So, I've been thinking about Jason Arday. After 229 articles in 22 days, I expected to find an academic fraud. Instead I found a far messier story: developmental patchwriting, some real but overstated research concerns, biographical claims that often weaken under scrutiny, and an ambitious scholar promoted faster than he seems to have been properly supported. This is about plagiarism, yes—but also proportionality, institutional failure and an academic death penalty.

So, I've been thinking that the inevitable death of Western civilisation brought about by the casting of a Kenyan-Mexican actress in a Hollywood adaptation of The Odyssey might perhaps be averted by paying a little more attention to how those racial boundaries supposedly under threat have shifted over time.

Michael Gove’s famous declaration that Britain had “had enough of experts” helped define the Brexit era. But before accepting his verdict on expertise, perhaps we should ask how much authority Gove himself had to deliver it.