Boiler.

I took the photo above (click on it to see a larger version) back in September 2018, just before the controversial White Hart Restaurant located in Erith High Street opened for the first time.  This was the second African restaurant to open in Erith; the first one was K's Spice, which is located at 13, Pier Road, Erith - opposite the car park. K's Spice took over what previously had been an Indian takeaway. K's Spice has had a somewhat up and down local history; most recently it has received an abysmal one out of five stars for its scores on the doors hygiene rating. There is certainly more than enough business for two restaurants in the town. I do have one reservation, however. As I have written in the past, the proliferation of African restaurants in Erith, Plumstead and Woolwich has been noted, but they seem to restrict their advertising and publicity to within the African community – they don’t seem to make any efforts to encourage other customers to try them out. Back in the early 1960’s a large number of men migrated to the UK from mainly Bangladesh and Pakistan. Initially they opened small cafes to cater for their desire from food from home. Never people to miss the main chance, some of the more entrepreneurial of them realised that they were sitting on a huge, untapped market of British people who were used to a fairly bland diet, and who might well find the novelty and diversity of a foreign cuisine a real attraction – as most definitely turned out to be the case. The food served in what became the high street curry house might not have resembled what you would be served in a respectable family abode in Lahore, as the dishes were tweaked both for the relatively untutored British palate, and were also made easier to make in large quantities with cheaper ingredients. By this clever tailoring of the food to appeal to the British, many curry house owners went on to earn vast fortunes, both from restaurant chains, and the later move into chilled ready meals, tinned curry sauces and a plethora of other “Indian” style comestibles. The market in the UK alone is now worth hundreds of millions of pounds per year. It strikes me that the African restaurants could take a similar approach – tweak the menu to appeal to the Brits (who nowadays are a lot more open to experimentation than back in the 1960’s) and welcome them in – the tills might then start ringing. To be honest, it may be difficult for the independent African food outlets to gain a toe in a more general market, as big business has already seen the gap. You might be wondering what chain already sells African food? Nando’s – it is marketed as “Piri Piri” style food, but it is basically a watered down version of Southern / West African cuisine. For example, what Nando’s call their “Spicy Rice” is called “Jollof Rice” in Nigeria and much of Africa in general. Nando’s has been an astonishing success in the UK – it is one of the fastest growing food brands, and it has an amazingly high brand value and level of recognition. Unlike many fast food outlets, it has fan sites and even has a UK wide website for reviewers.

Many thanks to the readers who have been in contact with me over the last week regarding my Covid infection. As previously mentioned, even though I am fully vaccinated, I have been very badly hit by the infection, and have been housebound for the last ten days or so - I am slowly getting better now. To make matters worse, in the coldest January for a number of years, on Friday evening my central heating boiler made a very loud bang and stopped working. I called the 24 hour support line for the central heating company at 3.24 AM and had an engineer visit at 6.45 PM on Saturday evening. It turns out the main fan in the boiler has failed - not a part the engineer carried in his van.  The engineer left me with a  temporary small fan heater, and I am now awaiting an update as to when my central heating and hot water will return. Suffice to say that I am dressed like the Michelin Man at present! 

The photo above is a bit of a mind boggler to anyone with modern sensibilities. The picture was taken in 1910 (and thus most definitely is in the public domain) and shows members of the 4th Erith Scout Troop (Vickers’ Own). The scout troop were sponsored by armaments manufacturer Vickers, who had factories in both Erith and Crayford. The boys were trained to fire the Vickers machine gun, by their supervisor Gunner Sergeant Budge, who can be seen sporting a magnificent moustache in the background. The team took the machine gun around the country to Boy Scout rallies, where they gave demonstrations of its’ firepower.  It makes me wonder how many of the boys in the photo were later killed in the First World War, which started only four years after the photo was taken, when they would all have been old enough to be eligible for call – up. Pseudo military organisations such as the Boy’s Brigade and the Scouts were fertile targets for recruiters at the outbreak of war, and in any case, many young men, who were ignorant of the horrors of the trenches, eagerly joined up “to be with their mates” – as the army allowed young men who lived in the same geographical area to sign up and serve together. Whole factories, clubs and churches were emptied of their menfolk in this manner – many of whom would never return.

It seems that the vision of the “Smart Home” is more than a few years away. A survey has recently been carried out by accountancy giant PwC which shows that British homeowners are more concerned with practical applications and financial advantages rather than the need to be “tech-tastic” when it comes to smart technology at home. The majority of participants (72 per cent) were uninterested in making their homes smarter, and were not looking to buy smart appliances, renewable energy devices or automated cleaning appliances over the next two to five years. Research shows that they could be convinced if there were financial incentives such as reduced energy bills or free installation of smart energy meters or lights. Less than ten per cent of consumers were not bothered by pressure to keep up with tech-savvy friends and family with smart homes and were unimpressed with the ability to control devices through an app, possibly preferring to stride over the room and flip the switch themselves. Concerns were expressed over the security of certain smart devices, after the revelations recently that smart TV’s could be used by hackers to spy on individuals, by remotely activating the TV’s camera and speech recognition microphone. People seem to want simplicity and reliability over additional functionality, according to the report. One of the problems very few people have considered when discussing “The Internet of Things” as digitally connected domestic devices are often called is that of durability and life cycle. Whilst, for example, a central heating system may last for twenty or so years (with a boiler swap – out halfway through), a smart phone with an associated app to remotely control the heating system has an average life of not much more than a couple of years. There is no guarantee that the app will continue to be supported on later version of the phone or tablets’ operating system, or that the app itself will still be available. A few years ago, in my old "day job", I did some research into the possibility of replacing some very expensive, proprietary interactive display screens outside of office meeting rooms which showed who was using the rooms, and who would be in there next, with much cheaper Android tablets fixed to the outside of the meeting rooms. The Android tablet hardware worked out at less than one third of the cost of a proprietary screens, but the problem was that the company that provided the meeting room screen software could not guarantee that their code would carry on working for at least five years, and after multiple Android operating system updates. The project ended up dead in the water because of this. I think that many similar situations may well arise in domestic environments, where a device such as a heating or lighting system with a relatively long life cycle is to be controlled by a tablet or mobile phone with a far shorter life cycle, and with software with a shorter life cycle still. I feel that much of the “internet of things” is actually a solution looking for a problem. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

BBC local radio, once a cornerstone of community news and entertainment across England, is facing a crisis. In just three years, these stations have seen a dramatic drop in listenership, with some areas experiencing a loss of over a third of their audience. This decline raises serious questions about the future of local radio and its role in the BBC's public service remit. The number of people listening to BBC Local Radio in England has fallen 11% in the wake of controversial changes which saw services slashed across the country. According to latest data from independent audience research organisation Rajar, BBC Local Radio in England reached 4.7m a week in the first quarter of this year, down from 5.3m in the same period last year. Average listening time per listener also fell — down 11%. Most of the BBC’s 39 local radio stations now only broadcast local shows between 6am and 2pm, before switching over to regional programmes. At some points of the week, such as late-nights, the BBC has replaced all local programming with England-wide shows. Even on stations where more local programming has been protected, such as in Manchester and London, listener figures were down 14% and 9%. The BBC's cost-cutting measures have led to a reduction in local programming and an increase in shared content across different stations. This move has diluted the unique, local flavour that once characterised these stations, leaving many listeners feeling disconnected. Critics argue that the BBC has not invested sufficiently in local radio, failing to innovate and adapt to the changing needs of its audience. While national stations have embraced new technologies and formats, local radio has often been left behind. The BBC's impartiality has also come under increasing scrutiny, with some accusing it of political bias. This, coupled with a perceived lack of connection to local communities, has eroded trust and made the station less relevant to some listeners. This is potentially leading to an erosion of the BBC's public service: The BBC has a duty to serve all audiences, including those in local communities. The struggles of local radio raise questions about its ability to fulfill this obligation. Radio expert and co-founder of Boom Radio, David Lloyd, said in an interview in The Guardian that with almost 80% of BBC local radio’s 5 million-plus listeners aged over 55, “many vulnerable audiences are left behind”. He suggested savings could have been made instead by closer working between local stations’ online and broadcast teams.

The end video this week is from popular public transport YouTuber Jago Hazzard. He visits the Woolwich Elizabeth Line station and explains its origins. Comments and feedback as always to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.