LSE and Saif Gaddafi

[Jonathan Bryant]

The report into LSE/Saif Gaddafi just happens to have been released on strike day. That's the way to show you're taking an issue seriously - indulge in shameful and tawdry PR games.

Rarely in my life have I been treated with the disdain shown me by (too) many when I was a student at the LSE. I thought it was just my department. Not hugely surprised to discover it runs deep.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/201 ... sfeed=true

[David Robertson]

Yes, strike day; Autumn Statement aftermath. A very good day to bury bad news. They took their time with that review too.

We're not going to see the PhD report though. Surprise, surprise. Now there's a job for a diligent blogging sleuth. Pop down to the Library and dig out a copy. Take a skim, and see what you think. A pound to a penny there'll be something dodgy about it.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Do you mean the PhD itself? That's available on the net, e.g. http://www.scribd.com/doc/49315517/Saif ... PHD-thesis

[Jonathan Bryant]

Oxford: "sling your hook"
LSE: "how much you got?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/de ... addafi-son

[David Robertson]

To quote, from The Guardian:

In the spring of 2002 a senior civil servant at the Foreign Office asked Oxford university if Saif could take a master's degree course. "It was made clear … that the FCO would appreciate help in this case since Libya was opening up to the West again." The head of Oxford's department of international development told the FCO that the application would be "unlikely to prosper … because Saif had no social science training, and his prior degree did not meet the requisite quality standard".

My pound to a penny still stands. I simply do not believe that PhD was Saif Gaddafi's own work. Far too much was at stake, politically and commercially, to allow a mere PhD award stand in the way. And with a pompous old blowhard like Lord Desai doing the assessment, my suspicions are amplified.

@Jon D'S E Had read it was online. So thanks for the link

[John Upham]

Do we know who are the persons who participated in the viva voce examination of this thesis?

[Jonathan Bryant]

I simply do not believe that PhD was Saif Gaddafi's own work.

Frankly, I find it hard to believe too - but I have a very well placed source who reckons the balance of available evidence more than suggests it was. Of course, one's sources are only as good as their sources.

[Leonard Barden]

Do we know who are the persons who participated in the viva voce examination of this thesis?

One of the viva voce examiners appeared on Newsnight yesterday, and stated firmly to a disbelieving Paxman that the thesis appeared genuine.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Thanks for that LB. I'll have a look on catch-up when I get a moment.

It's not completely out of the question is it? A man with what are, to all intents and purposes, unlimited resources and time could well have completed his own doctorate. Presumably he'd have had access to a high quality education before arriving at the LSE too.

I suppose the questions remain because given the LSE's behaviour in general can it really be taken on trust that if there were reservations at any point somebody would have been prepared to ask some potentially highly embarrassing (and costly) questions.