Takeover.

This week the Maggot Sandwich has a bit of a nautical theme; The ship in the photo above is a regular visitor; it travels between Dagenham and Vlissingen in Holland, transporting container lorries and other bulk goods between the two locations. The roll - on, roll - off vessel is called the Celestine, and it can be seen several times a week, passing Erith Riverside Gardens and Erith Pier on its journey to the Netherlands.

The Dartford Crossing is more or less a captive market since the nearest alternative river crossing is a congested 15 miles away, which means that a crucial route that was supposed to become toll free in 2003 is earning the government millions. The toll system is broken, but it is in the government's interest for it to remain that way - it is a cash cow that unfairly penalises users both local and from far away. Last August a petition was set up to urge the government to reconsider the Dart Charge. In an interview in the News Shopper, Mrs Phillips, one of the petition's creators, said she was "really angry" when she heard about the plans to increase prices for regular users. "Every time I try and use the crossing there are terrible queues," Mrs Phillips hoped the petition would gain enough support so she could take it to the government to ask them to reconsider the Dart Charge. The precise wording of the petition reads:- "Under the original agreement, once the Dartford bridge had paid for itself, the tolls were to stop. In 1999, the government agreed that fees would be abolished by the end of 2003, an agreement that was not honoured and has been successively reneged on. We ask that the tolls are removed permanently". On Wednesday of last week the government replied to the petition in a completely predictable and rather unimaginative manner. The official response reads:- "Government has no plans to remove the road user charge at the Dartford Crossing which exists to manage demand. Without charges, traffic volumes would increase and additional congestion would occur. The Dartford charge is not a toll for to pay for the infrastructure but a charge the Government has set at levels which manage demand. The Crossing was designed to handle up to 135,000 vehicle movements each day, but currently it is not uncommon for 160,000 to occur. Research undertaken in 2001 into the impacts of lifting the tolls indicated that traffic volumes could rise by 17 per cent. However, the charge levels and concessions available also take account of local peoples’ need to use the Crossing in their daily lives. There are discounts of up to 20 per cent for those who chose to maintain a pre-paid account. In addition, residents of the boroughs of Dartford and Thurrock can make up to 50 or unlimited crossings for different minimum fees. There is no charge for the hours of 06h00 to 22h00. The standard charges have not increased since they were last revised with the introduction of the Dartford Free Flow Charging Scheme in 2014, an investment which has improved the road user experience by removing the need for users to stop at barriers to pay the charges. The Government is investing in the new Lower Thames Crossing will connect Kent and Essex through a tunnel beneath the River Thames and high quality road connections between important existing routes A2, M25 and A13. This addresses the demands for road capacity of an expanding economy by doubling cross river road capacity in the Thames east of London. To improve the situation over the next few years at the Dartford Thurrock Crossing and surrounding roads, the Department for Transport (DfT)is investing £10 million to contribute to a wider package of interventions to reduce congestion through traffic flow and safety measures. This investment is aimed at improving traffic flow at individual junctions; enhancing weather resilience; and better management of dangerous goods and over-height vehicles. Highways England continues to look for ways to improve performance and reduce congestion at the Crossing". Thus responded the Department for Transport. I don't think many people will be surprised by the announcement. There is far too much money being made for the government to ever back down, especially since the ANPR system which can recognise vehicle number plates replaced toll booths at the busy crossing in 2014, and has so far generated 3.5 million penalty charge notices for drivers who have failed to pay. A series of complaints to The Observer newspaper has shown how the system is far from foolproof, however, with cameras misreading number plates and people being pursued for fines they are unaware of. This can in turn lead to a complaints system which can appear inflexible. Thousands of those incorrectly charged simply pay up to avoid the risk of an escalating fine, according to Auto Express. In August 2017, the motoring magazine found that while the vast majority of appeals were upheld (80 percent), only one in 25 motorists actually appealed a fine. Many more motorists who do use the crossing, one of the UK’s busiest, fail to pay the charge because of confusing signs. The only warning of the levy is a large C which is identical to the symbol for the congestion charge, the £11.50 fee for vehicles entering central London. A recent poll by the AA found that 60 percent of drivers mistook it for the latter, an entirely different fee which is not payable on the Dartford Crossing. Non-Londoners are likely to have no clue of the symbol’s meaning. When the toll booths were bulldozed to reduce congestion, it seems the levy went from being a toll to a “congestion charge” and was increased by 20 percent. This distinction was never explained, nor is the fee called a congestion charge on the website, but the new terminology gets round the fact that the levy, introduced to cover the costs of building the Dartford Bridge, is still in place 15 years after it was paid for in full - something that locals are still extremely angry about. On top of this, as predicted, the two new Woolwich ferries did not go into service after Christmas. At the time of writing, they have said that they expect the service to recommence at some unspecified point in February. The whole communication with the North side of the River Thames is a major challenge. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

In a week when Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, dropped his lawsuit against Facebook for running scam advertisements featuring his name and image. The entrepreneur had lodged papers against the social media giant in the High Court last year, telling Sky News the legal action was the result of months of frustration with scammers piggybacking on his reputation and preying on Facebook users with get-rich-quick scams. On Wednesday, Mr Lewis and Facebook jointly announced a settlement to the defamation action as Facebook donated £3m to set up a Citizens Advice scams action project from and launch a new reporting tool for scam adverts. The donation will be made up of £2.5m in cash over the next two years, and £500,000 in Facebook advertising credit coupons which will be issued over the next three years. In an interview with Sky News, Martin Lewis said that he received a six-figure sum from Facebook for his costs. Online investment scams targeting people through social media have stolen increasing amounts of money from victims in recent years - rising in the UK by 400,000 percent in the last six years alone. Figures from Action Fraud show the amount lost to "binary options" trading increased from £6,200 in 2012, to £27m in 2017 alone, with the total currently standing at £61m. Following that information, it was not surprising that I found yet another fraudulent advert (see above) that linked from the News Shopper website to a site that was selling fraudulent BitCoin trading options, and trying to make out that celebrities from TV series "Dragons Den" were promoting the service, when they are absolutely not in any way, shape or form. The con artists also infer that BBC, The Guardian, The Sun and other organisations have been promoting the scheme, which is utterly false and misleading. You have been warned - it is a massive con. 

A message from Christ Church Erith:- "If you are coming to visit Christ Church Erith for a service or to sit a while to gather your thoughts or view the magnificent inside of the Church, you will now be able to enter through the main doors in the Bell Tower. Previously these doors were only used on special occasions and for weddings and funerals.  They will now be open for everyone to use on a regular basis.  Of course the ramped entrance at the side of the Church will also be open for those who need to use it. We have Open Church Monday–Friday mornings 10am – 12.00 noon so please do take the opportunity to visit us". For more Christ Church information visit their website here. 

The 21st January last week marked the 35th anniversary of the very first test transmission from  Laser 558, the offshore radio station that for a brief period between 1984 and 1986 became the most popular music radio station in the UK. Laser was known for its fast paced format “you are never more than a minute away from music”, and exclusively employed American DJ’s, including some, like Charlie Wolf, who went on to become household names. It all sounded very glamorous, and nothing like any rather more staid British radio station of the period. Most listeners believed the story that the station was crewed and operated exclusively by Americans, and supplied from mainland Europe, and therefore operating completely legally. The reality was that whilst the broadcasters were nearly all US citizens, the station and the supplies all came covertly from the UK – the main supply point was Herne Bay. The Laser ship was called the M.V Communicator – it was a converted Lowestoft hydrographic survey vessel originally named the Gardline Seeker. The work to convert the ship to a marine broadcasting station was carried out in Port Everglades in Florida – if you ever see a rerun of the Miami Vice episode “Phil the Shill” (the one that guest starred Phil Collins) there is a long aerial tracking shot of Crockett and Tubbs driving through Port Everglades – and the M.V Communicator can clearly be seen whilst it was being converted into a radio ship. When Laser 558 first came on air from the North Sea, the station tried using a novel wire antenna suspended from a helium balloon. Whoever thought of this idea clearly had no concept of the atrocious weather frequently experienced in the area. The strong, gusty and changeable winds soon destroyed the balloon antenna, and a conventional tower array was built to replace it. Laser quickly picked up a massive following in both the UK and Europe. Certainly, Laser's signal - and their following - reached into Holland, Belgium, and other Continental European countries. Laser 558's ship, the MV Communicator was anchored in the Knock Deep area of the Thames Estuary of the North Sea. The anchorage was approximately 3 miles off the Essex coast, not far from Harwich. It had a strong, loud signal on Medium Wave, it played far more music that BBC Radio One, and operated a format of top 40 pop and familiar oldies, played back to back. The sound was slick and very professional, and soon listeners started to defect from local radio and BBC national stations to Laser. At this point the government became worried – they could not let this upstart pirate take all of their precious listeners from the BBC and ILR stations. Laser 558 claimed an audience of some 8,000,000 listeners and was seriously threatening the long established duopoly of the BBC and the IBA. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) started to take action against the station, firstly by advertising in specialist magazines to warn boat owners of the penalties of supplying "pirate" broadcasting ships. Notices began appearing around the British coastline warning not to supply the radio ships, though this was widely flouted. A ship called the Dioptric Surveyor was despatched by the Department of Trade and Industry Radio Investigation Service to monitor both Laser 558 and Radio Caroline, in what became known as the “Eurosiege”. It was soon apparent that Laser, rather than Caroline was the real target. This was mainly due to the constant on air jibes and arch comments made by Laser DJ’s – most notably by Charlie Wolf, the station motor mouth, and at that time a serious rival in popularity to Radio 1's Steve Wright. Soon a spoof record was released called ”I Spy for the DTI” by the Moronic Surveyors (actually the Laser DJ’s) which got heavy play on Laser, and got into the lower reaches of the charts. In contrast, Radio Caroline continued in their policy of not annoying the authorities, and they carried on pretty much unmolested. Eventually a mixture of running low on supplies, bad weather (the M.V Communicator was not an ideal ship for the North Sea and its heavy swell – it rolled terribly due to its very high freeboard - the height of the hull out of the sea - unlike the Radio Caroline ship the M.V Ross Revenge – a massive, former ice breaking trawler which was solid as a rock in rough seas), and a lack of advertising revenue caused the Laser crew to bring the ship in to port, under escort from the DTI. The other reason for the failure of Laser 558 was its management, which was pretty financially incompetent, and also a few suppliers that managed to con a large amount of cash out of the station for very little in return. The whole project lasted only around eighteen months, but it did shake up UK radio, which up until that time was legally restricted as to the amount of music it was allowed to play. The “needle time” rules dictated that fifty percent of broadcasting time had to be dedicated to speech; this was later relaxed when it was found that the audiences for Laser 558 were primarily attracted by the stations policy of “never more than a minute from music”. In contrast Radio Caroline continued at sea for another six years, which was when my own involvement with the station happened. Back when Laser and Caroline were both broadcasting to Northern Europe, I was still at school – I recall many occasions when there would be scuffles in the 6th form common room when some pupils wanted to listen to Laser 558 on the ancient valve radiogram we had, whilst I wanted to listen to Radio Caroline. Strangely I cannot recall anyone wanting to listen to BBC Radio One at the time. I think that just about says it all.

In a shock move for many of its customers, and real ale drinkers in general last week, the last major London brewery, Fullers announced that they were selling their entire brewing business and beer brands to giant Japanese brewery conglomerate Asahi for a reported price of £250 million. Under the deal, the family run brewery will sell the production and distribution of its beers to the European arm of the Japanese brewer, which already owns Greenwich based brewery brand Meantime in the UK. The sale includes the historic Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, where the company was founded in 1845. The deal means London Pride and Dark Star Hophead, lager brand Frontier, as well as my favourite bottled beer - Fuller's ESB and Cornish Orchards cider and soft drinks will join Asahi Super Dry, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Meantime under Asahi Europe ownership. Fuller’s says the deal will allow it to concentrate on its pubs and hotels which generate 87 per cent of its profits. The city in which famous names such as Charrington, Watney, Whitbread, Courage and Truman were born now has no locally owned major brewers. Even the sizeable players among the new wave of brewers to have emerged in the last decade or so have all fallen into foreign hands, with Camden Town brewery now owned by Budweiser-to-Stella Artois behemoth AB InBev, Beavertown owned by Heineken, the London Fields Brewery is owned by Carlsberg and the Meantime Brewery in Greenwich is now owned by Asahi itself. Many commentators have expressed reservations as to whether the Asahi - who are well known for brewing gassy and bland lagers, will be able to maintain Fullers beer quality, and also worries that the large brewery location would be worth a fortune a potential property developer for the prestigious Chiswick site. Other historic London breweries have not survived as property values in the city have soared. The Ram brewery in Wandsworth, west London, was sold off by Young’s in 2006 and is being turned into homes and shops, and the Mortlake brewery in South-West London is becoming luxury flats. Analysts speculated that the Fuller's Griffin site could be worth up to £100 million, so could be ripe for even partial redevelopment. On top of this there may well be an unexpected consequence. Currently Asahi beers are brewed in the UK under licence by Faversham, Kent based brewers Shepherd Neame. With Asahi taking over Fullers, there will be no need for Asahi to have their beers brewed by a third party. This may well harm the bottom line for Shepherd Neame. Indeed in a detailed article in the Times on Saturday it was suggested that Shepherd Neame, Britain's oldest brewer, may well be next in line to be taken over. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. The first report is from Barnehurst ward:- "Barnehurst ward have suffered two burglaries during the past week. The first burglary occurred on Saturday 19th January 2019 between 13.34 - 13.45 hours. Entry was gained through an insecure ground floor window. A number of items were taken. The victim had a clear picture of the suspect from footage of CCTV at the property. This was aired widely on social media. A shoe print was left at the scene, this print was taken for forensic opportunities. The suspect has since been identified and has now been charged with eleven counts of burglary including the Barnehurst Road burglary. The suspect has committed burglaries across Bexley and Greenwich Boroughs, Barnehurst Road being the most recent. The second burglary took place on Tuesday 22nd January 2019 at 11.55pm in Stuart Mantle Way. Unfortunately the front door was not double locked which allowed quick and easy access for these burglars to gain entry within seconds. Again, items were taken from the property. In Hillingdon Road on Wednesday 16th January 2019 victim found all four tyres flat on a vehicle parked in the driveway. It is believed the tyres were stabbed with a fine implement. If you see anything suspicious in your area please report it. If you wish to remain anonymous you can always contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111. We will be at Barnehurst Golf Course on Wednesday 30th January 2019 at 1pm should you wish to come along for a chat". Belvedere ward:- "We have been receiving complaints about the HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) on Stanmore Road and Ashburnham Road. The complaint on Stanmore is drug-related. Apparently drugs are being used and sold from this address. As for Ashburnham Road we have been told that some suspicious activity has been taking place recently. A hooded male has been seen to try car door handles and loiter around houses. The male has been seen to go into the HMO on Ashburnham. Whether he lives there or is just visiting is unclear. If anyone has any information about either addresses please get in touch. A resident has also expressed concern about people parking up in the car park of Chalfont Court, Lessness Park recently. Piles of the nitrous oxide canisters have been found when the cars leave. Although it is not illegal to possess them at the moment it is still concerning that people are using them and then driving. If anyone is seen doing this then please let us know. On Wednesday16th January just before 8pm a window was smashed at Corals, Nuxley Road. If anyone was around at this time or saw what happened please contact us. There was also a burglary on the Wednesday 16th in Coptefield Drive. Happened at some stage from 7am and 8pm. One person was seen to go to the front door. Two other people went down the side alley to the rear of the property. The rear patio doors were smashed and entry was gained. Also throughout this week you may have seen the team looking through lots of bushes and skulking around buildings. Nothing to worry about. As part of the Mets aim to tackle violence and knife crime one of the activities we conduct is weapon sweeps. Please don't be alarmed if you see us doing this in your road, you do not live in a dangerous area. The sweeps are a preventive measure, we do not currently have any information relating to any specific areas on the ward that are at risk. Our next drop in surgery will be on the Wednesday 30th January 2019 at Belvedere Community Centre between 13:00 and 14:00". Bexleyheath ward:- "Over the last week we have had one burglary on our ward. This was on Monday 21/01/2019 along St.Aubrey Avenue, Bexleyheath, entry was gained via rear window. We have received several report of theft from motor vehicles that have happened on the ward over the last week, these are the details;- Iris Avenue between 19th & 20th January, Bowness Road-no damage but items taken from iniside between Fri 18th & Sat 19th January, Silverdale Road between Thur 17th & Fri 18th January, Rydal Drive 16th January suspect had searched an unlocked vehicle and items taken, Braemer Avenue 16th January Number plates stolen from vehicle, Outside Barclays Bank-Bexleyheath- Thur 17th January. 2 Thefts reported, On Sunday 20th January we had a report of theft of a bank card along the Broadway the card was used to make fraudulent transaction, on the Saturday 19th January another theft was reported in TK Max when a purse was dropped and then taken. The team have conducted two stop and searches in The Premier Inn Car Park, cannabis was seized, On another ward the team assisted in executing a warrant and cannabis was seized. Youths have been stopped in relation to riding bikes on the Broadway and also along Iris Avenue-words of advice given. Bexleyheath Team will have a contact point in Bexleyheath Central Library on Wednesday 30th January from 10.30am -11.30am. Please come along is you have any problems to report or if you wish to meet your local officers.  Crayford ward:- "Overnight from 18.00 on Monday 21st January and 06.00 on 22nd January the locks were broken off a garage door in Village Green Road, it is not known what may have been taken at this time. On Monday 21st January between 13.30 and 17.00 on the Tuesday 22nd January a white Ford Transit had its window smashed whilst parked in Halcot Avenue, it was believed that the suspect intended to “hotwire” it. Power tools were stolen from an a garage in Bexley Close between Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th of January. In the early hours of Tuesday 22nd January two males were seen in Hayward Close attempting to break in to a vehicle parked there, it was believed they had tools and knives with them, their faces could not be seen as they were wearing hoods. On Sunday 20 January between 13.00-14.00 two large oil containers were thrown at a house in Green Walk breaking the outside lights. On Sunday 20th January another shoplifting offence took place at Marks News, the same suspect as previously identified. If you may be able to identify this person please consider contacting Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, you can give information anonymously if you wish. Our ward panel meeting was held on Saturday 5th January. Our promises for the next three months are ASB Vehicles linked to Hall Place, ASB Youth linked to Crayford Town Centre, Burglary Prevention and Street a week". Erith ward:- "Apologies for the short update this week. We had our ward panel this week, Low number of attendees this could have been due to the weather, thank you to all that attended. If you would like to attend our next meeting please get in contact with me Ward promises are the same as last time, Drugs and ASB West Street area. Crime wise hasn't been that bad in Erith over the last week. No burglaries to report, though still the odd theft from motor vehicles. We are in Erith Costa Coffee at 4pm on Tuesday 29th January". Northumberland Heath ward:- "Another good week with no burglaries reported to us. One theft from a motor vehicle in Parsonage Manorway. This took place between Thursday January 17th between midnight and 6am the following morning. The car was broken into on the driveway of the property entry unknown, an untidy search of the car took place and a green Michael Kors was stolen. On Sunday January 20th at 1230 three males were seen circling a vehicle in Becton Place junction with Brook Street. The males disappeared for approximately thirty minutes before re appearing, opening the boot and looking inside it. It is unclear if anything was taken but the males left and returned several times to the vehicle before running off. The team will be conducting weapons sweeps throughout the ward as part of the violent crime initiative, and we continue to focus on anti-social behaviour and engagement with our residents and local businesses. This week we will be holding our quarterly Ward Panel Meeting to decide our promises for the next three months. We will update you next week. The next drop in Police Surgery will be held at the Northumberland Heath Library in Mill Road on Wednesday 6th February at 2pm. All are welcome to attend". Slade Green and Northend ward:- "2 Vehicles have been stolen in the last week. A van was stolen overnight on Sunday 20th Jan from Cedar Road, no smashed glass and the owner still has the keys. A car for sale was stolen from Betsham Road on Tuesday 22nd Jan. At 1240 3 males turned up as prospective buyers, they gave the victim £800, the vehicle was for sale for £1600, then they drove off. Enquiries for both thefts are ongoing. 2 knives have been found in the last week during targeted weapon sweeps as part of Operation Sceptre which tackles violent crime across the Met. One was found on January 18th in Slade Green Road junction with Plantation Road and the other was found on Monday 21st January in Manor Road just down from the zebra crossing. There is no evidence at this time to suggest either knife has been involved in any crime but they have been sent for disposal. At our ward panel meeting on Wednesday evening the promises chosen for the next three months were ASB in Hollywood Way, Block patrols of Applegarth House and Grange House and Off Road Bike issues in the ward. Our next Community Contact Session is on Tuesday 29/01/2019 from 1100 hours in Forest Road Café".  Thamesmead East ward:- "Burglary Cherbury Close Thursday 21/01/19 between 7am-6:45pm Rear patio door smashed, untidy search carried out jewellery and cash stolen; Redbourne Drive Thursday 21/01/19 between 2pm-6:50pm Suspects entered through unlocked back door which may have been left unlocked, untidy search carried out within not known as yet what has been stolen; Hodkins Close Thursday 21/01/19 between 5:15pm-6pm Suspect/s apparently entered through ground floor bedroom window, untidy search carried out jewellery stolen. Motor vehilce crime - Wolvercote Road Tuesday 15/01/19 between 2am-7:30am suspect/s breaking into vehicle taking items from within; Landridge Road Wednesday 16/01/19 between 6am-8:50pm suspect/s unknown taking registration plates from vehicle; Southmere Drive Wednesday 16/01/19 between 6pm-11pm suspect/s have smashed vehicle window, vehicle searched however nothing stolen; Lensbury Way Thursday 17/01/19 between 2:40pm-4pm suspect/s unknown taking registration plates from vehicle; Fleming Way Friday 18/01/19 between 9pm-2:25am Suspect/s unknown taking victims vehicle without consent. Criminal damage - Fleming Way Saturday 19/01/19 between 12pm – 6:28pm suspect/s causing damage to glass panel in front door. Meetings - Street briefing to be held in FLEMING WAY Sunday 27/01/19, 4-5pm; Police Surgery (Community Contact Session) Friday 1/2/19 3 - 4pm at Thamesmead Library Binsey Walk". West Heath ward:- "A bicycle was stolen from a shed burglary in Hillsgrove Close over the weekend between 7pm on Saturday 19/01/19 and midday Sunday 20/01/29; There were two theft of cars in Okehampton Crescent on Wednesday 16/01/19 between 7am -7pm and Mayfair Avenue on Friday 18/01/19 between midday – 7pm; A set of golf clubs were stolen from the boot of a car in New Road in the early hours of Tuesday 15/01/19 between midnight and 8am; We have been made aware of a male trying car doors in the early hours of Monday 21/01/19 so please double check your vehicles are locked. The team has also been made aware of a male loitering in West Heath recreational ground over the last two weekends. The team have been doing extra patrols in the area. Due to operational needs, the next community session in Plymstock Road on Wednesday 30th January will be re-scheduled. The next session will be in the Hurst Lane Estate in Hurst Lane on Saturday 9th February between 1pm-2pm". 

The end video this week features the largest theatre in the London Borough of Bexley - the Erith Playhouse, which is run by volunteers. You can see their website by clicking here. 

Porch piracy.

The photos above (click on either for a larger version) show the pop - up - cinema event held last night in Erith Riverside Gardens. As I mentioned last week, the event had not received very much advanced publicity, and unfortunately attendance figures reflected this; about forty hardy parents with children turned up to brave the winter evening to watch the movies Home Alone, followed by Gremlins on a big screen. The promised food and traders did not appear, and no facility was made for toilets either - the nearest being those in Morrison's supermarket about seven minutes walk away. Having said that, the organisers were very enthusiastic and friendly - although all but one admitted to never having visited Erith before, and knew nothing of the town or its inhabitants. The lady from Bexley Council was very helpful and chatty, and it turns out that she was a Maggot Sandwich reader - they seem to pop up from everywhere, much to my surprise. It was fortunate that it was not raining and the wind was still - something very unusual on the riverfront at this time of year - normally it comes screaming in over the Thames, seemingly direct from Siberia. I was very pleased to see a social event of this nature being organised locally, but it was evident that there was a lack of knowledge of the local area and possible weather conditions - had there been even the slightest of winds, the cinema screen would have been blown flat in moments. I am hopeful that a second event will be organised for next year, but in a space heated marquee tent with provision for portaloos and maybe a BBQ and hot drinks for sale. I would have thought that local BBQ specialist Steve's Kitchen could provide just such a service. What do you think? Did you go along, or like many I have talked to, did you not know about the event? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Bexley Times reported recently about an abandoned cob pony that was found on Sidcup Golf Course. The animal was severely neglected and close to death when it was found by RSPCA inspectors. The cob pony has been given treatment and is now expected to survive; inquiries are under way to discover who left the horse in such a terrible state. In an interview with the paper, Ellen Thomas, an RSPCA inspector said “This poor horse was so emaciated and still we thought he was dead at first. Then as I approached him, he weakly lifted his head, so I knew we had a chance to save him. It seems he was dying of thirst. There was no water at all in the field and there were reports that he may have been lying there for two days. He also had very overgrown hooves and had clearly been neglected. It seems likely he had been just dumped there and left to die in this very secluded spot, and we urge anyone with any information about who may have done this to call us. Gradually, we did manage to get him to sit up, and then bumble on down to the horse box so we could take him to the vet to be cared for and treated. It took him a long time to get there because he was so weak - and we have now named him Bumble as a result. He’s in a critical condition but doing as well as he can do - and we have everything crossed that he will make a good recovery.” This is something that is becoming increasingly common, as is the phenomenon of “fly grazing” that has become such a concern in the local area – Thamesmead, Abbey Wood, Lower Belvedere and Slade Green have been especially hit by persons unknown leaving scruffy and under cared for horses on public land for them to illegally graze on. The practice of “fly-grazing” has become increasingly common both in the local area, and also around the country. Thousands of horses and ponies are being abandoned by their erstwhile owners as irresponsible breeding, spiralling bills and sale prices which have reached rock bottom take their toll. A pony can fetch as little as £5 at auction – if it sells at all, whilst stable costs, feed and vets bills can amount to around £100 per week per animal. The six main horse welfare charities have come together to compile a report on the situation; it would also appear that the European appetite for horse meat may be fuelling the situation – a £5 pony can turn into a £230 carcass on the European meat market. It may be that ponies are actually being farmed for live export to France, Belgium and Italy. The RSPCA have called for legislation that will enable them to more quickly identify owners and punish them with fines and the seizure of animals for fly-grazing. They also want a review of agreements allowing the free movement of horses not intended for slaughter between Britain, Ireland and France. The British horse population is thought to be just under one million animals in size. The vast majority are owned privately for leisure – a sector which, unlike the horse racing industry, has not historically been tightly regulated.  A new bill was brought into law last year which hopefully may go far to changing this situation. The Control of Horses Act 2015 makes changes to the law to deter people from illegally grazing or simply abandoning horses on public and private land, which is known as ‘fly-grazing’. As many as 3,000 horses are thought to be illegally fly-grazing across the country. The changes mean horse owners who fly-graze their animals without permission can now be dealt with more quickly and effectively. These changes to the law will give rural communities greater powers to deal with thousands of horses that are left to graze illegally without the land owners’ permission. Horses that are left to fly-graze can now be rehomed much more quickly and effectively, improving the welfare of these animals and preventing disruption to communities. By allowing abandoned horses to be rehomed much more quickly, this act will encourage owners to pay proper attention to their animals’ welfare and ensure communities are no longer blighted by the illegal practice of fly-grazing. Under the previous Animals Act 1971 an abandoned horse could only be disposed of after 14 days through sale at market or public auction. The new Act means fly-grazing horses have to be reported to police within 24 hours, and owners now have four days to claim their animals. Previously, an abandoned horse could only be disposed of through sale at market or public auction. The new law extends the options for dealing with abandoned horses, which now include private sale, gifting and rehoming. Hopefully this will go some way into resolving the long standing problem.

Bexley Council are making a change in policy which I can pretty much guarantee will give them cause for regret. They are moving all reporting of street light faults to a purely online form. You will no longer be able to phone up the Highways Department, instead residents will have to complete a form on the council website. The move is expected to cut administrative costs, with all reports being automatically sent to the council’s maintenance contractor. This might all sound fine, but have you ever tried navigating the Bexley Council website? It is an awful unnavigable mess, and even finding the page you want is a real challenge, as the search functionality does not work as intended, and the site layout could have been designed by M.C Escher. I find that when one eventually stumbles across the content you were actually looking for, it is prudent to bookmark the page for later reference, as your chance of finding the page again are pretty slim. If this was not enough, as Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers has discovered, that just because you report something to the Council, it does not mean that they then do anything about it. He reported a couple of incidences of fly tipping, complete with still photographs and video of the offences being committed. After a month he has still not had a response from the Environmental Crimes Unit of Bexley Council. I have worked with the unit in the past, and found them to be dedicated and efficient; in the intervening couple of years, the person I usually contacted has retired, and it would seem that much of the role has been outsourced to a private contractor.

London and Quadrant, the developers of the Erith Quarry housing development published the following press release this week:- "L and Q and The Anderson Group, developers behind the new homes at The Quarry in Erith, are looking for a local artist to help them celebrate the history of the land. The developers want to showcase the story of The Quarry’s past, present and future using photos and anecdotes from local people. These will then act as inspiration for artwork displayed on the hoardings surrounding the site, as well as featuring at a special exhibition in the town. Erith historian Kenneth Chamberlain and local history enthusiast Martin Barnes remember The Quarry from their teenage years and have already provided a number of photographs for potential inclusion. The pictures date from the 1930s onwards and show everything from ‘Loomers’ at the quarry face, to the locomotive which used to transport the loads from the quarry and the quarry after the landfill was nearly complete. L and Q and The Anderson Group are now encouraging more locals to come forward and share their memories. Set to launch its first homes for sale in spring 2017, The Quarry will comprise of an exceptional collection of around 470 family houses for sale, 130 unique apartments for private rent and a state-of-the-art three form-entry primary school. With sustainability at its heart, this new eco-development will be surrounded by woodland and feature a conservation area the size of around three football pitches, not to mention cycle routes, play corridors and a village green. Christine Shea, Regional Sales Director at L and Q, said: “We’re really excited to hear back from local artists who can help us create a wonderful tribute to the area. The Quarry has played such an important part in the lives of local people for so many years and we hope to bring its history back to life and to celebrate the exciting future that lays ahead. We have already received some wonderful photographs from Kenneth and Martin and we hope more people will get in touch with their experiences.” If you’re an artist who would like to get involved or if you have photos or stories to share, please contact the team at landq@grayling.com. A grant will be made available to the selected artist. Prospective homebuyers interested in finding out more about The Quarry can register their interest at thequarryerith.co.uk and follow developments on Facebook and Twitter".

The photo above shows the view looking Eastwards towards Erith Town Centre along West Street. From the vehicles in the shot, and the state of construction of the tower block on the horizon, I would hazard a guess that the photo was taken in around 1970.

Once again Bexley Council has been accused of selling off the family silver for short term gain; last week the council agreed to the sale of four areas of formerly public land in the borough, two of which are in Erith. It does seem to me that not only do Bexley Council offer some of the poorest levels of service of any Greater London borough, but they are selling off anything that they can lay their hands on in order to try and raise more cash. I do question their efficiency and business acumen, as they seem to be able to do very little with large amounts of cash – I feel that a commercial business would be far more efficient in the operation of the borough. Many of the council senior executives have never had a job in the “real world” – a problem which is also common with the current crop of Westminster politicians. Locally we are fortunate that MP for Erith and Thamesmead Teresa Pearce spent many years working as an accountant prior to entering politics – a relatively rare instance of someone in public service who has actually had a real world job before changing career to enter politics.

Word reached me courtesy of regular Maggot Sandwich reader Alison. It would appear that "hit and run" incidents are not limited to the roads in and around Erith. There has been a collision between a vessel and the Erith Wooden Jetty, which is adjacent to Erith Riverside Gardens and Erith Rowing Club / Kort Propulsion marine engineers, based in the former River Police HQ in Erith High Street. Alison writes:- " I wasn't sure if you were aware of the broken jetty by the old police station at Erith (photo above taken by Michael Lucas)? The Port of London Authority (PLA) first contacted Erith Rowing Club on Thursday afternoon about it. The PLA believes the damage occurred as a result of a 'hit and run' incident late at night and would welcome any information about it. The contact at the PLA is Michael Russell, tel 01474 562415 or 07711 640082 email: michael.russell@pla.co.uk.  The latest update is that the PLA has removed the loose and damaged parts of the causeway and is intending to carry out a survey for the timber for repairs on Monday (28th November). At the moment it is unclear when the repairs will take place, but it is likely to be a few weeks." If anyone saw anything suspicious regarding a collision between a ship and the jetty, please let Michael Russell know - at present the jetty is completely out of use for the immediate future.

As we head towards Christmas, a relatively new form of crime is becoming increasingly common. It is called Porch Piracy – criminals targeting people’s porches and apartment entrance halls to steal parcels delivered by courier services. As more and more people buy online from web based retailers such as Amazon, the theft of goods in transit has become a major concern. Whilst some customers fill in the “special instructions” section of the delivery details online with details of a neighbour who a parcel can be left with in the event of them not being home to answer the door themselves, many do not. Delivery personnel may in such cases leave parcels in porches, in bin cabinets, or even propped up against the front door. Personally I have seen Amazon parcels left unattended on many occasions – and these definitely attract both opportunistic and dedicated thieves. Ways to counter “Porch Pirates” include:- 1. Lock boxes: You can build or purchase a rugged lock box for your porch.  Bolt it down to a permanent surface, concrete or asphalt work well. Install a simple combination lock on the box and then share that combination when you purchase something online.  Nearly every delivery service has a “special instructions” section during online checkout. Delivery personnel can then key in the combination and deliver your package to a secure box. To add even more security, change the combination frequently or when you feel you've given it out too many times.  2. Security Services: The emergence of Porch Piracy has created an entire industry determined to prevent these thefts. Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has a service called Amazon Locker. Instead of a package being delivered to your porch, the packages arrive at a nearby Amazon Locker location, where they’re placed in a secure compartment. You can collect your package with a code and without waiting in line or talking to anyone. There is a general delivery locker system in Morrison’s in Erith, which has recently been installed. 3. Timely Package Collection:  Pick up your package as soon as it's delivered or have a neighbour collect it. Courier services such as UPS, FedEx and Amazon all have tracking services. This allows you to monitor the progress of a shipment very closely by tracking it online and even by receiving email or text alerts.  You can be notified the moment your package is delivered and then make arrangements to have the package collected. Porch Piracy is a crime of opportunity. If the package doesn't sit on your porch for long the opportunity to steal it is vastly decreased. 4. Security Cameras: Security cameras are a tried and true deterrent for all manner of criminal behaviour. Thieves are very aware of cameras and often look for them before attempting a theft.  Also, if you do ever have a package stolen, you have video evidence to pass along to police and online stores. Camera packages can be purchased relatively inexpensively from places such as Maplin, and come with a wide range of options, including wireless capabilities which make them easy to install.  Some systems have the ability to remotely monitor your home from mobile devices like tablets and cell phones which adds an extra layer of security and better peace of mind. 5. Security Signs: If all of the previous options seem too expensive or too much hassle consider posting a sign in your front window informing the would be Porch Pirate that your home is under video surveillance or has security alarms.  Many criminals are not going to take the time or the chance to call your bluff and proceed with their theft. Again, this is a crime of opportunity, and thieves may not see your package as a great opportunity if they think there is a chance they might be recorded - even if they can't immediately see the security cameras. Personally I have CCTV front and back at Pewty Acres, and have a designated neighbour to take parcels if I am not available. I find that this greatly reduces the risk of parcel theft. This is a problem which is only going to grow in severity unless steps are taken to prevent it.

It would seem that the proposed Thames river crossing between Rainham in Essex and Lower Belvedere (see the map above - click on it for a larger view) has been kicked into the long grass; no mention was made of it during Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s recent speech on London’s future transport infrastructure. It would seem that the cross river link has been dropped from favour in preference for some of the other cross – river options. My suggestion for a tunnel under the river, of a similar design to that already in place at Strood on the River Medway seems to have fallen by the wayside. This has not been lost on Gravesham MP Adam Holloway, who opposes another proposed crossing of the River Thames potentially located to the East of Gravesend; he was interviewed in the News Shopper, saying:- "The reality is that this is a looming disaster that is going to become a scandal when the public realise that the £5 billion opportunity to fix the M25 is about to be wasted – and when we all realise that it is too late to stop a plan that is going to result in another 40 years of misery on the M25. Unfortunately, ministers who are not experts on roads must listen to Highways England - a quango that changes the numbers in support of whichever option they have favoured over time. By the time the ministers hear the voices of the public, it will be too late.” The fact remains that we have very few river crossings East of Tower Bridge, and the further East on the River Thames you travel, the wider the river becomes, and thus the more expensive any form of river crossing becomes.

You may have recently come across the web page above, or something very similar, which seems to show Sir Richard Branson promoting a particular product - as you may already have guessed, the story is very far from what it appears. The web site begins with this:- "Branson is sending shockwaves throughout all of Britain by revealing his secret formula that the average British worker is using to make fast money from home. Branson says, “It’s even dangerous to talk about it, because the powerful elite does not want the average British worker to have this much wealth. Because the wealthier the population is, the less power they themselves have. They hate me for sharing this!” After a hearty introduction about how top secret the whole opportunity apparently is, readers are then told to click another link which, just like the first link, redirected across several domains before landing on a landing page - The Brit Method. If it wasn’t clear already, this has nothing to do with Richard Branson. Despite the sales pitch on the previous website and the Facebook post many innocent web surfers stumbled across, this isn’t something he “accidentally” shared. The inclusion of Branson’s name is simply a flat out lie. The Brit Method is a site that promotes Binary Options trading, but does so using an unrealistic and dramatically hyped sales pitch. Essentially, that sales pitch describes Binary Options as a shortcut to financial wealth and a guarantee to quick wealth. It is neither. Binary Options is actually a form of trading where the trader predicts whether a particular stock will rise or fall in a short period of time, where traditional trading involves the purchase of stock. If the trader predicts the stock rises or falls correctly, they get a fixed return on the amount they invested. If they don’t, they lose the investment. The Brit Method goes under other guises, including The Aussie Method and The Irish Method. Binary Options trading is akin to gambling. Despite claims made by various websites like The Brit Method, it isn’t a get-rich-quick system. There is no way to ‘game’ or cheat at Binary Options trading. There are no “killer systems” or “proven formulas”. It is gambling, and most of those who embark upon it are unlikely to make any significant return on their investment, and of course risk losing all the money they invest on it. Sites like The Brit Method and the people behind the fraudulent Richard Branson themed Facebook post / dodgy faked website don’t care, because they get paid a commission for luring visitors to Binary Option websites. Using hyped, misleading and plain deceptive sales pitches means more people they trick into signing up. In my opinion, the outcome of this fraudulent con is:- 1. Facebook doesn’t really care what sort of websites sign up to their sponsored advert platform. 2. Get-rich-quick schemes are always ever-present on the Internet. 3. Don’t get involved with Binary Options trading.

Millions of British people have no idea what their home telephone number is, according to new research. Sixty per cent of the nation only have a landline because they need it for their broadband connection. If the phone does ring, a third of people assume it’s an automated or sales call, and 22 per cent never answer it . Only one in five knows their landline number, according to a recent survey of 2,000 UK adults. Almost four in ten use their home phone once a month or less, with six in 10 admitting they only pay for a landline just to access the internet. Six in 10 say they wish they could de-clutter their homes by getting rid of their landline completely, a 20 per cent increase from a study conducted in 2014. A fifth of survey respondents reckoned their home will be landline-free within two years, if not sooner. Due to the rise of social media and mobile phones, over half of the nation consider the landline a ‘redundant’ piece of technology, rising to seven in 10 among 18-24 year olds. Incredibly, of the respondents who had children aged 16 and under, 14 per cent reported that they had children that have no idea what a landline is. A third of respondents said that they use their landline for keeping in touch with grandparents or older relatives. Almost half say they give out their home number to sales people and companies, to stop them getting their mobile details. Thirty-six percent of Brits only use their home phone once a month or less often, and one in ten homes has already made the jump to going landline-free. The report also says that a fifth of British households have at least one old landline handset sitting unused in the back of a cupboard. Personally I buck this trend; I detest mobile phones and a landline works just fine for me. I am all for freedom of choice - whatever works best for you, in my opinion.

Abbey Wood’s new station is beginning to take shape with the timber structure of the distinctive roof now complete. The Austrian timber construction firm, Wiehag has installed the impressive glulam (glued manufactured timber) wooden panels which form the iconic shape of the station’s roof structure. The roof has been constructed using a combination of 31 tonnes of steel beams and girders to support the loads of the beams. The main timber beams are each 45m long, which is the equivalent of four London buses end to end. Below is a time lapse photography recording of some of the recent construction work. Give it a watch and leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Firepower.

The photo above shows the well - known Erith landmark, the former Cross Keys pub, which is in the process of being professionally converted into a mixed use office space / hot desking facility and a public amenity. The sensitive, high quality restoration and conversion of the listed building, which exists within the Erith High Street conservation area has been progressing steadily over the last couple of years. I know that many local people have already seen inside the finished parts of the very large building, and they have been greatly impressed by what they have seen. The work on the building has gone largely unhindered, but an exception to that rule happened last week; there was a burglary in broad daylight on June 16th, security camera footage of which has identified five adolescents breaking in to Cross Keys and taking a box containing a Bose wireless speaker. The multiple camera HD CCTV on-site has recorded some clear images which have been handed to the police for investigation. Cross Keys co - owner Julian Hilton said "Cross Keys is an important building for the regeneration of Erith town centre, and we want to keep the doors open, not turn it into a fortress. Through Neighbourhood Watch we would like everyone's help in making sure young people don't vandalise and steal like this. This is the first incident of its kind in a long time and we hope it's the last. " The Cross Keys centre will be a powerful community asset, and both theft and criminal damage from it hurt everyone locally in the long run. I will be publishing images from the multi - camera high definition CCTV footage of the incident next week - lack of time has prevented me doing so in this edition. The youths were extremely foolish in their choice of target. The Cross Keys is absolutely covered in state of the art hi def cameras, all of which are in perfect working order - if you study the photo above (click on it for a larger view) you may spot some of them - there are others on the rear of the building, and yet more that are cunningly concealed from view. Any information regarding the perpetrators of the break in can be sent to me, and I will then let Julian Hilton know. More on this next week. 

The local area has produced some outstanding engineers over the years. Yet one name that should be famous seems have been almost forgotten, and today if one thinks of local engineers, the mind goes to his rival Sir Hiram Maxim (Knighted in 1901) generally known for his machine gun and his experiments with heavier than air flight in Bexley, or to Richard Trevithick, who died at Dartford in poverty in 1833 after a lifetime spent developing the steam engine. The name of Sir William Anderson is largely unknown today, despite his achievements, and his strong local connections. One of Sir William Anderson’s biggest claims to fame was that he was instrumental in the invention of the smokeless explosive Cordite, which is used in shell casings as the propellant.  His early life was remarkable - He was the fourth son of John Anderson, a member of the firm of Matthews, Anderson, and Co., bankers and merchants of St. Petersburg, by his wife Frances, daughter of Dr. Simpson. He was educated at the St. Petersburg high commercial school, of which he became head. He carried off the silver medal, and although an English subject received the freedom of the city in consideration of his attainments. When he left Russia in 1849 he was proficient in English, Russian, German, and French. In 1849, he became a student in the Applied Sciences department at King's College, London, and on leaving became an associate. He next served a pupilage at the works of Sir William Fairbairn in Manchester, where he remained three years. In 1855 he joined the firm of Courtney, Stephens, and Co., of the Blackhall Place Ironworks, Dublin. There he did much general engineering work. He also designed several cranes, and was the first to adopt the braced web in bent cranes. In 1863 he became president of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland. In 1864 he joined the firm of Easton and Amos of the Grove, Southwark, and went to live at Erith, where the firm had decided to erect new works. He became a partner, and eventually head, of the firm which at a later date was styled Easton and Anderson - as per the advertisement shown above - click on it for a larger version. At Erith he had the chief responsibility in designing and laying out the works. Part of the business of the firm at that time was the construction of pumping machinery. Anderson materially improved the pattern of centrifugal pump devised by John George Appold. In 1870 he proceeded to Egypt to erect three sugar mills for the Khedive Ismail, which he had assisted to design. In 1872 he presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers an account of the sugar factory at Aba-el-Wakf, for which he received a Watt medal and a Telford premium. Anderson next turned his attention to gun mountings of the Moncrieff type, and designed several for the British government, which were made at the Erith works. In 1876 he designed twin Moncrieff turret mountings for 40-ton guns for the Russian admiralty, which were made at Erith and proved highly successful. Later he designed similar mountings for 50-ton guns for the same country, and about 1888 he designed the mountings for the battleship HMS Rupert. About 1878–82 he was occupied with large contracts which his firm had obtained for the waterworks of Antwerp and Seville. To render the waters of the river Nethe, which was little better than a sewer, available for drinking purposes, he invented, in conjunction with Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, a revolving iron purifier, which proved perfectly effectual. He contributed a paper on the Antwerp Waterworks to the Institution of Civil Engineers, for which he received a Telford medal and a premium. About 1888 Anderson was asked by the explosives committee of the War Office to design the machinery for the manufacture of the new smokeless explosive, cordite. He had hardly commenced this task when, on 11 August 1889, he was appointed director-general of the ordnance factories. The duties of this post prevented him from continuing his work in relation to the cordite machinery, which was committed to his eldest son. Anderson made many improvements in the details of the management of the arsenal, and introduced greater economy into its administration. His improvements at the arsenal included the introduction of the eight hour day for his 17,000 workers and demonstrating that output did not suffer from the reduction of hours from 54 to 48 per week. Sir William Anderson lived in Erith for thirty four years, commuting by rail to his office in The Woolwich Royal Arsenal. He was also very involved with the Church – he served as Superintendent of the Sunday Schools of Christ Church Erith for twenty five years, and was also a licensed lay reader, who conducted services at a mission chapel supported by Christ Church. In his spare time Sir William Anderson was a keen maker – he would construct toys and gifts out of wood and metal that were made with exquisite attention to detail and workmanship. Contemporary reports say that Sir William Anderson was a rather serene, laid back man. An article in the Institute of Civil Engineering Journal in 1899 said “His character was a beautiful one, he was filled with a love of all things, and everyone that really knew him loved him also. He had no love of money and worked for work’s sake and because it was a sacred duty, rather than for gain, and he freely spent that which he had for the benefit of others, and but little on himself. He always had a serene and calm mind. No one ever angry, or heard a hasty or unkind word proceed from his lips. Those in difficulty or trouble naturally came to him assured in advance of any help or advice, and no genuine case of distress was disappointed”.  Sir William Anderson suffered from heart problems for many years, and eventually this led to his death on the 11th December 1898. A plaque dedicated to him can be seen on the wall of the North Aisle in Christ Church Erith. It reads “To the Glory of God, and in memory of Sir William Anderson KCB, FRS, DCL. For many years the earnest and devoted Superintendent of the Sunday Schools for this parish. He entered rest on December 11th 1898. Erected by subscription from the teachers, children and friends of the Sunday School”.

You may well have seen one or more of the web pages that I have screen captured above - click on any of them for a closer view. There are many other, similar ones out there. They all claim to be able to make you hundreds of thousands of pounds / dollars richer in a period of a few weeks with absolutely no risk to yourself. The process by which they say that you can become rich is by using a system called Binary Option Trading. Whilst they are marketed as electronically assisted stock market trading systems, they are little more than a form of online gambling. These platforms may be considered by some as gaming or gambling platforms rather than investment platforms because of their negative cumulative payout (they have an edge over the investor) and because they require little or no knowledge of the stock market to trade. According to Gordon Pape, writing in Forbes magazine, "this sort of thing can quickly become addictive... no one, no matter how knowledgeable, can consistently predict what a stock or commodity will do within a short time frame". Though binary options sometimes trade on regulated exchanges, they are generally unregulated, trading on the internet, and prone to fraud. Many binary option "brokers" have been exposed as questionable operations. With such binary option brokers, there is no real brokerage; the customer is betting against the broker, who is acting as a "bucket shop". Manipulation of price data to cause customers to lose is common. Withdrawals are regularly stalled or refused by such operations. On top of this, if you look at all three of the websites featured, they all have very similar wording, and all offer £10,000 / $10,000 to you if you sign up, if you have not made this amount of profit after the first month. If this was real, the sites would have gone bust within a couple of months. Savvy people would create a swathe of online identities, sign up with each one, then do very little for a month - the site would (in theory) then pay them £10,000 for each account that had not earned that amount through trading - like that was ever going to happen - the fraudsters really did not think this through very clearly. On top of this, the same model / actor is used on both the "Greenwood Formula" and the "Cambridge Method" websites. The faces of the "satisfied users" on the "Greenwood Method" front page are actually models hired from the media / marketing talent hire website Fiverr.com - if this was not enough, the amounts the fictional users claim to have earned since Greenwood and Cambridge went live in March is simply too high from the amount of capital the users are supposed to have invested - even using the wildly over the top rates claimed to be returned, there simply has not been enought time to have accumulated that amount of credit. Any kind of examination of these sites will lead one to realise that they are fraudulent and bogus. Basically anyone who says that they can help you to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds in a few months is doing nothing more than trying to rip you off - please avoid and ignore under any and all circumstances.

Following my scoop story last week that broke the news that pub company J.D Wetherspoon are currently actively looking for a site to open an outlet in Erith. I thought that I had better start doing what the acquisitions team at Wetherspoons were no doubt already doing - researching the demographics of the area - what the population size and composition actually is. This is what I have discovered.  In the 2011 census the population of Erith was 12,053 and is made up of approximately 51 percent females and 49 percent males. The average age of people in Erith is 35, while the median age is lower at 33. 75.6 percent of people living in Erith were born in England. Other top answers for country of birth were 5.9 percent Nigeria, 3.4 percent India, 1.0 percent Zimbabwe, 0.8 percent Ireland, 0.8 percent Ghana, 0.7 percent Scotland, 0.5 percent Jamaica, 0.5 percent South Africa, 0.4 percent South America. 89.6 percent of people living in Erith speak English. The other top languages spoken are 2.8 percent Punjabi, 1.1 percent Polish, 0.6 percent Yoruba, 0.4 percent Portuguese, 0.4 percent Lithuanian, 0.3 percent Turkish, 0.3 percent Tamil, 0.3 percent Russian, 0.3 percent Shona. 38.5 percent of people are married, 12.5 percent cohabit with a member of the opposite sex, 0.6 percent live with a partner of the same sex, 30.1 percent are single and have never married or been in a registered same sex partnership, 10.3 percent are separated or divorced. There are 640 widowed people living in Erith. The top occupations listed by people in Erith are Administrative and secretarial 15.2 percent, Professional 14.5 percent, Elementary 12.0 percent, Administrative 11.3 percent, Associate professional and technical 10.8 percent, Skilled trades 10.7 percent, Elementary administration and service 10.5 percent, Caring, leisure and other service 10.1 percent, Sales and customer service 9.2 percent, Managers, directors and senior officials 9.1 percent. So now you know.

The Royal Artillery "Firepower" museum at Woolwich is set to permanently close on the 8th of July. Most of the collection will move to a new 'heritage centre' in Wiltshire, expected to open by 2020, while some will be retained for a permanent exhibition at the Greenwich Heritage Centre in Woolwich Arsenal. I would imagine that many readers may be thinking "what museum?" It has never been given anything line the level of publicity or promotion that it needed, and the visitor levels have always been extremely low. It nearly closed back in 2007, until a bailout programme was put together, but this time it is definitely closing; the land it occupies on the Woolwich Arsenal Riverside development is now worth so much money that the museum building will almost inevitably be knocked down and rebuilt as luxury flats in time for the opening of Crossrail. It is a great pity the museum has had to close, but I feel that much of the problem was that a vast majority of the general public had no idea that it even existed. I feel that this has been an opportunity wasted, and now it is too late. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

More controversy exists over the government's "Help to Buy" housing scheme. Would-be-homeowners in large parts of England are being priced out of a government scheme to help first-time buyers, an investigation by the BBC has discovered. The Help to Buy Individual Savings Account (HTB Isa) was introduced last year to help people save for a home. The problem was the price limits the ISA was set up to work with were far too low in London and the South East. In many areas, the average price of a starter home exceeds the maximum purchase cap of £250,000, or £450,000 in London. In Erith the average asking price for a two-bedroom house is £258,350, which is £8,350 above the cap for accessing the bonus with a Help to Buy ISA. When one considers that Erith is officially one of the cheapest places to buy property anywhere in Greater London, this news is very unwelcome. As I have previously mentioned, I could not afford to buy Pewty Acres if I was in the housing market today; I guess I was just in the right place at the right time, back in the day. This is no comfort for aspiring first time buyers now, of course. 

The photograph above shows the reproduction of Colossus, the World's first electronic, digital, programmable computer. The Colossi (there were at least ten of them by the end of the war) were responsible for shortening World War II by around two years, and saving countless hundreds of thousands of lives. The fully working replica in the photo above is based at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes. Contrary to what you may have read in the tabloid press, Colossus was NOT used to break the Nazi Enigma code; instead it was used to assist in the cracking of the even more fiendishly complex Lorenz Cipher. In so doing, the cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park were in essence reading Hitler's Email. The National Museum of Computing has innumerable other fascinating exhibits, to which has recently been added something from rather more recently. An archive that tells the story of how the 1980s hack of Prince Philip’s online mailbox led to UK anti-hacking legislation has been deposited at The National Museum of Computing. Robert Schifreen, the "white hat" ethical hacker at the centre of the 1980s controversy, compiled the archive, which details Schifreen’s two-year-long legal travails following his open hack of Prestel, BT’s pre-web online service. Schifreen and the late Steve Gold managed to hack into BT's Prestel Viewdata service, famously accessing the personal message box of Prince Philip in the process. The Prince Philip incident only happened following a number of attempts to shock BT into action after the telecoms company initially showed no interest in bolstering the security of its system. Involving the Royals prompted BT into calling in the police, setting off a chain of events that led to the the arrest of Schifreen and Gold in March 1985 and the subsequent prosecution of the two technology enthusiast journalists. With no anti-hacking law in existence at the time, the archive gives details of the passage of what turned out to be in effect a test case through three courts ending in the acquittal of Schifreen and Gold in the House of Lords (at that time the highest UK court) in 1987. The archive includes Schifreen’s '80s-era hacking password book, transcripts of his interviews with police, legal correspondence, the jury bundle and a substantial number of press cuttings.  In 1985, the internet did not exist, home computing was beginning to take off, Prestel had recently become the first online service available to the UK public but there was no real awareness of the need for computing security and no law explicitly against computer hacking. Schifreen, aged 22 at the time, collected user names and passwords and investigated computer databases not supposedly open to the public but accessible all the same. In a statement, Schifreen explained: “Hackers in those days never started until 6pm because it was so expensive to go online with a dial-up connection before that. But 6pm was a significant start-time because the Prestel security staff had gone home and weren’t there to deal with automated messages telling them that there had been three unsuccessful attempts at a log-on to Prestel. I could read the messages, delete them to cover my tracks before security arrived for work next morning. In effect I was a Prestel System Manager. I even managed to hack Prince Philip’s Prestel Mailbox and was quite open about it,” he added. Schifreen was surprised at how Prestel handled his reports of issues with its systems, which these days would have earned him a bug bounty payout. Thirty years ago he was treated to arrest and trial. “I made no secret of what I was doing,” Schifreen explained. “It was 1985. The Computer Misuse Act came into existence in 1990. I was doing nothing illegal! I phoned Prestel and told them what I could do. I thought they might give me a job. They didn’t. They called Scotland Yard,” he added. Initially charged and convicted of forgery at Southwark Crown Court, that decision was overturned on appeal by the Lord Chief Justice. After a further appeal by the prosecution, the Lord Chief Justice’s decision to acquit was upheld by the House of Lords. Some readers may be aware that I too was involved in a hacking case at a roughly similar time in the early 80's, whilst I worked at Silica Shop in Sidcup. The difference was that we did not get caught and did not seek any publicity - in any case at the time of the event, no law prohibited such actions, and at the time it was all completely legal. All long in the past now. 

Following from some interesting information from long - time Maggot Sandwich reader Sharon, I publish below some information on the company which is building a new low - cost gym in the three retail units opposite Erith Health Centre. The units have been unoccupied since they were constructed ten years ago. The gym company describe themselves and the site thus:-  énergie is the UKs Market leader in the growth segment of fitness and wellness franchising. énergie has developed four niche brands aimed at targeted consumer groups and following the sale of a number of master licence agreements, has licensees and franchisees in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Qatar. With nearly 100 units now operational and in presales, 39 new projects underway, a membership base of over 95,000 and network turnover at c. £26m, énergie is the largest and fastest-growing fitness club franchisor in Europe. The unique range of niche products offered by énergie ensure that the right business model is provided in the right location. For instance in this location where we consider the club would benefit from the ‘Low Cost’ proposition, we launch clubs under our Fit4less brand, in contrast to our full service énergie Fitness Clubs brand, which offers a higher service and facility proposition ideally suited to more affluent or suburban locations. Therefore in summary we are entirely confident this is the correct gym proposition in the correct location for the market we are looking to service. Thus offering vital facilities for what is currently a vastly unengaged  population segment but one which the government guidelines are striving to tackle.

We have not had a food related end video for some time, so this week here is how to make an authentic British Indian Restaurant style Lamb Balti. It makes me hungry just looking at it. Feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.