Thread 5: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

The Observer The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

Second article in the Observer
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-whats-in-the-book-and-what-the-observer-has-found

Third item in the Observer
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-the-truth-behind-the-blockbuster-book-video

Thread One ^www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5368194-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?^

Thread 2 Thread 2. To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film? | Mumsnet

Thread 3 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5369425-thread-3-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 4 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5370609-thread-4-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement Raynor Winn

And they seem matey enough with the consultant that he would have provided it

You can also access your own medical records on the NHS app

The consultant will have sent a copy to the GP, so it'll be on his medical notes.

Not that I think he had a diagnosis before 2015.

Nicely put

I would love to see her lawyers meetings as each new story is published. They’re probably exasperated

This really does depend on your practice!!! I've got very little on the app and have just found out by chance that some of mine are missing, so have requested the whole lot on disc so I can go through them to see exactly what's there.

I kind of disagree. This story has struck a chord for a reason - due to the way the book was marketed and written, readers invested emotionally in the ' unflinchinglingly honest' account of a couple's struggle against adversity and their redemption through nature. With politicians such as Boris and Trump, most people ( in the UK at least hopefully...) take them with a containerload of salt - they are seasoned politicians not first time writers of non fiction narratives.

I doubt they've had full disclosure. Even now. Even after saying to her, for us to help you you must tell us everything.

Sky News reporter commenting that she didn't get to meet them at the cider farm but a 3rd party location and seeing it as a barrier.

https://x.com/SkyNews/status/1944061438256951557

Hmm, it was a pretty important letter though, and these days you can get a copy from the GPs as they copy them in, it's not that hard.

Oh ok, scratch that. But if your reputation was at stake and the world thought you were a massive liar, about something so serious, you would find a way to get proof

No you can't. Only via the GP and then it's selective.

I can download medical letters from the app

Me too, I have also done a Subject Access request to the Hospital to get copies of my MRI scans and Radiology reports to take to a private Neurology appointment.

Very odd in hindsight. So interesting that we almost never hear from Moth.

Well its 12 years ago but I know what you mean.

Knowing the state of the NHS's IT systems I wouldn't bet my bottom dollar that they would be able to rustle it up and send it to me at the drop of a hat!

Maybe SW would have been well advised (by Penguin et al) to have a copy of the original diagnosis up her sleeve in case everything went pear shaped. I just don't get the sense that anybody at Penguin 'smelt a rat'and took sensible precautions to guard against a worse case scenario.

Anyway, presumably the debate about whether or not SW was informed thst TW had a terminal illness diagnosed im 2013 ( which forms the crux of TSP) could be very easily settled - by the NHS providing a copy of the specialist's diagnosis of CBD as claimed by SW in TSP.

Pehaps he's moonlighting as Martin Kemp. Has anyone seen them together? Have they?😂

(He's certainly not moonlighting as Simon A)

There seems to be a framing of this as a memoir rather than straightforward non-fiction, which apparently allows for more leeway when it comes to truth-telling if that’s indeed what’s going on. I stopped reading actively many years ago, so I’m looking at this from the outside in. If I were pressed to name my favorite book of all time, I’d probably say Jonathan Livingston Seagull but then again, I’ve never really grown up and it probably means had I read their stuff I would probably on the hook like so many others.

We should all probably be more questioning and skeptical of our public thought leaders whether they’re politicians or celebrated authors and place greater trust in our own instincts and life experience. By the time you reach your 60s, those lessons run deep and are not to be underestimated.

After reading all 5 threads here on this subject it occurs to me that if you wanted to keep yourself on track with your lies and new life story/different backstory you’d definitely change your name. Names are powerful and just hearing it can trigger you to be ‘in character’ and keep yourself in check. It makes sense they both did this.

She could easily have said that though. "I have other letters for the first diagnosis but can't find them and need to request copies from my GP." I also don't believe I'd misplace such important letters for a terminal diagnosis, though not out of the question of course.

Another way to get letters is to ask the consultant's secretary, they will usually send you another copy.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jul/08/the-salt-path-is-a-box-office-hit-will-its-takings-as-well-as-its-oscar-hopes-now-fall-off-a-cliff

Don’t worry - she can’t find the terrible diagnosis letter because they lost it when they were made homeless. Homeless guys. How can you criticise us for something that happened when we were homeless. Did o mention we were homeless?

@sualipa I think Boris/Trump is a wretchedly low bar for expectations of honesty. In the case of the latter, any form of rational human thought or behaviour.

If they did have a terrible diagnosis letter in 2013 why then 2 years later did the letter not refer to this? Why would they be making a possible diagnosis then, after such a letter?