The belated obsession this winter with the Post Office scandal – in which workers were wrongly prosecuted for embezzling funds – shows the UK’s enduring fascination with a David versus Goliath-style legal fight in which underdogs take on the establishment.
Part of the draw of such battles lies in the fact that the Davids, by their nature, seldom win.
Yet for universities – ostensibly the Goliaths in any fight owing to the power and resources at their disposal – legal victories have been hard to come by of late. Instead they have been racking up a series of damaging defeats, with potentially wide-ranging ramifications for the sector.
First Jo Phoenix, a former Open University professor, successfully sued the institution for harassment and unfair dismissal after being forced to leave her post over her gender-critical views.
