Kort Propulsion.

The photo above was taken by me on Friday lunchtime - click on it for a larger version. It shows the Erith Boathouse, home to both Erith Rowing Club, who occupy the ground floor, and also to Kort Propulsion, the world famous marine engineering and consultancy firm whose high tech offices take up the first floor and overlook the River Thames. I had a meeting with Dave Parsons, the Managing Director of Kort Propulsion, along with his Mother Rose, who also works for what is a genuinely independent, local, family run firm that does business worldwide. Kort Propulsion have been operating for around eighty years, and have been based in Erith for quite a while; they were originally based in the Bank Chambers building, close to the bend in Colebrook Street, opposite to the old Blockbuster store (more on that later). About four years ago they moved to their current riverside location, next to the old Erith Police Station, in the building that used to house the River Police unit. Kort Propulsion was originally founded in 1935 in Germany; once war broke out the licence with the German originator was suspended, and after the war the company was established as a purely UK based enterprise. Kort was then owned and operated by R and H Green and Silley Weir, a ship repair company based mainly on the River Thames and in Falmouth. Current owner David Parsons, along with his father Norman Parsons and colleague Malcolm Breeze, had a wide range of experience in marine engineering and production. Kort was subsequently bought out by P and O for several years, until the Parsons family arranged a management buyout of the company. Nowadays David Parsons is the Managing Director, and runs the worldwide business from their Erith riverside headquarters. The company has strong business links in such diverse locations as India, China, Taiwan, Romania, Egypt, Greece, Portugal and Ireland, and is widely regarded as the "Rolls - Royce" of marine engineers. They export their specialist knowledge around the planet - any it is ironic that very few Erith residents are aware of the existence of such a world - class company which exists on their doorstep. There will be a further feature on Kort Propulsion next week. 

The photo above shows the interior of the old Manor Fish Bar in Manor Road Erith, taken almost ten years ago to the week. Click on the photo for a larger view. The classic 1950's marble - effect formica was very easy on the eye, and back then was kept immaculately spotless and clean. More on the fish and chip story shortly. Both the Bexley Times and the News Shopper reported the jailing of the crook who I caught illegally fly – tipping pallets full of rotten bananas in the recycling centre behind Morrison’s supermarket in Erith. Unfortunately both publications got the details of the sentencing wrong; I wrote to both reporters, correcting them, but no updates have yet been forthcoming – it does seem to me that both papers are guilty of “don't let the facts get in the way of a good story”. I have noticed that over the last year or so, the emphasis that the News Shopper places on stories has changed. I suspect a change in editorial policy away from “hard” news, and towards a more tabloid “fluffy animals and human interest” format. Last week the headline on the News Shopper website was “fox photographed eating a discarded kebab”. Not exactly Pullitzer prize winning stuff, I suspect you will agree. Instead they are running a series of articles, one of which is entitled “Nine of the best fish and chip shops in South East London and North Kent”. The only local one is the Frying Pan in Parsonage Manorway, Upper Belvedere. I have not tried the place myself, but the omens are good – not only does the place get a very good write – up in respect of the quality of the cooking, but the shop also scores five out of five on the Scores on the Doors food hygiene rating system. It is a pity that central Erith no longer has a dedicated fish and chip shop. The nearest one is the Pom Pom Fish Bar in Alford Road, just off Fraser Road, well on the way to Upper Belvedere. There used to be a fish and chip shop in Manor Road, which in the late 90’s / Early 00’s was excellent – I used to be a regular customer. Over the years however, it changed hands several times, and with each change, the quality of both service and cooking declined. Eventually a couple of years ago the place closed for good, and the shop was unoccupied for several months. It was then taken over and refurbished, and then re-opened as the King of the Grill kebab and burger bar. It does serve the odd bit of fish, but it is not the same thing. Still, it gets a very creditable four of of five on the Scores on the Doors rating system, and it seems to keep pretty busy.

On the subject of crime, the general perception seems to be that levels of crime are high and the level of “on the ground” policing is down. In reality this is not the case – at least according to the statistics recently published by the Home Office. It turns out that the level of reported crime in the London Borough of Bexley is the joint lowest in Greater London – a distinction shared with the London Borough of Harrow. You can see the breakdown of reported crime levels in the annotated map above – click on it for a larger version. The cynic in me would say that the map only shows the levels of reported crime – not the actual level of crime – and it may well be that people in Bexley just don't think that crimes are worth reporting, and thus the figures are skewed – I really could not say. If you have any insight into this, please drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

There seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel as far as the widening of the Bexley Road bridge over the railway adjacent to Erith Station. The project was due to have been undertaken some time ago – all of the roads that meet at the hideous fish roundabout are two lane, but any traffic turning into Bexley road has to filter down into a single lane as it crosses the railway bridge. This choke point causes all sorts of congestion problems, especially at rush hour. Traffic can be seen standing waiting for several hundred yards back along Bronze Age Way when the situation gets really bad. Many local drivers know to avoid the area, especially on a Friday afternoon because of this. Bexley council have managed to secure a nearly £3 million grant from Transport for London to fund a number of local travel initiatives including further “improvements” (I use the word loosely) to Bexleyheath Broadway, work to improve transport connectivity around Slade Green, and work to improve provision of cycle lanes and pavements, along with what I understand to be the long delayed work to widen the road across the aforementioned bridge. You may recall that only a few weeks ago I wrote that I thought that the only way the bridge widening would ever get done would be if TFL put their metaphorical hand in their pocket, as Bexley Council are currently cancelling or closing as many public services in the North of the Borough that they think they can get away with.

Some good news for Erith Riverside Shopping Centre; the long empty unit that was occupied by Blockbuster before they went bankrupt may have a new occupant before much longer. A planning application has been submitted to convert the unit from retail use and into a children’s soft play centre. I am unsure if the application has been submitted by the same company that applied to do the same to one of the never occupied since they were built units directly on the opposite side of the road, facing Erith Health Centre, but the application looks very similar. Whilst I am no expert in such things, it would seem to me that the area could do with such a facility, and anything is better than an empty and dilapidated shop. Another building that has been the subject of speculation is the former White Hart, also known for a relatively brief period as Potion, before the place closed down under a cloud. Locals have seen activity inside the empty building recently, and there has been speculation as to whether squatters had moved in. From my understanding, a private security company does visit the former pub on occasion, and lights are sometimes seen from the first floor function room, which I suspect are connected to a timer. Despite the note on the frontage of the building which states that the property is protected by a security firm, I seriously doubt that anyone is on site for any length of time, as the associated costs would be prohibitive. There has been speculation as to the eventual fate of the White Hart / Potion building. I originally heard vague rumours that it was to be converted into an Indian restaurant, but nothing has appeared on the planning application website, and I now suspect that the rumour was more wish fulfilment than anything concrete. Anyone who buys the place will need to invest a King’s ransom on refurbishing the building, and installing all new facilities – the place had been run into the ground – only the bar area (the part seen by the public) was given a cheap makeover when Potion took the place on. I won't rant on about how they illegally ruined the frontage by ripping out the acid etched glass and locally made green glazed tiled fascia, to be replaced by hideous plate glass, as I have covered this on more than one occasion in the past. Any new owner will have to restore the frontage to very close to the Victorian original – which will also cost a fortune. I know that many property developers would love to get their hands on the site, as it would be an excellent place to build a block of flats with a clear view of the River Thames. The White Hart / Potion is not only a locally listed building, but located in the Erith conservation area, and thus (I hope) immune from such vandalism. Having said that, Bexley Council are so venal and money grabbing that little would surprise me – if a developer came along and offered the right kind of package, it would not be beyond imagination that the building would become de – listed and planning permission granted. Hopefully that is a worst case scenario, and something better for the local area will eventually happen. Time will tell. Other nearby planning applications have been submitted recently, but for reasons which will become adequately clear in due course, I will not mention them now. Suffice to say that a lot of stuff is happening locally, and it is going to be very good indeed, and far more in keeping with both historical and contemporary Erith.

Some people have expressed shock at the midweek announcement that the Tesco store in Picardy Street, Lower Belvedere is to close in March. I have to say that I was not surprised in any way. When Tesco announced the cancellation of the construction of new stores in both Bexleyheath, on the site of the old Bexley council offices, and the proposed new store in Lowfield Street in Dartford – the source of so much bad blood over the last few years, due to well – founded accusations of Tesco “land banking” the proposed site and leaving the road blighted with empty and derelict buildings. I understand that things got so bad that Dartford Council ended up coming up with an ultimatum to Tesco, essentially saying “build on it or lose it”. The Tesco store in Lower Belvedere has never really been that popular, certainly when compared to the well – loved Co-Op that used to occupy the same site. The feedback that I have heard is that Lower Belvedere locals used the Tesco as there was no alternative – for those without cars, and maybe with limited mobility, the small Tesco had a monopoly on trade. That is, until Asda opened across the road, taking over part of the existing B and Q superstore site. As soon as that happened, it was next to inevitable that the expensive and poorly stocked Tesco would fold. I am only surprised that it has taken so long, as I understand the place has been unable to break even for quite some time. I feel sorry for the staff, many of whom were former Co-Op employees who were taken on when Tesco bought the store. I would imagine that some if not all will be able to find employment in Asda, as the store is very successful – I have been told “off the record” that the Lower Belvedere Asda has reduced the volume of trade in the Erith Morrison’s by close to twenty percent, which I can well believe. Competition is benefiting the consumer, though not always the Tesco employee. I wonder if another retailer will take the old Tesco store? I would imagine that no other supermarket chain would want to operate what is essentially a large convenience store so close to a large and very well run Asda – it would make no economic or business sense. What other kind of retailer would be interested I the unit remains to be seen. I would not wish to see the building standing empty for any period of time. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Bexley Neighbourhood Watch recently made the following announcement:- Thamesmead could be in with a chance of winning £900k thanks to the Mayor of London's Big Green Fund, but we need your help! Peabody, along with Royal Borough of Greenwich and Sustrans has put forward a stretch of the Thames Path in Thamesmead to a public vote, to canvas support and win funding to help the area reach its full potential of becoming a bustling route for commuters, walkers and cyclists with fantastic views of the river. It would also make a fantastic spot for local residents to get out and enjoy, as well as improving access along the river. However, some sections of the path need improving, in particular to make it passable during winter. The Thamesmead Thames Path Transformation project would enhance the pathway and also create designated look out points along the river; mini green havens with seating and information on the rich local wildlife, habitats and history of the Thames. The proposed scheme is competing with seven others for a slice of the money. We know how passionate residents are about Thamesmead, why not show it by voting here.

A horse has been rescued from marshland this week, following the death of a foal last week which was reported in the News Shopper. On Thursday a horse was found up its neck in water on the Slade Green Marshes, just off Moat Lane. Unlike the previous rescue where the animal died of exposure and hypothermia, the adult horse survived and was treated by a vet. Horses have been grazed and housed on Slade Green Marshes for hundreds of years, and periodically incidents of this nature are reported. From my understanding the horse in question was owned by a responsible person, and it managed to escape the enclosure it was housed in. This seems to be the exception, rather than the rule though; most ponies and horses in the local area are “fly grazed”, and in some cases completely abandoned (an offence under Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and the Animals Act 1971). The problem, as I have previously outlined, is that these animals have no intrinsic value, and cost a lot to look after properly. My observation last week that if Britons started to eat horse meat, it would have the effect of creating value in the animals, and thus mean that they would be far more likely to be looked after in a responsible way was not intended as a controversial talking point, but as a serious but pragmatic solution to an ongoing problem. We are going to see more incidents of the nature described above, unless some drastic changes are put in place.

Another local organisation in the news are the Friends of Christ Church Erith (FOCCE); a secular group dedicated to maintaining the fabric of the Grade 2* listed building located on the junction of Bexley Road and Victoria Road, Erith, within sight of the hideous fish roundabout. FOCCE aims to promote the church and hall as a centre of the community, and as a social resource for those of all faiths and none. It also aims to preserve the historic building and raise money for maintenance and improvements to the available facilities. Christ Church provides a vital social service to the area in a very practical way; it co – runs the Bexley Food Bank in conjunction with the Queen Street Baptist Church, the Trussel Trust, St. John's Erith, and plenty of local volunteers. The Friends of Christ Church Erith are currently recruiting new members. If you would be interested in joining this very worthwhile organisation, you can click here to see how you can get involved. Membership is £10 a year for an individual, and £15 a year for a couple. Corporate members are also sought – the membership for companies and other organisations is a very reasonable £50 a year.

Something that Maggot Sandwich readers may find of interest:- St. Augustine's Church (Slade Green Road, Slade Green, Erith, DA8 2HX) are hosting a Choral Concert by an a cappella choir 'The Ensemble of Friends' and a barbershop quartet 'Double Take' at 7pm on Saturday 7th February.   The conductor and director is Douglas Coombes (who has been awarded an MBE for his services to music). Douglas appears on television and contributes to programmes such as Songs of Praise, and he broadcasts a regular music programme on local radio.   The last 'gig' for the choir was the annual Barnardo's concert at St. Paul's Cathedral ! There are still some tickets available (£4 each, pay at the door, refreshments are included). It will certainly be a different way to spend a Saturday evening.

The construction of the Crossrail terminus at Abbey Wood is now proceeding apace; fellow local Blogger Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers regularly covers the work, complete with photographs. Crossrail will provide a vital new means of travelling around Greater London and the surrounding counties. The impact on the use of the North Kent Line may well be to substantially reduce the number of passengers – this is also in view of the report this week from the News Shopper, who state that Southeastern Trains have the worst customer satisfaction rating of any train company in the United Kingdom. The News Shopper reports that the National Rail Survey questioned 27,000 passengers last year, and Southeastern was bottom of the list with just 74 per cent of people satisfied - an 11 per cent drop compared to the previous year The company - which recently had its franchise renewed to general astonishment - ranked lower than any other UK train operator. The survey figures also show a gradual rise in the number of delays and cancellations on Southeastern services over the past twelve months. Customers highlighted a lack of sufficient room to sit or stand on the company's trains, and dissatisfaction with staff availability the way the company deals with delays. All in all a very poor performance indeed. How Southeastern got their franchise renewed is beyond me. If any reader has any insight into the situation, please drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The end video this week is a real treat; it show the workshop and stores used by "Mythbusters" presenter Adam Savage, who when he is not presenting the TV show is a real life Hollywood movie prop - maker. Do give it a watch and see what you think.

The Bridge.

The photo above shows the view looking West, along Bexley Road, from Erith towards Northumberland Heath. You can clearly see the scaffolding that runs underneath the bridge across the railway line that connects Erith and Slade Green stations on the Dartford to London Bridge / Cannon Street and Charing Cross stations via Greenwich. To say that I am perplexed by the actions of Bexley Council would be an understatement of epic proportions. As you may well have read over the last few weeks I have been recording the progress of the work to refurbish and strengthen the road bridge over the railway in Bexley Road, Erith, as shown above. This vital communications focus point connects The A206 Queens Road, which leads to the Dartford Tunnel and M25 with the A2016 Bronze Age Way, which leads to Woolwich and the South Circular, and the A220 Bexley Road, which connects with the A2 and the coast. As you can see, the single lane each way bridge forms an almost perfect choke point – the Bronze Age Way, and Queens Road are dual carriageways, that are filtered down into a single lane when traffic needs to head West along Bexley Road towards Northumberland Heath and eventually the A2. There has been talk for several years about widening the carriageway, which would involve replacing the existing road bridge with a double width structure. This was discounted a couple of years back, as Bexley Council decided that they could not afford the cost of the work in the current economic climate. Instead they did commission some urgent refurbishment and strengthening to the bridge, as the years of heavy traffic passing over it, and the corrosive atmosphere had caused the steel structure to develop cracks and weaknesses. None of this has been readily apparent from the road side – it is only underneath the bridge that the damage had become obvious. At the time of writing, the bridge is swathed in scaffolding as you can see above, and is reduced to a single carriageway, which is controlled by temporary traffic lights. Much local traffic is being re – routed via Bronze Age Way and Lower Belvedere, where it then can re – join Woolwich Road via Picardy Road (often erroneously referred to locally as Picardy Hill). The heavy foods vehicles and double decker buses on diversion up Picardy Road have caused all sorts of chaos and congestion, as for much of the roads’ length it is very narrow and winding – a fact that is not helped by parents who park their Chelsea tractors there whilst dropping off their children at the nearby Lessness Heath Primary School. The reason for my astonishment with the actions of the council is that whilst work is still under way to repair the existing bridge, at some not small expense, the council are now sending out letters to local businesses and stakeholders, in which they propose to replace the (newly refurbished) single lane in each direction bridge with a double width, dual carriageway bridge in 2015. If they had been contemplating this project, why did they authorise the repair work on the existing bridge? It seems that they are throwing good money after bad; the bridge will have less than a years’ use before it is replaced with the new structure – surely it would have been preferable to bring forward the dual carriageway bridge project, and not bother to have the expense of repairing the existing structure at all? It seems to make absolutely no sense to me; it would appear that the work, if it receives approval, will take up a year of time, starting at an unspecified date in 2015. It would thus appear that the current work, which is causing a huge amount of disruption to both local traffic and businesses, may be completely pointless, since it is all going to be dug up and replaced in a relatively short time frame. I fully appreciate that the bottle neck that is currently formed by the old bridge needs to go; it just seems that if the council had been proactive, rather than reactive in their traffic planning, they could have avoided expensive, unnecessary and embarrassingly wasteful work.

South Eastern Trains have been given a well deserved slippering by the local press this week; on Tuesday evening the main signalling control centre at London Bridge Station suffered a fire. The control centre manages the signalling on the Bexleyheath, Bromley South, Hayes, Sevenoaks, Sidcup and Greenwich train lines – basically everything running into and out of South East London and North Kent. There is no backup to this system, and all trains were suspended at the start of rush hour; many services did not start again until 11pm or thereabouts, and the whole of the region was in transport chaos. On top of the usual commuter related problems, the Greenwich line has the additional passenger load of travellers returning from a concert at the O2 Arena, and a football match at Charlton. This led to a complete train melt down. OK, in rare instances, this kind of problem can be expected; the important thing is how those responsible for getting things moving again react to the crisis. Typically for South Eastern, to whom it would appear that competence is an anathema. The Public Relations department of South Eastern Trains went into overdrive, sending out messages on Twitter that were not so much hopelessly optimistic, as completely untrue and misleading. At 5.45 pm they tweeted that the signalling issues had been resolved, and that normal service would be resumed shortly. In fact, severe delays and disruption continued for the rest of the evening, with commuters reporting four or five hour journeys home on overcrowded buses and an overloaded Docklands Light Railway service. South Eastern Trains abruptly deleted their misleading tweet, but not before many commuters had read it. Later, South Eastern Trains blamed the tweet on Network Rail, the company that maintain the railway infrastructure, then to make matters worse, then blamed customers who were trapped on trains stuck just outside of London Bridge Station for opening the train doors and climbing down onto the track to return to the station. Traction power had to be switched off due to safety concerns. Nobody it seems was talking to each other in an effective manner, and even though the signal control centre is a point of critical failure, little consideration of a backup system seems to have been made. What really comes out of this horrible situation is that people want honesty from the transport suppliers; Better to be told an accurate “the service is completely stuffed and we’re not sure when it will be back” than a completely erroneous and falsely optimistic “it will all be back to normal in a few minutes”. I just fear that South Eastern Trains will try and put gloss over substance when this happens again; they don’t appear to be capable of learning from their experiences.

The photo above dates back to 1920; it shows shrimp fishermen employed by William Gilder, the fishmonger who had a shop in Erith High Street for many years between the two World Wars. The distinguished chap in the Fedora hat the helm of the vessel is Mr. Gilder himself; I am not sure if he regularly went out on shrimping trips, or if this was a special occasion that merited a commemorative photograph. I was surprised when I came across the photo; I knew that the River Thames off Erith was a rich source of Lemon Sole, Dabs and Eels, but I did not know that it had been a historic source of shrimps. What is somewhat troubling is that back then, raw sewage was pumped into the Thames from Crossness Sewage Works. Shrimps and Prawns get their nutrients from filtering the water they swim in, and any noxious substances tend to get concentrated in their bodies as a consequence.  This would have made eating Erith caught shrimps a bit of a lottery regarding whether they would give you food poisoning or not; I guess that people’s constitutions were a bit more hardy back then; personally I would have avoided local shellfish just to be on the safe side. More on this later.

One unexpected outcome of the proposed transfer of the Bexley Local Studies and Archive Centre to Bromley Library would be the cessation of local studies book publication; Bexley has for many years run a small publishing house, printing small runs of books that are of local historical and social interest; if the transfer to Bromley takes place, there will be no more local studies books once the current stocks have been depleted. I found out this shocking fact from the Librarian in Erith Library – somewhere I frequent only very occasionally, as the new building is airless and horrid compared to its’ beautiful old home in the Andrew Carnegie gifted building in Walnut Tree Road, which now stands empty and unused.  Although I am far from convinced that Bexley Council will outsource the Local Studies and Archive Centre to Bromley (it is too much of a vote loser, and it is not that long before the local council elections) and I share Malcolm Knights’ opinion that it will be a popular vote winner to retain the service, which after all costs very little to run in the greater scheme of things, and the size of the petition against the plan may mean that Bexley drop the scheme. Either way, I would strongly recommend that if you have an interest in local history, you purchase any books on the subject sooner rather than later, as I don’t think the local studies publishing house will survive, whatever else happens.

I have a smart TV that has active 3D technology embedded in it. Like nearly all owners of such televisions, the 3D functionality gets little, if any use. I have to admit that whilst I have a degree of antipathy about 3D in general, I did watch the 50^th Anniversary of Doctor Who on the special Sky channel that the BBC hired just for the one – off show. What was novel was seeing the old classic BBC test card having been re – jigged for 1080i HD and 3D before the programme started. The show itself was excellent, and the use of 3D actually added an important element to the story, if you saw it. The thing is, the BBC have very little experience with 3D, and whilst the overall viewer experience was good, the Beeb did make one very basic error. The format chosen for streaming the show in a form suitable for  passive 3D TVs, computers and tablets is "side by side": each transmitted frame contains left- and right-eye images alongside each other. The receiver splits the frame into two down the picture’s vertical centre and presents one and then the other. Stereoscopic glasses make sure the correct eye sees the correct image. The BBC forgot to embed the station ID logo in the right hand image; this can cause the visual cortex of viewers to confuse the 3D illusion, causing eye strain and blurred vision. The active 3D transmission was not so affected, as it uses a single image that looks similar to a blurred conventional picture – the active shutters in the glasses synchronise with the TV to ensure that the correctly separated image is sent to the relevant eye. The Doctor Who 50^th special is likely to be the last venture the BBC makes into the 3D market for quite some time, if ever. The take up of 3D technology is very low, and it is not financially viable for them. As I have written in the past, 3D will never become mainstream until such time as a practical system that does not require special glasses can be perfected.

I have been doing some more historical research this week, following the excellent photo sent to me recently by reader Dana of Bexley, which showed an open topped tram from the original 1905 Erith Tramways fleet undergoing restoration at the National Tramways Museum at Crich in Derbyshire.  I wrote about how the tram company was tiny, and their network only ran from Abbey Wood to Northumberland Heath via Erith. Subsequent to this, a chap called John King, who patently knows far more about the history of Erith's trams wrote me this Email:- "I read with interest about Erith Council Tramways, However this is not an Erith Tram. 106 was built for the LCC (London County Council) in 1903. In 1926 it was converted to a snow broom. I think Dana of Bexley may have been confused by the board on the tram displaying Belvedere, Erith, and Dartford. But is does say change at Abbey Wood for those destinations. Seen the LCC Tramways Trust for details. I have a small piece on my website here ". Thanks to John for the additional information - much appreciated. Since my piece, I have uncovered an old photograph of the dedicated tramway power station, which was located in Walnut Tree Road, on  the site of what later became Erith Swimming Baths.  The photo above dates from approximately 1910, and shows not only the power station, but also some allotments in the foreground. The site is still used today by EDF energy for their local high power step – down transformers – it turns high voltage current fed from underground cables into lower voltage power, suitable for domestic and industrial consumption.

As previously stated, I am not a hardcore video gamer; I have played and completed all three BioShock games on my Apple iMac, but I don’t have a games console, and could only really be called a lacklustre dabbler in the genre. Nevertheless, I have had quite a number of Maggot Sandwich readers contact me recently; they know of my professional background as a technology analyst. Despite the question being asked and answered many times online and on TV shows like the excellent “Click” on the BBC, I have still been asked on my opinion of the debate of  the day – which is better, the Xbox One, or the PS4? Well, they are both excellent machines, and to be honest, the real deciding factor between the two machines will be the quality and range of games that are made available for them. Both machines have very similar specifications – this incarnation, both are based on a conventional PC architecture. This will almost certainly be good news, as it will make porting games between the two competing platforms much easier than has been the case with the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The problem (which has impacted PS3 sales) is that the PS3 used a very powerful, but difficult to program processor called the Cell. This meant that many developers did not bother with the difficulty and expense of converting Xbox 360 games for the PS3, and sales of the PS3 suffered in consequence. Sony have not made that design error this time around. The bottom line is if you want an integrated entertainment centre, which is capable of handling everything from your BluRay collection, streaming online content, Skype calling and gaming too, with a high definition motion capture camera, then the Xbox One is likely to fit the bill for you. Of you want something a little more powerful, but a little cheaper, that has a stronger focus on games alone, then the PS4 will be my advice for you. Alternatively you may wish to wait a while, as Valve Software are currently working on several prototypes for a future Steam console, which will run a modified version of Ubuntu Linux. Why would you want one of these, from a newcomer to the console hardware market? Well, there are a number of strong rumours that when the console gets launched next year, that the launch title will be Half Life 3. This will go a long way to attract gamers even if they have already bought one of the consoles from the big players in the market. As always, your mileage may vary. As to which I would go for personally? I would rather purchase this little beauty. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

I do from time to time wonder exactly who does read the Maggot Sandwich. The Blogger management console does offer quite detailed and varied information into where readers are geographically located, what computer operating system and web browser they are using, and what particular posts they have found interesting. What it does not do is let me see who they are – understandably, as this would be a major privacy issue. The reason I mention the subject is that I suspect the member of the Welsh Assembly, and Welsh Health Minister Mark Drakeford must be a Maggot Sandwich reader, as he has put into law something that I have been proposing for a long time. On Thursday, Wales became the first country in the United Kingdom  to make it compulsory for food outlets to display their “Scores on the Doors” health rating sticker. The scheme is still voluntary outside of Wales, as I have  written about extensively in the past – this means that essentially the scheme is toothless – food establishments that get a bad rating just don’t display their sticker, or put up an older one with a better rating (or worse still, just change the name of the restaurant or fast food outlet, as has happened in Erith – the Oyin Nigerian restaurant merely changed its’ name to the Wazobia in order to evade a dreadful health rating). Other countries have similar systems; in New York the Metropolitan Authority introduced a compulsory rating system a few years ago; Food outlets were inspected, and graded as A, B or C for food hygiene. Since this compulsory system was introduced, 95% of inspected restaurants now merit an “A” rating. Anything with a lesser grade risks going out of business. We urgently need a similar level of enforcement that is backed up with law for the whole of the UK, and not just Wales.  Erith holds the unenviable title of having the worst rated food outlets in the whole of the country; a total of nine places rating zero out of five hygiene stars – yet the Council don’t shut the places down. Consequently I have not eaten anything from a takeaway or local cafe for several years. I should point out that there are a couple of independent local establishments that buck this dreadful trend. Both the Mambocino coffee house / restaurant in Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, and the T-Bone cafe in Fraser Road both score a creditable four out of five hygiene stars, and both proudly display their stickers. It is a pity that they are the exception to the general rule.  The newly opened King of the Grill kebab shop in Manor Road has not yet been rated, but I think it will do well. The Food Standards Agency has released statistics showing that there are over a million food related poisoning cases every year in the UK, with twenty thousand people hospitalised as a result, and a staggering five hundred deaths, all directly attributable to poor food hygiene. Perhaps Mister Gilder would not get a great rating if he was alive and working in his fishmongers’ shop today – I doubt his pooey prawns would go down very well with the inspectors (actually, they would probably go down fine, they would just come back up shortly thereafter!)

Longer term readers will recall that I have been banging on ad infinitum about the Raspberry Pi computer – the small, cheap (£35) computer designed to teach school children how to program. I had several people doubt my claims that the machine was a game changer – until recently, kids had zero exposure to computer programming at school; most “IT” lessons consisted of learning how to use proprietary software, like Microsoft Office, rather than writing programs. I was accused of wanting to turn back the clock to the 1980’s when pretty much any kid could write a simple BASIC program on a machine like a Sinclair Spectrum, BBC Micro, or Commodore 64. I am pleased to say that I was correct – the Raspberry Pi has become a game changer. Since its’ launch in February 2012, the Raspberry Pi has sold two million units, mainly to school children (and not just to 80’s throwbacks like their parents, as had been thought by some). The Pi has not only exposed kids to languages like BASIC and Python, but it has done something many pundits thought impossible – it has got Linux on the popular desktop. The Raspberry Pi can use a number of Linux distributions specially compiled for the little computer, and children are seeing that there is more to a computer than a PC running Windows. So great has the impact been, that the Raspberry Pi has entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful educational computer in British history. It has sold two million units in a little under two years; it took the BBC Micro seven years to sell 1.5 million machines, and that was considered a resounding success. Many of today’s elite programmers started off on the “Beeb” – in fact the team that wrote “Grand Theft Auto 5” were almost exclusively BBC Micro users in their pasts. The game was written in Scotland, not California as many people think.

This weeks' ending video is something that I have featured before, though this video is brand new. It is the world's largest model railway, located in Hamburg, Germany; the place is known as the "Miniatur Wunderland", and it certainly looks worth a visit if you are ever in the neighbourhood. Do feel free to leave a comment below, as always.