The Allegations (Hardcover)

In 2014 Ned Marriott, a sixty-year-old academic at the University of Middle England and well-known as a telly-don, was reported to the police for historical sexual abuse, while at the same time his good friend and colleague, Tom Pimm, was reported to the university’s disciplinary committee for bullying.While the charges against Ned, if true, would be a serious matter and could lead to prison, those against Tom are political correctness gone mad and in a sane world would never have been brought.Neither man was initially told what exactly he was supposed to have done or who exactly had lodged the complaint. Ned is put under arrest while his house is searched and his papers and computers taken away. But he will learn at the police station who the complainant was and that the alleged abuse had taken place 38 years earlier, in 1976. He is then given bail.Tom is told that, having infringed the Respect policy of the university, he had broken his...Read more

     “Under the spreading chestnut tree/I sold you and you sold me…”Mark Lawson alludes to many literary texts in The Allegations – from Kafka’s The Trial to Mamet’s Oleanna…from Miller’s The Crucible to Philip Roth’s The Human Stain. He does not, however, mention George Orwell’s 1984, where the chestnut tree symbolizes betrayal in the ironic name of justice and honesty.And indeed, The Allegations is about betrayal in the age of political correctness. Ned Marriott, one of Britain’s best-known history professors and TV documentary personalities, is accused by someone in his distant past of sexual assault. At the same time, his funny and sarcastic best friend, Tom Pimm, a much-beloved professor, is accused as well; his charge is bullying and insubordination by petty colleagues. He is told, “The point I’m making, Dr. Pimm, is that if someone felt you were being insensitive, then, to all...Read more