Jason Arday: The tragedy of legitimate questions taken too far

It should have been obvious when he resigned his post that Arday was under pressure, and that however much he had contributed to his troubles, he deserved support rather than continued vilification -

We should be reluctant to speculate on the specific cause of the death of Jason Arday, the University of Cambridge professor who resigned from his post 10 days ago. The Samaritans make the point that it is impossible to know the mind of the deceased and that “most of the time there is no single event or factor that leads someone to take their own life”.

That said, it is worth trying to assess the furore that surrounded Arday in the days before his death. And it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the criticism of him, much of which was combined with mockery and ideological point-scoring, was excessive and unfair.