So. Farewell then Jason Arday. The 37-year-old lackademic has tonight resigned his post at Cambridge University – the latest chapter in a remarkable life that, according to talks he has given, has seen him overcome a raft of challenges. But it seems being at the centre of a self-induced media fire storm was just a challenge too far, amid a deluge of questions about Arday’s past claims. His resignation comes after the university announced he was to face a new investigation into his qualifications and career. A classic of the ‘you can’t fire me, I quit’ genre…
Arday’s statement is a 600-word classic of the ‘whiny, self-pitying’ genre. He bemoans how:
The years since my appointment have also been marked by an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack. While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement… there comes a point when the personal cost becomes too great. I have a family. I want to be present for them. I want to reclaim some peace, some privacy and some semblance of an ordinary life. I no longer wish to feel as though I am living under a constant spotlight, where every aspect of my life is subject to public examination and judgement… This decision should not be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge. Nor should it be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me. It is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure.
All that scrutiny is so tiresome, eh? And having run it through an AI generator, Mr S is delighted to say that Arday’s statement has returned as allegedly being ‘100 per cent’ the product of artificial intelligence. Porterhouse True is not done yet however: he ends his statement by writing, tantalisingly, that ‘This is not the end of my work. It is simply the end of this chapter.’ Hacks everywhere, rejoice!
Steerpike just wishes Rod Liddle was still here to write it all up. Truly what he would have made of it all…
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