The Jason Arday Affair and the probing of academia

The recent furore centred on the late Jason Arday has brought into focus the question of whether what is termed EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) policies are consistent with fundamental ideas about meritocracy and fairness. A strict definition of what EDI entails negates the proposition that such policies inherently equate to anti-white discrimination and the compromising of standards. However, allegations that Arday, appointed with much fanfare as Cambridge University’s youngest ever black professor, had plagiarised parts of his doctorate thesis alongside claims about the value and scholarship of his papers and teaching competence have served to create an atmosphere designed to render suspect the credentials of black academics. This was the objective of the race realist network behind Nathan Cofnas who served as the “whistleblower” whose evidence would take Arday down. But if an academic deserves to be scrutinised, such scrutiny should not be conducted in the form of trial by media. Arday should have been examined by the same standard procedures afforded to other academics who have been accused of plagiarism and even of financial impropriety. Further, a probe of the university sector ought not to be delimited to the alleged perversion of the objectives of EDI but should encompass a range of issues including those related to questions of propriety in hiring faculty, as well as in financial management. Lessons must be absorbed from the apparent flaws in Cambridge’s procedures in investigating misconduct and the manipulation of the media by an organised group of people who were bent on waging a malicious campaign against a neuro-divergent individual.

Consider for instance the case of Dr. William O'Reilly, an associate professor of modern history at Cambridge. In 2018 an article was published in his name in the Journal of Austrian-American History. However, it was later discovered in 2021 that his article contained large segments of two essays that had been copied from one of his undergraduate students. The former student made a complaint to the university showing that more than 12 pages of O’Reilly’s journal submission were wholesale reproductions from his undergraduate papers.

The investigating panel was left with no choice but to uphold the complaint.

It is important to note that the university’s disciplinary guidelines consider plagiarism to be a form of “serious or gross misconduct” which will “normally merit dismissal”. O’Reilly faced a disciplinary tribunal which accepted the charge of plagiarism but after two-years of investigating and deliberating ruled that this had been “the product of negligent acts but was not deliberate”. 

O’Reilly kept his job.

Consider also the story about Professor George Holmes, the university vice-chancellor who was dismissed for financial corruption involving over £1 million and other misconduct. Holmes had been suspended in 2025 following allegations raised in The Mill, a Manchester-based investigative news outlet. Arrests followed in relation to allegations of fraud, money laundering and bribery.

Both cases involving O'Reilly and Holmes did not bring anywhere near the level of scrutiny put on Jason Arday. In the period between late July and early August after an article written by Nathan Cofnas at his substack page, almost 200 articles were written about a miscellany of allegations against Arday. These included those published by broadsheets such as the Guardian, the Times and the Telegraph.

The argument that Arday's case contained elements of Baron Munchausen Syndrome or that he was a "Walter Mitty"-type character does not justify the aggravated level of scrutiny heaped on him by the British media. By way of contrast, William O’Reilly who also had unflattering allegations made about him outside of his confirmed plagiarism was treated much differently. Student journalists of Varsity, the oldest of Cambridge University’s main student newspapers, who decided to follow up on the university’s upholding of the complaint of plagiarism in 2023, claimed that they were threatened with legal action by O’Reilly. Earlier in 2020, Varsity reported on O’Reilly overseeing a disciplinary process involving a male student accused of rape and sexual assault. This despite the claim that O’Reilly had a “close relationship” with the accused student and that O’Reilly himself had been accused of sexual assault by a student. O’Reilly denied the allegations and no action was taken by the police.

This media blitz only served to stimulate the level of opprobrium directed on Arday by racial identitarians who are convinced -and seek to convince others- that blacks in positions in academia, including Oxbridge have obtained their jobs without merit. This was of course the aim of Cofnas and his “race realism” backers who favour a return to the biological racism of the 19^th century, as well as the rehabilitation of eugenics as a field of study and an essential factor in the formulation of social policy.

It is possible that the Jason Arday affair is being used by certain interest groups and some sections of the media as a route towards the shaping public sentiment to favour a probe of the university sector. There would be nothing new about investigating key institutions designed to serve the public.

The policing sector for instance, has periodically been subjected to both formal and press scrutiny over concerns such as bribery and other corrupt practices. The police were also subject to scrutiny after the handling of the murder of Stephen Lawrence which culminated in the Macpherson report declaring the London Metropolitan Police as “institutionally racist”.

Yet, while a probe of universities concerning the unfair hiring of minorities is conceivable, the idea of limiting this to the employment of minorities would not be sound given the circumstances surrounding the likes of Dr. O’Reilly and Professor Holmes.

An objective investigation or series of investigations into the university sector would need to encompass issues related to undisclosed plagiarism and financial impropriety alongside biased practices pertaining to the appointment and promotion of staff.*

And those who believe in the message orchestrated by the instigators of the campaign to destroy Arday will be almost certainly disappointed to discover the falsity that Black representation in British academia is down to biased hiring. This supposition is quite ironic given that many have complained of disadvantages linked to obtaining appointments, getting promotion, and receiving funding for PhDs from research councils.

While there is truth to the perception that the majority of British academics are left leaning in views on politics and social policy, this does not mean that conservative and right-wing ideologies are totally shut out. James Orr, an Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge University’s Faculty of Divinity, is an example of the right-wing presence in academia.  

Orr, until recently the Head of Policy of the Reform Party from which he was suspended for allegedly discussing ways of obtaining foreign funding, was already revealed to have been part of such a network. The aim it appears was according to the independent media outlet the Byline Times to “bring students into a hard-right, theocratic political project.”

Orr’s appointment was claimed to have been accompanied by a clandestine donation by Peter Thiel, the founder of Palantier, who has links to figures involved in the propagation of “race realism” and the politics of the “dark enlightenment”, the anti-democratic political concept posited by Curtis Yarvin.

His academic career at Cambridge has been sullied by accusations of neglecting his contractual obligations due to his commitments with the Reform Party. There appear to be instances in which complaints have been made been made about his conduct which have not been acted on and he has had a grievance against him for academic negligence and misconduct partially upheld. Moreover, the evidence thus far appears to reveal a morally compromised man who while teaching ethics was willing to circumvent electoral law.

The Arday affair with its frenzied press attention and breathless social media commentary presents an unfortunate case study of background orchestration and partisan evaluation before all the facts have been rationally assessed. Cambridge in their attempt to provide a fairy tale story of a black man who overcame a socially disadvantageous background and a disability appear to have failed to exercise their due diligence prior to appointing Arday. There also appear to have been flaws in the way they have dealt with complaints against O’Reilly and Orr.

The priority must be for Cambridge to put its house in order and for the mainstream media to acknowledge their role in the sensationalist campaign against Arday which was prompted by a network composed of elements dedicated to projects related to scientific racism and eugenics.

* Putting aside the question of plagiarism, these issues will become increasingly relevant as the sector grapples with present and future challenges. These include the many English universities whose indebtedness threaten them with insolvency, and the demographic trend of declining numbers of teenagers within the population. The consequence of this phenomenon is already being felt in the United States and there is an increasing awareness that Britain’s “enrolment cliff” is fast approaching.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

An Interview with Trillblack Channel on the Recolonisation of Africa

I was interviewed yesterday on a livestream by the Trillblack channel where I discussed neocolonialism.

Among the topics covered were:

. The assassinations of Patrice Lumumba, the Congolese political leader, and of the Cameroonian politicians Ruben Nyobe and Felix-Roland Moumie.

. France's use of its colonies to rebuild its economy after the devastation of World War 2 and the creation of its "Shadow Empire" after granting them "independence" under the auspices of the French Community.

. How the creation of the EU was based on the concept of "Eurafrica", a paternalistic relationship between Africa and Europe which is predicated on exploiting the mineral resources of Africa.

. The distinction between "open" and "closed" societies in the context of the survivability of governments which the CIA or other intelligence agencies wish to effect "regime change".

. The distinction between "white chauvinism" and "white supremacy" and how it fits into the post-World War global construct and rising anti-immigrant sentiment and white identitarianism.

. Operation Legacy: a secret British Colonial Office programme  from the 1950s to the 1970s to destroy, hide, or remove official documents that could implicate the British Empire in wrongdoing before its former colonies gained independence.

The show is hosted by Isaac Sable (nom-de-plume).

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

Photograph of General Colin Powell awarding General Sani Abacha the Legion of Honor

General Sani Abacha (right), the Nigerian chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, receiving the Legion of Honor medal from General Colin Powell, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon on Wednesday, May 15th, 1991.

"(General Sani Abacha) has the worst CIA bio I've ever read, and I've read lots of them."
- U.S. General Colin Powell (rtd) speaking in 1995.

This photograph will come as a surprise and even a shock to the many who are familiar with the quote made in 1995 by U.S. Army General Colin Powell.

Why would the United States government bestow a prestigious medal to a foreign dignitary only for one of its top officials to make such a disparaging comment?

There are several reasons for this, but it is first important to note that Powell would have become familiar with the contents of Abacha’s CIA profile when he served as the 15^th U.S. National Security Advisor (NSA) from 1987 to 1989. The period includes that of 1987 when he was the deputy NSA during the Reagan presidency. He may also have had access to Abacha’s file on a need-to-know basis during his spell as the 12^th chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993, during which time he awarded Abacha the medal.

A foreign military officer must perform exceptionally meritorious services in support of the United States to be awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit. Abacha may have presided over increased cooperation between the militaries of the United States and Nigeria, although the volume of trade was not exceptional at the time. The United States made up only a minor fraction of heavy weapons deliveries to Nigeria.

It is important to note that while Powell’s comment on Abacha was an expression of frustration about the intelligence services of the United States having little useful or psychological insight into Abacha, it was of sufficient ambiguity to be construed as a disparaging evaluation of a man who was becoming a figure of hate in Western media circles.

In 1995 Powell was no longer in government and was promoting his autobiography. His comment was made in the same interview in which he described Nigeria as a "nation of scammers".

His words succeeded in uniting all Nigerians in condemning Powell himself. As a Nigerian pointed out, how would Powell have liked it if -as biological racists assert- that high levels of violent crime among Black Americans in annual FBI figures make all Black Americans criminals?

Others who tracked Powell’s career may not have been impressed by his moralising tone. They allege that he distinguished himself as a "company man" and servant of the American empire through his part in covering up the Mai Lai Massacre in Vietnam while a mid-ranking officer.

Powell also allowed himself to be used by ruthless neoconservatives to spout lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. His factually compromised statement to the United Nations was a key step in the build up to the illegal invasion of Iraq, and his legacy became irretrievably tarnished by this.

As for Sani Abacha, Powell’s comments were made in the context of his controversial tenure as the military head of state of Nigeria, a period which saw widespread repression including Abacha’s formation of a unit which assassinated political dissenters. He was also extremely corrupt, managing to embezzle between U.S. $2-5 billion which was secreted to a multitude of destinations including Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom and the United States.

He was also working towards transforming himself from a military dictator to a civilian one.

But Abacha’s flaws do not explain the disparity between the United States decision to on the one hand honour Abacha with a prestigious medal and on the other to demonise him. A clue lies in a tried and tested formula that has been part of U.S. foreign policy for decades. Those foreign leaders who are not subservient to American whims are often given such treatment. It is no secret that American policymakers were wary about Nigerian successes in striving to bring peace first to Liberia and then to Sierra Leone through ECOMOG, the West African military force which was composed of mainly Nigerian troops. The Abacha regime oversaw these deployments. The Abuja Peace Agreement signed by warring factions in the Liberian war was also done under Abacha’s watch.

If Abacha in 1991 was -to borrow the phrase coined by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt- a proverbial “son-of-a-bitch” serving U.S. interests in 1991, it is clear that by 1995 that this was no longer the case.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

About Paul Muni

Actor Paul Muni on the set of the movie Scarface with Jocko the Monkey.

I don't think I've watched more than two movies in which he starred, namely I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and Scarface but have always been aware that he was a highly regarded actor.

I once read of Marlon Brando stating that Muni was his greatest influence as an actor or words to that effect.

I think he had the vibe of being a "method actor" before the term was invented. But his roots were in Yiddish Theatre, starting as a child actor, and not in the Stanislavski system which hugely influenced "The Method".

Regardless, I believe that an evolutionary line can be drawn from Muni to both Brando and Montgomery Clift, with John Garfield fitting somewhere in-between. They all incrementally developed the side of acting concerned with psychological realism.

I must make an effort to watch more of his movies.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

Wey, Mountbatten and a glimpse at my past

Commodore J.E.A. Wey, the Chief of Naval Staff, Nigerian Navy, and Lord Mountbatten, an Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal Navy and the Chief of Defence Staff of the British Armed Forces, during the latter's visit to the Naval Base in Apapa, Lagos on October 14^th, 1964.

This frame from a Reuters newsreel covering the visit of Lord Mountbatten to the naval base in Lagos caught my eye.

The white painted building in the background used to serve as apartments for naval officers. We lived there for a short period after returning from England where my father's diplomatic posting as the Deputy Defence Advisor at the Nigerian High Commission came to an end in April 1973.

The building, which overlooked Lagos Lagoon, was located further up from the jetty from which Mountbatten alighted. Beyond it was a cove.

Our stay at the base was a little longer than that at the Excelsior Hotel where we had stayed for a week or two upon our return. We had arrived after Easter, and the school terms had already begun. My father had originally intended to enrol me at Command Children’s School, Ann Barracks, Yaba which my three older siblings had attended prior to our departure to England. It had been previously named Army Children’s School. However, since the quota of pupils for my age grade was filled, I was enrolled at its sister school at the cantonment in Ikeja.  

The Navy School Buses which took the children of naval personnel to both schools in Ikeja and Yaba started at the base. It meant that we had to wake up earlier than most other children. Our father who had worked at the base during the 1960s -first as the Flag Lieutenant and the Flag Secretary to Wey- was deployed to the Ministry of Defence which was situated across the Lagoon on Lagos Island, and we arrived home early enough to see him return via a naval launch and alight from it at the aforementioned jetty.

Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t much playing space in a military establishment although we could roam a little on weekends. The base offered a range of delights such as viewing the lagoon at sunset and absorbing the cool breeze that often wafted our way. I also enjoyed looking at the various naval vessels berthed in their designated spaces. They included NNS Nigeria, a frigate which was the navy’s flag ship, and the twin corvettes NNS Otobo and NNS Dorina. Another enjoyable aspect of living at the base was of our father regularly ordering seasoned goat meat from the new officer’s mess which was built on sticks some metres away from the jetty.

It was an altogether enjoyable experience living at the base but it was something of a relief to finally get housed in a large two-storey home which had a very large balcony.

As for the block of flats, I recall that they were turned into administrative offices by the late 1970s, although I was recently informed that it has been converted to living quarters for junior officers.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

Malcolm, Elijah and Louis

Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad and Louis X. Image I restored using AI software from a frame ‘snatched’ from the Lance Shabazz Show on YouTube.

A photograph of three key figures in the history of the Nation of Islam.

From left to right:

. Malcolm X (later El-Haj Malik Shabazz) who became the National Spokesman for Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam.

. Elijah Muhammad the Georgia-born leader of the Nation of Islam until his death in 1975.

. Louis X (later Louis Farrakhan) who succeeded Malcolm as the National Spokesman for Elijah. Farrakhan revived the NOI in the late 1970s after initially accepting Wallace Muhammad's decision to convert the NOI into an Orthodox Sunni Islam organisation.

The photograph was taken in Harlem in 1963 before Malcolm’s suspension later that year for remarks made about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He went on to form the Organisation of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) in 1964. The OAAU was a secular Black Nationalist organisation. Malcolm’s suspension was made “indefinite” the following year and in February 1965 he was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

A two-part World War 2 Biopic on Charles de Gaulle has been released

Général de brigade Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French Forces, photographed in London, 1942.

This looks interesting.

It is about Charles de Gaulle's life between 1940 and 1944.

You could make 3 or 4 separate feature length films on his life such as by focusing on the events of 1968 or the period between his "comeback" in 1958 to his granting of independence to Algeria.

I would expect this movie to include depictions of his achievements as a military officer.

De Gaulle was among those who helped develop the theories associated with tank warfare, a topic which is often dominated by the work of the German Heinz Guderian. He was also the only French general to have mounted a successful counterattack against invading German forces during "Fall Gelb".

Also, this film will no doubt explore his close but complex relationship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He fled to England with only a few supporters and then a death sentence awaiting him in Vichy.

But he persevered and he gave Churchill "hell". Churchill and other Brits were perplexed as to why de Gaulle should be so bold and "arrogant" in his dealings with his hosts while in exile, but he felt that the fact that he was in a weak position meant that he should be even bolder when defending France's interests and its honour while the shame of capitulation and collaboration surrounded French acquiescence to German occupation and the creation of Vichy.

I hope the director recreates an episode where John Colville, Churchill's private secretary, heard them shouting at each other at the top of their voices in a rather violent way. Then a sudden silence descended on the place.

He thought that they'd killed each other.

But when he entered Churchill's office both men were sitting down and smiling at each other, De Gaulle was smoking one of Churchill's cigars.

I would also expect the film to cover the assassination attempt on him in Notre Dame Cathedral.

The man led an eventful life while living in interesting times!

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.