Out of Wind.

The Erith Wind Turbine has rapidly become one of the major landmarks of the town, even though it is actually located far closer to Slade Green, than to central Erith. The Wind Turbine is situated on the banks of the River Thames on the Manford Industrial Estate, which is also home to the excellent, multi award - winning Bexley Brewery. The location of the wind turbine was somewhat controversial when it was first installed back in October 2012, with some Slade Green residents objecting to it. Since then it has formed an integral part of the local landscape. It was fairly widely anticipated that further wind turbines would be constructed locally, as the Government sought to create as much energy using renewable energy sources as possible. A recent report may well have put paid to this, however. It would seem that the UK has the wrong type of wind. The head of the wind industry’s trade body in the UK has admitted England isn’t windy enough for any more wind farms. “We are almost certainly not talking about the possibility of new plants in England. The project economics wouldn’t work; the wind speeds don’t allow for it,” essentially the wind in the UK is too sporadic and unreliable to make for an efficient renewable energy source. Hugh McNeal (no relation - I promise!) head of Renewable UK told the Daily Telegraph. McNeal joined the lobby group from the civil service, where he was “Director of Change” (a real job title) at the Department of Energy and Climate Change during its most wind-friendly phase. Government subsidies for new onshore wind turbines were quietly dropped on the 1st April this year; In his final interview before his untimely death from cancer, DECC’s chief scientific advisor Sir David Mackay called it an “appalling delusion” that the UK could meet its energy needs from renewables. Wind turbines were simply a "waste of money" in winter, for "when the wind blows you are going to have to either turn those wind turbines down or something else down that you have already paid for, like the nuclear or coal fired generators". Solar generation only works in really sunny countries. The international renewables agency IRENA recently admitted that renewable usage is actually falling in China, India and Mexico. The EU quietly dropped its mandate that 10 per cent of transport be powered by renewables 2020 earlier this year. Bill Gates has called for the huge renewables subsidies wasted on wind and solar to be diverted to more potentially useful low carbon innovation. I think that the Erith wind turbine probably pays its' way, as the wind off the River Thames is a lot more reliable than that in other areas, but that is the exception, rather than the rule. It is a pity that the so - called renewable energy from wind and the sun is not actually reliable enough to make a significant contribution to the UK energy reserve, but I suppose that we have to be realistic, rather than idealistic.

As I have previously written, I have concerns over the quality of local journalism, now that the staff of the News Shopper have moved out of their long - term home in Petts Wood and are now either working from home, or from their new base in West London, far from the area they are tasked with covering. A prime example of this happened this week. A reporter named James Parsons wrote a piece about a woman who is resident at the former Homeleigh Care Home in Avenue Road, Erith, which has been converted into a temporary respite shelter for homeless people. The problem with the piece was (and at the time of writing, currently is) that the reporter refers to the former care home being located in Sidcup rather than Erith. I Emailed James Parsons to point out his error, and got an out of office auto reply, and since then several readers have left comments on the article pointing out the error in the story, but thus far it has not been corrected; the story was originally posted on Wednesday, and it is now Sunday. Very poor journalism. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Long - term Maggot Sandwich readers will be aware of my strong antipathy towards gambling, and especially towards Fixed Odds Betting Terminals used in bookmakers shops. There is now a clinic in Fulham which specialises in supporting and helping people with gambling problems to overcome their addiction: The National Problem Gambling Clinic - around fifteen problem gamblers are referred to the clinic every week from across the country; every year between 750 and 900 people start treatment here. Most are male, and in their 30s and 40s; about 70 percent are working. “Yet, by the time we see them, they have lost jobs or lost opportunities professionally because of their gambling and they have often compromised important relationships,” Bowden-Jones says. “They are usually highly stressed and there is a lot of guilt, when they look at the negative consequences on their employers, spouse, children, employers.” Most patients are spending their money on the high street roulette machines – known as fixed odds betting terminals (often described as the crack cocaine of gambling, because of the speed with which large sums can be staked, and lost), and on sports betting, usually done online at home. The easy availability of online, in-game betting has made sports betting increasingly popular over the past decade. While fifteen years ago people might only have been able to bet on the result of a game, at the bookmakers, now they can bet online, on a variety of scenarios within the game, making watching the sport highly stressful for gamblers. Bowden-Jones, who previously specialised in alcohol and drug addiction, founded the NHS’s first and only specialist gambling clinic, funded by the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, in 2008. It had become obvious, amid rising concern about the growing presence of super-casinos and new easy access to betting shops, that there was a desperate need for it. She has been innovative and experimental, trialling the use of a cravings-suppressing drug, naltrexone, more commonly prescribed to alcoholics and heroin addicts. It is a last-resort treatment for gamblers whose addiction has persisted despite the clinic’s interventions. Personally I would have thought drastic cutbacks and legal restrictions on betting shops and online gambling, and especially on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals would be the best way forward. What do you think?

One of my anonymous sources has alerted me to the news that a licence application has been made to Bexley Council for a new Micro Pub to be called the Hackney Carriage, which (if permission is granted, and I have little doubt that it will), would be located at 165 Station Road, Sidcup. This is good news; Bexley is becoming a leader in encouraging and supporting Micro Pubs. I would like to see one in Erith or Northumberland Heath - there are plenty of suitable unused shop units available, and the demand is certainly there. Central Erith only has one pub - The Running Horses (see the photo above - click on it for a larger view), which is sadly a bare shadow of what it used to be. I would love to see it as a lively and busy family friendly place with an excellent upstairs restaurant, but instead it limps along with a small band of loyal regulars. A large investment really needs to be made in the place - perhaps if a large pub company or brewer such as Shepherd Neame or Fuller's were to buy it, they would be able to turn the place around once and for all. I fear that when things get particularly tight for the current owners, they may be tempted to sell of the building and plot of land on which it sits to a property developer to demolish the pub and replace it with yet more riverside apartments, and I know I am far from being alone in this concern. The Running Horses is an excellent building, and with some love and cash it could bring it back to its' glory days in the late 1980's when you needed to book a week in advance to get a table in the upstairs carvery on a Sunday lunchtime. Another beer related story was brought to my attention earlier in the week, and it has parallels with an experience of my own. A Belgian brewery has developed an impressive engineering solution to a problem they had with transporting their beers. Bruges brewery De Halve Maan (The Half Moon) is about to open the valves on a €4m beer pipeline designed to carry vital supplies the 3.2km from its city centre production facility to its bottling plant. The subterranean ale conduit was the brainchild of De Halve Maan's head brewer Xavier Vanneste, who wanted a solution to the problem of beer tanker lorries negotiating the city's narrow streets around the brewery in Walplein square. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Vanneste was inspired by workers "laying underground utility cables in front of his house". He admitted: "It all started as a joke. Nobody believed it was going to work." Four years later, though, and the epic project is just weeks away from completion. Vanneste raised an impressive €300,000 of the pipeline budget with a crowdfunding initiative, which offered investors with €7,500 to spare "one 33cl bottle of Brugse Zot Blond every day for the rest of your life". Less wealthy customers were tempted with one case of 24 bottles of Brugse Zot Blond a year for life (€800), or "one presentation bottle of 75cl of Brugse Zot Blond a year for life" for a modest €220. Restaurateur Philippe Le Loup was one of those who stumped up €7,500, and he reckons that at a bottle a day he'll have recouped his investment in 15 years. Le Loup's restaurant is a few hundred metres from the pipeline, and he said he'd have welcomed a direct connection, to save him "a lot of keg-dragging". Sadly for him, and indeed those Belgian citizens who are no doubt already planning just how to tap the polyethylene pipe, Vanneste said this would prove "impossible", rating the tube as "stronger than steel". The Belgian pipe development is the longest and by far the most ambitious beer pipeline in the world, but it is far from the only one. Shepherd Neame down at their historic brewery in Faversham have what they call "The Beer Bridge" - their main brewery is on one side of a busy road, and their bottling plant is on the other. The have constructed an overhead gantry which contains beer piped from the brewery to the bottling plant. Apparently there have been several attempts to drill into the pipes and siphon off the beer, though to date none appear to have been successful. The Belgian enterprise is far more ambitious - you can see a short video on the brewery behind it below. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The whole of the South East of England is under intense population pressure for a multitude of reasons I’m not about to explore here. Others with higher levels of insight have already done so far more eloquently than I. Nevertheless the population boom and lack of investment in new housing stock have caused property prices to boom, and the rental market to explode. Those with lots of money (many of whom are absentee foreign investors seeking to get their cash into the UK economy, which they judge to be a stable and reliable place to invest) have been doing very nicely indeed out of the situation, whilst the rest of us struggle. This week the News Shopper has highlighted a particular problem with the London Borough of Bexley. Unusually for a local council, Bexley does not have a Tenancy Relations Officer to supervise the private landlord market in the Borough. This has partly led to the current situation where some unscrupulous private landlords are dividing up houses into tiny flats, often contrary to the building and health and safety regulations. The News shopper has recently reported that a petition has been started which is designed to persuade Bexley Council to introduce legislation to force developers to apply for planning permission before converting two-bed family homes into six separate bedsits, known as an Article 4 direction. Bexley would appear to have a particular problem with what is known as Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO). Many of these HMO houses are used as hostels for vulnerable people with drug and / or mental health problems, or ex – offenders, and many home owners feel intimidated by the HMO residents. Because Bexley Council have historically not engaged with HMO landlords, they lack any data on how many, and in what areas HMO houses are located. The petition that has been set up on the Change.org website can be seen here. Reading the comments from the local residents that have signed the petition, it would seem that feeling is running very high indeed on the matter. One fairly typical comment is from a lady called Donna Everist who writes:- “I think it's wrong that law abiding, hardworking people, who pay a mortgage, taxes, council taxes etc could have the house next door turned into bedsits filled with people who have done none of these, and probably never will. If the comments about the sort of people who will reside in these bedsits is true, then I'm lost for words!” Other comments are somewhat less measured, with often recurring references to “paedos, druggies, nutters and scum”. It will be instructive to see what happens when the petition is handed to Teresa Pearce MP and David Evennett MP – our two local politicians. I get the feeling this story will run for a long time to come.

The HMO story highlights the somewhat contradictory situation with property in The London Borough of Bexley; not only is the creation of multi occupancy residences unmonitored and apparently unregulated, but on top of this, towns in the borough also top the polls regarding both property affordability and speed of selling. A recent report by estate agent Rightmove stated that homes in Bexleyheath  — where average prices stand at £375,259 — sell in just three weeks, thanks a potent local mix of affordable property, grammar schools, and a 35-minute commute to central London. Abbey Wood is a close second, benefiting from the imminent arrival of the Elizabeth line (formerly Crossrail). Property there sells in an average of 22 days, and an average house costs £326,815. Dartford’s market is equally active, with homes that also take 22 days to sell, at an average price of £290,523. The most expensive town in the London Borough of Bexley, with an average price of £471,931, is Bexley village, while the cheapest is Erith, with an average price of £261,433. They are also the areas of London where prices are predicted to start rising fastest. My own property, Pewty Acres has risen in value so much that I would be unable to purchase it nowadays. A report released by property experts CBRE Residential back in January backed this finding up; it compared the average wage and average house price for each London borough, giving first-time buyers a good idea of how far their annual income will stretch. “While affordability for many first-time buyers in London may be stretched, there are still a number of locations that are continuing to attract these buyers with lower values and potential for growth," says Jennet Siebrits, head of residential research at CBRE. "By measuring the average earnings coupled with local house prices, we anticipate that Bexley is set to further appeal to those looking for increased value for money." The report was featured in the London Evening Standard at the time, though through lazy journalism and lack of proper research, the paper described Bexley as being in “East London” – something guaranteed to raise the hackles of many local people. Bexleyheath was the featured town in the weekly Homes and Property section of the London Evening Standard last Wednesday afternoon - click here to see their coverage.

I have been in communication with the team behind Erith Fun Day, which for the first time will be held in Erith Sports Centre, instead of the tradition venue in Erith Riverside Gardens, overlooking the River Thames. Several readers have been displeased regarding the change of venue, which some feel is less accessible. The Fun Day management team responded with this very open and honest reply:- “Firstly, I should say that this was a big decision for us which we really did discuss at length as we are so aware of making use of the gardens. Nobody wants developers to get their hands on this land and so our plan is to hopefully put on another event later this year.  At Rotary we have discussed a couple of ideas including a beer festival and an open air  movie night. Anyway, onto our reasons for making the move. The first thing is probably to make you aware of our funding issues. We are all volunteers and do not receive any funding apart from what we raise. The Erith Group are fabulous and give us £500 each year which is our starting point.  This just covers the cost of gardens/park hire and our licences. On top of this we have to provide toilet facilities, generator hire ,publicity and printing costs, first aid cover  and a myriad of smaller things. Dan our Dj and MC gives his time and equipment for free and counts towards our sponsors. The mobile bar company gives us a small percentage of takings as does Forrest Fairs.  The last two are paid after the event and we do not know how much we will get but this  then goes into the kitty for next year.! Based on the feedback we received from last year, the biggest issue was that there was not enough to do and the queues for children's activities were too long.  This was exasperated by the fact that in order to raise funds we needed more volunteers to operate things like the bouncy castle.  So we had to decide how we could put on more activities etc.  This of course meant raising more money from stallholders etc. We could not add more to the Riverside gardens as there were too many safety issues getting vehicles on and off site and also access is severely restricted.  We have raised this issue with the council but it is unlikely the bollards will be re-positioned. The only way we could find was to move to a larger venue, ie the Rec. This has enabled Forrest Fairs to provide a couple more children's rides and for us to offer a lot more stalls for sale allowing us to raise more funds. We try to keep our stall charges at the lowest possible level to encourage small business to join in. We currently charge £12 for charities and £20 for individuals who also get the use of Rotary club insurance cover for the day.   We reinvest every penny we receive and strive to make the day all about Erith and our community.  We really are hoping that the venue change will work but are as unsure as yourself. There are better parking facilities and it really is just across the road from Morrison’s, KFC, McDonalds etc. We are producing more banners this year to really get the word out and will handing out and door dropping leaflets. We are all fingers crossed for good weather and a healthy attendance!!"

I was also contacted midweek by a reader who wishes local people to be made aware that a valuable local resource is about to be closed down with little consultation and very little advanced publicity – until now. A campaign has been started to stop a local recording and practice studio being closed down. Here is the situation in their own words:- “For over 20 years Abbey Music Studios (AMS) in Abbey Wood (London SE2) has provided a music hub for local artists and bands for rehearsal and recording purposes, and for musicians and interested visitors from all over the world. It has also provided free recording and group sessions to local NHS patients and other individuals with mental health and learning difficulties. The Studio building is within the grounds of Goldie Leigh Hospital and now the Oxleas NHS Trust who run the Hospital have given the Studio notice that its lease will not be renewed and that it must close by 6 July. The Trust say they want to use the building for other purposes. This is despite there being several other large, un-used buildings within the Hospital grounds, some which have stood empty for over 20 years. The closure will be a devastating blow to the livelihood of those who work at the Studio, and will remove the vital role the Studio plays in providing services to mental health patients and to the local community. The Studio building was completely derelict, vandalised, flooded and unusable when AMS took it over in 1994. The gaping holes in the roof of the building were repaired at the expense of AMS who have invested thousands of pounds in renovating the building and fitting it out with state of the art, made-to-measure, recording equipment, and rehearsal rooms. The NHS Trust paid no funds whatsoever towards the renovation of the building, but they now want to take it back in its pristine condition, with no offers of compensation or alternative accommodation. The Trust seem to be happy to put an end to local mental health patients’ music sessions, despite the fact that for some of these patients it is the only time they have away from their Units. The Studio has provided these 2 hour music sessions two or three times a week for over 20 years and continues to do so. Patients are able to play/learn musical instruments, record their work, rehabilitate and socialise in a safe and friendly environment. This also helps them from becoming institutionalised. The patients’ local Carers have always been delighted with the service the Studio provides. They understand the benefits that music can bring to those with mental health issues, but that understanding does not seem to be shared by the Trust’s managers. This is a service which should be embraced and developed, not discontinued. Of course, the Studio also provides a very beneficial service to bands, singers, DJs etc, in the local community and beyond. Thousands of musicians have cut their teeth at AMS over the last 20 years, and developed their craft to a professional level. Recent users of the Studio include Jaz Ellington, a successful contestant on The Voice UK TV show, and members of bands such as Squeeze and Nine Below Zero. AMS does not want to close, so please help us fight the closure by signing the petition to Save Our Studios (SOS)". Following receipt of this message, I have done some research and spoken to a number of people to find out more behind the story. It would seem that there are some concerns regarding the long term financial viability of the recording studio under the current management. Nevertheless I feel that the studio performs an important community function, and support is merited. 

The end video this week is a bit of a curiosity; The Kirkaldy Testing Museum is a very little known and sadly overlooked location not far from Blackfriars Bridge in London. I used to work just around the corner from the Testing Museum, and it always fascinated me. The museum describes itself thus:- "David Kirkaldy's Testing and Experimenting Works at 99 Southwark Street set international standards in testing materials from which everyone’s everyday life benefits today. Today, this unique Victorian workshop keeps alive our direct link with Kirkaldy's innovation, at the heart of this bustling commercial district of London. The Kirkaldy Testing Museum preserves Kirkaldy's unique Universal Testing Machine - the huge hydraulic powered machine he designed and had built in Leeds - in full working order in the premises he built to house it. As well as presenting the story of the family who ran the business for almost 100 years and of the wider development of materials testing, the workshop and the Universal Testing Machine provide a unique crucible for new experimentation and collaboration - which can inspire future generations of scientists and artists alike to continue enquiring into the properties of the materials on which we build our lives". Feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Internet of Things.

The photo above was taken by me during the recent "Our Erith" art exhibition in Christ Church Erith. It shows the choir and altar area of the church, along with two landscape paintings done by local professional artist Patrick Hearne. I have now uploaded the first batch of photos taken at the exhibition onto my Flickr site. You can click here to see the photos.

There has been much press coverage over the last week about the lack of public toilets in the UK nowadays. The London Borough of Bexley does especially poorly in this respect. Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to do more to save Britain's dwindling number of public lavatories. The Prime Minister said he would examine the case for lifting thousands of pounds of taxes from them every year to try to save them from closure. The search for public toilets in towns and cities has become more and more desperate in recent years because the number of lavatories has fallen markedly. Campaigners say that many have had to be closed because of councils have to pay onerous business rates on them. The British Toilet Association has estimated that 40 per cent of local authority run public conveniences have disappeared in the last decade, taking the number down from 12,000 to 6,000, in part because councils have to pay business rates on them. The Daily Telegraph reported earlier in the week that Public toilets have traditionally been liable for business rates in the same way as non-domestic premises such as shops and offices, while churches and premises used to care for disabled people are exempt. Four out of five councils have cut spending on public toilets since 2011. Overall expenditure has declined by almost a third in four years, with £21m less spent last year than in 2011, and 43 councils have slashed their budgets by more than seventy percent. Raymond Martin, managing director of The British Toilet Association, said: “This is a public facility. People have to go to the toilet. We have to do five things in life – we have to eat, sleep, breathe, drink and we have to go to the toilet. Failure to go to the toilet we get sick, we get disorientated, we have high blood pressure, we can have strokes – this is a health and wellbeing issue. It is about equality, social inclusion and bringing more older people into town. The reason that toilets are closing is councils do not get any financial support from government to do it, so they have to sit down and look at costs. I have calls coming into me from councils saying ‘how do we close down all our toilets’. Councils really want to provide these facilities, they really want to have them but commercially and economically they can't afford to do it. The fall in numbers of public lavatories meant more and more shop owners are complaining about people urinating in the street, and worse".

Following the account from Maggot Sandwich reader and occasional contributor Alan Magin last week, where he shared his recollections of his part in the construction of Thamesmead, and a photo of him from back in June 1969 where he was helping install a stressed steel beam onto what was to become East Bridge on Yarnton Way. This week I have been sent an Email from local resident Tom Burnham, also with a historic photo of Thamesmead. Tom writes:- "Incidentally, in 1969 I had a holiday job working for Bexley Council at Sidcup Place, where the Borough Engineer's Dept was located in those days, and was set to constructing a scale model of the Harrow Manor Way flyover at Abbey Wood station.  The model showed the then proposed station entrance directly off the flyover, adjacent to the bus lay-bys) so it's interesting to see that idea now coming into effect, 47 years later. It had also been expected that there would be a third platform so that trains could terminate there - I think a Victoria-Abbey Wood service was envisaged". Interesting stuff. It just goes to show that pretty much every plan has been thought of in some form before. The Abbey Wood Crossrail terminus design is obviously a lot less groundbreaking than many had considered. 

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 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 and flip the switch themselves. Concerns were expressed over the security of certain smart devices, after the revelations last year 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 lifecycle. 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. As some of you may know, my “day job” is as a technology analyst in a multinational consulting company. I did some research a little while back into the possibility of replacing some very expensive, proprietary interactive touch screen 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 room. 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 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 lifecycle is to be controlled by a tablet or mobile phone with a far shorter lifecycle, and with software with a shorter lifecycle still. I feel that much of the “internet of things” is actually a solution looking for a problem. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

You may recall that a while ago, back in December I featured a story which debunked the myth that the Homeleigh Care Home in Avenue Road, Erith was to be converted into a centre for fifty Syrian refugee families. The malicious hoax story had been created and spread via social media by extreme right wing hate group, the English Defence League. "Bexley is Bonkers" author Malcolm Knight had also investigated the story, and came to the same conclusion as I. In fact, the former care home has been converted into a refuge for homeless people, including women seeking shelter from domestic violence. i am not going to debate the bones of the story, as to whether the building is actually fit for purpose - others are already doing that, and I see no benefit in duplicating that discussion. What does concern me is that several of the residents of the former care home are photographed and named in the News Shopper piece. The location of Homeleigh House is very well known both locally and beyond. It strikes me as irresponsible for the News Shopper to run the story in the form that it has. Any disgruntled former partner could easily trace the women from the information published in the story - the possibilities are potentially dreadful. Bear in mind that it is only a few months since the appalling murder of Sian Blake and her two children in Pembroke Road, Erith. I would have expected the News Shopper to have been more responsible under the circumstances. 

Did you know that the words “Internet” and “Web” are no longer considered to be proper nouns? As of last week the bible of English speaking journalists, the Associated Press Stylebook , which offers a comprehensive guide to the usage of words, style, spelling and punctuation. "The argument for lowercasing Internet is that is has become wholly generic, like electricity and the telephone. It never was trademarked and is not based on any proper noun," writes Tom Kent, Associated Press Standards Editor, in an interview with technology news website, Slashdot:-  "The best reason for capitalising it in the past may have been that the term was new. At one point, we understand, 'Phonograph' was capitalised." The two names will join the likes of website (formerly Web site) and email (formerly e-mail). Thankfully, for capital letter enthusiasts, there's one prominent holdout: PDF, short for Portable Document Format, will remain capitalised. I don’t make the rules, I just report them.

I took the photo above recently; it shows an empty mini canister of Nitrous Oxide gas (commonly known as "laughing gas"). The canister was dumped on the road by the pedestrian crossing on Manor Road, Erith. "Legal Highs" are no longer legal;  Synthetic drugs such as "Spice" and substances such as Nitrous Oxide are now illegal to sell. The Psychoactive Substances Act  2016 came into force on the 6th April 2016. The Act will make it an offence to produce, supply or offer to supply any psychoactive substance if the substance is likely to be used for its psychoactive effects and regardless of its potential for harm. The only exemption from the Act are those substances already controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine and medicinal products. The main intention of the Act is to shut down shops and websites that currently trade in ‘legal highs’. Put simply any substance will be illegal to produce or supply if it is likely to be used to get high. Possession of a psychoactive substance will not be an offence, except in a ‘custodial institution’ (prison, young offender centre, removal centre etc.). Possession with intent to supply, importing or exporting a psychoactive substance are now all offences. I have never understood the attraction of such substances, but after undertaking some online research, I came across the respected academic journal "Addiction". In an article aimed at UK lawmakers, The opening statement, by Prof Peter Reuter and Bryce Pardo of the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, outlines three problems with the Psychoactive Substances Act's total ban of new psychoactive substances (NPS): 1. The Act's definition of psychoactivity is too broad: it applies to substances of potential and known minimal to moderate harm. 2. The Act does not provide a way to establish psychoactivity. On this topic, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has warned that "There is currently no way to define psychoactivity through a biochemical test, therefore there is no guarantee of proving psychoactivity in a court of law." 3. The Act's penalties for violations of a total ban are not proportional to the harm of the substance involved. Under the Act, judges cannot impose a common sense approach in sentencing since they will have little if any evidence on the harms of the specific drug involved in the case. On the other hand, Reuter and Pardo point out that total prohibition of NPS has two major potential advantages: 1. The Act will likely reduce the number of different NPS introduced in a given period. 2. The Act should reduce the cost of managing the NPS problem by eliminating the need to study and classify each newly emerging NPS. Professor Reuter says: "Given the prominence of the United Kingdom in drug policy affairs internationally, the choice made by the UK is likely to reverberate throughout the world. The Expert Panel that developed the Psychoactive Substances Bill identified several alternative approaches but did not have sufficient time to study them fully. So little is known about the subsequent Act's feasibility and consequences that it would have been better to delay until more effort was made to assess all the alternatives." Thought provoking stuff, indeed.  Do you have an opinion on the new act? Leave a comment below, or send me an Email to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The following announcement was made this week by Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association:- "Two youths have been arrested and charged in relation to 28 offences over the theft of motorbikes across Plumstead, Erith, Abbey Wood and Dartford. One aged 19, and officers from Metropolitan Police arrested the other 18, who are both from Erith, on Wednesday March 16th. The 19 year old is charged with 12 offences - four counts of theft of motorbikes, one count of burglary, one count of attempted burglary, two counts of driving without a licence, two counts of driving without insurance, and two counts of riding a bike without protective headgear. The 18 year old is charged with 16 offences - five counts of theft of a motorbike, one count of burglary, one count of attempted burglary, two counts of driving without a licence, two counts of driving without insurance, two counts of riding a bike without protective headgear and three counts of breaching a criminal behaviour order. This is merely the tip of an iceberg and where it is hoped our BikeWatch scheme will, in future, help to reduce offences".  Excellent news - illegal bike riding is a major problem in the local area, something I know is a major source of annoyance to the majority of law abiding local bikers. 

As many readers will know, whilst being very interested in science and technology, I do have issues with privacy, security and the way in which seemingly benign and everyday information is mined by large corporations and governments to enable them to profile us in ways that many could not even imagine. One such method was published earlier this week on IT news website The Register, and has just been picked up by the BBC, though they miss a few key points in their coverage. It turns out that popular social media behemoth Facebook is monitoring its users in ways that few could have ever previously considered. Professor Kelli Burns of The University of South Florida, with the help of several television journalists, has verified the fact that Facebook's mobile app grants itself access to your mobile phone's microphone by talking about a holiday she wanted to take. "I'm really interested in going on an African safari. I think it'd be wonderful to ride in one of those jeeps," she said out loud with her phone in hand. According to the report, under a minute later, the first story in her Facebook feed was about a safari. And a car advert soon appeared on her page. Of course, the "evidence" is purely anecdotal, and as soon as the report spread, Burns has walked back her claim, saying that she may have been searching online for the same things she said out loud – in which case Facebook may be reacting to other data it has picked up on her habits. It may also be worth noting that before Professor Burns became an academic, she spent seven years in corporate marketing and the course she teaches is the "principles of public relations." Facebook's app access to a phone's microphone is fact, and, critically, it now appears to be turned on by default, meaning you have to dig into your phone's innards to disable it. This is not the first time Facebook has faced this charge: last year it was also accused of listening to people and selling ads in response. It said at the time that users had to turn the microphone on. But that may have changed subsequently, since most users find their microphones are on as a default for the Facebook app. Facebook says this about its use of the microphone: "We use your microphone to identify the things you're listening to or watching, based on the music and TV matches we're able to identify." It also points out that it doesn't record conversations – although it doesn't need to actually record conversations, of course, to act on them and relay "relevant ads." And last year it claimed that listening was limited only to when you are writing a Facebook update. In response to Burns' report and other similar anecdotes reported online, the company has denied using what you say to place ads or impact your news feed. It said: "Facebook does not use microphone audio to inform advertising or News Feed stories in any way. Businesses are able to serve relevant ads based on people's interests and other demographic information, but not through audio collection." Of course, it is possible to parse that official response and question what Facebook's definitions of "inform" and "collection" are. Unlike other better-known voice services such as Apple's Siri and Amazon's Echo, Facebook has given itself far greater control over what it can do with your microphone. Its explanations also follow a familiar trend of Facebook responses: vague policies, followed by clear denials, followed by a new set of policies. Apple's Siri assistant can listen to you any time, but there are three significant differences between it and Facebook. First, it waits for its "wake word" – in this case "Hey, Siri." Second, it is turned off by default. You have to activate it and then carry out four voice tests before it turns on. And third, it only works when plugged in (although Apple has reportedly considered turning off the plugged-in restriction). Likewise, Amazon's Echo technology listens for a wake word before carrying out any analysis – in its case, "Alexa." Amazon is also upfront about its collection of audio and allows you to delete recordings plus play around with settings. Facebook, on the other hand, gives itself access to your phone's microphone – seemingly by default despite earlier claims – and is capable of always listening and does not tell you what it does with the information it receives. None of this should comes as a surprise to people: Facebook has repeatedly given itself access to people's personal data and then begged forgiveness afterwards. It continually tweaks its privacy settings, requiring people to keep making changes to prevent the company from sharing the information you provide. And whenever there is an uproar, it announces small changes that require people to actively change their settings again. Most don't. Facebook claims the feature is good for users because it makes it easier and faster for you to post about what's going on around you. If that's a persuasive argument for you, continue on, but for everyone else the answer is to go into your phone's settings and manually prevent your Facebook app from accessing your microphone. How to turn your mobile phone microphone off:- iOS: Settings > Facebook > Settings > Microphone. Android: Settings > Privacy and emergency > App permissions. Find Facebook and turn off mic access. Better still, ditch the phone altogether. I know some people thought that I was mad for not having a mobile phone - perhaps they can see that my concerns were not "tin foil hat paranoia" after all. On top of all this, another story broke with a very similar message. If you are using a mobile device (phone or tablet), then you will almost certainly rely on encryption, whether you actually know about it or not. If you use services such as Gmail, or buy anything from an online retailer, or use online banking where the website URL beings with "HTTPS" - this indicates the connection between your device and the website is encrypted. It has generally been understood that this connection is practically uncrackable in normal situations, however a research paper has now put this into doubt. It has been known for some time that tiny fluctuations in electrical current during encryption routines, or even the sounds made by the system, can be picked up wirelessly to ascertain the encryption keys used – but it usually requires hooking up expensive analysis equipment and takes long periods of time to gather all the bits needed. The NSA's TEMPEST programme was set up to do just that. Now, in a paper published by the Association for Computing Machinery, researchers from Tel Aviv University have detailed how inexpensive kit can be used to harvest 4,096-bit RSA encryption keys in just a few seconds and from distances of around 10 metres (33 feet). This is the same security research group who hid a loop of wire and a USB radio dongle in a piece of pita bread last year and used it to steal encryption keys over the air. In their latest research, the team managed to pick up encryption keys using acoustics. As a computer's processor churns through the encryption calculations, the machine emits a high-frequency "coil whine" from the changing electrical current flowing through its components. By using a parabolic microphone, the team was able to pick up the coil whine from 10 meters (38 feet) away. Trouble is, that mic is a little obvious if you're trying to be sneaky, so they managed to get the same result from a mobile phone's microphone placed 30 centimetres (12 inches) away from the spied-on PC. In both cases it took an hour of listening to get the 4,096-bit RSA key. To combat this security hole, you need tweak your software, the team wrote. It's possible to use acoustic dampening inside a PC against sound attacks, Faraday cages to block electromagnetic emissions, and insulation of the enclosures of laptops. This is not practical in the real world. Instead, the team recommends encryption software writers build in "blinding" routines that insert dummy calculations into cryptographic operations. Software developers and website operators such as Amazon and Google are already working on this. Whilst this type of security exploit is (as far as I am aware) only being deployed in research labs at present, it will not be very long before criminals are using it "in the wild". You have  been warned. 

There have been rumours that the forthcoming Crossrail (Elizabeth Line) could be extended, with an additional station at London City Airport. The Wharf newspaper has reported that London City Airport has questioned why Transport for London is rebuffing its proposals to fund and build a Crossrail station at the Docklands hub. The newly-named Elizabeth Line has stops at Custom House, to the north of Victoria Dock, and at Woolwich and it is carried in tunnels underneath the airport but the airport itself is not on the initial roster of stations. A spokesman for the airport said that the station would generate the £3 million a year operational costs and another station would add just under three minutes to overall journey times according to the airport’s calculations. The airport is currently awaiting the outcome of its planning appeal against the decision to block its £300 million expansion plans with the new Mayor, Sadiq Khan, more receptive to the idea than his predecessor. It will be interesting to see what happens now that we have a new mayor in charge. 

The end video this week is a short film about how The Peabody Trust intends to rebuild and improve Thamesmead. It is not all a one - sided commercial for the redevelopment - there are some very interesting objections made by long - time Thamesmead residents. Give it a watch and see what you think. 

Mobo Toys.

The recent freezing and very windy weather does not appear to have deterred the people who regularly fish off Erith Pier, as you can see in the photo above - click on it for a larger view. Some nights you can see small tents camped on the dogleg part of the structure, where the tent owners are night fishing. It takes a particularly dedicated and hardy person to camp out on the pier in freezing conditions, as the wind coming up the river from the coast has come directly from Siberia. Personally I would rather be inside the warmth of Pewty Acres, with a mug of something hot, but I suppose that it takes all types - good luck to them. If you want to find out precisely what the local weather is like, there is an excellent interactive website belonging to local resident Bob Hewitt. He has a web enabled weather station which gives 24/7 weather readings. I view it several times a day, and it is more reliable and accurate than the BBC or Met Office websites. Give it a try and see what you think.

Major changes were made to Abbey Wood Station this week; the London – bound platform has been relocated to a new track specially laid for the purpose. Travellers now get onto the train from the right, rather than the left hand side in the direction of travel. I must admit that the change rather startled me when I passed through on my way to Greenwich, then on to Canary Wharf on Monday morning; I knew the works were to take place, but not exactly when. The Dartford bound track remains as before. The reason for the track and platform changes are to enable further construction work on the new Crossrail (now officially named the Elizabeth Line) / North Kent Line station and interchange to be undertaken. The very nature of Abbey Wood around the station is changing – what was a fairly comfortable, if a little worn around the edges area is getting  a pretty impressive makeover. I get the feeling the property developers are going to be targeting the Plumstead / Abbey Wood / Thamesmead area in order to tempt Londoners from less affordable parts of the capital to relocate to an area that is going to be at the heart of a major new transport hub. I feel that the days of our little part of South East London / North Kent being a bastion of (relatively) affordable housing are shortly to come to an end. Not so bad if you have a house already, but for those trying got get on the property ladder, it will be a nightmare. I know that I could not afford to buy Pewty Acres today, as it has gone up in value by roughly six times since I bought the place twenty years ago. What may happen in the future as Crossrail opens is up for speculation, but I get the distinct feeling the whole area could well suffer a mini property boom. 

Bexley Council have, as was widely anticipated, rubber – stamped the permanent closure of Belvedere Splash Park. You can read a detailed account of the events that took place on Monday evening at the council meeting that was convened to make the closure proclamation here on Bexley is Bonkers. Councillors did announce that the recreation park on the opposite side of Woolwich Road would not be sold off for development, as had been widely feared, and I have previously reported. That may be for now. But personally I would not trust the planning committee to speak my weight, let alone stick to a promise not to sell off the valuable triangle of open space in a prime location, which would be worth a considerable fortune, both in direct land sales, and in revenue from council tax once flats had been built on the site. Mark my words – this one is going to rear its ugly head again in the future. Just because they say now they are not selling it off, does not mean that it is permanently off the cards.  It is my opinion that Bexley Council would sell the gold from their parents teeth if they thought they could get away with it.

Many regular readers will be aware of my personal antipathy towards mobile phones. I don’t have one, and don’t find it to be a problem. Apart from the privacy and security concerns I have with mobile phone technology, I also have long been of the opinion that they are hazardous to health. Some years ago, a dear friend of mine died of maxillofacial cancer which spread to his spine. He was a very heavy mobile phone user, and his specialist was of the opinion that microwave radiation from his mobile phone was a key contributory factor to the cancer. Now a study has been published which finds a definite link to mobile phone usage and male fertility. Men who keep their mobile phones in their trouser pockets or on bedside tables at night may be damaging their chances of having children. The results of the academic study found that sperm levels and fertility fell in men who kept a mobile phone in their pockets during the day, or in close proximity at night. It seems that the mobile phone signal “cooks” the sperm in certain circumstances. The Times reported earlier this week that Gedis Grudzinskas, a fertility consultant at St. George’s Hospital, London said “Men need to think about their wellbeing and try to stop being addicted to their mobile phones. If you wear a suit to work, put the mobile in your chest pocket instead of close to your testes. It will reduce the risk of your sperm count dropping, or dropping so much. Do you need to keep the phone right next to you on the bedside table? Some men keep their shorts or pyjamas in bed – is that really necessary?” The study, which was carried out in Israel suggested that talking regularly on a mobile phone for more than an hour a day, and talking on the phone whilst it was being charged (the power lead acts like a leaky feeder and re – radiates the signal) effectively doubled the chances of lower sperm concentration. It also indicated that sperm concentration decreased to an abnormal level in men who carried their mobile phone less than 50 centimetres (20 inches) from the groin. An abnormal level of sperm concentration was found in 47.1 percent of men who carried their phones at a close distance, compared with 11.1 percent in the general male population. This is thought to be caused by a heating of the sperm from the phone’s electromagnetic activity. The study is published in the prestigious journal “Reproductive Biomedicine” and will no doubt fuel fears that a link between declining rates of fertility in men and the prevalent use of mobile phones because of the radio frequency electromagnetic radiation emitted by the devices. This finding backs up a study undertaken by the University of Exeter in 2014 which also found that using mobile phones reduced men’s sperm numbers and activity when mobile phones were kept in trouser pockets. That study also advised that nobody, male or female should use a mobile phone whilst it was being charged, as the exposure to microwave RF fields was greatly increased as the charger lead acted as an antenna. I would imagine that this will soon make the mainstream press – though I somehow doubt that it will drastically alter the behaviour of many mobile phone users. It took decades of campaigning to persuade many of the general public of the dangers of smoking. I feel that we may have a similar uphill battle to inform and educate people in respect of mobile phone usage. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The former Homeleigh Care Home is about to become a hostel for homeless people, as I have covered in the past. The rumours that circulated on social media that the home was to become a refuge for fifty Syrian families were simply untrue, and started by Neo Nazis. Personally, if someone had genuinely fled war - torn Syria with their family to find refuge in the UK, I would have no problem with this whatsoever. Syria is a strife torn hell - hole that I would find intolerable if I was unfortunate enough to be stuck there myself. The fact remains the former care home is going to be used to house indigenous homeless people. I think this is a pretty pragmatic use for the building in the short to medium term. Let's see how things pan out over the next couple of years. 

The News Shopper have been featuring a story which is the product of a typical public relations company. As I have previously mentioned, I receive almost daily emails from PR companies promoting all sorts of products and services, many of which really don’t deserve to see the light of day. Not that most PR companies care – as long as the client pays their fees, they will cheerfully plug all sorts of tat to Joe Public, via bloggers and social media pundits. I merely stay on various Email lists as very occasionally I will receive something that might be of interest to my readers. This week a PR company has made an announcement that Erith is one of the best towns to live in when one needs to commute into London. I thought this statement was interesting, but deserved some scrutiny. The press release states “Totally Money's new property ladder calculation tool helps those looking to move out of the City find their perfect home - by comparing travel time, the cost of commuting, the most desirable towns, and house prices.  The Bexley town ranked an impressive seventh in the list - with the lowest average house price of £238,459.  Erith commuters tend to pay £1,912 for their season tickets into London, spend 44 minutes travelling to work, and have an average disposable income of £21,539 per head per year.  Head of brand and communications at TotallyMoney.com Joe Gardiner said: Living a short commute outside of London has always been a popular choice for many working in the capital, both for financial and lifestyle reasons.  "Finally there is a useful tool to help simplify the decision process.". The facts regarding the story seem mostly consistent, with the notable exception of the figure of £21, 539 as the average disposable income. This seems exceedingly on the high side. I get the feeling that they may have taken the average local complete income, rather than the level of disposable income; I earn comfortably over the national average income, but my disposable income is certainly not the kind of figure they mention. PR companies quite often don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. I would agree that if, like me, you need to commute into central London, there are a lot worse places to live than Erith. It is (for the time being) relatively affordable – with the caveat I mentioned earlier.

The Police carried out an anti-weapons sweep in Erith last Saturday; Unsurprisingly they found a large knife with a serrated blade, which had been left in the piece of scrubland behind Erith Health Centre. The small patch of land is more commonly used by impatient individuals as an al fresco toilet. The knife has been sent for forensic examination to determine whether it has been used in any crime.

Recently I have had a couple of conversations relating to Mobo Toys, and their part in the history of Erith. The following history has been compiled from a number of sources. The company had a very strong manufacturing presence in the town for many years. David Sebel had emigrated from Russia circa 1912 and set up in partnership as a Wheelwright in East London in 1921. In 1928 he moved the Company to Lant Street in Borough, London S.E.1 with the takeover of a firm, Hazeldine and Norton, of Wheelwright’s and Motor Body and Van Builders. Interestingly the house next to the premises had been the residence of Charles Dickens when his parents were in the Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison. In the 1930’s they expanded into Architectural metalwork and other engineering projects. Also producing street cleaning carts, milk churns and fronts for Cinemas. In 1931 Harry Sebel, David’s son, joined the firm starting from the bottom up. During the Second World War the Company turned over to war work and several local premises were used for their production of aircraft and tank components, bunks for air raid shelters, bailey bridge components and even a tower for an experimental radar station. In the early 1940’s Harry was looking to the future, and realised that there would be a need to expand the company and find work for the existing workforce and those which had been called up. After much research it was decided to go into metal furniture, under the Trade name Stak-a-Bye, and also into the toy business. But what to make which would be different from anyone else. Harry had the idea of a Rocking Horse which the rider could propel along themselves. Basic plans were drawn up and a full size horse mockup was made using bicycle gears. To get an idea of what the finished product would look like a Taxidermist in Piccadilly was approached for a horse hide, the only thing he had was from a Zebra so that was used. The prototype Zebra was still around at the Erith factory for several years. A Patent was taken out in 1942 for the basic mechanism. Later Charles Morewood, RA was commissioned to sculpt the clay body of what became the Mobo Bronco. The steel furniture business was set up in 1946 from the Weller Street side of the premises, a name which was used at the Erith factory to denote the furniture production building. The Lant Street premises were not going to be big enough for the toy and furniture business envisaged and so the ex Vickers Gun Works at 177, West Street, Erith were purchased in February, 1947. As the intention was to produce everything in-house from the arrival of the raw material to the finished product, the full kitting out of the factory with large presses, dip tanks, spray booths, etc. took a while. Toy production did not start at Erith until September, 1947. However, some toys had been assembled at Lant Street SE1, produced by outside contractors, to enable a display at the British Industries Fair in May, 1947. The other toys on show were Merry Go Round, Rocker Swing, Chair Desk and Roll-a-Bye Skates. The name ‘Mobo’ came from a brainstorming session when ‘Mobile Toys’ had been rejected. The clown on the decal was due to an interest in the Circus by the David Sebel. The Circus theme was used in a lot of their Exhibition Stands and advertising. A tin clown was designed but never went into production. It would have been very similar to an early Action Man! Later advertising and instruction sheets used the Mobo title as two characters ‘Mr Mo’ and ‘Miss Bo’. The most well known toy is the Bronco, the ride-on horse. It works by the rider sitting on the horse and pushing down on the stirrups, then releasing them and then the horse moves along. From 1947 to 1950 the Bronco could only be steered in a straight line, but in February, 1950 Magic Steering was introduced. This enabled the rider by pushing on either stirrup to move the horse in that direction. The Bronco was so popular that it stayed in production until 1971. The body pressings were also used for a series of other toys; the Spring Horse, Night Rider (nothing to do with the David Hasselhoff TV show from the 1980's), Prairie Prancer, Range Rider - two different types produced, Rocking Horse, and the Bronco Merry Go Round. The toy colours came from ‘market research’ with the local school children at West Street School – yellow and red being the favourite. These children were also used for photo shoots for advertising and testing the toys, as was famously covered by a 1952 Pathe Newsreel which you can see by clicking here. In 1949, the Walking Snail was introduced at the New York Toy Fair, also at the same fair the ‘Pony’ was first shown. The ‘Pony’ pressings went on to be used on several different toys. 1948 also saw the introduction of the first small remote control walking toy – the Toy - Toise. This was a great success not just for children, but also adults, as they were used for Toy-Toise races at many parties. The American Market was an amazing success for the Mobo Company. In 1948 they exported to the USA half of the total toy exports of all British Toy Companies. At this time Britain was recovering from the Second World War, and steel was rationed according to the amount of goods exported. Mobo never had any trouble obtaining supplies because of their excellent export record. A New York office had been opened in 1948 at the Breslin Building, Broadway, New York and an American subsidiary formed Sebel Products Inc. Other major markets were Australia and South Africa. A Showroom and Office had been opened at 39/41 New Oxford Street, London W.C.1 in September, 1945. Other toys produced included Prams, Bicycles, Desks, Wheelbarrows, Rockers, Swings, Scooters and, from 1956, Pedal Cars. In 1951 Harry and David emigrated to Australia and set up a factory at Bankstown, Sydney. Here they produced both Toys and Furniture. The components were shipped from Erith and assembled and painted at Bankstown. The Australian company decided in 1957 to concentrate on the furniture business and so toy production was stopped. The furniture business still goes on today as part of the GWA International Group, and they have recently opened a branch in the United Kingdom. In 1955 the Toy Boat business of Harold Flory Ltd., of Bromley, Kent was taken over. They produced the Snipe, and Swift  Motor Boats, the Sprite Yacht, and the Snort Submarine, also Toy Cars. The boats were continued in production by Mobo. Jetex, the Model Aircraft Engine business, was purchased in 1956. Besides a range of Jet propelled engines they also produced model kits for aircraft and a plastic boats and cars for the Jetex engine. The mid 1960’s saw an introduction of toys made from injection moulded plastic and the importation of a range of plastic Pedal cars from Pines of Italy. These included a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Pedal Car. A range of bicycles was also imported from Italy. By the late 1960s the British toy industry was having a difficult time due to cheap imports from the Far East. When John Bentley of Barclay Securities made an offer to purchase the Company in 1970 it was taken up. The Barclay Toy Group was formed to which Chad Valley, Charles Methuen and Tri-ang were added in 1971. Unfortunately the overheads of the Group meant that losses were still being made and a major reorganisation took place in 1972 with the Erith Works being closed and all production of all Mobo Toys ceasing. The site is now a large housing estate. Mobo toys now change hands for serious money on online auction sites like Ebay. There is also a dedicated Mobo toy sales and exchange website that you can visit by clicking here. If you have any memories that you would like to share about Mobo toys, or possibly having worked at the factory, do either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The photo above shows Erith railway station in the Spring of 1969, with a train waiting at the Dartford bound platform. What strikes me about the historic photo is how much more industrialised Erith was back then. A photograph taken from the same location now would show a far more residential environment in the background. A fascinating glimpse of the not so distant past. 

Criminals across London could be made to wear "sobriety tags" when they are convicted of alcohol-fuelled offences. The Ministry of Justice said it is extending the scheme throughout the capital after a pilot. It targets those whose drinking played a part in crimes. Courts can ban offenders from consuming alcohol and fit them with an ankle bracelet which monitors their sweat. If alcohol is detected, the individual can be returned to court to face further sanctions. The trouble with these tags is that they are very easily evaded or fooled, making the whole scheme a nonsense. The Ministry of Justice said that in the pilot scheme, there was a ninety two percent compliance scheme. What this actually means is that eight percent of offenders fitted with the sobriety tags were too thick to figure out how to circumvent it. A piece of plastic bag, or a cut - up rubber glove slid between the sensor on the tag and the offender's skin stops the sensor from detecting alcohol in the blood without triggering the sensor to think it has been removed (a drop in body temperature measured by the sensor). This is all very basic stuff - but it seems to have completely bypassed the Ministry of Justice in their ivory towers, eager to believe anything the private firm who will be running the project and supplying the sobriety tags tell them. What do you think? Drop me a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The ending video this week features the Transport for London Lost Property Office. It makes for very interesting viewing indeed - I had no idea quite how much stuff people lose when travelling in and around London on public transport - see what you think?

The Homeleigh hoax.

The photos above show both sides of a promotional postcard from the multi award - winning Bexley Brewery, which is based on the Manford Industrial Estate in Manor Road, Erith, just at the foot of the Erith Wind Turbine. As many longer term readers will already know, I am keen to encourage and promote independent local businesses.  The Bexley Brewery is run by husband and wife team Cliff and Jane Murphy; they brew a range of very high quality, easy - drinking real ales, which they sell all over London and the South East. You can see exactly where their beer is available on this fully interactive map by clicking here. I have been contacted on several occasions by Google (who own Blogger - the blogging platform the Maggot Sandwich uses) to try and persuade me to take commercial advertising, but I refuse; it would make me lose my independence, and would make me beholden to the advertisers. The only companies that I promote are those with strong local links, and I promote them completely for free.

An interesting, albeit slightly disturbing case developed last week; a Maggot Sandwich reader contacted me out of the blue, to ask if I had heard anything about the former Homeleigh care home in Avenue Road, Erith. You may recall that I wrote about the Homeleigh care home back in May, when the story of how Bexley Council were planning on converting the building into a hostel for homeless people first broke. Since the Spring the story had gone quiet, and I must admit that I had thought very little more about it. The reader who contacted me told me that rumours were circulating locally that Bexley Council were planning on moving fifty families of Syrian refugees into the former care home, and did I know anything about it? This immediately sounded suspicious to me; the Homeleigh building is just not large enough to accommodate that number of people, and I had a gut feeling that the story was quite likely to be a malicious hoax. I contacted a few people who were in a position to know about such things, and I soon discovered that the story was indeed a hoax - that had apparently been started by extreme right wing group the English Defence League (EDL) on their Facebook site and that the Police were now involved. Thanks to fellow local blogger and investigator Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers for getting the hoax confirmed. It strikes me as somewhat of a coincidence that only last week I wrote about how some people will believe almost anything that is posted on social media, and an insight into the psychology of why this is the case. Not everything you see on the Internet in general or social media in particular is gospel truth. Sometimes interesting or gratifying or controversial facts, posts and memes are complete fabrications. The fact that tens of thousands of people have ‘Liked’ an article doesn’t prove that it’s true. (Though it doesn’t prove that it isn’t, either). The fact that one or more of your very intelligent and well-informed friends posted it isn’t conclusive proof that it’s accurate, either. Sometimes, very bright people fall for bogus messages because they want to believe them: for instance, because they fit with their political views, or offer some exciting gift, or refer to some threat that they don’t have the technical knowledge to recognise as improbable. Intelligence and omniscience are not synonyms. Sometimes, people just don’t care: they like the story the message tells too much to check it for factual accuracy.  The late scientist and philosopher Professor Carl Sagan produced what he called his “baloney detection kit” – a series of rules to employ when encountering any potential guile or manipulation. “1. Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts.” 2. Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view. 3. Arguments from authority carry little weight — “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts. 4. Spin more than one hypothesis. If there’s something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained. Then think of tests by which you might systematically disprove each of the alternatives. What survives, the hypothesis that resists disproof in this Darwinian selection among “multiple working hypotheses,” has a much better chance of being the right answer than if you had simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy. 5. Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours. It’s only a way station in the pursuit of knowledge. Ask yourself why you like the idea. Compare it fairly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for rejecting it. If you don’t, others will. 6. Quantify. If whatever it is you’re explaining has some measure, some numerical quantity attached to it, you’ll be much better able to discriminate among competing hypotheses. What is vague and qualitative is open to many explanations. Of course there are truths to be sought in the many qualitative issues we are obliged to confront, but finding them is more challenging. 7. If there’s a chain of argument, every link in the chain must work (including the premise) — not just most of them. 8. Occam’s Razor. This convenient rule-of-thumb urges us when faced with two hypotheses that explain the data equally well to choose the simpler. 9. Always ask whether the hypothesis can be, at least in principle, falsified. Propositions that are untestable, unfalsifiable are not worth much. Consider the grand idea that our Universe and everything in it is just an elementary particle — an electron, say — in a much bigger Cosmos. But if we can never acquire information from outside our Universe, is not the idea incapable of disproof? You must be able to check assertions out. Inveterate sceptics must be given the chance to follow your reasoning, to duplicate your experiments and see if they get the same result." Certainly some very thought provoking principles. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

News stories published in both the Times and the London Evening Standard this week report that there is a distinct chance that recently closed power stations may have to be brought back online to cater for the increased demand for electricity. Several major power plants were recently decommissioned due to their not meeting new and very strict environmental pollution standards. One of the power stations that may be affected is Littlebrook D in Dartford. Littlebrook D Power Station was closed down in March 2015. Littlebrook was actually a series of four separate power stations adjacent to each other, located on the south bank of the River Thames, next to the Queen Elizabeth 2 Bridge and the Dartford Tunnel. The first power station on the site – Littlebrook A, was the coal-fired Littlebrook A Power Station, built by the Kent Electric Power Company in the early 1930s. It was opened in 1939. Coal was initially brought to the station by rail, until a riverside pier was completed. The station was later converted to burn supplementary oil over coal, and remained in use until it closed in 1973.  The construction of Littlebrook B Power Station was delayed by the Second World War, and came into use between 1949 and 1950. Like the A Station, it originally burned coal, but was later converted to burn oil instead. It had a capacity of 120 MW and remained in use until 1975. Littlebrook C Power Station was opened between 1952 and 1956 by the Central Electricity Board, and had a total generating capacity output of 240 MW. Like the two earlier plants, it was originally coal-fired, but was converted burn fuel oil by 1958. The station continued operating until it was replaced by the D Station in 1981. This 'Station was built in response to a rapid demand for electricity as the Country emerged from austerity of the post war years.  The most recent station, Littlebrook D was an oil-fired power station and was built by the nationalised Central Electricity Generating Board. The station was built by the Cleveland Bridge Company with construction starting in 1976.  The first unit commissioning underway by 1981. The 1980s still saw a potential threat from the Cold War, and as such the CEGB designed Littlebrook D as a robust station with high plant redundancy, meaning that the station would form a pivotal role should disaster have struck the city of London. At this time, London was still dependent on several smaller generating stations within the city itself. Littlebrook D was one of a number of stations throughout the UK with black-start capabilities, meaning that it was able to start generating without an external power supply - the station would be one of the first to start generating should the UK experience a partial or complete blackout. Littlebrook D played a vital role in restoring power supplies to the South East of England in the days following the storm force winds of October 1987. As well as providing a black-start power supply to the country, the fact that they could synchronise and ramp up to full load in under five minutes means they were used to generate at the request of the National Grid Company (who operated the UK electricity grid system) to deal with short-term peaks in demand. Such peaks typically arise during the winter months, where evening demand is higher due to lighting and heating requirements. A modification was made to one of the boiler units which allowed for alternative fuel trials. Several were trialled at the Littlebrook D site as part of ongoing research into generating energy from more sustainable fuel sources. One of the main alternative fuels tested was wood chippings, but the energy density these supplied was far lower than fuel oil, so a far larger bulk of chippings was required to create a similar output of electricity. This was deemed to be unacceptable, and the trial was a failure. The station was finally owned by RWE nPower which is owned by the German utility company, RWE. They decided that Littlebrook would "opt-out" under the Large Combustion Plant Directive, an EU law aiming to deal with air pollutants created by the combustion of fossil fuels. This essentially meant that Littlebrook D would have to cease to generate after 2015 in its final configuration. The station ceased operating on 31 March 2015. Now the demand for peak power is such that there is a distinct possibility that Littlebrook D may be brought back on line to satisfy the increased demand. How many of the former staff could be brought back is debatable; many took early retirement, or have taken jobs in other industries by now. If one looks Eastwards along the River Thames towards Dartford, at night you can clearly see the red warning lights that outline the power station's chimneys has a warning against low flying aircraft. Whether we actually see smoke from the chimneys in the future is something that at present still remains undecided. What has been decided, however is that the power station site will be used as the location for a very large disaster recovery exercise in the New Year. The power station will provide the set for a significant building collapse involving a train station and mass casualties, after a deal between the London Fire Brigade (LFB) and Littlebrook owners RWE. The Exercise Unified Response, which has been a year in the planning, will take place at the disused building between February 29th and March 3rd  next year. No doubt more details will become available closer to the time.

One relatively new occupant of the high street is very much a Kentish invention; this year marks the tenth birthday of the Micro Pub. The very first Micro Pub – the Butcher’s Arms, was opened back in 2005 in Herne Bay; since then over two hundred Micro Pubs have opened – many in Kent and South East London, as well as plenty all over the country. Locally we have three – the Broken Drum in Westwood Lane, Blackfen, the Door Hinge in Welling High Street, and the Penny Farthing at Waterside in Crayford, conveniently situated right next door to The Crayford Tandoori - a match made in heaven if ever there was one. The massive popularity of Micro Pubs does pose the question, just what exactly is a Micro Pub? The definition of a Micropub is difficult. It is a set of ethics rather than a set of rules A 'Micropub' according to the Micropub Association is defined as follows: 'A Micropub is a small freehouse which listens to its customers, mainly serves cask ales, promotes conversation, shuns all forms of electronic entertainment and dabbles in traditional pub snacks' There may be differences between the pubs; they may or may not have a bar, they might serve beer straight from the cask or through hand pumps. But they are united in one philosophy. A simple pub with the focus on cask beer and conversation for entertainment. The basic premise is KIS, KIS – Keep It Small, Keep It Simple. The landlord of the Butcher’s Arms, and the person credited with creating the entire concept, Martyn Hillier said “The Micropub Association will be a place where like-minded real ale lovers can share their Micropub experiences. The Micropub Association will also be a platform for the new Micro Pubs to tell the beer drinking community about themselves. A successful Micropub is based upon good ale and lively banter and I want this to come across through the Micropub Association. Ultimately I’d like to think that we could become a useful lobby group to support the likes of CAMRA and SIBA, promoting the real ale experience”.

The photo above shows part of the river front factory in Erith High Street once used by electronics manufacturer Burndept. This looks to have been taken shortly before the building was demolished; the former Erith Riverside Swimming Baths can be seen in the foreground. Burndept once had another, larger manufacturing facility located in the former Vickers-Maxim munitions factory in St Fidelis’ Road, off West Street and close to the railway line and where Bronze Age Way now runs through. Burndept built all sorts of electrical and electronic devices, and did a lot of sub – contracting work for other companies. During the war Burndept produced military communication equipment until April 1941, when the Erith factory was almost completely destroyed by a German incendiary raid, forcing the company to relocate production to a former jute mill in Dundee. However, after the war, Burndept returned to Erith, where they set up business in Erith High Street and St Fidelis Road. During the 1960s, the company manufactured the SARBE lifejacket beacon for the RAF and a number of Commonwealth and foreign air forces. The beacon sent an automatic and continuous transmission of a homing signal as soon as the life jacket entered the water. They also built mobile two way radios for industrial and commercial use. The St. Fidelis Road factory shared premises with Vox musical instruments, maker of the world famous Vox AC-30 guitar amplifier, as used by pretty much every major band in the 60’s and 70’s. in fact, Burndept made the chassis and cases for many Vox organs and amplifiers. By 1965 Vox and Burndept (who by this stage were largely owned by the same parent company) were pretty much different departments within the same umbrella organisation. Later, the Vox brand was sold off to Japanese musical instrument maker Korg, and it is now no more than a label. Burndept struggled on into the late 1970’s, until finally becoming part of the Ever – Ready group. All operations in Erith ceased, and the final Erith High Street factory was demolished shortly after the photo above was taken.

The following article was sent to me by a regular Maggot Sandwich reader, and occasional contributor who chooses to remain anonymous. He’s of the opinion that the issue may well become contentious, and I have to say that I am bound to agree.  Here is what he brought to my attention:- “The future of the Skylark as a breeding bird in Bexley, and the survival of the Corn Bunting both here and in London as a whole – both of which species are red-listed due to major declines – will be in the hands of Bexley Council over the next couple of months as planning applications threaten key habitat both at Crossness on Erith Marshes, and on Crayford Marshes. At Crayford Marshes, a renewed planning application for a huge ‘logistics hub’ was due to be submitted to Bexley Council this month. If approved this will destroy a substantial part of the southern section, classified in the Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) review as Crayford agricultural and landfill, which is Metropolitan Open Land. Both Bexley and Dartford Councils opposed the original application, which was turned down, but permission was granted on appeal to the Government. The previous owners of the site, Prologis, failed to commence the development within the five years allowed, and have sold up to an outfit called Roxhill which is reheating the proposal. Freight on rail sounds all very nice and ‘sustainable’, but the reality is that this is essentially a speculative scheme that’s about shunting ever more ‘stuff’ around the country and around the globe, is most likely going to result in a net increase of heavy lorry movements in Bexley and has nothing to do with reducing carbon emissions or resource consumption to truly sustainable levels, quite the opposite.  A condition of the original scheme was that monies would be made available for managing what was left of the rest of the marshes, but this is robbing Peter to pay Paul, with the logical outcome of basing conservation policy on such thinking being very little wildlife habitat left in Bexley at all.  The 2013 SINC review document says: ‘The extensive area of the site and its proximity to two Sites of Metropolitan Importance (Crayford Marshes and the River Thames) further increase its value.’ Indeed when taken together with the SINC cited as Crayford Marshes, of which it is geographically and functionally a part, it forms the largest such site in the Borough. Moreover, when taken in conjunction with neighbouring Dartford Marshes, the area delivers an expanse of open space and big skies no longer available anywhere else in Bexley. The 2010 Lawton Review of UK nature conservation policy made it clear that bigger, better-connected sites are required, not more diminution and fragmentation.  The SINC review recognised that this lower part of Crayford Marshes is ‘used as a high-tide roost for gulls, redshank [amber-listed], curlew [amber], lapwing [red] and ringed plover [amber], and supports breeding skylark [red] and corn bunting [red] and large numbers of finches in winter.’  According to Bexley Bird Report compiler Ralph Todd, some 230 Skylarks were counted on the former landfill area in December 2010, but very few birds still breed in Bexley. Indeed Skylarks now hang on as a breeding bird in Bexley only on agricultural land near Chalk Wood (status unknown), as a pair or two at Upper College farm where dogs running off-leash and human disturbance are threats to this ground-nester and at Crayford Marshes and Crossness where access restrictions give them a chance of rearing young successfully. The ‘Birds of London’ (2014) had Corn Bunting down to 20 pairs in the whole of the capital, whilst the 2013 London Bird report recorded it from six sites, down from 11 the year before, and apparently in inexorable decline. Our information is that Corn Bunting is now breeding within the boundary of the proposed ‘development’ area. Furthermore, we understand that Cory Environmental are submitting a planning application, before Christmas, proposing industrial development on the Cory/Borax fields at Crossness Nature Reserve, which lie either side of the Norman Road vehicle access road. These fields are within the gated boundary of what’s left of Erith Marshes, and are a key part of this fantastic habitat as far as the wildlife is concerned.  ‘Development’ here will have devastating consequences for the nature reserve, not least because it simply could not be any closer. The north field will bound the nature reserve on 3 sides, and the field south of the access track will bound it (and water vole-populated ditches) on 2 sides. The proposed development will put the entrance to the nature reserve smack bang in the middle of an unsightly industrial area if, indeed, continued access is permitted. More crucially, these maturing former brownfield areas (now valuable open mosaic habitat) have breeding Ringed Plover and Skylark upon them. Little Ringed Plover have been seen on them also with a chick seen, and photographed, this year. This year the Barn Owls chose to breed in the pole-mounted nest box in the Norman Road Field, perilously close (approx. 200m) to the proposed development areas. The very rare Shrill Carder Bee was discovered at Crossness in 2014. There are only 7 UK populations, of which the Thames Corridor (and thus, Crossness) is one. Given that they are brownfield specialists, the probability of them breeding on the Cory/Borax Fields is incredibly high. Indeed the London Plan has a target for provision of such habitat.  Building on these fields will also add to the increasingly hemmed in feel of what is left of Erith Marshes, which have been repeatedly chipped away at in recent years, with no attempt made to give anything back to nature where older industries have closed down and an opportunity has arisen to rebuild the size this fantastic site.  Cynics will also note that the Crossness (Erith Marshes) and Crayford Marshes planning applications are being submitted shortly before Christmas, and will recall that although Cllr. C. has still not given a precise sign-off date on the SINC review, it looks increasingly likely that it will be after these applications are considered. The review recommends Crayford agricultural and landfill for promotion from a Grade 2 to a Grade 1 site". It will be interesting to see what actually happens; I feel that the pull of relatively cheap land in close proximity to London will be strong for developers and the rapacious Bexley Council alike. 

The short film below compares the very earliest colour footage shot in London, back in 1927, with some contemporary footage that has been filmed shot for shot in the same location, only eighty six years later. It makes for fascinating viewing. Let me know what you think - either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.