It’s not a good time ...

A Seventh Day Adventist who persuaded churchgoers to invest millions of pounds in a City scam that funded his extravagant lifestyle has been jailed for seven years.

Lindani Mangena, 24, of Romford, east London, was described as a “modern-day Moses” for his promises to deliver profits of up to 3,000% to fellow worshippers.

At Southwark crown court judge Peter Testar condemned Mangena as “pitiless and arrogant” for deceiving more than 1,000 Seventh Day Adventists.

... to be a Seventh Day Adventist.  Here comes the education angle:

The first “faith school” from a non Anglican or Catholic tradition to be funded by the taxpayer is in crisis. A hit squad has been sent in to try to rescue the John Loughborough School in Haringey, founded by a fundamentalist cult, the Seventh-day Adventists.

Haringey council has - with the Government’s backing - sent in its own appointees to take over from headteacher June Alexis at a time of mounting concern that the school is in “meltdown”. The council has refused to confirm or deny claims that Dr Alexis has been suspended.

The school is facing the prospect of a damning report from Ofsted after the education watchdog warned Dr Alexis last year that pupils’ standards of achievement and behaviour were not good enough. Ofsted served a formal “notice to improve” on John Loughborough a year ago and the Evening Standard understands that senior inspectors have visited the school in recent weeks to see if it is making progress.

You have to wonder if these two events are in any way connected, if only by a general culture of incompetence and of vulnerability to fantasists and/or con-artists.  Miracles don’t just happen.  Someone has to work them.