The Bombe.

I took the two photos above (click on either for a larger view) on Tuesday afternoon in Walnut Tree Road, Erith. They show the freshly restored roof and iconic copper weather vane on top of the classic Carnegie Library building, which is currently being refurbished and repurposed before it opens to the public as The Exchange. The aim of The Exchange is to create a community centre and a focus for local arts, heritage and culture, and to create somewhere for local people to use as a base for learning and advancement. It will have meeting rooms, creator spaces and a cafe / bar area. There are many plans for activities to take place in the Carnegie Library building when it re - opens in the New Year, once the first phase of the refurbishment and reconstruction work is completed. Initially the lower ground floor of the building will be opened, with the ground and upper floors opening once the subsequent second refurbishment phase is completed in due course. The project is costing a considerable amount of money, which is coming from a number of funding sources, including the Mayor of London's Office and The National Lottery. In 2016, the London Borough of Bexley secured £926,600 from the Mayor’s London Regeneration Fund to repair and renew Erith’s Carnegie building. The council have also inputted over £900,000 to this first phase of works that will bring the lower ground floor of the building back into public use. The design has been led by Robin Lee Architects. The Exchange will be taking on a long-term lease for the building, and will be reopening the building in January 2019 with a host of arts, heritage and community activities and the Book Store café. More on The Exchange and the Carnegie Library restoration next week. 

Some news about Bexley Brewery; the very successful local business, which is based on the Manford Industrial Estate at the Eastern end of Manor Road, next door to Erith Yacht Club is temporarily closing its brewery shop. The reason for this is due to their increased demand for their superb quality real ales, they need to extend the ale conditioning room, which is air conditioned and temperature controlled. The expansion will take over the area at the front of the brewery which is used for the shop, bar and off sales area. For this reason the shop will be closed whilst the building work is undertaken, and an alternative location for the shop can be built. Whilst the shop is out of commission, you can still buy ale from their brewery tap - the exceptional Bird and Barrel micro pub in Barnehurst Road, Barnehurst, close to the railway station. 

Last Monday evening I watched the first episode of a new BBC TV series entitled "Monkman's and Seagull's genius guide to Britain" which is described as "University Challenge icons and real-life best friends Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull are on a road trip with a difference. Feeding their insatiable appetite for knowledge, they visit Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales in search of hidden gems of British scientific and technological ingenuity". This is the sort of television programme that really interests me - two interesting and knowledgable presenters travelling around the UK highlighting less well known engineering and scientific landmarks. There was a definite local theme to the first episode - not that a casual viewer of the show would necessarily have realised. The BBC description of the first episode reads:- "Their genius guide through England showcases an assortment of remarkable inventions. It begins with a trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach to experience Sir Hiram Maxim's 1904 Captive Flying Machines, the oldest amusement ride in Europe. These miniature rocket-shaped aeroplanes were designed by the eccentric inventor who created the first portable machine gun but whose ultimate goal was to achieve powered flight. A vertiginous spin on this historic ride gives Monkman the perfect opportunity to describe in detail the theory of centrifugal force". As regular readers will already be aware, I have written on several occasions in the past about Erith based local inventor and businessman Sir Hiram Maxim. The story of the captive flying machine amusement park ride is a little inaccurate. It is inferred during the programme that Maxim created the ride in 1904 in order to publicise and promote his Maxim Flyer flying machine. This is actually inaccurate - by 1904 the Wright Brothers had already performed a whole series of controlled, powered heavier than air flights. As I have previously written, Maxim's flyer predated the Wright Brothers efforts by launching his steam powered flyer in Baldwyn's Park in 1894 where it accidentally took off whilst taxying along rails. The Maxim Flyer predated the amusement park rides by some years; indeed, the first ride - the one now located on Blackpool Pleasure Beach is reputed to be constructed at least in part from materials reclaimed from The Maxim Flyer after it was scrapped.  The Maxim Flyer predated the Captive Flying Machines amusement ride by several years - something not picked up in the nonetheless excellent TV show. 

Last Saturday the first Abbey Wood Village Food and Craft fair took place. Fellow local Blogger Malcolm Knight of "Bexley is Bonkers" attended the event and took a fine series of photos which you can see by clicking here. The event looks to have been a great success, and will hopefully become a regular event in the local social calendar.

In a classic example of the law of unintended consequences, Morrison's in Erith are now suffering financially after their decision to voluntarily discontinue their 5p carrier bags. As of Thursday this week all of the wire hand baskets in the shop have been fitted with wireless security tags. I understand from talking to staff that since the 5p carriers were dropped back in June, that the level of basket theft has sky rocketed; one staff member told me in confidence that at times up to forty percent of the hand baskets were missing from the supermarket. Whilst some baskets were returned to the store by the customers who had taken them home, a significant number disappeared forever. Bearing in mind the baskets cost around £15 each to replace, that is a significant loss. I am not aware as to the cost of adding RF security tags to each basket, but when hundreds of baskets for the one store are taken into account, the spend must be considerable. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

The Erith Pier Festival will be taking place next Saturday. It will be the final outing of the year for the successful Erith Kitchen gourmet food stalls pop - up village, which will be located on the pier, rather than in front of Morrison's car park, as in previous appearances. There will be live music and other entertainment, which will take place between 11am and 9pm on Erith Pier. I will be along during the day with my camera - do come over and say hello if you see me.

Families of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin living locally are currently being targetted by thieves. The criminals are specifically looking to steal high purity gold jewellery from families of Asian origin. Chairman of Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association Dana Wiffen said:- "There is some concern that burglars are again targeting Bexley's residents with the aim of stealing Asian Gold which is known for its purity and high quality. Bexley NW can only urge all parts of the community to be alert for these slippery thieves. We know that many in areas that were affected by, or living in areas near to, where there were break-ins earlier this year have joined us and have purchased “Smart Water” security marking kits, using our member's only discount code which offers a reduced price. We can only urge you if you have not purchased this, to do so as soon as possible, and if you are aware of any friends and family that live in Bexley who were planning to join us but how have not yet, please encourage them to join us and mark their valuables. Our aim is to make it as difficult as possible to steal your valuables. Reported burglaries for the previous week were 7 with 3 attempted. We want to help keep these burglary figures low and with your help we can. Remember, anything you see that appears suspicious like cars with occupants hanging around, get the make, model, number of occupants, registration number and pass it to us with time and date and we will ensure the police get this information. If you think they are about to commit a crime phone 999". More from Neighbourhood Watch later in this update.

Just as Christmas seems to be advertised and promoted far too soon nowadays, I have already seen supermarkets and shops such as The Works running promotions for Halloween. Halloween seems to be taking over as the main winter festival from Guy Fawkes Night. Halloween was originally created in pretty much its’ current form by 18th century Irish people, the word is a corruption of All Hallow’s Eve. Irish immigrants to America took the tradition there, and it was exported back across the Atlantic in the early 1980’s. Although Halloween was celebrated before this time, it was a far lower key and less involved affair. I am convinced that the increase in popularity of the Americanised version of the festival can at least partly be laid at the feet of Steven Spielberg and his movie “ET – The Extra Terrestrial”. The film carries strong Halloween themes such as dressing up and “Trick or Treating” which prior to the opening of the film in 1982 had been relatively uncommon in the UK. The massive popularity of the film exposed may children of the time to take on the American aspects of the Halloween festival; many of those children now have children of their own, and the festival thus now has an amplified resonance not previously seen. Personally I am not struck with the whole thing, which basically encourages small children to demand goods with menaces, but I am probably in a minority.

I watched a live series of lectures and demonstrations which were broadcast on YouTube throughout most of Friday; as some of you will be aware, I have an interest in cryptography and code breaking, not only because of a familial connection; my late Great Uncle Horace is thought to have been one of the Post Office team led by Tommy Flowers that constructed the Colossus Mk1 and Mk2 computers which were used at Bletchley Park to establish the rotor settings for the Lorenz Cypher, which was used to encrypt messages sent from the Nazi High Command in the last few years of WWII. In the years prior to this, Bletchley Park were mainly engaged in breaking the Enigma Cipher. In a live video link-up with Poland on Friday, the reconstructed Turing-Welchman Bombe pictured above - (click for a larger view) at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park attempted to find the key of the day and break Enigma messages just as it did during the Second World War. Ruth Bourne, a wartime Bombe operator, was present to verify the process as the TNMOC (The National Museum Of Computing) Bombe Team attempt to find the key to decrypt messages that will be sent from Poland throughout the day. The challenge was part of a live video link-up with the World Computer Congress in the Poznan Supercomputing Centre, Poland. At the conference, the audience  also heard papers relating to cryptography, the Bombe and Alan Turing from presenters including Sir Dermot Turing, Dr Marek Grajek and Dr Roger Johnson. Based on the work of Polish mathematicians who first broke Enigma before war began, Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman created the Bombe - an electro mechanical analogue computer - to automate the decryption process to reveal enemy Enigma messages about their current operations. For security reasons, the Enigma key for each network in the field was changed by the enemy every day (at about midnight). Bletchley Park cryptographers and operators would try to discover that key as quickly as possible so that the day’s messages could be deciphered and invaluable intelligence obtained. The complete process including the interception of the Enigma-encrypted Morse messages from across the world, transmission to Bletchley Park, the attempt to discover each day’s wheel settings and the production of the plain text of the decrypted messages was demonstrated live to an audience both in Bletchley Park, in Poland and around the world via YouTube. The working reconstructed Bombe can be seen almost daily at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park. Thanks to private donors the Bombe moved to the Museum in spring 2018.

Now for the weekly safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association - firstly from Barnehurst ward:- "Another fantastic week across the ward with no crimes of note reported (up to 17/09/18) The team have had a busy week which has included assisting Crayford ward with a drugs warrant resulting in the discovery of a quantity of class A drugs namely cocaine and ketamine. The Safer neighbourhood teams work closely together and regularly assist each other to carry out warrants and tackle ASB issues. If you have any information regarding this or any other crime please give the team a call in strictest confidence or call Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 Please make sure that your home is secure. If you have a UPVC or multi locking door mechanism simply shutting the door will not prevent burglaries. Most use a system of hooks and latches but these only work if you lift up the handle and then turn and remove the key. Double lock the door every time you leave the house, even for a short period of time and before going to bed at night. It only takes a matter of seconds for a burglar to open a door that is not double locked. We are continuing our street a week campaign, a local initiative to visit at least one street a week and meet as many residents as possible across the ward. This week we have visited Defoe and Appledore Close Please join a member of the team at Barnehurst Golf Course on Thursday 27th September at 1pm for a chat about any local issues that may be of concern. If you cannot make our contact sessions the the team will be happy to pay you a home visit or at a location of your choice. We are always looking for additional venues to hold our meetings, if you have any suggestions please get in touch, ideally the venue will need to be on Barnehurst ward As always you can follow us on Twitter @MPSBarnehurst and Facebook Barnehurst Police for crime prevention advice and to find out what the team have been up to". Once again no report from the Belvedere ward, so we will move on to Bexleyheath ward:- "Unfortunately, we have had a report of an attempted burglary on the 17/09/2018 along Broom Mead Bexleyheath. The house alarm had been activated and neighbour discovered an attempted break in. The team are conducting daily weapon sweeps to keep offensive weapons off the streets to help reduce crime. No weapons have been found on our ward. We also assisted with a warrant on a neighbouring ward. Sunday 16/09/2018 – A criminal damage to motor vehicle was reported opposite the Meze restaurant. A side window was smashed and keys taken from within the vehicle; Saturday 15/09/2018 – Royal Oak Road Bexleyheath – Suspect was trying door handles on the street; Friday 14/09/2018 / Saturday 15/09/2018 – A theft of motor vehicle had been reported along Leysdown Avenue Bexleyheath; Sunday 16/09/2018 – Theft from motor vehicle reported at the Marriot Hotel – Number platers stolen from a motorcycle. Sunday 16/09/2018 – Victim had sold vehicle and suspect had given cash to victim and taking money out. The team are still targeting patrols around Martens Grove and Grove Road including the garages to reduce anti-social behaviour. If you do wish to pass on information to Police then please contact Crime stoppers on 0800 555111. Please do not hesitate to contact us via Twitter, Facebook, email and the ward phone. If you are after crime prevention advice, please look at the Met Police website which has lots of information that you may find useful. Remember in an emergency please dial 999 and 101 for non-urgent reporting".

Crayford ward:- "This week your team have been very busy. On Saturday 15th September we successfully executed a drugs warrant in Ridge Way. We were advised that youths were riding motorcycles off road on the Braeburn Park Wildlife Reserve, officers stopped them and they were issued with Section 59 warnings. This means that if they or their vehicles are causing anti-social behaviour in this manner again, the bikes can be seized and they will have to pay a fine to get them back or they will be destroyed, usually a lesson well learnt! Four people were processed for using their mobile phones while driving. Open spaces have been patrolled as there have continued to be calls about drug use and dealing, there have been other visible patrols around the ward too. On Wednesday 12th September at approx. 12.20 a grey Vivaro van, VO65 UNP was stolen in Crayford Way. The driver had just made a delivery and was walking back to the van, the key to the vehicle was attached to a keychain on the driver's trousers. A male described as white, aged 35-40 years snatched the key, pushing the victim to the ground with the intention of stealing the van. On Thursday 13th September at about 14.45 a lady was walking along by Next in Tower Retail Park, her handbag was on her shopping trolley when she tripped over, realising then that a stocky man had run off with her handbag containing keys, purse, currency and medication. Police were called to an aggravated burglary on Friday 14th September between 21.45 and 22.15 in Ridge Way. The suspects broke in to the property, the occupants were elsewhere and came to no harm. The suspect has been named and he will be arrested for a number of offences. Our next surgery will be held on Thursday 27th September at Crayford Library between 2-3pm. We will also be attending the Age Concern coffee morning on Friday 28th September between 11.30-12.30. Would you like to join our ward panel? We meet every three months to discuss ward issues, you can help make a positive difference in your local community. Please contact us via email: Crayford.SNT@met.police.uk if you are interested". Erith ward:- "Over the last few evenings we have focused our patrols on the West Street area we have been carrying out stop and searches and late night patrols in the area over this time the tasking team and A/PS Pete Rose and PC Marc Smith have also helped us out patrolling this area – Big thanks to them. We have also been doing daily weapon sweeps in the area on one sweep we found 3 knives in a bush, 2 of them 12inch in size. You can see images of these on our twitter page @MPSErith . Also we have joined Moat housing and carrying out home visits in James Watt Way. Other theft - 13/09/2018, Barclays Bank Plc, TOWN SQUARE; Shoplift <£200 - 13/09/2018, Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc,JAMES WATT WAY; Criminal Damage U£500 - 11/09/2018, RIVERDALE ROAD; Theft from motor vehicle - 13/09/2018, TOWER ROAD; Theft from motor vehicle -14/09/2018, MORRIS DRIVE; Theft from motor vehicle - 13/09/2018, CORRAL HEIGHTS, CHICHESTER WHARF; Shoplift £200 - 14/09/2018 Iceland Foods Plc TOWN SQUARE. Feel free to pop along and meet us for a chat at Costa Coffee Erith - Wednesday 3rd October, 12 midday". Northumberland Heath ward:- "It has been a relatively peaceful week on North Heath since our last update. There has only been one reported burglary which happened within a house of multiple occupancy. Pc Smith and PCSO Reid were busy patrolling the ward and stopped a male with cannabis in Limewood Road which resulted in the male being dealt with by way of a Community Resolution. We have been patrolling widely across the ward responding to issues raised by resident, including Walsingham Walk where the residents have reported groups of youths gathering and causing a nuisance. One group of youths that are known to us were stopped there, given advice and moved on. We have a drop-in surgery at North Heath Library on Wednesday 26th October 2018 at 2pm so please come along".  Slade Green and North End ward:- "We will start with the bad news this week, a burglary occurred in Lincoln Close between 8 and 10am last Thursday (13th Sept). Entry though the garden and a window, family gold jewellery stolen. There was also an attempted burglary in Moat Lane whereby tool marks were seen by a front window that wouldn't close properly. The incident was reported on Saturday 15th Sept but there is no actual time frame as to when this may have occurred. All victims have been spoken to by SNT officers and reassurance given along with crime prevention advice. There is good news however. PC Mark and PC James have been busy, they have had 3 positive drug stop and searches with all the necessary warnings given, 2 Section 59 warnings issued to 2 males riding off road bikes, one in Rainbow Road and one in Bridge Road (pics above) and a female was stopped after being seen selling toys from a carrier bag in Daleview. Enquiries are being made into if the toys are stolen and she is due in for an interview very soon to explain what she was up to".  Thamesmead East ward:- "On Tuesday 11/09/18 at 07:45 am a vehicle parked outside one of the local shops in YARNTON WAY,DA18 had the driver's side window smashed and various items taken ,all this happened while the driver was carrying out a delivery. Between the dates of 01/10/17 and 15/09/18 a vehicle which had been notified off road and was to be sold was stolen from THAMESBANK PLACE, SE28. Local Event - There is a new community event every Wednesday for the over 50s between 12noon – 3:00pm at THE ATRIUM, TEESWATER COURT MIDDLE WAY, THAMESMEAD, DA18 4DG. iPhone launch - With the launch of Apple's new phone ,you may see an increase in crime ,as criminals try to obtain the latest phones. Don't text while you're walking you won't notice potential thieves approaching Keep away from road-sides if your mobile is in your hand. Use the security features on your phone, such as keyboard locks and remote data wiping . Make sure they are all activated to stop thieves accessing your phone and personal data. Know how to identify your phone if its stolen. Find your IMEI number by dialling *#06# from your phone and keep a written note of it. If the phone is stolen, report it to the police and your mobile provider to stop it being used. Register your phone on www.immobilise.com. Police recover more than 2,500 items registered to the website on average every month. GOOD NEWS - Good partnership working with Peabody Housing Association resulted in a stolen motor bike being found, the owner contacted, who stated that his insurance company were now the owners. They in turn contacted to collect the motor cycle from the housing association premises. PCSO Buckley came across a 27 year old female ,who stated that she was homeless and had slept in a stairwell for a couple of nights. The female was taken into the Thamesmead East police base in limestone walk, made comfortable with hot food and tea. After making further enquiries, PC Pruden was able to make contact with a relative, who confirmed the female's details which amounted to the female having mental health issues. The female was accompanied to Queen Elizabeth hospital with PC Pruden and the relative to be assessed. Police Surgery - Friday 28/09/18 between the hours of 1:00 pm and 2:00pm at THE LAKESIDE MEDICAL CENTRE YARNTON WAY. An opportunity for members of the community who prefer face- to – face contact to speak with a Dedicated Ward Officer". West Heath ward:- "There was one reported burglary and two attempted burglary on West Heath Ward between Wednesday 12/09/18 and Tuesday 18/09/18. There was also one reported theft from motor vehicle during the same period. The property was last secured about 1800 on Thursday 13/09/2018. On Friday 14/09/2018 a member of public has called police after he noticed that the front door was open. Police have attended, and the front door was indeed open. It is suspected that the door was kicked open. Entry was gained and untidy search took place. The victim stated that there was some loose change missing. The venue is a dog grooming salon in the Pantiles. There was an attempted burglary in Selsey Crescent Welling on Wednesday 12/09/2018 at 12:37pm. Two males in a van and on pushbikes were taking scrap metal out of a skip and a person was seen leaving a house. Nothing was taken. There was an attempted burglary on Pembury Road Welling at about 14:20 pm on Tuesday 18/09/2018. Two young black males seen running at the door trying to kick the door open. The door was damaged. There was a theft from motor vehicle in New Road London SE2 0PN between 0830am on 10/09/18 and 0115 am on 11/09/18. The vehicle was parked in the street and suspect unknown smashing drivers window entering vehicle taking the vehicle battery then decamping by means of a vehicle and in direction unknown".

The end video this week features a chap exploring the former Soviet Foxtrot class submarine that has been moored off Strood Pier on the River Medway for many years. The boat, (not ship - submarines are always referred to as boats) was thought to be abandoned, but this would appear to be incorrect - restoration work is now being undertaken on the cold war relic. The chap in the video is very enthusiastic, but pretty clueless; nevertheless it makes for entertaining and instructional viewing. I would very much like to visit the submarine when and if it re - opens to the general public. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Quiz.

Last night well over a hundred people turned up to the annual Friends of Christ Church Erith Quiz Night. The evening also marked the launch of the Friends of Christ Christ Church Erith fund raising calendar, which features thirteen artworks from the "Our Erith" art exhibition held in the church earlier in the year. The calendar is now on sale for a very reasonable £3 a copy, and all profits go to the Friends in their work to maintain the historic Grade 2* listed church building. The quiz was tough, and the friendly competition fierce. The winning team was led by local MP Teresa Pearce and her other half Paul - you can see them in the photo below. This is one scoop neither the News Shopper or the Bexley Times are getting!

In the last week Bexley Police rolled out body worn video cameras to all patrolling officers. This is as part of a programme to get all 22,000 serving Metropolitan Police officers to be so equipped. Over the coming months, the cameras will be issued to all thirty two London and other frontline specialist roles, including firearms officers. Police said members of the public will be told as soon as practical that they are being recorded, and when the camera is recording it is highly visible - notable by a flashing red circle in the centre of the camera and a frequent beeping noise when the camera is activated. The trials of body worn video cameras has shown that people are more likely to plead guilty when they know Police have captured the incident on a camera. That then speeds up justice, puts offenders behind bars more quickly, and most importantly protects potential victims. Last month, a study by the University of Cambridge found a 93 per cent decrease in complaints made against officers clearly wearing body cameras. Video footage is not continuously recorded - officers manually switch on the video recorders when they expect trouble. I have covered this issue in the past; problems occurred during the Bexley Police body worn camera trial back in August of last year. As you may recall, I was contacted by Sky News investigative journalist Gerard Tubb. Sky News discovered that whilst the Police had told the public that the body worn video data was uploaded to secure Police video servers, it was actually being uploaded to an external commercial data storage company with a history of data security breaches. Gerard Tubb had already uncovered this story, but approached me for a copy of the Police announcement to interested parties. He had been assured by the Home Office that the document had never been published, but he suspected that it had. I was able to confirm that the document had indeed been published, and I supplied him with a copy, along with the associated Email trail, thus giving him the "smoking gun" proving the veracity of the story. I am hopeful that after the story made the headlines on Sky News that the Metropolitan Police have improved their data security practices now that the camera footage is going to be collected by all Police officers who deal with the public. A Metropolitan Police document on body worn cameras states:- "Why use BWV at all? 
 BWV provides an additional option for officers to gather evidence at incidents.  BWV cameras have already been used in the MPS and in other forces to good effect. The cameras can capture evidence of criminal behaviour and can help to ‘set the scene’ for the court at a later date.  By capturing this evidence, officers can spend less time writing statements and completing paperwork at the station. This allows them to spend more time patrolling and responding to incidents in the community.  The use of BWV in other countries has been shown to moderate the behaviour of people present at incidents, resulting in less of force by officers and reduced complaints against police. It is hoped this will help to ensure public confidence in police actions.  Evidence from other forces in the UK has shown that, where BWV is key evidence, guilty pleas at the first opportunity at court rise significantly - this means reduced burdens across the Criminal Justice System, not just in policing. When will officers be using the BWV? Will it be ‘always on?’  No - the use of BWV will be ‘incident specific’ - officers will switch on the camera when they would ordinarily be considering recording an incident or interaction by conventional means - for example, a statement or notebook entry - or if they feel that there would be evidential value in recording the incident. Officers will, when practicable, tell those present when they are recording and when they are about to switch off the camera. They will usually only switch the camera off when the incident has concluded or where there is no further evidential value to be had in continued recording.  To have the cameras ‘always on’ may result in private or confidential interactions with the public being recorded and also may represent a significant intrusion into the privacy of those who might be caught on camera. As well as this, continual recording will result in massive amounts of data being retained and stored by the police, which would result in increased logistical problems in back office functions. What about rights to privacy? It is understandable that some people may be concerned about officer’s recording their interactions with the public at incidents. They may be worried that footage concerning them may be held on police data servers. This is a key reason why officers will not indiscriminately record all interactions and activity. This is to ensure that any intrusion into private lives is kept to the minimum level necessary. All footage recorded on BWV in the MPS is subject to legal safeguards and guidance set by the Information Commissioner’s office and the Home Office. Footage that is not likely to be of evidential value will be removed from the system within a very short time - the current guidance is within 31 days. Footage that is retained is subject to regular review and, if no longer required or likely to be required as evidence, will again be weeded. People who have been recorded have the right to see footage of them that has been retained by the MPS. See our website - www.met.police.uk for details on how to obtain this footage". Overall I think this move to recording is a good idea; I just have reservations about the potential for a bad cop to switch the recording off midway through an encounter if they thought it might go badly for them if the footage was filmed and later reviewed. What do you think? Either leave a comment below, or drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Halloween seems to be taking over as the main winter festival from Guy Fawkes Night. Halloween was originally created in pretty much its’ current form by 18th century Irish people, the word is a corruption of All Hallow’s Eve. Irish immigrants to America took the tradition there, and it was exported back across the Atlantic in the early 1980’s. Although Halloween was celebrated before this time, it was a far lower key and less involved affair. I am convinced that the increase in popularity of the Americanised version of the festival can at least partly be laid at the feet of Stephen Spielberg and his movie “ET – The Extra Terrestrial”. The film carries strong Halloween themes such as dressing up and “Trick or Treating” which prior to the opening of the film had been relatively uncommon in the UK. The massive popularity of the film exposed may children of the time to take on the American aspects of the Halloween festival; many of those children now have children of their own, and the festival thus now has an amplified resonance not previously seen. Personally I am not struck with the whole thing, which basically encourages small children to demand goods with menaces, but I am probably in a minority.

Something very strange has been happening to the demographics of the readership of the Maggot Sandwich, and it is something that I would like some help with from you, the readers. Blogger uses Google Analytics to generate statistics on each blog it hosts. I can see how many people are reading the Maggot Sandwich, divided up by what web browser they are using, what country they come from, and lots of other diverse criteria. If you look at the screen capture above, which shows activity on the website since last Sunday, you can see that by far my highest readership is located in the USA. Bear in mind that each blog update normally is written in stages across the week before it is published on Sunday afternoons, and this part was written on Friday evening, the total number of readers at the time of writing was 17,460 - well on the way to the average of 22,000 unique page views I have once the week is fully complete. I am rather mystified as to why so many people in America are reading this blog - after all, nearly all of the stories that I cover are very much about the area around Abbey Wood, Belvedere, Erith and Slade Green - not exactly the most attention grabbing subjects, unless you happen to be a local resident. I cannot believe that there are that number of expatriates in America who now follow the blog on a regular basis. I am aware that the Maggot Sandwich does have a legitimate world - wide following. I am aware of readers in Melbourne Australia, Tasmania, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Washington DC. Quite why so many Americans regularly read this blog is very much a source of bemusement to me. I am also aware that the Maggot Sandwich is banned in China, though I have absolutely no idea why. I have never said anything remotely negative about the country or its citizens, so I am at somewhat of a loss. Quite why the maggot Sandwich is blocked by The Great Firewall of China is a mystery. The hits marked as coming from China on the graphic above are quite possibly coming from Hong Kong - where the Chinese firewall rules are somewhat more relaxed; although officially a part of China, Hong Kong has a fierce independence and the Chinese government seem to cut them quite a lot of slack. One of my readers used to regularly commute from mainland China to Hong Kong, and he was the one that told me about the different levels of online filtering dependent on geographical location.

Still, having ticked off the World’s second largest power, I could stop, or I could dig myself even deeper. I think most regular readers will know which way this is going. There have been some interesting comments over the last couple of weeks regarding the nomenclature of Nuxley Road in Upper Belvedere (by the way, Belvedere means “beautiful view” in Italian), which some people misguidedly refer to as “Nuxley Village”. The origin of the names of the  places in the local area, and some of the surrounding landmarks dates back to the early fifteenth century, and the name Belvedere even earlier. The area of Bedonwell gets its name from the Bedon stream, which runs through what is now known as Streamway; the Bedon is a minor tributary of the River Thames, which is now run though an underground drain for much of its length. A fifteenth century form of the name was Beton Well, meaning “praying well”. The exact origin is lost in the mists of time, though the old English word “bydan” meaning a shallow valley may have something to do with it. On the South side of the stream was a further area of open heath land, called Nuxley or Little Heath, which occupied an area around what was later Belmont Primary School (and is now a Doctor’s surgery and private flats). The name Nuxley was sometimes spelled Naxley, which in turn is a corruption of Knocksley, meaning a small hill. Nuxley Road was originally named Bexley Road, until March 1939 when it was renamed as Nuxley Road, which it remains to date. There is no record of Upper Belvedere ever having been named Nuxley Village, and parish records for the area date back to 1235 AD, and survived the reformation, when ownership of the parish was transferred from Lesnes Abbey to the owners of Parsonage Farm (on what is now Parsonage Manor Way). During the late 19th century, Parsonage Farm was owned by the Vinson family, who were at the time rich and powerful enough to issue their own trade tokens (a kind of informal local currency). There are records that beer houses such as the Fox, and full pubs such as The Eardley Arms took trade tokens for payment for food and drink until sometime around 1900. The farm buildings, which were  constructed in the Middle Ages (principally to provide food and drink for Abbot and Monks at Lesnes Abbey) lasted until the end of WWII, when it was used to house an auxiliary fire station. After the war the building was so derelict it was demolished. Thus, the name “Nuxley Village” is a construct – a fictional creation of local estate agents who have no knowledge of the history of the area. Upper Belvedere has been so called for at least the last 781 years, and the thoughtless action of a handful of ignorant house peddlers from outside of the area is not going to change facts any time soon.

I have banged on at some length about how Smart Meters are a lot less of a good idea than the utility companies would have you believe. My concerns are mainly about the cost savings made by switching to a Smart Meter being far lower than has been publicised; but my main concern is to do with their almost total lack of security. Only this week was a report published into "Internet of Things" (IOT) devices, and how easy they are to compromise. On average, an IoT device is infected with malware and will launch an attack within six minutes of being exposed to the internet. IoT devices are probed for vulnerabilities 800 times per hour by attackers from across the globe. Every day there are an average of over 400 login attempts per device, an average of one attempt every five minutes and 66 per cent of them on average are successful, according to the report. The Blaster and Sasser worm of 2003 and 2004, respectively, was brought to heel after Microsoft enable a firewall technology with Windows XP SP2. On Friday there was a massive Denial Of Service attack on several popular websites including Twitter, Reddit and Spotify, which was undertaken using "Smart" devices as the attack vector. Basically at present, so called "Smart" devices are complex enough to be hijacked by bad people, but but not sophisticated enough to detect that they are being criminally manipulated. Things will only get worse before they get better. To add to this, Vodafone have just announced a new dedicated mobile network especially designed to work with smart meters and “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices. The roll – out will initially be in mainland Europe, but may well come to the UK sooner rather than later. It is an aggressive timetable but probably not unrealistic. For most of its networks, Vodafone has said that the rollout will require just a software upgrade (i.e. no site visit would be required). From its trials in Spain and elsewhere, Vodafone is also clearly satisfied with the performance of the technology. The issues it faces now are probably as much commercial (e.g. agreeing the licencing terms) as they are technical. Other rival mobile “Internet of Things” communication technologies exist, and at this point it is unclear as to which will win out. It would seem that the telecommunications industry may be about to have a Betamax versus VHS battle on its hands in respect of the technology and data format that smart devices will use to communicate with each other and their service provider. As previously mentioned, I am cynical about Smart Meters, which may well not save the user anything like as much money as the utility companies are saying; different energy suppliers use different types of incompatible meters, which makes switching companies more difficult, as the meter will have to be changed – usually at the home owners expense. On top of this, as I have explained before, the Smart Meters have little if any effective encryption on their communications, which makes them a very big target for malicious exploitation, as was seen on Friday. The only sector than really benefits from the deployment of Smart Meters are the utility companies themselves – as they have no need to employ staff to read meters. The energy companies are promoting Smart Meter as if they will be a boon to users, whereas in reality they will only actually benefit themselves.

A pilot scheme to deter people from littering started this week. Bexley Council published the poster you can see above - more on which a little later. The scheme will see uniformed enforcement officers patrolling the Borough, from 24 October, issuing fixed penalty notices, of up to a maximum of £400, to people seen committing environmental offences such as littering. Cabinet member, Cllr Peter Craske said, “Bexley is one of the best places to live in London and I know from talking to residents that they are fed up with the tiny minority who leave litter and mess in their wake.‘It also costs thousands and thousands of pounds of taxpayers money to clear this up, and I have had many people contact me welcoming this new initiative." Following a period of training, up to five uniformed enforcement officers, will patrol areas in the Borough which are hotspots for litter offenders. On the spot fines will be issued to those seen committing the offence of littering, allowing their dog to foul in public areas or fly tipping. The level of fines will be £80 for littering, £50 for dog fouling and a maximum of £400 for fly tipping. Full payment of the fine will be required in all cases - with no reduction for early payment. The aim is to recover the cost of running the service through the issue of fixed penalty notices. During the pilot, young offenders will have their details recorded and a warning letter will be sent to their parents or school. At the end of November, posters using the headline ‘Don’t be a Tosser’, along with a picture showing some examples of litter offences, will appear throughout the Borough. These will also feature the campaign hashtag #cleanerBexley. The campaign is designed to attract attention and get people thinking and talking about the problem of litter. It was originally used in a Keep Britain Tidy campaign and has already proved to be a successful anti-litter message in other parts of the UK, including Essex and Suffolk. If the enforcement service proves effective and financially sustainable, a decision will be made next summer on whether to make it permanent". I see problems for Bexley Council with the anti littering poster shown above; firstly it is crass and subtle as a brick, secondly it uses copyright material which is the property of Coca Cola - the crushed soft drinks can in the picture is meant to be a generic can of soft drink, but the poster designer has made two errors - first they have used the exact PanTone red colour (484C for the initiated) as the famous brand, and they have also used the Coca Cola font on the can - which is copyrighted. I would imagine that Coca Cola's lawyers would take an extremely dim view of the whole thing. We shall see. Once again the law of unintended consequences comes into play.

I was returning home on the B12 single decker bus (a very under rated bus route in my opinion) on Tuesday evening. It was travelling Southwards along Queen’s Road in Erith when the bus stopped at the traffic lights and Zebra Crossing at the end of Pier Road. Nobody crossed the road. When the lights changed to green for the road traffic, the bus started up – then the driver undertook an emergency stop as a young woman stepped out into the road with no warning. The bus wing mirror clipped the woman’s head and she staggered backwards. The woman had been oblivious to the bus due to the fact that she had been staring intently at the screen of her mobile phone, and could not hear what was going on around her due to her wearing ear buds plugged into the phone. She had been so unconscious of the real world around her that she very nearly ended up being run over by the bus. It was only the very quick actions of the alert driver that prevented what could have well been her death. The woman was shaken, but largely unhurt; the driver pulled over to the side of the road and asked if she was all right –she said that she was – he got her contact details as he had to file a report on the incident, and he also got the details of a couple of witnesses in case of any further action. Fortunately the bus is fitted with a forward – facing dash camera, the footage from which would completely exonerate the driver from any blame in the matter. As many readers know, I have a degree of antipathy towards mobile phones, and the incident just described only reinforces this. Every day I see pedestrians bumbling along, with their heads stuck into the screen of their mobile devices, ears deafened to the outside world by a set of headphones. Even more worryingly, I regularly see cyclists on the road bedecked by Beats style, full – ear coverage headphones. The Royal Marines have a description for this kind of behaviour – they call it “a lack of situational awareness”. I am of the opinion that if cyclists and pedestrians were subject to the same laws as vehicle drivers in respect of the use of mobile devices - and that those laws were properly enforced, then the frequency and severity of road accidents would significantly reduce. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Erith came to the attention of the press for an entirely unwelcome reason in the early hours of last Monday morning. The News Shopper has reported on the story of a serious fight outside of the Ship pub in West Street. The details are somewhat hazy, but it would appear that a group of youths attacked an individual, and then a second group defended the individual – the attackers then apparently ran off in the direction of St. Fidelis Road. Several of those involved required hospital treatment. The Ship does not have a particularly bad reputation as local pubs go – the landlady did get into hot water back in 2010, when the pub got close to losing its licence. This was due to the toilets in the pub indicating positive for traces of Cocaine when they were swabbed by the investigating authorities. After a concerted campaign by locals, the Council agreed to let the Ship keep operating, but with strict new conditions to their licence. These conditions included staff checking the toilets for drugs every half an hour during the time the pub is open. CCTV was also ordered to be installed – this may well have recorded the assault that occurred in the early hours of Monday morning. Currently Erith only has two pubs – the aforementioned Ship, and the Running Horses, neither of which particularly prove attractive. Things have gone rather quiet regarding the possible opening of a Wetherspoons in the town, potentially in the old (and currently unused) Carnegie Library in Walnut Tree Road. I am cautiously optimistic that the giant pub company will see fit to refurbish the historic public building and re-open it as a pub / restaurant, as I think it would be very successful and well – received. There have been rumours that Wetherspoons are looking at the Post Office building in Erith High Street, but I feel that this is rather unlikely - it is not a suitable structure for conversion into a pub / restaurant, it would do away with the only Post Office in the town - and would thus be very unpopular - and when you have the eminently suitable former library only a couple of hundred metres away, it seems to me to be a no brainer. If you have any information regarding this, then please drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The ending video this week is entitled "Memories of Erith". Give it a watch and see what you think.

Halloween vs. Guy Fawkes' Night.

The photo above is the Plume of Feathers pub in Greenwich; click on it for a bigger version. Last Monday I took Bob out for a day trip - we visited the National Maritime Museum and had an abortive trip to the observatory (it was full with school parties, so we left it for another time - I then decided that Bob needed a little more experience with English traditional pubs). I had the best steak sandwich I have ever eaten, washed down with a couple of pints of well served Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter - bliss. And no, the Aston Martin DB7 parked outside is not mine. As if.

Erith has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons again over the last few days. The Chavs who killed a local man whilst playing with his son at Erith Sports Centre have now been tried and sentenced. You can read about the story here. Two years inside seems pitifully short a sentence; the BBC News website has an online discussion about the subject here.

I have to report the untimely death of larger than life former Radio Caroline colleague and fisherman Dave "The Fish" Turner. You can read his official obituary here. There's not more that I can add - I don't know anyone who had a single bad word to say about him. I know for many people he will be sadly missed.

Ian Camfield of indie rock radio station XFM has seen my photos of last weeks' Rush gig at Wembley Arena, and Emailed a mutual friend with the message "The pics are amazing, they look like the kind of thing you'd see on the band's actual website."

Something that will shortly be upon us is Halloween. I have not got any quibbles with the original pagan and traditional origins of this ancient festival; what annoys me is the almost complete Americanisation of this event. Trick or Treating, dressing up in horror costumes and the like is a relatively recent part of the average British child's year. It can be traced back to 1983 and the UK release of the Steven Spielberg film "ET" where it was an integral part of the film's plot - this was the first real exposure that American Halloween culture and behaviour had been given outside of its' borders. As with so many things both good and bad (I am not a hater of the US by any means - quite the contrary, though like all of us they have their strengths and weaknesses) there is nothing wrong with kids dressing up and having some fun, but it does seem to have been at the expense of Guy Fawkes Night, as only a couple of weeks separate the two events. British kids (because of their parents) are slavishly copying a foreign tradition at the expense of something home grown. Let's take back our history and culture and make Fireworks Night something special again.

As for the verminous, slack jawed gits that let off fireworks for several weeks before and after the event, I think prosecution and sentencing should be stricter. One night a year is fine, but when my local area sounds like downtown Basra for night after night (and can act as a cover for gang related shootings) then something is wrong.

This weeks' video is a quick and simple method of preparing home made Naan Bread. You can leave an opinion by clicking on the comments link below.