University lecturer sacked for remarks about Jewish people and Germans declares himself victim of ‘woke’ culture

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A university lecturer fired after claiming “Jewish people are the cleverest in the world” and “Germans are good engineers” has had his claim of unfair dismissal rejected by a judge. Mr Lamonby and Dr Janet Bonar were talking in the university canteen when he told her he believed people from different parts of the world were good at certain things due to “high exposure”. Questioned by the university authorities, Mr Lamonby defended his comments by saying: “I have come to believe that certain nationalities have developed a higher level of skill in some areas.” During a final disciplinary hearing he admitted using “clumsy” language – but reportedly referred to Jewish people having “neurological differences”. Judge C H O’Rourke stated: “For the avoidance of doubt, I find that it is clearly at least potentially racist to group nationalities, races, ethnic or religious groups, by entire categories and to ascribe certain abilities or talents to them, when, of course, as with any such group, talents or abilities will vary wildly from individual to individual.” Mr Lamonby said he would be appealing the verdict – claiming he was a victim of a “woke” culture.