The Times editor should refresh his memory of the definiation of plagiarism.

plagiarism: the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.

If this article was a term paper and the Editor give this explanation to a college professor I'm certain the professor would smile for a moment at the amusement of the response and then proceed to mark a big fat F on the paper. The Times should step up and admit the obvious - then never use the writer again.