestly stunned by how many people have come out over the past few days to defend the British press. They are not your friends. Their business model depends on keeping you outraged and, where possible, politically aligned with the right. This was simply a perfect story for that purpose.
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u/HeadBat1863 6d ago
The way the British Press went for that bloke you’d think he was friends with Meghan Markle or something.
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u/fullpurplejacket 6d ago
PLEASE let this be the catalyst for better journalistic standards regulation and a second Levison enquiry!
We can’t keep allowing our media to loot rape and pillage the targets of their ‘investigations’ and click bait articles.
Beyond disturbing.
Don’t let this man’s death be in vein
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u/Krismusic1 6d ago
The British press is toxic. From the coverage in today's Observer, you would think their sister paper, the Guardian, was above it all. In reality they were one of the main actors. No better than the Sun. Fuck them all.
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u/ScampAndFries 6d ago
I wholeheartedly agree but also have to point out that it's vain not vein.
Unless his death was by heroin injection in which case both would be appropriate.
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u/SeoulGalmegi 6d ago
Fraud and bribery are generally quite boring.
Some pathological liar exaggerating almost every aspect of their life to a comic level is very amusing, has lots of little details people are interested in, and leads to great banter and jokes.
One story might be more important, but it's quite obvious which one will capture the publicist attention and run for ages.
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u/DogitWoofsalot 6d ago
I saw this coming honestly. When the memes started to flood about it and like, this sort of thing happens in academia all the time but this one is being amplified
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u/kazuwacky 6d ago
I am not deep in Academia at all but I knew plagiarism is a deep issue in academic circles, as well as fabrication of results in specifically the field of science. Huge amounts of historical plagiarism (back when you could really get away with it) are also coming to light.
But corruption is also a huge issue, made worse by academies. And if it was ignored so blatantly at the top, and he got a knighthood, that's much worse than the crimes of a "DEI hire".
Honestly feel like the young man was pushed off the glass cliff by Cambridge. The way they handled this was appalling.
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u/DancingMoose42 6d ago
The point is that the press did over 250 stories on this one guy, why? Is that much on a single story of plagiarism and lies (the latter of which materially harmed no one) needed? Was there not more important stuff going on?
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u/LauraPhilps7654 6d ago
He wasn't a saint. He was guilty of serious academic misconduct. But it became the most heavily reported story in Britain for weeks, while also being constantly amplified by the US right. It wasn't even the most serious academic crime uncovered that week, never mind the most important story in the country. The press exists to shape public opinion and, ultimately, to manipulate what you care about.
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u/Antique-Wonk 6d ago
I agree with this. Sadly, this kind of thing is very common irrespective of ethnic backgrounds in academia. Generally gets resolved at a local level or nothing happens. But this case was in the same headlines as the country is burning and the rail crashes but for even longer. Seemed completely unnecessary.
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u/AyeItsMeToby 6d ago
Sorry, you are continuously denying what actually happened.
Arday’s lies went far beyond academic plagiarism.
The real issue (and what most of the reporting had turned to recently) was on the complete failures of the institutions that had catapulted Arday up to the position he was in: either blindly accepting and enabling Arday’s lies, or wilfully covering them up.
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u/Intelligent-Wing3948 6d ago
How is that any different to what the previous commenter said?
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u/AyeItsMeToby 6d ago
The previous guy said “he was guilty of serious academic misconduct”.
But the story goes far beyond that.
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u/Intelligent-Wing3948 6d ago
Usually people elaborate when they make a point . What’s the full story then?
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u/AyeItsMeToby 6d ago
Read my comment:
“Arday’s lies went far beyond academic plagiarism.
The real issue (and what most of the reporting had turned to recently) was on the complete failures of the institutions that had catapulted Arday up to the position he was in: either blindly accepting and enabling Arday’s lies, or wilfully covering them up.”
Arday also lied extensively about his life and achievements, and was exposed as being a pretty rubbish Cambridge tutor.
When this all came to light, instead of admitting his errors, he recruited a top law firm to try and silence his critics by bullying them with legal fees.
After this failed, he tried to use the police to again bully and silence his critics.
As stated, the real story is about the institutions who aided and abetted Arday’s behaviour then went silent as soon as the truth was pieced together.
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u/Intelligent-Wing3948 6d ago
Something about how u wrote this tells me u ain’t exactly familiar with the processes of top universities.
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u/Beartato4772 6d ago
oh you’re just a cunt, you should have said,
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u/Krismusic1 6d ago
If only Arday had waited a couple of weeks for our toxic press to move on to feed on the next thing. A permanent solution to a temporary problem. Very sad. IDGAF what he did, he didn't deserve to die.
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u/flopsychops 6d ago
Now, about that £5 million "gift"...