Bubonic Plagiarists

Kali Amanda, New York representative for the Browne escutcheon, has been telling me about a controversy raging there about a Harvard University freshman who has plagiarised huge portions of her first novel.

I've dug up a story in NewKerala.com that thunders - DID NEW YORK GHOST WRITING SHOP PEN KAAVYA VISWANATHAN’S BOOK?

Amid all the pursed lips and furrowed brows, and perhaps because I have actually been to a call centre in Bangalore, I can't help but smile at the idea that a South India born wunderkind has turned a multi million dollar trend on its head by outsourcing her work to a literary sweat shop in the Big Apple.

You go, girlfriend!

Coincidentally, in one of the first developments for years that might restore my faith in the British judiciary, the judge who presided over the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case at London's High Court hid his own secret code in his written judgement.

Seemingly random italicised letters were included in the 71-page judgement given by Mr Justice Peter Smith, which apparently spell out a message.
Mr Justice Smith said he would confirm the code if someone broke it.
"I can't discuss the judgement, but I don't see why a judgement should not be a matter of fun," he said.

A Cocklecarrot for our age and not before time. (The judgement is here if you want to try and crack the code yourself.)

(By the way the post title 'bubonic plagiarists' is shamelessly plagiarised by me from Peter Cook's assessment of David Frost.)