3 d. ago The Sleep Room by Jon Stock review – shocking tales from 1960s psychiatry

The horrifying truth behind the practices of psychiatrist William Sargant, one of Britain’s most influential mental health practitionersYou’d think a sleep room would be cosy, but the one on Ward 5 of the Royal Waterloo hospital in London, back in the 1960s, was dark and airless, a twilight zone where up to six patients – almost always young women – would lie comatose on grey mattresses for weeks, even months on end. They had come in with schizophrenia, anorexia or, in a few cases, a youthful waywardness that their parents hoped could be cured. For William Sargant, the psychiatrist in charge, the cure lay not only in prolonged narcosis but insulin shock therapy, ECT and, if need be, lobotomy. Afterwards, the patients had no memory of what had been done to them. The Sargant method was to wipe their minds clean.Celia Imrie, later a famous actor, was admitted to Ward 5 in 1966, when she was 14. To her it was “like being in a prison camp” and her recovery “owed nothing” to the “tru...

Events

3 d. ago Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing review – nothing about this shocking tale feels OK

This grim documentary shines a light on child social media star Piper Rockelle, the hugely murky ethics surrounding this kind of content – and the high-profile lawsuit that engulfed their careerThe title of the new documentary Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing is interesting. It could be said to presuppose the existence of a good side to allowing, encouraging or coercing young children and early teens to put their lives online for attention and validation (or deliberately creating content to attract subscribers, brand interest and sponsorship deals). But perhaps, you think, I am being hopelessly old-fashioned. Perhaps this is the way forward. Perhaps it is the way things are these days. Who am I to say how youngsters should connect, spend their time, be raised in 2025?I understand this impulse to ignore the past. I almost admire it. It is good for us all, as we get older, to fight against the creeping belief that the past was better. It is a canard, a conflation of the ha...

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7 d. ago Britain's Got Talent fans 'howling' as KSI rages at 'totally unexpected' twist in scary act

KSI faced The Tormentor on Britain's Got Talent tonight before being hit by a shocking betrayal during the act's unmasking, and fans were in disbelief at what went down

Politics

7 d. ago KSI's brother Deji shocks Britain's Got Talent judge as The Tormentor unmasked

Britain's Got Talent guest judge KSI was left terrified and screaming during an audition on the ITV series on Saturday night, as a mystery hooded figure caused carnage

Events

1 week ago The Sleep Room by Jon Stock review – haunting accounts of horrific medical abuse

A book about psychiatrist William Sargant’s unethical treatments at a London hospital in the 1960s is all the more powerful for its vivid patient testimoniesA child of 14 is forced to walk on to a stage and strip to her underwear. Tiny and mute beneath the stacked rows of medical students, she is paraded for their benefit by a consultant psychiatrist some 44 years her senior. It is 1966 – the peak of Swinging 60s’ hedonism, liberalism and youthful counterculture – but in a locked psychiatric ward in London’s Royal Waterloo hospital, unspeakable violations are being inflicted upon patients.The perpetrator-in-chief, William Sargant, is the subject of thriller writer Jon Stock’s first nonfiction book, The Sleep Room: A Very British Medical Scandal. One of the most notorious figures in British psychiatry, Sargant initially wished to be a physician. He pivoted to psychiatry after one of his earliest pieces of research met with a humiliating reception at the Royal College of Physicia...

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3 w. ago Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell shocks judges as he 'breaks rule'

Britain's Got Talent returned tonight for its latest round of auditions after having been off air last weekend due to the Six Nations, with yet more acts seen performing on stage

Events

3 w. ago ITV Britain's Got Talent's Simon Cowell 'breaks rules' for act leaving judges in shock

Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell hit the Golden Buzzer for another act after he said he felt a 'wave of goodness'

Events

4 w. ago Will Mellor shocks with incredible unknown talent as he leaves fans with 'goosebumps'

The actor, 48, who is best known for his roles on Hollyoaks and Broadchurch, also boasts an impressive singing voice.

Events