Thread 14: 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's original exposé: The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

The 13 Observer items currently available on their online 'The real Salt Path' page: The real Salt Path | The Observer

3 more from The Observer:

‘Hope is extinguished’: CBD patients respond to Salt Path...

The real Salt Path | The Observer (The Slow Newscast)

‘We thought: it can’t be the Salt Path couple – they’d ha...

Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement: Raynor Winn

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

Threads 2-11: Links all in the OP of Thread 12

Thread 12: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5384574-thread-12-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 13: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5386458-thread-13-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

New posters joining us in the genuine spirit of our civil discourse welcome. It would be helpful to read at least some of the Observer items above before posting. There are currently 16 interesting items on The Observer website and linked to above.

To all - Please be extremely cautious when it comes to naming or implicating people and addresses not in the public eye or with no direct connection to the story, and around the understandable health speculations, especially where details are unclear or still emerging. Please do not engage with visitors who seem to have their own agenda and seek to derail. Avoid @'ing and quoting them as - from experience - this will only encourage them back to the threads. We have done amazingly well together for thirteen very interesting, very serious and very silly threads so far. I can't be here as much as I'd like so all help with keeping our discussion walking along in our usual reasonable and respectful fashion is very welcome.

Are we all becoming Hyperglycaemic from all the fudge?
Have shares in Cadbury's gone up?
Can we remain cheerful in the face of such shameless glumwashing?
Will I need to fill up with much petrol this thread for the drive-by scoldings?
Will our Chloe H get exclusive interviews with the disgruntled peregrine, tortoise and Hollywood rabbits?
What has our Simon A got to say about this, preferably in verse?

Keep to the path. No saltiness. May the fudge be with you.

I commented on that a few threads ago, but I think it's a stylistic device. It clearly comes across as having been written after her mother's death, but doesn't say that her mother was dead at that point in the walk.

@DisappointedReader The Wild Pooing Rovering Correspondent is a bit hot and has been lying grumpily on cold tiles all day, sorry. Though so far this week he has found some sheep poo, horse poo, and feral cat poo, so he's been quite pleased with himself. He also found a dead fish and a dead crab on the beach on Sunday so offers them up to the group.

Thanks @FlyAgaricc for posting the latest Obs YT video. It makes a difference hearing people talk directly about their thoughts on being glumwashed & misrepresented. You can see much more how it's affected them than reading about it. Same with the interviews with the Hemmings.

Going back to my yoof and schooldays, I was the one of the last cohorts to do O levels in the 80s. I went to a girls' state comprehensive. Of my year of about 250, about 40 stayed on post-16 to do A levels & resit O levels. Some went to FE to do professional qualifications such as NNEB, secretarial & hair, with one girl doing a plumbing apprenticeship. Most went straight into work. Of the 40 of us who were in the Lower 6th, 25 of us stayed into the Upper 6th and did A levels. 4 went to University. It was pretty similar stats for our twinned boys' state comp too. Times change!

Following a YouTube trail from the Raworth interview... in this video, around 48.38 she does the weird "won't tell you Moth's real name" thing that folks picked up on the Australian podcast interview. Extraordinarily cagey and jumpy and I just don't understand why. 55.58 onwards pretty bad re Moth's illness, she suggests that he has been giving advice to CBS sufferers which given what we know (from letters RW herself put in the public domain) about the caveats around his diagnosis is now quite shocking.

https://youtu.be/_pcnHR_Vvtk?si=qjYyEDMnM2z0YLng

But the context of the narrator is in the wood. It might not be certain, but it is dubious and now we know it aligns with what's in the MS

I’ve also started reading it, and you’re right - he is quite funny 😂😂 maybe I’m reading too much into it (it’s very possible I am…) but his obsession with trying to find somewhere to watch the Cup Final sort of mirrors Moth tuning into the final game of the Ashes on his old radio.

I suspect she doesn't mention Mark Wallingford (and his 500 Mile Walkies with Boogie) because he writes Comedy. As a fellow writer of books which some might call comedy, I know that Comedy is the poor relation of Proper Literature. While Proper Literature is eating a stolen bar of fudge and giggling about how naughty it's being, Comedy is sitting outside with a packet of crisps and being ignored. Comedy is generally regarded as a bit 'lesser'. Not arty, doncha know.

Having Googled Mark Wallingford, I see he also worked as a gardener!

Thanks for sharing. Also quite astounded to hear her say TSP barely needed any editing.

But isn’t 500 Mile Walkies the magic book under the stairs that inspires SW with the idea of the original walk? (After which he’s never mentioned again, and Paddy Dillon becomes their personal friend .)

Some writers set up as limited companies which may include family members as directors or shareholders — the company owns the copyright of works, royalties are paid to the company etc. it can save on tax, and spread income. Some potential legal implications too, if sued. I don’t know much about it, but friends have done it.

ETA I mean, I don’t know that this is the case with Four Hares, but it’s one obvious option. When was it set up?

It is, but it appears that this is the only mention. SW doesn't refer back to it again, ever, as far as I can tell. Because nobody wants to admit that they've been influenced by a book that is comedy (apart from what is basically just the title, per the book under the stairs, and which you wouldn't know from the cover, unlike the sequel, Boogie up the River). I think she wanted to dissociate herself from any such low-class content. There' little to no poetic descriptions in 500 Mile Walkies, I've actually got a copy in here somewhere, if I can find it.

It was incorporated in April 2020. The Nature of Business is Cultural Education and also Artistic Creation

That would make sense. It wouldn’t make sense for a debut author to set up a company immediately when profits from their book might only be tiny and a one-off. But when you’ve written a bestseller, and expect further healthy income from writing, and associated things (events, teaching, gigs), it could look like an obvious step.

With apologies for pedantry - I think it’s Mark Wallington, not Wallingford.

When I read TSP in 2018, I remember saying to DH - she’s just ripped off ‘500 Miles Walkies’ but with a dying husband instead of a dog, no humour, and without actually finishing the walk!

About the latest Observer video:
the scenes of CH speaking are clearly filmed at the same spot/on the same day as the ones from the video about John 8 days before.
So is she dropping some pre-prepared items to keep the interest going while preparing something bigger than this short video that mainly adds more details to aspects already covered in other articles? I hope so.
@DisappointedReader could you maybe add the Observer Youtube channel to the OP?
That would automatically include the video of the live recording as well as new videos that apparently can appear at completely unexpected times now...
https://m.youtube.com/@theobservernewsuk/videos

What have I missed? As far as I know a University degree usually takes at least 3 years but Moth seems to have only studied for one.

I hope so too.

Incidentally, I’ve been reading some of the comments on the YouTube video where CH interviews the Mullion Cafe owner, and one commenter asks if it would be possible for all of the people defamed by RW in TSP to collectively sue her.

Off the top of my head, I suppose it would be tricky to prove that the defamation was targeted - as you could argue the MC cafe wasn’t identified in TSP - and also tricky to prove that it harmed the businesses or individuals involved.

Can’t remember who our Legal Correspondent is, but does anyone here know if a class action lawsuit might be possible?

When TW worked at the NT property as head gardener he claimed to have had a degree in Botany.
Assuming this wasn’t another BS embellishment, would he be able to apply for 2nd Student Loan?
I’m sorry if this has already been answered.

Re: repaying the loan back, even if he’s a director of the company, as long as his salary doesn’t go over £25k a year he doesn’t have to pay a penny. If the salary is more than £25k he has to pay 9% of the income above threshold.

In England, students starting university in 2025 will see their loans written off after 40 years, regardless of how much they may still owe.
In Wales and Scotland this happens after 30 years and in Northern Ireland after 25 years.

Wasn’t TW described as “student from Snowdonia”? How convenient 😂

ETA I think I answered my own question.

How to get funding for a second degree in the UK

If you are looking for funding your second degree you may already have been disappointed to find that you cannot get a student loan. So, if you are thinking about going back to university to get a second degree, you need to think about how else you can fund it. Students who have already been to university and got a degree, whether it was recently or years ago, are not entitled to a loan from Student Finance (with the exception of Nursing and some Healthcare degrees). This applies whether you had a loan previously or not, which means you are going to have to find another way to fund it and at £9,250 a year for the average tuition fees, plus expenses, it is not cheap.

Just reading SW's IG feed on 25 March 2023. Her deceit grew over the years.

It’s 10 years since we walked the South West Coast Path. When we started that walk Moth had just been diagnosed with Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD) and we thought we had very little time left.

I noticed on the Gangani Publishing website that one author is cited as a literary influence - Jon McGregor.

Not the most obvious candidate to inspire HNTDDD. He published 3 books, the last of which 'Even the Dogs' (2010) charts the highs and lows of drug addiction and homelessness.

Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor | Fiction | The Guardian

MW began his degree around ten years ago, so he'll be on Student Loan Plan 2. My understanding is that Plan 2 rules for repayments were the same in England and Wales: repayment would begin when a graduate's income was over £547 a week, £2,372 a month or £28,470 a year; and the loan would be written off 30 years after graduation. No difference on that score between England and Wales. I can't speak to maintenance grants though.

(Some of the figures you are quoting are for recent graduates, including the England-only change to write-off after 40 years)

Did he do a degree, an actual 3 year university degree, or a different qualification?

Just because the Walkers refer to a degree doesn't mean it was ,- in fact I'd be more likely, with their track record, to assume that it wasn't!

He started in 2015 and allegedly finished in 2018 (in TWS I believe).

Do you remember where the idea of TW having a degree in Botany came from? I know it’s been widely discussed here, just can’t remember the source of the info? Was it in one of the many articles?
My point is simply being- he couldn’t have had a degree before 2015 and it was yet another BS.

Right, I found it.

Tim came to the garden ten years ago. He was living in Staffordshire with his wife Sally and their two young children * and * * and working for the family business as a master plasterer, but had a degree in botany. Law clerk Sally was originally from Gwynedd.

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040907014133/www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/outdoors/features/rhiw.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TW