Who is Simon Wessely?

Trish said:
I don't think that's right. I think he would be addressed as Lord Wessely, and his full title would be Lord Wessely of Fairyland, not Lord Simon. Either way, given some recent appointments to the Lords, it's hardly an honorable status, if it ever was.
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Surely, it would have to be Professor Lord Wessely of Camelford?

Somewhere there is a tweet from him which suggests that he is opposed to the peerage system. (Can anyone find it?) Having said that, self-contradiction has never been a obstacle to advancement for him. It didn’t stop his friend Claire Fox – now Baroness Fox of Buckley – from accepting one.
 
Robert 1973 said:
Surely, it would have to be Professor Lord Wessely of Camelford?

Somewhere there is a tweet from him which suggests that he is opposed to the peerage system. (Can anyone find it?) Having said that, self-contradiction has never been a obstacle to advancement for him. It didn’t stop his friend Claire Fox – now Baroness Fox of Buckley – from accepting one.
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This is the tweet I was thinking of:

Gary Linekar:

“Imagine wanting to be a Lord so badly, you’d actually try and buy a peerage. Actually, imagine wanting to be Lord. Actually, why do we still have Lords in 2021? Bizarre.”

Simon Wessely:

“Have always liked Lord Northcliffe’s retort - ‘when I want a peerage I will buy it like any honest man’”

https://twitter.com/user/status/1457717276292046854
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Write your own analogies.
 
This phrase below has been attributed repeatedly to Wessely but does anyone have the original source? I've only seen it repeated as a second-hand claim--I've never seen an official transcript or article in which this appeared. Is it from one of Margaret Williams' articles, or from where?

“I will argue that M.E. is simply a belief, the belief that one has an illness called M.E.”
 
Andy said:
Is that PR link the same as https://www.margaretwilliams.me/2003/prof-wessely-lecture-notes_12may1994.pdf ?
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Not the same and looks genuine, although not clear where Margaret Williams got her copy from.

SW: “I don't mind what people write about me, providing they are accurate with the facts"

This stands out to me for two reasons:

1) SW has repeatedly said things about people with ME/CFS which are both inaccurate about the facts and harmful to patients.

2) I don’t think his statement is itself true. Many criticisms of SW have included inaccuracies and misrepresentations as well as criticisms that are accurate and valid. He has been very skilled at using inaccurate (or unproven) criticisms to discredit and/or distract from valid criticisms, and portray himself as a victim. Without those inaccuracies I’m not sure if he would have got away with it so easily. So the truth may be that he has benefited from valid criticisms including allegations which are either inaccurate or unproven.

Ironically, whatever the truth of his claim, I would urge everyone to heed his advice: we should always try to ensure that anything we write or say about him is accurate and well sourced. The accurate records of his work are damning enough.

Having said that, I suspect that some of the allegations that he has challenged as being inaccurate may be true. Given how shocking some of the things that he has said on record are, it would be surprising if he hadn’t said things that are at least as shocking in private.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I know a medical professional who was truly shocked by a private talk he gave for medical professionals in the 1990s. I suspect that some of the allegations he has tried to discredit may originate from such sources. But without records these things are hard to prove.


Screenshot of handwritten section from document above:
IMG_0292.jpeg
 
Sean said:
I think this is the source:

"Microbes, Mental Illness, The Media and ME - The Construction of Disease". Simon Wessely; 9th Eliot Slater Memorial Lecture, Institute of Psychiatry, 12th May 1994
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I have that same detail - from the booklet "Quotable Quotes" compiled by Margaret Williams on behalf of IiME in 2007.

It gives no more detail than that.
I dont know if they still produce it but for some reason i have 2 copies, which coincidentally i just came across at the back of a drawer. It might be useful to you @dave30th i'd be happy to post it to you if you want to PM me an address. Or indeed anyone else who wants it.

Its got loads of old quotes from the usual suspects.
 
 
I don’t know if this has already been posted, admins please delete if this the case:

https://www.scottishlegal.com/artic...Mcrew1d9mbalgp4CV3pr3Su7DrVAN2-MYwpgDDRg4B8VI

A Blog assessing the history of Sir Simon Wessely and the potential impact of his place on the board of NHS England:

David J Black: Cherchez la shrink

It seems odd that a psychiatrist once described in a Times interview with Stephanie Marsh as “the most hated doctor in Britain” should suddenly become the most all-powerful doctor in that very same benighted realm – yet that is precisely what has happened. On January 27th Sir Simon Wessely took up a new role as a member of the board of NHS England, a body with responsibilities for guiding government policymaking and overseeing an NHS budget of some £152.6 billion.
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Also the following will be of interest:

David J Black’s forthcoming book The Great Psycho Heist: How the Management and Treatment of a Crippling Illness was Hijacked by a Cabal of Psychiatrists in Britain and America, and Why is currently in preparation.
 
Peter Trewhitt said:
I don’t know if this has already been posted, admins please delete if this the case:

https://www.scottishlegal.com/artic...Mcrew1d9mbalgp4CV3pr3Su7DrVAN2-MYwpgDDRg4B8VI

A Blog assessing the history of Sir Simon Wessely and the potential impact of his place on the board of NHS England:



Also the following will be of interest:

David J Black’s forthcoming book The Great Psycho Heist: How the Management and Treatment of a Crippling Illness was Hijacked by a Cabal of Psychiatrists in Britain and America, and Why is currently in preparation.
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Thanks, Peter. I think it's worth having it linked on this thread.

Thread here:
Blog series: "Orthodoxy on trial: the pathogenesis of a diagnosis" by David Black
 
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