Electricity House.

The photo above shows a new visitor to Erith Pier. It is a newly built tug called the GPS Avenger, and it is normally based in Chatham. I think it was waiting for the tide to come in before it went home - click on the photo for a larger view. Erith Pier is a popular local attraction to both anglers and people just out for a walk on a cold but sunny morning. The pier is definitely something that few outside the local area are very, if at all aware of.

The News Shopper are reporting that Erith's Cross Street Law Centre is finally going to close some time towards the end of March. The Centre, which has provided legal advice to local people on low incomes since 2006 has lost a large portion of funding from the Council; on top of which, changes to the legal aid laws by the Government have meant that it is no longer possible for low income families to get free advice on legal matters relating to employment disputes, marital breakups, and issues relating to personal debt – all areas in which the Cross Street Law Centre specialised. The closure of the centre will lead to three paid staff being made redundant, on top of two who have already gone, which is a further blow to the local economy. Once again it is very expensive to have a low income. Private solicitors are very expensive indeed, even for those people on a relatively healthy income, and for those on benefits it is an impossibility without external financial assistance. Stopping legal aid effectively blocks people on limited incomes from access to the justice system. I am unsure whether the Citizen’s Advice Bureau will be able to take up the slack in this respect; somehow I think it unlikely.

You may recall that back in October last year I wrote about how having a BrightHouse store opening in a town was a sure indicator of poverty. It would seem that BrightHouse are not alone in this respect. Some of the (quite rightly) reviled payday loan companies are opening high street branches – as if their TV and web based advertising was not enough. It would seem that their huge profits from their outrageously high – and to my mind immoral, if not technically illegal interest rates are being ploughed into property. I sense that the whole payday loan industry realises the public revulsion for their activities, and are trying to make as much money as possible, before draconian legislation is introduced to clamp down on them. I think that the biggest threat to the high street in general is one thing that so far has been largely ignored, or indeed people in the most part are unaware of. We all know how many betting shops have been opening all over the UK for the last few years. It seems like every high street now has three or four shops, whereas in the past one might have sufficed. What I have discovered is that the reason for the explosion in the number of shops has got little if anything to do with more people wanting to put a few quid on a horse, or bet on the outcome of a football match – in fact research shows that “conventional” betting is now a minority activity for UK betting shops. What people are visiting betting shops for nowadays is something else entirely – the Fixed Odds Betting Terminal (FOBT).  This bears little resemblance to the old style “one armed bandit” which would accept your 10p in the slot. Fixed Odds Betting Terminals are slick, computerised devices that offer games such as poker, blackjack and roulette. Gamblers can place bets using debit or credit cards, and it is possible to lose £100 every twenty seconds on such machines. In the betting shop industry, these machines are known as “the crack cocaine of gambling” as studies have proved that they are four times more psychologically addictive than any other activity in a bookmaker. There are currently no reliable estimates of the number of people (and it is usually young men) who are addicted to FOBT machines. The insidious spread of bookmakers on British high streets can be followed back to 2005, when Tony Blair’s government passed the Gambling Act, which at the time was feared to allow the creation of “super casinos”. This did not happen; instead it opened the doors for a deluge of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals. There are currently 33,000 such terminals in the UK, and they generate £1.5 billion in profit for the bookmakers. The real reason for the explosion in the number, rather than the size of bookmakers shops is simple. The Gambling Act 2005 placed restrictions on the number of FOBT’s in each bookmaker. What it did not do was place any restriction on the number of bookmakers on any high street. Consequently you may see several bookmakers in the same area, all from the same parent company. If a bookmaker wants to run more Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in a particular area, all it has to do is get permission to open another shop. Until recently many local councils have been reluctant to  block these extra shops, as they bring in council tax revenue, and often occupy otherwise empty premises. This attitude is starting to change, as the realisation that FOBT machines suck cash out of hard pressed communities – yes, the shops do employ a small number of staff –  but these usually on very long hours, and paid the minimum wage. Most of the bookmaker chains are owned by FTSE listed companies who  operate aggressive, but technically legal tax avoidance schemes – so the money that comes out of bookmakers does not go back into the local economy. Personally I have absolutely no interest in any form of gambling – I regard it as a tax on the stupid; I have been into a bookmakers once in my life – to place a bet for a disabled friend on Grand National day 1988. That was the first and the last time. The only way to reduce the attraction of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals would seem to be to be simple – the law should be changed to bring them alongside “ordinary” one armed bandits in having a maximum stake of £2, and proportionate maximum pay out. The bookmakers would hate this, as their main revenue stream would be cut overnight, but bearing in mind how little tax revenue comes from them, it would be a relatively painless move on the part of the government. Somehow I doubt this will happen, as the gambling companies have very effective lobbyists in Parliament. Meanwhile they continue to hoover up cash from impoverished communities all over the UK. There is a national campaign to get FOBT's treated as other gambling machines - you can read all about it here.

I am certain that I am not the only person driven to distraction by the amount of unsolicited mail that I get through my letterbox on a daily basis. The local fast food places are not the worst sinners in this regard, though regularly receiving pizza flyers from the Brent does somewhat perplex me; Pewty Acres is miles outside of their delivery area, and even if they did get an order from Erith, it would be a cold and congealed mess by the time it did eventually arrive. No, by far the worst offender is Virgin Media. I am aware that they offer some good products at a relatively competitive rate, but the fact that I choose not to avail myself of their services does not deter their marketing department. They hatch increasingly stealthy methods to get me to open their envelopes filled with marketing materials – “hand writing” the labels and making it unclear who the sender is seems to be a popular ploy. Nevertheless I am compelled to open them all in order to remove the address details and any personal contact information for shredding before the bulk of the post is consigned to the paper bag, ready for recycling. This is all time and effort that I would rather not be spending on something I would rather not have received in the first place. Any thoughts I might have had about swapping my television provider were instantly quashed by this intrusive advertising  - Virgin, the more you spam me, the less chance you have got of ever getting any business from me. Indeed, my feeling right now is that I would rather cut off both my legs with a blunt and rusty bread knife than buy anything from Virgin. Do you have any similar experiences? Leave a comment below.

Between 1982 and 1984, a large number of new and innovative home and office computer systems were released, at the beginning of what we now refer to as the technology revolution. These systems have now, or shortly will have reached their thirtieth birthday. The latest computer to commemorate its third decade is the Sinclair QL. “QL – don’t you mean the Spectrum?” I hear several readers ask. No, the QL, a computer designed to supplement the Spectrum as a business and scientific computer, aimed at a professional market. It was designed to compete with the IBM PC and the Apple IIe, both of which were very expensive in the British market. A IBM 5150 PC with a floppy disk, monitor and printer would set you back the thick end of £2000 or more, depending on specification. It is a lot of money now, and was an utter fortune back then. What Sinclair set out to do was produce a computer with similar or better specifications than a PC, at a price not exceeding £399. Clive Sinclair had ambitions to do for the business market what he had for the home market only a year or so earlier. Lofty ambitions indeed, but at that point Sinclair were awash with cash – the Spectrum was a phenomenal success, and was selling like hot cakes. The QL design was very clever; the number of electronic components inside it were kept to an absolute minimum in order to keep the production costs down (it is said that Sinclair copied this technique from Apple, who has pioneered “low component count” designs with the Apple II). Instead of using conventional floppy disk drives, the QL used “Microdrives” – which were tiny cartridges with a continuous loop of magnetic tape inside them. The QL looked great on paper, and the company advertised the computer widely, as you can see in the photo above - click for a larger version. The problem was that the design was nowhere near complete when the orders started coming in. Contemporary accounts say that the QL was around six months from completion on its launch date. The problem was, Clive Sinclair set his staff some impossible deadlines. Eventually the machines were released, but the early ones were blatantly not ready for the market. A hardware “dongle” cartridge had to be plugged into the back, as the computers’ internal ROM software would not fit onto the originally specified chip. Later on these early machines would be recalled by Sinclair to be “upgraded” with a full internal ROM set. In actuality, the recalled machines were scrapped, and the customer sent a brand new machine, as this was cheaper than actually carrying out the upgrade. On top of this, the internal micro tape drives were incredibly unreliable. They were meant to be an equivalent to a floppy drive, but they were nothing of the sort; they were a kind of mini cartridge with a thin and very fragile loop of tape inside. It turned out that one of the reasons for the reliability was that the drives were located directly over the TV modulator, and interference from it caused read and write errors. One contemporary report from a Dixon’s warehouse manager said that of a thousand QL’s delivered from Sinclair, only one hundred and ninety actually worked as advertised. I know when I worked at Silica Shop in Sidcup, I cannot recall a single faultless machine.  If this all was not bad enough, the keyboard on the QL had a fatal flaw which was quickly discovered. If you turned an early machine upside down, the keys would all fall off! This eventually got resolved, but not before irritating gits (i.e. me) would go into Dixons or Boots and rearrange the QL keyboard letterings to make rude words! QL was meant to stand for "Quantum Leap", but most in the industry at the time (myself included) referred to it as the "Quantum Lurch". What is ironic is that Sinclair intended the name to signify that it was a huge jump in performance for the price, but as you will know, quantum designates something on the smallest scale possible. Probably an accurate description in hindsight. The QL did have some interesting design features, and the Psion business software that was bundled with it was actually very good indeed once the bugs were ironed out, but the hardware was just not good enough – too expensive and there were not enough games for home users, and not “grown up”, too fragile, and not reliable enough for a professional environment. Sinclair lost a fortune on the machine, and nowadays it is a relic that many don’t remember. Things pretty much went downhill for Sinclair from then on. The Spectrum continued to be developed, before being sold off to Amstrad to try and cover the costs of the next big commercial flop – the Sinclair C5 personal transport – but that is another story, and one I have told before. 

The advert above (click on it for a larger view) comes from a vintage map of Erith I have owned since my schooldays. I have been in contact with local history guru Ken Chamberlain, as I was unsure of the vintage of either the map, or the advert it contained. Ken very helpfully gave me quite a bit of information, which I will relate here.  It turns out that it dates from a few months between November 1938 and the very early months of 1939. Back then, services like electricity, gas and water were the responsibility of the Council. I did not realise how relatively recently Erith was electrified; I had always assumed that it had happened around the turn of the 20^th Century, but from this evidence, this was far from the case. The office mentioned is the building that is what is now home to The Celestial Church of Christ African church, the Erith Snooker Centre and the row of shops facing the car park in Pier Road. The building is very run down and exceedingly scruffy now, but from contemporary accounts when the building opened in November 1939, the building, which is correctly called “Electricity House” was a minor Art Deco masterpiece. Back then, as well as containing a large showroom displaying electrically powered domestic products, which were available for hire purchase to use on the newly installed Council power supply; the building also was home to a dance hall with a large Canadian Maple dance floor, and a small Pathe cinema. In the very short period between when it opened and the outbreak of World War II, the Erith Electricity Board was astonishingly successful - it offered the cheapest domestic electricity rates in the whole UK. Just one old penny per unit. Ten thousand local people signed up in the first month alone, no doubt attracted by the offer of free electrical device installation when you opened an account. The board made a profit of £13,000 in their single year of operation. This was a stunning amount of money at the time. The money was meant to be used to improve and expand electrification, and generally make things more pleasant for local people. It is unlikely these facilities got much, if any use, as once war was declared other priorities took over. In 1940 Electricity House was handed over to the authorities, and the building was re – assigned for war work - and in 1947 the £13,000 profits got absorbed to no benefit for Erith people when the London Electricity Board was formed, and the whole thing nationalised. Below you can see a photo of Electricity House taken in early 1939, which is from Ken's own collection, which he has kindly given me permission to reproduce here.  Below it is a photo I took earlier this morning from as close as I could possibly get to the location of the original photographer. Unfortunately there is a brick wall in the precise location nowadays, so I got as close as I could.

London Travelwatch is the independent, statutory watchdog set up by the London Assembly to monitor and advise on all forms of transport within the capital, out as far as the M25. This week they published a report which shows that incidents of antisocial behaviour are on the increase, especially in respect of tram and bus journeys. The main cause of the increase is poor behaviour by school children, with the report citing examples of violence, swearing, vandalism, threatening behaviour and racially motivated abuse. This is not the expected boisterous behaviour from a bunch of kids on the way home from school – this is outright criminality. The report also finds that bus drivers and station staff are unwilling or unable to deal with this behaviour (probably scared of either being beaten or stabbed, or landed with a false accusation of child abuse), and that it mostly goes unremarked and unreported. I know from the experiences of myself and others that people try to avoid using the buses when large numbers of school children are around – and at Bexleyheath Clock Tower on schooldays, the local police normally assign a couple of PCSO’s to try and maintain some kind of order. The report also states that interviews with passengers have shown that many will even go so far as getting off the bus when trouble with school children starts. From the report findings, it does sound very much like the decision to give school children Oyster cards allowing free travel on public transport was a major mistake. Kids often get on the bus for one or two stops, then get off, as they were too lazy to walk – completely pointless, and to my mind a misuse of a privilege; in addition most school children don’t live very far from school, and could greatly benefit from the exercise – we are forever being told about childhood obesity – surely this would be one way to combat it? For those children with a genuine need for public transport, it would seem to both myself and many others that instead of a blanket “go where you please, when you please” Oyster card as is now the case, they instead should be issued with a warrant for a journey with a specified starting and ending point which was valid only during term time.  What do you think? Would this be too draconian, and affect the considerable number of good kids as well as the little hoodlums? What do you feel the answer is, if there even is one? Whatever the outcome, I don’t feel that maintaining the current situation is tenable, and it would appear that London Travelwatch are in agreement with this. 

Regular Maggot Sandwich reader Joe Ferreira dropped a comment on last weeks’ update. He had come across a story on MSN about how the London Borough of Bexley came bottom in the UK charts when it came to food outlet health inspections. Sky News also covered the story online. You may recall that – using the “Scores on the Doors” own statistics, I determined that not only is Bexley the worst Borough, but Erith is the worst town in the Borough, and West Street is the worst location, with a total of nine outlets with a zero star rating. It would appear that cutbacks mean that fewer places are being checked, and even when they are, little enforcement action is being taken because of the associated costs. If any readers have any direct experience of this, please do let me know.

The ending video this week is something that I stumbled upon by accident. It is an official information film about the development of Stage One of Thamesmead from back in 1970. It shows the idealism and good intentions that went behind the construction of the new town, and gives little insight into how it would all go horribly wrong in a very short time. The place looks lovely in many of the shots during the 25 minute film. It is sad tho think that Thamesmead so shortly thereafter became a concrete nightmare. It is ironic that many of the buildings featured have now, or will shortly be demolished. Watch and feel free to leave a comment below.

The Odeon.

The photograph above shows what was for many years a prime cinema site in the middle of Erith, that is now a residential housing block. The site historically hosted a custom made cinema, built for the chain of Odeon Theatres; the original Erith Odeon Theatre was opened on 26th February 1938 with Barbara Stanwyck in the film "Stella Dallas". Located on the corner of High Street and Avenue Road, the huge frontage was entirely covered in high quality tiles, broken only by long narrow window, just above the canopy. To the left of the facade was a striking swept back 65 foot high fin-tower, which became a landmark in the town centre (see the photo below). Inside the streamlined Art Deco style auditorium, seating was provided for 826 in the stalls and 420 in the circle. On each side of the proscenium arch were panels with horizontal glass bands that were back-lit. There were a series of decorative plaster bands along the ceiling towards the proscenium, which were broken only by a daylight fitting in the centre of the ceiling.  The Odeon was taken over by the independent Classic Cinemas Ltd. chain on 10th December 1967, and was re-named the Classic Cinema. The Classic Cinema was twinned from 16th September 1973, with a 1,000 seat Mecca Bingo Club operating in the former stalls area, and a 400 seat cinema in the former circle, which opened with Glenda Jackson in "A Touch of Class". Later, Classic Cinemas leased the entire building to Mecca Ltd. from January 1974, and the cinema was re-named Mecca Cinema. The Mecca Cinema was closed on 25th September 1976 with the last film being the exceedingly mediocre Robin Askwith in "Confessions of a Driving Instructor" and Anthony Sharp in "House of Mortal Sin". The building was de-twinned and the Mecca Bingo Club took over the stalls and circle levels from November 1976. In 1995, it was taken over by the independent Jasmine Bingo Club chain, and was closed on 4th February 1996. The building was boarded-up and lay unused until late 2002, when it was demolished. The building was a grade 2* listed structure (which basically means it is half way to grade 1 status), but ended up being bulldozed as the surveyors claimed that the place was chock - full of blue asbestos, which was very convenient for them, as they wanted a new build on the site all along. The site is now residential flats and some offices on the ground floor. A sorry loss. Below you can see a photo of what it looked like when it was first open, and in its' prime.

Much has been written both in the local press and on social media websites about the tragic death of Erith man Kyle Rich at the hands of a drunken driver. Kyle was hit by a Land Rover in Thames Road, Crayford at 5am on the 21st June. I had not realised how popular and well regarded Kyle was, until the incident on the jetty at Erith river front last Wednesday, that I wrote about on last weeks’ Maggot Sandwich update. Whilst I was in the Riverside Gardens with my camera, a number of teenagers approached me, asking if I was with the News Shopper. I said no, I was not, but the News Shopper did on occasion use my photographs with my permission. They did not look happy, and started to complain about how the story of Kyle’s death had been misreported in the local press. I explained that I had no connection with either the News Shopper or the Bexley Times, and that I was an amateur photographer who occasionally got lucky with a few shots of news worthy events. It was clearly evident that they were very unhappy with the treatment of the story, and felt frustrated that they could not seem to do anything about it. I suggested contacting the paper directly and explaining what they felt had been misreported. From conversations I have had over the last few years with local journalists, they are generally over – stretched and under staffed. Any error or omission in a story may be due to a lack of time, rather than a desire to alter the truth of the situation reported. I have to admit that the Kyle Rich story affected me, as I met him on several occasions when he accompanied his Dad Gary to various local venues where Gary played guitar in an amateur band. I don’t really want to say any more on the matter, as it is in the hands of the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service. It will be down to them and the court to decide what happens next.

On a much brighter note, information reaches me about next years' Erith Riverside Festival; it turns out that planning for the event is already under way. Gary "Tadge" Taylor, the principal organiser of the annual event has been in contact with me. Next year's event will be bigger and more colourful than 2013, and it will return to having a theme - unlike this year. Next years' theme will be the 1950's. Gary is keen to get 50's fans on board - anyone who can dress up in authentic period costume will be welcomed. I know that Gary is also keen to contact anyone who is in a retro 50's band to get in contact with him; he's also keen to have a 50's style coffee bar at the festival; there has even been some wishful thinking about having a "Wall of Death" motorbike stunt feature, but Gary is of the opinion it is unlikely to happen, as much as the audience might like it. If you can help in any way with next years' festival, do drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com and I will pass your details onto Gary and his team of festival organisers. It should be a return to form after the last couple of rather low key years, and anything you can do to help this would be great.

What is a photograph of two beer bottles doing on the Maggot Sandwich? Well, it is an example of regressive design. Fuller's ESB is my favourite bottled ale. The bottle on the left of the picture is the traditional "waisted" design that has been around for fifteen or sixteen years. The bottle on the right is the new design which is currently finding its' way into our supermarkets and off - licences. Personally I much prefer the old design - it is easy to hold and pour, and is very steady in the hand, as well as looking distinctive. The new bottle design is much more anonymous and bland. The main difference is that the new design is made of much thinner and lighter glass. It is cheaper to make, uses less energy to recycle, and saves fuel and air pollution when it is being delivered. I don't like the looks, but I have to give the sentiment a grudging thumbs up anyway. The beer inside still tastes as wonderful as ever, so at least we have that to be grateful for. 

As a matter of Maggot Sandwich policy, I don't usually comment on stories that make the national news; they are outside the remit of the blog, which is to provide news and comment on local issues, along with a bit of technology information, and an aimless ramble every so often when the feeling takes me. This week the policy has taken a bit of a bashing, as a story that broke at the beginning of the week has got bigger as the week has progressed, to the point where politicians have been asked their opinion on national radio. Not only that, but it has happened in respect of two stories - something I cannot recall ever occurring before. The first of the two is below.

There is a story doing the rounds at the moment that seems to have hit a nerve with a number of people, initially just in the local region, and later all over the United Kingdom. It started off as a bit of fluff in The News Shopper, who reported that a local woman, who was shopping in the giant Sainsbury’s superstore in Crayford made a complaint over the way she was treated by the checkout assistant. The story got such a level of traction midweek that it came to the attention of the London Evening Standard - you can read their take on it here and both the Daily Mail and the Telegraph, who are revelling in it. The encounter between the lady and the Sainsbury’s employee raises a number of questions relating both to customer service and to individual manners and courtesy.  The reason for all this was that the customer was talking on her mobile phone when she was at the checkout; the checkout assistant waited for the customer to finish her call before she started to scan and bag the customers’ purchases. The checkout assistant told the customer that this was Sainsbury’s policy, but when the customer later checked with the store management, she was told that it was not company policy, and was offered an apology.  The talkback on the News Shopper website has been alive with activity – responses to the story vary wildly, with the usual trolls trying to stir up feelings, and also a few rather more thoughtful replies like this:- "I was at the check-out in Marks and Spencer this week and very stupidly answered my phone whilst unloading the trolley. When I came to pay I apologised for ignoring her and ended the call. The lady serving me (very politely) commented "It always goes off when you least need it to doesn't it?" End of.  Lady serving me had every right to comment. And I had every need to apologise. Cannot believe Sainsbury's don't back their staff. And no, the customer is not always right. As someone commented above, I'm sure Waitrose in Dartford will welcome this customer with open arms." Whilst Sainsbury’s might not have an actual “no service whilst you are on a mobile phone” policy, quite a few local shops do. The first one I know of that banned shoppers from using phones was Harrison’s Pharmacy in Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. I can completely understand this; quite often if one is going to collect a prescription, the pharmacist will need to give the customer instructions on taking the medicine, and a warning of any possible side effects to be on the lookout for. If the customer has a mobile telephone glued to their ear, they are hardly going to be capable of understanding and acting on any professional instruction. It has been scientifically proved that a person on a phone call has a reduced situational awareness – hence the ban on using mobile phones whilst driving – an regulation that is ignored almost as much as the no smoking in public places rule. Personally I also find the attitude of a small minority of mobile phone users to be rude and self centred in the extreme. You can be in the middle of  a conversation with them; their mobile rings, and suddenly it is as if you ceased to exist – they answer the phone and completely ignore the fact that you are standing in front of them. Once the call is over, you suddenly re – appear in their eyes, and they continue as if nothing had happened. When this happens, I just walk away – if ignoring someone is good enough for the other party, it is good enough for me. I really think there ought to be some kind of formalised etiquette, as currently there seems to be a bit of a free – for – all. The trouble is, the kind of person who is rude in phone use is the kind of person who would not give a stuff about phone manners anyway.  I know that my attitude towards mobile phones in general is at variance with most people’s experiences (as in I don’t have one and have no desire or indeed need for one) – something that might strike you as strange, but trust me, life can be fine without being tethered to a phone and all of the intrusion and hassle that entails. Whilst researching this piece I came across a very well written and intelligent article that you can read here on the subject.  The concept of always on connectivity and “threat creep”, along with the  changing definition of what qualifies as an emergency are all subjects worthy of their own debate. Do cast your eye over the piece – it makes fascinating, if controversial reading. It appears to me, as an outside observer, that the use of mobile phones has done the reverse of what one would have expected – they increase the feelings of insecurity, rather than reducing them as one would think. Issues that in the past might be considered of minor importance now seem far more pressing and serious. This was first recognised back in 2006, when Dr David Sheffield, of the University of Staffordshire, found problem behaviour linked to using a mobile phone in a specimen group of 106 users who were studied. Some 16% were found to have problem behaviour linked to using their phone - either lying about how much they used them, becoming irritable after using them or being overly pre-occupied with them. The result of this was to cause the user stress,  The theory was reinforced by tests carried out on 20 mobile phone users before and while giving up their mobile phones. The results showed once people had started cutting down their mobile phone use, their blood pressure was lower when talking about them than before. There is an identifiable condition that psychiatrists have labelled “NoMoPhobia” - fear or anxiety of being out of mobile phone contact! This apparently affects 53% of mobile phone users – 20% saying such a scenario would be as stressful as moving house or breaking up with a partner. But anyway, I (slightly) digress;  I feel that those irresponsible mobile phone users who are guilty of the aforementioned anti social behaviour are really sending out a negative message about themselves – in that they feel they are more important, and answering a call is preferable to interaction with the person in front of them. I realise that this is a somewhat contentious matter, and would be interested in your thoughts on it – please leave your comments below.

I read this week of a new invention that will make travelling by train even more of an arduous event than it is already (I speak from experience as a daily train commuter). Sky TV's advertising agency have been working with an audio / visual developer and have come up with the following. This is not a hoax or a spoof.

Bone conduction is not a new technology, as the advert claims; it has been around for years. Even the (in)famous Google Glass wearable computer uses it. I understand that the advert was actually commissioned by Sky Germany, rather than the UK branch of the company. It does strike me as being a very intrusive and annoying potential product, and something I feel is likely to backfire on the company. When people want to rest on the train, the last thing they need is what appear to be voices in their heads - and as for the harm that could befall anyone with a mental illness, it beggars belief. Hopefully it is heading for the bin of ideas that never made it past the prototype. Anyway, you saw it here (almost) first.

Erith's Cross Street Law Centre have been surviving on a hand to mouth basis for quite some time. Their offices in Cross Street have been operating on reduced hours in an effort to keep overheads down for some time. Much of the services they used to offer in the past (advice on redundancy, housing legal issues, child custody disputes etc.) have been drastically cut back due to the cessation of government funding. There is a glimmer of light on the horizon though. An online petition has been started by a woman named Rachel Bentley; she’s trying to get over 100,000 e-signatures, supporting her proposal that “The Ministry of Justice should not proceed with their plans to reduce access to justice by depriving citizens of legal aid or the right to representation by the solicitor of their choice”. If the 100,000 signature point can be reached (and I understand that it is already getting quite close) it will be considered for debate by the Back Bench Business Committee in Parliament. Personally I think this is a laudable effort, but I do wonder whether it will have any tangible effect on government policy. It seems to me that the relatively minor cash saving that the government are making by slashing the legal aid budget is already causing a disproportionate effect in those who are in most need of help – the vulnerable. If you would like to sign up for the E-Petition, you can find it by clicking here.

The second local story that has gone national is that related to the story I reported last week about Bexley Council banning the recording of public council meetings. The story has been reported in many publications, and Councillor Colin Campbell appeared on the Andrew Marr show this morning. I think the council will eventually bow to public opinion, and the influence of Eric Pickles, and permit recording; they just don't seem to want to do it with any amount of good grace. You can read an account here of the broadcast from Malcolm Knight, who is far better placed to analyse the interview than I. As you will see, it would appear that the council have once again whitewashed the whole incident and are trying to lie their way out of an embarrassing situation.

Fellow Blogger, Daryl of the Charlton and Greenwich based 853 blog has pointed out something just before I had intended to - one of the perils of my sticking to a once a week update schedule - it does mean that some events can overtake publication, or scoops can be missed; unfortunately I just don't have the time to publish more frequently. If I did the quality (ha! I hear you say) would suffer due to my other commitments. It is the official first birthday of the Arabfly Dangleway. Better known as the Emirates Air Line cable car. To be absolutely truthful, I am astonished that the white elephant has managed to last a whole year. It gets so little use that it is losing money hand over fist. I am unsure whether Transport for London is propping it up financially. The people behind the ill - fated cable car just don't seem to be able to realise that it was constructed in entirely the wrong place. It goes from nowhere to nowhere and travels over scrap yards, old warehouses and a truck park - hardly the most appealing parts of the capital. I have personally seen times when the cable car has been switched off during the day - there have been no passengers whatsoever on it, and they decided to save some electricity until a punter or two came along. I just don't think the situation is sustainable for very much longer - the cable car was touted as an addition to London's transport network, but in reality it is no such thing.

On a lighter note, here is a decent sized clip of Nile Rogers and Chic performing "Good Times" at this years' Glastonbury Festival. Comments below as always.

Comedy at the Running Horses.

A photo I took a while back of the Running Horses pub, next to Erith Riverside Gardens. The pub used to be excellent back in the late 1980's, having a superb carvery / restaurant on the upper floor, which used to be packed with diners in the evening and weekends. In fact, you used to have to book two weeks in advance on a Sunday lunch time. Things unfortunately went down hill, and the place has been somewhat sad and unloved for the last few years. Hopefully this situation may be changing, as the pub is now holding a monthly stand up comedy club, which is featuring some quite big names in modern British comedy. The next comedy evening hosted by the Runaway Comedy Club is being held on the 5th May. You can see details of the event by clicking here. I wish them every success - this is just the kind of imaginative creativity the town needs; they just need to publicise it more. 

The Cross Street Law Centre in the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre is taking part in the London Legal Walk again this year. The aim of the walk is to raise much needed funds for law advice and legal advice groups around London. The Cross Street Law Centre has already been forced to cut back on its’ free legal advice services to local residents due to both funding cuts and changes in the law regarding free legal advice.  The law centre provides free legal and housing advice to local people who are unable to afford to go to a commercial lawyer. Their mission statement reads “Cross Street Law Centre is a professional, not for profit organisation committed to the delivery of free and quality legal advice, assistance, information and representation to the local community in specialist areas. Our aim is to actively tackle social exclusion by empowering and educating individuals to assert their legal rights and work alongside other community groups and service providers to improve access to social justice. Underpinning our work is a commitment to promote equality and justice and challenge discrimination”. It has been living a hand to mouth existence for several years, scrabbling around for scraps of funding from all the sources it can locate. An area such as Erith really needs the kind of service that the Cross Street Law Centre provides, and it is worrying to see it struggling to make ends meet, and to continue to serve the local population. With the scope and services of Erith Citizen’s Advice Bureau also severely constrained (and their website non – existent) there really is very little advice or support for local people who cannot afford the fees a law firm or planning consultancy would charge. I fear that the situation is going to get worse rather than better. Let’s hope that the Cross Street Law Centre manage to raise enough much needed funding to keep going for now. I think that a long term fix will have to involve either a wealthy donor, or more likely some commercial sponsorship from a prominent local company such as, for example ADM Oils or the Erith Construction Group. It would be a great piece of corporate social responsibility, and would really benefit the people of the town.

London seems to be getting quite a lot of media exposure at present; I reckon  that this may well be a spin – off from last years’ Olympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The sequel to the Marvel superhero film Thor is mostly set in South East London (parts were filmed in Greenwich, at the old Naval College building, and on what remains of the Kidbrook Park Estate). From what is shown in the trailer, the capital does get more than a bit of exposure. London was a central part of Skyfall – arguably the best Bond movie to date, and London is also central to the forthcoming Star Trek movie, though from what I have seen thus far, the London of the 23rd Century is pretty much unrecognisable, with the exception of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Hopefully this exposure of London in the movies will lead to an upsurge in tourism to the capital, after the drop in visits caused (ironically) by the Olympics. Coincidentally I was in London last Saturday; initially for work, but later for some relaxation. It was instructive to be in the city as a tourist rather than a worker, as one then can see the place more with the eyes of a visitor. I had met up with friend Ian and after finishing the task I travelled into town for, we decided to go for a quiet drink on a lovely, sunny afternoon. We ended up in The Old Cheshire Cheese, just off Fleet Street, a pub rebuilt after the Great Fire of London, which boasts of being one of the oldest pubs in town. It is an astonishing place – fairly nondescript on the outside, but a warren of dark and musty rooms inside, like something out of a DiskWorld novel, or a Harry Potter film set. There is a small bar with an open fire as you enter the front door, and to the left is the chop house – basically a small restaurant with high backed benches looking like dark and foreboding church pews. There is also a tiny rickety staircase leading downwards – you need to bend almost double to descend this if you are anything other than jockey – sized. At the bottom of the staircase there are a number of bars and seating areas that are fashioned out of the ancient buildings’ cellars. It is all dimly lit and very atmospheric. The Old Cheshire Cheese features heavily in several prominent London tourist guide books, and when we visited (late on a Saturday afternoon) the place was full of foreign visitors. This seemed to me to be the crux of the problem. The pub almost exclusively caters for the tourist trade, to visitors who will perhaps visit the place once or twice in their lives. It would appear that the pub management understand this, and they have definitely let things slide. I understand from a work colleague that the place was very good until around four years ago when the place was bought by Sam Smith’s and a new landlord was brought in; at this point several long serving staff members left, and their replacements were not of the same calibre – the food initially began to suffer, and the drinks somewhat later. The single real ale on tap (Sam Smith’s Bitter) was soapy and lifeless; the food we saw (but did not order) looked overcooked and greasy, and the staff seemed indifferent in general. This was a real shame, as the bonkers, ancient architecture and spooky retro atmosphere really lent itself to a really fine classic London pub. Instead what you get is a theme park ride of a faux “olde worlde” pub, where the building is the real thing, but the stuff it serves and the people who serve it are a pale imitation of what one should expect. It was a real disappointment. I wonder what the tourists think? They in the main part probably don’t know any better, and thing it is the best you will get in a pub, which to my mind is doing our visitors a real disservice. To counter this poor experience, I can offer one that was diametrically opposite. Later the same afternoon we headed into Covent Garden – probably the biggest tourist trap in the West End. We headed for another famous, very old pub, this time The Lamb and Flag in Rose Street. This pub has recently been purchased by Fuller’s and given a gentle update and refresh without losing any of its’ period charm. The place was packed, and the crowd spread out into the alley the pub faces onto. A quality pub serving superb Fuller’s real ales and some pretty decent food too. You can read more about the pub by clicking here. I was introduced to The Lamb and Flag by my Dad. He had a friend who was the general manager of Stanfords – the world’s leading map and travel guide shop in Long Acre, just around the corner from the pub. Dad would occasionally take me along when he met his friend for lunch. I can recall sitting in The Lamb and Flag’s smoky upstairs restaurant (no smoking ban back then) and tucking into a steaming great Shepherd’s Pie with mixed veggies. Bliss. I recall on one occasion that Dad’s mate was telling us that he was rather mystified; some chap in the MOD had first phoned him, then turned up in person at the shop. The chap had been very secretive, and would only speak when he was safely inside a private office. It turned out that he wanted to know how many maps of some obscure place called the Falkland Islands Stamford’s had, and how quickly they would be able to print a whole lot more. Weeks later Britain was at war, and the mystery of the maps was public knowledge. That was the last time I visited the Lamb and Flag until last Saturday. I definitely left the visit far too long.

Following the stabbing incident in West Street last week, and the photos I took of the subsequent arrival of the Air Ambulance, the News Shopper not only published six of my photos on their website (see here and also here), but they also published one on the front page of the print edition - click on the image above for a larger version. Not that you would realise – it was hacked around and butchered to such an extent that the final image they printed looked like it had been taken with a box brownie rather than a Nikon D300. Oh well, the story is the main thing I suppose.  The good news is that the 16 year old stabbing victim was not as badly hurt as originally feared. At the time of writing, nobody has been arrested for the crime. The original photo sent to the News Shopper is below, before they hacked it around. See the difference in quality?

Some Erith residents have been complaining to Bexley Council, our two local Members of Parliament, and to pretty anyone else who will listen (myself included) regarding their perception that the levels of airborne dust have increased since demolition work on the Larner Road Estate began; I contacted Bexley Environmental Health Department earlier this week with a query regarding what level of air quality monitoring was being carried out on the redevelopment site, and this is the (edited for content) response I got:- "There is no air quality monitoring directly in and around the Colyers/ Larner estate, however, there are three automatic air quality monitoring stations (AQMS) in the area, all of which monitor fine and ultra fine particulates/dust as PM10 and PM2.5 microgram levels.  The first is located to the north-east of the Larner Road demolition site at Manor Road (identified as BX4) at the NCC premises.  The second AQMS is to the south-east at Whitehall Lane (BX1) and the third to the north in Belvedere (BX2). There  are also two dust/Particulate PM10 monitors, one (identified as Manor Road West  Gravimetric/ BQ5), the other beside BX4 station (Manor Rd East Gravimetric/BQ6). All the air quality monitoring results from these air quality stations are available on the live LondonAir website, from which you can interrogate the data. The gravimetric has a delay to the results as the lab conditioning and weighing takes time to be completed and ratified, the website is always behind by some time.” So there you have it, the local air pollution levels are freely available for the public to monitor online at any time.  You can visit the LondonAir website here for more details.

A Maggot sandwich reader called Paul has very kindly provided me with some details about the bulk cargo vessel the M.V Willeke that currently seems to spend a lot of its’ time moored on Erith Pier, as I have previously shown in the photos I have taken of it.  Paul wrote:- “Hi Hugh, just a quick note regarding the Willeke ship that is a frequent visitor to Erith pier. Wandering along this morning we saw a plastic covered notice attached to the railings next to said vessel. It was a little description of the Willeke and its cargo and current work load. The cargo is spoil from the London sewer project and is discharged at mucking near Gravesend. Nice to get some knowledge of what these ships are doing. While on the pier we were delighted to get a brief glimpse of two Harbour porpoises slowly making their way downstream, frequent visitors to this part of the river I believe and often seen feeding near the RSPB site over at Rainham Marshes”. Thanks to Paul for the fascinating and useful information. If you come across any stories or information that you feel would be  of interest to Maggot Sandwich readers, do drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com . I rely on people telling me things – I investigate any leads I get given, and do my best to check the veracity of the facts before publishing. At present I am sitting on two potential scoop stories, as the facts cannot currently be confirmed, but in time I hope to publish them.

As previously mentioned on the Maggot Sandwich, it has become clear that Windows 8 has been an unmitigated disaster for Microsoft; sales figures are even worse that for the widely derided Windows Vista – an OS that even its’ creators now admit was dreadful – slow, buggy and bloated. The trouble with Windows 8 is that it wants to be all things to all users, and in doing so, fails to all. The uneasy mix of a touch oriented interface onto a conventional desktop user space has garnered criticism from pretty much all corners, to the extent that some retailers are now offering Windows 7 “downgrade” disks to customers in order to make a sale. Microsoft must now really be feeling the pressure, as they have leaked to the IT press that the next version of Windows – currently code named “Blue” (and termed Windows 8.1 in the trade) is to have the option to boot to a conventional desktop interface, complete with the Windows “Start” button (which has been present since way back in the days of Windows 95). This has been greeted with great relief by many technology writers. Whilst no fan of Microsoft in general, I would readily concede that Windows 7 was the best OS ever released by the giant software company, and it would seem if they can build on “Blue”, they may well carry on with their tradition of every other update of the desktop version of Windows being good – think about it:- Win 95=Good, Win 98/SE=Bad, Win ME = Abysmal (OK, the theory does break down a little at this point, but bear with me). Win XP=Good (by SP2, anyway), Win Vista = Bad, Win 7=Good, Win 8=Bad. Hopefully blue will be good, but Microsoft really need to go back to listening to their grass roots customers, otherwise their market share will slide. One telling fact is that many entry level laptop and netbook makers are now starting to ship their devices, not with Windows 8, but with the Android operating system instead. Android was designed from the ground up to operate snappily on low powered mobile devices, it is based on the mature, stable and reliable Linux kernel, with a smooth and tasteful interface grafted on top. Going back a few years, the first netbooks were often offered with a Linux distribution installed, but these proved unpopular with all but techies like me – the lack of availability of popular Windows applications was a step too far for the general consumer.  Things have changed dramatically – Android is now the most popular operating system for mobile phones, tablets and other small devices like media players, not only because it was created by search giants Google, and championed by cutting edge hardware makers like Samsung, but also as it is free of any licencing fees. Every time a computer maker produces a laptop and installs Windows on it, they pay a fee to Microsoft for the right so to do; Android is free and open source, and can be installed and sold with no licencing fee whatsoever. Google were very clever when they launched Android, and were most definitely playing a long game – they have managed to dominate the mobile OS market place in less than five years, and are now chipping away at Microsoft on the desktop. Windows 8 mobile is so far in fourth place in the mobile OS sales league that they might as well take their ball and go home.  Google now have the danger of becoming complacent, and sitting on their laurels; somehow I feel that this unlikely – as one of the biggest other contributors to Android is Samsung, who are hungry to dominate the OS, and will eclipse Google if given half a chance.  Either way, the consumer benefits from the aggressive competition.

Another reader contacted me this week; she's only just discovered the dubious joys of the Maggot Sandwich, thanks to someone who has posted my musings on FaceBook. As you may know, I don't "do" social networking, for a number of personal reasons; I am not against it per se, just that it is not something that I have any interest in. I also will not join any web service that demands you sign up before you can view the content. I digress.  New reader Anna Collins took the photo above (click for a larger view) last week; it shows a film crew preparing for a take of a scene for an episode from Season Five of "Misfits". The crew were filming beside Southmere Lake in Thamesmead, as they have done on many occasions in the past. Rumours persist that any future continuation of "Misfits" will need to be done soon, as most of their key locations are due for demolition over the next few months; unless the story writers and producers come up with a plausible reason for the show to relocate, it may mean the end of production - though rumours of a low budget movie persist. Anyway, you can see all of Anna's photos of the filming, and indeed her other Flickr photos by clicking here.

The ending video this week is something from the National Geographic; it is a behind the scenes look at Google - their history, aims and background. It also asks questions about privacy and accountability which the search and services giant have provoked. The result is a balanced and fascinating look at the famously secretive organisation with comments from Google staff and former employees. It is certainly worth a watch. Let me know what you think be posting a comment below.