The haunted pint.

I had an old school friend come and stay at Pewty Acres last weekend; whilst he was here, he was keen to see around Erith, as he had not visited the town in some years - he now lives down in the West Country. I was keen to see what his opinion of the town nowadays was, as we seem to get so many negative opinions on local websites such as the News Shopper (not that the journalists say anything negative, but the comments left on the talkback pages tend to be negative, if not sometimes downright insulting). I am pleased to say that my friend Steve was impressed at how Erith had improved since his last visit in 2008, although he did note the number of still vacant and unlet shop units in Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. Overall he could see that the town is improving in many ways - not least since the construction and opening of the new Bexley College campus adjacent to Erith Station and the fish roundabout. He also observed how lucky local residents are to have access to the River Thames via the excellent Riverside Gardens and Erith Pier. I took the photo of the tugs moored on Erith Pier a little while ago - click on the photo to see a larger version; it would be great to see more people going for a walk, or just sitting on one of the park benches and enjoying the view once the weather improves. As I have said before, Erith is almost unique in being the only place in the area where you can see an unobstructed view from horizon to horizon. I call it "the Erith big sky". Whilst Steve was visiting, I organised a small get together of fellow school friends; we met for a quiet drink and a chat at the Royal Standard pub in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere. The pub has an excellent conservatory at the back, and the group sat at a table there. One of my friends bought me a pint of Young's bitter (one of my favourite "bog standard" real ales) and placed it on the table. As we chatted, seemingly all on its own, the full pint glass started sliding across the table and dropped to the floor, spilling beer down my trousers and into my shoes. Fortunately the glass itself did not break. A replacement pint was sourced - and the landlady gave it free, saying that the pub was well known to be haunted by a ghost, and that the ghost must take the blame. Since I got a free replacement drink, I was not going to argue. What I did note was that the wooden table top we sat at was recently varnished and had also been polished, possibly earlier that evening, and that the pint glass had a flat and smooth bottom that was wet with a little spilt beer. The actions of the "ghost" was actually physics. The table top was inclined at a very slight angle, and the spilled beer formed a thin, frictionless layer between the underside of the glass and the waxed table. The glass actually aquaplaned over the table and onto the floor. Science works whether you believe in it or not. 

For such a significant part that the local area had in recent history, it is quite surprising how little seems to have been recorded; why I don’t know, but the pivotal role that Belvedere, Erith and Slade Green paid in World War 2 seems to have been largely overlooked by anyone outside of the area. Respected historians like Ken Chamberlain are full of knowledge from that period, but when compared to the level of recognition other outer London boroughs get, we seem to draw the short straw. As I have written in the past, Erith and Crayford were the home of Vickers Limited, who had factories in both locations which made a whole range of armaments and ammunition, principally the Vickers Machine Gun – which was an easier to produce, lighter and cheaper version of the original Maxim Gun, invented by Sir Hiram Maxim. The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the rest helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft. The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in Weapons and War Machines, describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns continuously for twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without a failure. "It was this absolute fool proof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one.” The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in 1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it, reducing its weight by lightening and simplifying the action and substituting components made with high strength alloys. A muzzle booster was also added. The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standard machine gun on 26 November 1912, using it alongside their existing Maxims. There were still great shortages when the First World War began, and the British Expeditionary Force was still equipped with Maxims when sent to France in 1914. Vickers was, in fact, threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to the exorbitant price it was demanding for each gun. As a result, the price was slashed. As the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became the British Army's primary machine gun, and served on all fronts during the conflict. When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a light machine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns were redefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, and grouped in the hands of the new Machine Gun Corps (when heavier 0.5 in/12.7 mm calibre machine guns appeared, the tripod-mounted, rifle-calibre machine guns like the Vickers became medium machine guns). After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was disbanded and the Vickers returned to infantry units. Before the Second World War, there were plans to replace the Vickers gun.  However, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Hundreds of thousands of these guns were manufactured in Erith and Crayford over several decades, and during both World Wars, this meant that the towns were legitimate wartime bombing targets. Bombing in World War two was especially bad; a letter sent from a lady in Berkhampstead Road, Upper Belvedere during 1941 has been published on several websites in the past. The letter, written by a lady called Phylis to an unknown relative called Harry reads:- "I was unable to finish off your letter on Saturday owing to a very heavy raid. I cannot stop now to write much but this will let you know we are alright. We had several landmines in Belvedere, one in Albert Road or rather a little turning off there behind the dairy, four persons were killed in the Busy Bee. I expect there are more deaths but we have not heard yet. One on Calendars no one was killed, and one in Lessness Park, Just the other side of Maycocks garden wall. This did considerable amount of damage to all the houses around. That is why I have been unable to write and get the parcel off before this. I have been cleaning up the mess. I'll let you know more details later. I have to write this letter as the typewriter was more or less bombed. I hope to be able to repair it later. We are the only inhabitants left in Berkhampstead Road. The other houses being more damaged than ours. We have been cleaning ceilings up since 5.30am Sunday. This afternoon we are going over to have a cup of tea with Gladys and a bath. A bath is quite out of the question at Tower House as the bath is full up with ceiling. All day yesterday and today we have been hearing noises like bombs. They are pulling down houses. Burndepts is burnt right down. Belvedere Station is to be pulled down. Dr Barr had a fire in his place. Dad & I have been getting some of the stones off the lawn. Dad had only just cut and rolled the lawn on Saturday. The cars are alright although there is a nasty dent in the back of the roof of ours. The garage looks a mess. 14 ceilings are down, all windows out and all doors from the back of the house. Several inside doors are off and just splintered to nothing. Fortunately I had packed all the china and we had packed almost all the ornaments too. The silver and pewter I have packed away too and your lady. We didn't know where to start cleaning up, but are gradually getting down to it.  I'll write again soon as I can. We are quite alright and there is no need to worry. We sleep in the cellar and have our meals in the kitchen. We are hoping they will come and do the roof soon. Tower House stood up to it very well on Saturday night. Dad sends his love and says we are still holding the Fort (what's left of it). I must close here as I have lots to do before we go out this afternoon. I hope you are quite alright".

Following my recent article explaining why the government announcement that there were "no safe levels" of alcohol drinking was completely misleading and incorrect, another very extremely reputable organisation have come to refute this statement, which was made mainly at the behest of prohibitionists and anti-alcohol campaigners. The heads of Britain’s statistics society have written to the Health Secretary to point out that the government’s alcohol guidelines don’t accurately reflect the numbers. Two weeks ago the British civil servant at the Department of Health responsible for issuing medical advice (who rejoices in the corporate-inspired title of “Chief Medical Officer”), Dame Sally Davies, declared that there was “no safe level” of alcohol drinking. This followed a report produced for her by an “expert group” which contradicts evidence that teetotallers are at higher risk than moderate drinkers, and drinking after middle age correlates with a substantially lower level of risk of heart disease and strokes. Drinkers live longer. Professors Peter Diggle and Sir David Spiegelhalter – the current and next presidents of the Royal Statistical Society – say the report was unbalanced (a nice way of not saying “biased”) and that the bureaucrat’s claims don’t reflect the evidence available to the government’s working group on safe alcohol levels. The report recommend an upper limit of 14 units per week for both adult men and women, and then included the much-derided “no safe limits” observation.  In their letter to Health Minister Jeremy Hunt, the two statistics professors argue that the derision which greeted Hawkins report will make more pressing public health campaigns less credible. Once the public has ignored Hawkins crying wolf over alcohol they may be inclined to ignore the others, too. They add that Hawkins’ group contradicts the principle that the public deserves an “informed choice”. Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at Cambridge University, had already commented on the relative “dangers” of alcohol. “An hour of TV watching a day, or a bacon sandwich a couple of times a week, is more dangerous to your long-term health,” he noted.

BARC (Bexley Against Road Crossings) have been  extensively featured in the News Shopper this week; regular Maggot Sandwich readers will know that I have featured the group on a couple of occasions in the past. Unlike BARC, I have a fairly neutral view on the proposed new river crossings over or under the River Thames. I can see positive arguments on both sides of the issue. A lively debate on the subject of transport and congestion has been under way on the News Shopper talkback page here. I think both sides miss several important observations. Firstly, the argument that elderly people don’t always have access to the web, and may thus be left out of any representations regarding the choice of river crossing is to my mind spurious. Those aged 70+ now may sadly well not be around in 2025 when development of whatever solution is selected, and if they are, many very elderly people don’t travel much – though their opinions and feedback should most definitely be taken into account. Secondly, the oft – quoted issue of air pollution is also worth examining. By the time any cross river solution is put in place, the numbers of zero emission vehicles in public use will have bloomed – the hydrocarbon internal combustion engine is in its last decade in my opinion. By the time any crossing is open and in use, a majority of cars and lorries will run on batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Using present day arguments for future developments seems to me like fighting last decade’s war. I think a rational look at the whole Cross Thames  transport system needs to be undertaken – the trouble is, the area is full of people with vested interests and their own agendas, which turns the whole thing into an adversarial contest, which in my opinion does nobody any good. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.



The Barge Pole pub in Coraline Walk in Thamesmead has had its alcohol licence suspended by Bexley Magistrates this week; I understand that the pub was the location of a large drunken fight in the early hours of the 1st January during some News Year celebrations that got well out of hand.  To anyone that knows the pub, it is a revelation that it has taken so long to do something about the place, which on the one occasion many years ago that I took my life in my hands and ventured inside, resembled the Cantina in Mos Eisley – “you will not find a greater hive of scum and villainy”. It really is a dump, full of the kind of people you would cross the road to avoid; one of the main qualifications for entry seems to be the sporting of facial tattoos of varying levels of repulsiveness. The only vaguely positive contribution to culture the Barge Pole has ever made was back in 2009, when it was used as the location for the filming of the Kaiser Chiefs video for "Never miss a beat". I am a strong supporter of the preservation of local pubs, but I most definitely make an exception in the case of the aptly named Barge Pole, which in my opinion ought to be nuked from space – it is the only way to be sure. 

Erith has been in the national news twice again this week; first because of the news that Arthur Simpson – Kent, the suspected murderer of former EastEnders actress Sian Blake and her two sons aged eight and four and is alleged to have buried them in the garden of 54 Pembroke Road, Erith, is due back in the UK to face charges and trial. Normally I don’t mention stories that have a national coverage, as there is little I can add to the “professional” reporters who cover the news; in this instance the extremely high profile nature of this case, and the international press interest the murders have attracted. If this horrible case was not enough, the news this week that an Erith resident has been jailed for nineteen years and six months for a string of horrendous paedophile offences. Trevor Monk, 47, from Erith, travelled to the Far East with the sole purpose of abusing children and kept thousands of indecent pictures and videos on his computer, including mementos from his trip. Sentencing him for a total of 18 offences at the Old Bailey, Judge Anuja Dhir QC told Monk that the consequences of child abuse of this kind “wrecks lives”. She said: “I have no doubt from the material I have seen today you had a perverted fascination with young females and that is what led you to behave in this abhorrent manner. Your actions were depraved and revolting. It is astonishing that anyone would want to film such abuse, but you did. I have no doubt you did so that you could watch it again for your own sexual gratification.” An examination of computers, external hard drives and memory cards found at Monk’s home revealed tens of thousands of indecent images and videos of children, and evidence that he had himself molested young girls in the Philippines. Just one of the computers contained evidence of more than 43,000 indecent images of children. Thankfully the judge and jury saw fit to put the criminal away for a decent length of time; even if he serves only half of his time inside, he will be away for around ten years, and the life of a sex offender in prison is never an easy one. I am led to believe the derogatory term Nonce comes from the acronym “Not On Normal Courtyard Exercise”. At least he is safely locked up for a considerable length of time.  What is also of concern is that two nationally publicised high profile criminals are being associated with Erith, just as the town is starting to improve its image. Locals know of all the good things and progress that has been made over the last decade or so, but outsiders do tend to hold onto outdated views about the town and the people who live there (you only have to look at wording of some of the talkbacks on the News Shopper website – okay, most of the comments are made by trolls that are trying to initiate an argument, but nevertheless if you repeat a lie often enough, some people will take it as fact – an observation originally made by Heinrich Himmler). 

The letter above has been sent to many Erith, Slade Green and Crayford residents - click on the image for a larger view. Suffice to say the traffic into and around Erith is going to be severely affected over the period of the roadworks. The town suffers greatly from traffic congestion at the best of times; it will be interesting to see if the changes to the road and roundabout layout will improve things. Many locals suspect not. More on this story in the future. If you have an insight into this issue, please contact me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

It has been known for over a year that the Peabody Trust, which controls large parts of Thamesmead, has had plans drawn up to try and move the town upmarket. Since the mid-seventies Thamesmead has had an unfortunate image problem as being a giant sink estate full of problem families, anti-social behaviour and crime. Whilst there are definitely problems of this nature in the town, a vast majority of residents are peaceful and law abiding, but the image has stuck for decades. I recall back in 1989, as Belmarsh Prison was being built, a common joke was “why bother building Belmarsh – just build a great big wall around Thamesmead!” Now Peabody are working to move the outdated image of Thamesmead upmarket. They have promised to build 1,300 new dwellings, and create a "temporary high street" at Harrow Manor Way with shops, food and drink outlets. There will also be affordable workspaces and facilities for local businesses, artists and community groups – following a £1m regeneration fund from the Mayor of London. Peabody's plans are being developed with partners including Bexley Council and the Thames Innovation Centre. In an interview with the News Shopper, Peabody Chief Executive Stephen Howlett said: "We want to create a thriving district close to the station which will provide commercial, social and leisure opportunities for residents in Abbey Wood and South Thamesmead. We hope the new mobile high street will provide a platform for local people, harnessing their talent and innovation. These are exciting times for everyone associated with Thamesmead which is fast becoming an even greater place to live, work and visit." This all sounds good; as long as a substantial part of the new development is truly affordable, and not just aimed at property banking investors in the Far East, as was notoriously the case with the tower block recently constructed close to Abbey Wood station which made the national news when it was advertised as having “no social housing” as a bonus attraction to wealthy investors. I feel that this story will develop over the coming months. 

This week guest writer and local resident Alec Tapper has much to say on the proposed (and now approved) housing development on the site of the former Erith Riverside Swimming Baths site. An artist's impression of the development is shown above. Here is his piece:- "Whilst it is very good news to learn that the Mayor of London's London regeneration Fund has allocated just under £2m which is to be matched by the council to provide £3.9m of investment in Erith. It is understood that this finance will be for major improvements to key areas of the town particularly between the Town Hall and the Post Office. It is also designed to re-energise the area an improve training and job opportunities for local residence. We also understand complementary bids have been made for two further funds managed by the Mayor of London  and we will learn of these in the next few weeks. For a number of residents this will be promising news but there are concerns with many residents over the density of developments being proposed for many sites both large and small in Central Erith. A major development such as that on the former Riverside Swimming Pool Site has plans to build some 81 flats and 10 to12 houses to the rear. This development does not recognise that this is a preservation area alongside the River Thames. This site along with a number of other smaller sites are earmarked for even more dense developments. Erith already has more flats than any other ward in the borough and it seems that this pressurized development has the potential to create new problems for Erith in the future. Open spaces are critical to the wellbeing of communities. This proposal brings its frontage hard up against the pavement of the Erith High street up to the Running Horses, which lays back from this harsh development line. This tight development policy with inadequate parking spaces, play areas for children and inadequate work opportunities will militate against harmonious living and reduce any sense of wellbeing for those living in such a packed and intensive manner. The tenants these kind of developments will attract are most unlikely to be from professional, commercial and entrepreneurial background. This in turn will be reflected in a failure to grow Erith's economy. Numerous shops, restaurants and businesses will continue to fail to be convinced by the uptake of people in this density developments who are likely to be open to semi-skilled or unskilled work. Erith is one of the most deprived areas in Bexley and the fear is, it will continue in the same vein. Unfortunately, it seems that Bexley adopts very different policies for developments across the Borough whilst the policy for Erith, North end and Thamesmead East are targeted for density infilling, wards like Longlands, Blackfen and Lamorbey, Blendon and Penhill and Cray meadows with reducing populations are preserved from any innovation for housing developments. Similar examples like Surbiton, Thames Ditton, and Woking in Surrey do effectively increase housing within existing developments. Indeed there are some long term residents that indicate consideration should be given to the wards earmarked from dense developments to be separated entirely and form a  separate District Council.  Clearly a case of sauce for the Goose isn't sauce for the Gander". Some very thought provoking observations. If you have another view, please feel free to drop me a line with an article of your own. 

If you look back at the now very extensive archive of old Maggot Sandwich updates, and visit some of the entries over the last nine and a half years that I have been running the blog (under the "About Me" panel at the top right of the screen) you will see a box marked "Blog Archive" - if you click on the dropdown button, you can see a list of the well over five hundred weekly entries that I have made - select and click on any of these to see old, historical content). You will notice on some entries that photos just show placeholders, or embedded YouTube videos no longer play. This is caused by a phenomenon called "Link Rot". There are lots of reasons for link rot: websites are restructured or shifted to a new content management system and break all the previous URLs; articles get moved behind a paywall; people delete social media accounts or change their privacy settings; or links contain information that goes out of date, or YouTube videos are taken down due to copyright violations. A piece of software called "Amber" has been created to stop this from happening. Amber has been designed by Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society and it provides what it calls a "persistent route" to information on the internet by automatically taking and retaining a snapshot of every page on a website and storing it on the same website's server. If for whatever reason a URL goes dead, rather than returning a 404 error page, the tool should provide visitors with the relevant snapshot. The snapshots are stored on the same server as the website but can be configured to save them on third-party systems or in archival systems. All very clever stuff, but no good to me at present, as at the time of writing, the platform which hosts the Maggot Sandwich does not support Amber - maybe in time; it would be a very powerful tool to have access to.

The end video this week explores the inconsistencies and loopholes in London's Oyster travel card system. Personally I find that the old fashioned monthly travel card works very well for me. See what you think, and feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Bexley Beer Festival 2014.

For only the second time in its nine year history, the Bexley Beer Festival was blessed with stunningly good weather. The event was held at the Old Dartfordians club in Bexley Village, and was very well attended indeed. Last year the visitors had to crowd into the main clubhouse building, and huddle together against the freezing temperature. This year the beer was served from a large marquee to the rear of the main building, which was a far more pleasant experience. on top of the already friendly and congenial atmosphere, a very civilised game of cricket took place on the green owned by the club, which many of the attendees were free to watch. Click on the panoramic view above to see just what the event was like - very laid back and civilised. Thanks to the Rev for supplying the wide screen photo. If you fancy playing a game of "Where's Wally?" (or in this case "Where's Pewty?") see if you can see me in the picture. I am hidden away somewhere in the shot. Answers on a postcard, please. Better still, leave a comment below.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich – our “local” hospital has been the subject of an in – depth investigation recently, and the results have been released this week. They do not make for encouraging reading. The report author, the Chief Inspector of Hospitals found that the Accident and Emergency department was “not fit for purpose”. The essence of the findings were that there were too few staff on duty, many of which were agency temps, rather than permanent staff. There were long delays in seeing patients, which often exceeded the four hour maximum the official guidelines stipulate, there was a lack of capacity to accommodate the number of patients requiring treatment, and the process for transferring patients from Accident and Emergency to a ward was inadequate. All of the points raised were directly or indirectly the result of chronic and ongoing under staffing. Bearing in mind that the Queen Elizabeth is the prime hospital for South East London, and if you live in the local area it is the most likely place for you to be taken should you require the services of an ambulance, it does somewhat focus the concentration. Not only was the Accident and Emergency department in trouble, but patients on general wards reporting that there were so few staff available that it could take thirty minutes to get a call bell answered. From my own limited experience of the hospital, the staff are very good and professional, but it would seem that there are just too few of them. I don’t know if the results of the report will get the hospital additional funding for extra medical staff to be employed, but plainly something needs to be done to address the problem of chronic understaffing.

The skyline over Erith is now starting to return to normal. The large orange tower crane that has loomed over Walnut Tree Road for the last year or so has gone. It would seem that construction on the new Bexley College campus has now reached a point where heavy lifting is no longer required. I must admit that I almost miss the sight of the crane, though I doubt that the residents of Stonewood Road, Cricketers Close and Tranquil Rise will be so keen. The crane, and the new college main building structure have obscured the Clarke belt from their satellite dishes. To explain, the Clarke belt is the area of geosynchronous orbit where communications satellites are located. It is named after science fiction author Sir Arthur C Clarke, who created the concept in the 1940’s for a story he was writing.  The effect of the new college building for a handful of local residents is that they can no longer watch Sky TV. I would imagine that Virgin are rubbing their hands with glee. Their fibre optic cable TV does not require access to satellites. I would think that a swap to cable TV would be the most pragmatic solution for those in close proximity to the new building. The mention of new building brings me back to last weeks’ lead story – the construction of a passenger lift at Bexleyheath station, despite there being little actual need for it. Reader Paul B commented “As a regular user of Bexleyheath station (long time commuter), I was amazed when I saw we were getting lifts. There are two perfectly good road bridges (with pavements) at either end of the station. To go from one platform to another using these existing bridges (rather than the station footbridge) takes but a few minutes. To my knowledge, no work was being done on the footbridge prior to the installation of the lifts began”. This is an interesting observation; my contact told me that the reason that the lift was being installed was that as maintenance work was being carried out on the passenger footbridge anyway, the installation of a lift was deemed to be cost effective, as contractors would already be working on the site. What Paul says is that this may not actually have been the case. If any other reader has information regarding this, please contact me at hugh.neal@gmail.com – you can remain completely anonymous if you so wish.

May 2014 marks the 30^th anniversary of the launch of Laser 558, the offshore radio station that for a brief period between 1984 and 1986 became the most popular music radio station in the UK.  Laser was known for its fast paced format “you are never more than a minute away from the music”, and exclusively employed American DJ’s, including some, like Charlie Wolf, who went on to become household names. It all sounded very glamorous, and nothing like any rather more staid British radio station of the period. Most listeners believed the story that the station was crewed and operated exclusively by Americans, and supplied from mainland Europe, and therefore operating completely legally. The reality was that whilst the broadcasters were all US citizens, the station and the supplies all came covertly from the UK – the main supply point was Herne Bay.  The Laser ship was called the M.V Communicator – it was a converted hydrographic survey vessel originally names the Guardline Tracker. The work to convert the ship to a marine broadcasting station was carried out in Port Everglades in Florida – if you ever see a rerun of the Miami Vice episode “Phil the Shill” (the one that guest starred Phil Collins) there is a long aerial tracking shot of Crockett and Tubbs driving through Port Everglades – and the M.V Communicator can clearly be seen whilst it was being converted to a radio ship. When Laser 558 first came on air from the North Sea, the station tried using a novel wire antenna suspended from a helium balloon. Whoever thought of this idea clearly had no concept of the weather frequently experienced in the area. The strong, gusty and changeable winds soon destroyed the balloon antenna, and a conventional tower array was built to replace it. Laser quickly picked up a massive following in both the UK and Europe. It had a strong, loud signal on Medium Wave, it played far more music that BBC Radio One, and operated a format of top 40 pop and familiar oldies, played back to back. The sound was slick and very professional, and soon listeners started to defect from local radio and BBC national stations to Laser. At this point the government became worried – they could not let this upstart pirate take all of their precious listeners from the BBC and ILR stations. A ship called the Dioptric Surveyor was despatched by the Department of Trade and Industry Radio Investigation Service to monitor both Laser 558 and Radio Caroline, in what became known as the “Eurosiege”. It was soon apparent that Laser, rather than Caroline was the real target. This was mainly due to the constant on air jibes and arch comments made by Laser DJ’s – most notably by Charlie Wolf, the station motor mouth. Soon a spoof record was released called ”I Spy for the DTI” by the Moronic Surveyors (actually the Laser DJ’s) which got heavy play on Laser, and got into the lower reaches of the charts. In contrast, Radio Caroline continued in their policy of not annoying the authorities, and they carried on pretty much unmolested. Eventually a mixture of running low on supplies, bad weather (the Communicator was not an ideal ship for the North Sea and its heavy swell – it rolled terribly, unlike the Radio Caroline ship the M.V Ross Revenge – a massive, former ice breaking trawler which was solid as a rock in rough seas) and a lack of advertising revenue caused the crew to bring the ship in, under escort from the DTI. The other reason for the failure of Laser was its management, which was pretty financially incompetent, and also a few suppliers that managed to con a large amount of cash out of the station for very little in return. The whole project lasted only around eighteen months, but it did shake up UK radio, which up until that time was legally restricted as to the amount of music it was allowed to play. The “needle time” rules dictated that fifty percent of broadcasting time had to be dedicated to speech; this was later relaxed when it was found that the audiences for Laser 558 were primarily attracted by the stations policy of “never more than a minute from the music”.  In contrast Radio Caroline continued at sea for another six years,  which was when my own involvement happened. Back when Laser and Caroline were both broadcasting to Northern Europe, I was still at school – I recall many occasions when there would be scuffles in the 6^th form common room when some pupils wanted to listen to Laser on the ancient radiogram we had, whilst I wanted to listen to Caroline. Strangely I cannot recall anyone wanting to listen to Radio One at the time. I think that just about says it all.

Going about as far as it is possible to go in the opposite scale of radio station, the photo above shows an old and abandoned building in the grounds of Erith and District Hospital. I have to make an appeal; if anyone has any information or period photos of Radio Erith when it was operational, could you please get in contact with me? So far, nobody has any memories or information about the long closed hospital radio station, and I can find nothing online either. If you volunteered on the station, or know someone who did, please drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.

Bexley Police are being equipped with wearable video cameras (the Police terminology is Body Worn Video, or BWV) to record incidents for possible use as evidence. As you may have gathered from my previous postings, I have severe misgivings over the way in which face recognition technology can be misused in order to form a database which records where an individual goes, what they do when they get there, and a host of other personal behaviours. Despite this, my overall feeling in respect of the Police being equipped with cameras is that this is a good thing, both for the police, and for members of the public. It will remove the possibility of dispute in the event of an incident, in places where wearable cameras have already been deployed (including some U.S states) the level of disputes about what took place has dropped considerably once the video footage was released. It also protects the public – with the caveat that any cameras should be permanently on, and the video footage should be non editable by the police officer. Unfortunately I have received a letter in an Email from Chief Superintendent Peter Ayling, the Borough Commander, which contains some frequently asked questions on the subject. I it would appear that the cameras will be switched on and off at will by individual officers. Personal video recorders are becoming increasingly widespread, as the price falls and their storage capacity increases. It is getting quite usual to see private drivers fitting them to their car windscreen to record any potential road accident – for some reason the Russians seem particularly keen on this approach – though whether this has any reflection on their overall standard of driving, I could not say. Anyway, the letter I received was addressed to "Dear (insert name of stakeholder)" so I am not exactly being personally favoured! Some pertinent points from it are outlined below:-

I am writing to let you know that Bexley Borough has been selected to take part in the Metropolitan Police Service’s pilot of body worn video (BWV) equipment. You may have seen some debate and publicity around the use of these cameras in recent months. Our Borough will be taking part in the largest urban trial of this technology in the world to date. I think it is therefore essential to inform you as to what the pilot will look like locally. As always, I would be keen to hear feedback, so I would be grateful if you could cascade this information as you see fit. Below I have listed some ‘Frequently asked questions’ in respect of the cameras, and I hope they will prove informative. 

Which officers are using BWV? 

Front line emergency response officers from two teams on this Borough will be using the cameras, as well as armed response officers from the MPS Firearms command, who may be deployed on the Borough from time to time on patrol or in response to incidents. 

The reason only two teams are being issued with the cameras at the moment is because we would like to assess how productivity and performance is affected by the teams using the cameras as opposed to those teams without them. By having teams on the same Borough with and without cameras, this is the most efficient way of ensuring that other local factors remain the same. 

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 is the pilot going to measure? How long will it last? 

At this stage the pilot is expected to last for the next financial year. 

The pilot will be measuring a number of outcomes including: criminal justice outcomes, complaints against police, use of force by police, amount of time saved in administration tasks and the impact on public confidence through the use of cameras. 

The pilot will compare the performance of those officers issued with the cameras against those without cameras. It is hoped that the pilot will be able to demonstrate improvements in these key areas. 

How does the BWV work? 

The BWV camera is a video and audio recording device. Depending on the model, the device is either mounted on the body or worn on a head mounting. 

The camera records footage onto an internal and secure hard drive. Footage recorded can then be uploaded to MPS servers for use as evidence at court or other proceedings. 

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. 

How do I give feedback or find out more? 

A key consideration for the MPS pilot is to gauge feedback from the public and London’s communities about their feelings around BWV. 

You can give your feedback and/or comments to your local Safer Neighbourhoods Team or you can find out how to give feedback to the MPS at www.met.police.uk

Overall I think this trial is a good move; 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.

Local historian Ken Chamberlain has been busy - he recently sent me the following piece on a historic steam engine that originally worked in Erith, before it was restored: In March 1932 a new Bagnall 0-4-0 steam locomotive was delivered to the Fraser and Chalmers engineering factory in Erith. For many years the engine was a familiar sight in Nordenfeldt Road, crossing West Street. It was made redundant in 1969 and sold to a private buyer, a member of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road. There it has been painstakingly restored and over the May Bank Holiday weekend was on display in full steam. The first photograph shows the engine working beneath the gantry of Messrs Talbot Estates in the late 1930s. The site is now redundant but the location is still recognisable from Sandcliffe Road, with the exterior wall of Fraser’s on the left. The houses to the right are those of Crusoe Road and Friday Road. The second photo (below) is the Loco fully restored and in steam at Quainton Road earlier this month. Only the colour has changed.

You may recall that not very long ago, Jeremy Clarkson test drove a giant, reproduction 1930's Blower Bentley, which instead of having the usual supercharged 4.5 litre engine, had a 27 litre V12 Rolls - Royce Merlin engine, as used in the Supermarine Spitfire. The car was a one - off project built to a customer special order by bespoke engineering company Bob Petersen Engineering. At the time, the owner of the one - off car was not mentioned. It obviously had to be a car enthusiast with a great deal of money, as the car was worth well in excess of a million pounds. Recently, American comedian and TV chat show host Jay Leno started a new, YouTube only television show called Jay Leno's Garage, which showcases cars from his collection - he and other experts talk about the model in question, then it is test driven. As well as being exceedingly wealthy, Jay Leno has reputedly got the World's largest private car collection - though in the nature of being private, this is impossible to verify. His collection is certainly huge with over 880 vehicles, and is housed in a giant warehouse on an industrial estate somewhere on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Understandably the precise location is kept secret. In a recent edition of the show, Jay Leno revealed that he was the owner of the 27 litre, Merlin engined Bentley, that Jeremy Clarkson had so adored. You can see the episode below - please feel free to comment. Enjoy.

The fire station and the Luftwaffe.

The photo above shows the progress of the construction work on the main building of the new Bexley College in Walnut Tree Road, opposite Erith Town Hall and the currently empty old Erith Library building. The new college is going up at a veritable rate of knots. I pass the building site twice a day on my way to and from work, and the speed at which the site changes is astonishing. I wonder if anyone thought to set up a time lapse camera to record the activity? It would certainly make fascinating viewing if played back at high speed.  I can think of no down side to the relocation of the college into the centre of Erith. The old college buildings in Tower Road are well past their sell – by date. I have spent quite a time in the old college in the past – I studied construction technology there once on day release, and in 1997 I studied for my Amateur Radio licence there too. My tutor was Colin Turner, callsign G3VTT – an excellent teacher, and a former Radio Caroline transmitter engineer as well. I was pleased to pass the City and Guilds exam on the first attempt – albeit after tens of hours of personal study. I was awarded the unique radio callsign M1CXN which will be for me for life. I recall that the old college was either very hot and stuffy, or chilly as hell – the place had little or no insulation, and the windows were both single glazed and with solid metal frames. On top of this, the second, slightly smaller tower does not have a lift – which is no good if you have mobility problems of any type, as the stairs are a nightmare for the able bodied as it is. All this will be a distant memory when the new campus opens in September, just in time for the new academic year. Not only will students get a shiny new environment with the latest in technology, but the location of the new campus on the edge of Erith town centre will mean that students and lecturers alike will have a far better choice of public transport options open to them, as Erith operates as a major transport hub for the entire borough. Erith Riverside Shopping Centre will benefit from a large influx of new customers to the shops (I predict that the biggest beneficiary, at least initially will be Domino’s Pizza, but that any food outlet will have an upturn in customers, as I have previously outlined, when discussing the long and hotly debated “Scores on the Doors” rating system).  What I am particularly interested in from a personal viewpoint is what evening and weekend courses the college will be offering. I think there is a strong demand for practical and social courses – personally, I would love to learn to weld, but that is another story. I think the area will benefit from an influx of new people, many of whom with a disposable income, and I think the students will benefit from not only the new educational facilities, but exposure to the fact that Erith is not the out of the way place they had assumed it to be – it will be instructive to see how long it takes out of town students to discover the Riverside Gardens and the pier. I think they will be quite a draw when the weather is good. I have been contacted by the college, and once the building work is completed, and the place ready for business, I have been offered a guided tour around the campus. I anticipate that there will then be a Maggot Sandwich special on the college, complete with photos. It is a while off yet, but expect such a special towards the end of the summer, all things being equal.

Here is a bit of a personal request; does anyone know of a reliable and reasonably priced landscape gardener that they could recommend to me? The back garden of Pewty Acres is looking terrible, and I want to start it again from scratch. Last year the lawn was so full of moss and weeds that I had little choice but to weed killer the entire thing, ready to start again once the weather improved this spring. The time is now here, and I am looking for a person who can remove the rockeries at both the top and bottom of the garden, and dig up and remove the first inch or so of topsoil from the entire garden area. I have a number of ideas as to how I wish to rebuild the garden from scratch, including replacement of a fence that was victim to the recent storms. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

The problem of the proliferation of betting shops springing up in empty shop units around the country is getting worse; as I wrote about Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) back in January of this year; the main reason that the large betting companies want to open more outlets is that the law limits the number of FOBT’s in any specific betting shop, but it says nothing about the number of betting shops in any location. To increase the number of very lucrative FOBT units in a town, the bookmakers just open additional shops. Many local councils have been reluctant to block this, due to the fact that during the recession, many shop units have stood empty, and the betting shops offer a steady council tax income, which the council otherwise would not get. A recent report makes for extremely troubling reading; it reveals that in the 55 most deprived boroughs in the UK – overwhelmingly located in Northern cities and urban Greater London have a  total of 2,691 bookmakers shops, in which £13 billion was gambled on FOBT machines, and £470 million lost by gamblers in the last year alone. In the same time period, there were 1,258 bookmakers shops in the 115 wealthiest areas, adjusted to cover the same volume of population, within which players gambled a total of £6.5 billion, losing £231 million.  The report was commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, and shows that the large betting companies have targeted the poorest areas that have the highest unemployment, lowest per capita income and higher crime rates. The last year has also seen a large increase in the number of high street betting shops, mainly due to the leap in the total number of FOBT machines, such as digital roulette in use. In December 2013 there was a total of 9,343 active betting shop licences in the entire United Kingdom, which was an increase of 280 since 2012. The most deprived town council in the UK was identified as being Liverpool. A total of £118 million was gambled in 570 machines, and £23 million was siphoned off by bookmakers in the process. In the same time scale, the place voted as the most desirable place to live in the UK – the Hart district of Hampshire there are just seven betting shops with a total of 24 Fixed Odds Betting Terminals. Liverpool council have understandably got very worried by the figures, and are now keen to place strong control measures on the betting shop operators. The problem with FOBT machines is that large amounts of money can be spent on the machines very quickly, and losses can mount up almost before the gambler realises. A hundred pounds can be lost in no more than thirty seconds. Nick Small, of Liverpool City Council said of the situation “millions of pounds that should be used for paying for food and rent was being sucked into the FOBT machines”, and that “Bookies are arriving all the time into prime retail locations. This is all driven for FOBTs. I have no doubt of it. We are seeing horrific reports of family breakdown caused by gambling debts, problems with loan sharks. We are pretty sure organised crime is using the machines to launder money. It's out of control in a city like ours, where there are a lot of poorer people”.  The same situation exists all around the UK, with poorer areas – just like Erith, being hit far harder than wealthier regions. Industry observers have commented that one way to reduce the problem specific to FOBT machines would be to limit the maximum stake gambled to £2 – like ordinary one armed bandit machines, and to limit the maximum payout to £100. The gambling industry is not keen on this approach, for obvious reasons. To add to this, the Government are now showing an interest, as the subject is gaining column inches in the press now. The government have taken a very weak stance, saying that they will wait for the findings of the (gambling industry sponsored) research before any decision will be taken; at the rate things are progressing, it will be the end of the year before any changes come into force, if at all. The problem is that the gambling industry is wealthy and powerful, and has a strong lobby in parliament – last year the five big gambling firms, which between them account for 92% of all bookmakers shops on the high street made an estimated total gross profit of £1.6 billion on FOBT machines alone – and this does not take into account the additional cash they generate through conventional stakes based gambling; still a very lucrative market, if now being overshadowed by the rise of the electronic gambling machine, and also it ignores the vast amounts of cash spent during online gambling – a somewhat shady and overlooked area of an industry that already has a somewhat tarnished image. Personally I feel that the UK gambling industry needs a massive shake up. It has been allowed far too free a rein for years, and has exploited the market to the point where it is more powerful than some banks. People rightly get annoyed by the activities of certain banks and bankers, whilst seemingly overlooking the scourge of the high street and nowadays also the web, the big five bookies. If all this was not bad enough, the web based casinos and poker sites that operate on the periphery of some country’s laws are proving increasingly aggressive in trying to separate people from their hard earned cash. I have noticed that sites such as 888 Casino and 888 Poker use software resistant pop – ups and pop unders, which are embedded into legitimate web sites, usually without the owner’s consent. The fact that a large organisation would willfully contravene the Computer Misuse Act 1990 to try and promote its dubious services to me says a lot about their intentions.

Here is a hypothetical question for you, somewhat in the same field as BBC Radio 4's “Moral Maze” programme. I would be interested in your personal thoughts  on the matter:-  You are at a council waste tip to deposit some stuff for recycling. Whilst there you notice a group of young children who have been playing amidst the rubbish, apparently unaccompanied or supervised by an adult or older sibling. One of the children, all of whom are no more than seven or eight years of age approaches you to say that his little brother (aged around five) has climbed up on to the top of a storage hopper and he cannot get down. He asks if you would lift the child down. It is evident the small child is in distress. What would you do? Do you ignore the children, drop off your rubbish and go on your way, or do you lift the child down and risk a potential allegation of child abuse for touching a minor? I think that women might find this thought exercise more easy to respond to than most men. You can either leave your comment below, or Email me directly to hugh.neal@gmail.com Either way I would be interested in what you think. I will possibly explain the reason for my posing the question next week.

Last week, whilst enjoying a rare break in the windy and rainy weather, I took a walk around Erith with my camera; one of the results was the photo of the progress of construction work  on the new Bexley College campus that you can see at the top of the page. I also took the photo of the small green plaque that commemorates the old Erith Fire Station that you can see above (click the photo for a larger version). Nowadays, all that is left of the original fire station is a very small brick built structure with a wooden door, that to my mind rather resembles an old fashioned outside privy. The building is located to the right of the entrance to the staff car park behind Erith Council Offices. I doubt that many people even realise the plaque is there. I have been conscious that there is a lot of history to the local fire service, so I have once again been in contact with local history guru Ken Chamberlain for his take on matters. Ken wrote a pamphlet on the history of the fire service in Erith, and almost certainly has more knowledge on the subject that anyone else. "At the outbreak of the second World War in 1939 there were only 9 regular firemen. However there were no less than 112 full time Auxiliaries, and 160 part time AFS recruited. Properties in Cross Street and the High Street were taken over to house them. Some of course served at satellite stations set up at the Royal Oak Garage in Bexley Road, the Sanatorium in Belmont Road (Now Belmont school) Bedwell School in Albert Road, Belvedere, “Elmhurst” Borstall and St. Marys Hall, Abbey Wood. During that time twenty four lorries, eight high powered cars were acquired. As well as a barge that was converted to a fire float. On the 7th September 1940 local units attended the London dock area assisting the overstretched Local units. They finally returned to Erith after a sixteen hour shift minus a pump that had been blown into the dock. On the night of 21st/22nd January 1944 the Bexley Road station suffered a direct hit by a delayed action bomb. Several years ago I spoke to a survivor of the incident he recounted how they were in the engine room when they heard a loud crash and debris started falling about them. They ran out to see where the bomb had fallen. This action undoubtedly saved their lives as at that moment the bomb exploded. He claimed not to have heard a bang, but was stone deaf for six weeks afterwards. He did however suffer injuries. He was taken to Erith Hospital, treated and was back on duty in two hours. There were no fatalities. The 1907 building was demolished and a temporary structure was put in its place. The wartime control room remains as does a part of the entrance doorway. The temporary station remained until 12th July 1961 when it was replaced by the station that is now located in Erith Road, Belvedere". Thanks for the information Ken - I always get favourable feedback when either I, or more usually a guest writer have an account of historical Erith. You can see a couple of Ken's photos from his extensive collection below - the first one shows Erith Fire Station just as it had received the first motorised fire engines in the 1930's. Strange to think that only a handful of years later the station would be flattened by the Luftwaffe, as you can see in the second shot, taken on the 22nd January 1944, the morning after the fire station received the direct hit. At least Hitler missed the White Hart - more of this later. 

As pretty much everyone who lives in, or spends any time in London will be aware, the Old Bailey (more properly named the Central Criminal Court) is an imposing building topped by a famous bronze statue of the “Lady of Justice” who holds the scales of justice in her left hand, and a sword in her right hand. Interestingly, although the statue is meant to represent blind justice, the statue is not blindfolded, as is commonly thought. Lady Justice has a “maidenly form” which is supposed to symbolise her impartiality. The symbolism of the statue atop Britain’s most famous criminal court is clear – you will get a fair and impartial trial with a supposition of innocence until proven otherwise and decided on by a jury of your peers. I would say that this is still broadly true for the most serious and onerous of crimes, but the situation in respect of the more mundane issues of law such as unfair dismissal, property disputes, workplace bullying, or the breakup of a marriage or civil partnership, there is now little recourse to the law unless you earn a substantial amount of money. The ministry of Justice has cut the grants it used to give to legal advisors so that they could give free advice on points of law to people on low incomes. The end result of this on a local level is the closure of the Erith based Law Centre in Cross Street, which is shutting permanently this month. The centre opened in 2006 and has been offering free legal advice to around 1,500 clients on low incomes every year since. That is a lot of advice to a lot of local people that is now no longer going to happen. The Citizen’s Advice Bureau may be able to take up some of the work, but they don’t have the specialist legal knowledge that the Cross Street Law Centre has until now provided. It is not just people on benefits that will be losing out; all people on anything other than a very respectable income will potentially suffer. Engaging a solicitor privately can be an eye wateringly expensive experience. How the loss of free legal advice will affect courts will have to be seen, but it should be noted that for the first time in decades the most vulnerable in society will not have proper legal representation and advice. Recently, I attended a meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Whitehall as part of my day job. Once I had got through the incredibly tight security at the entrance, I was able to make my way across an inner courtyard and over to the office where I was due to meet with a couple of real life Sir Humphrey Appleby types. In the courtyard, lined up like a parade, were ten, brand new Daimler Jaguar long wheelbase luxury saloon cars, all fitted with what looked like antennas for encrypted communications, plus a few other modifications from the factory standard. The cars all had consecutive number plates, so had been ordered as a job lot all at the same time. I would estimate that each car must have cost in excess of £100,000, even allowing for a substantial bulk discount. Bearing in mind that the Government has been banging on for several years about the need for austerity measures, and to reduce spending wherever possible, it does strike me as conspicuous consumption. I understand that in the greater scheme of things the amount of money expended on the vehicles is negligible (the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has an annual budget of £1.5 billion) but it does send out a very mixed message; on the one hand, public services such as hospitals and fire stations are being shut down to save money, but the Whitehall Mandarins can still splash out on a fleet of swish new limousines. It is not only what you do, but what you are seen to be doing that counts. Again – the cost of just one of the luxury Daimler Jaguars would keep the Cross Street Law Centre open for a whole year. I am pretty certain this kind of major impact for a relatively minor cash saving is being mirrored in towns and villages all around the country. I think it is short sighted, and is going to cost the country more than it saves in the long run.

Earlier I mentioned how the Luftwaffe missed the old White Hart pub when it managed to flatten the old Erith Fire Station; well, as regular readers will know, the White Hart was subject to corporate vandalism back in 2008, when it was converted into the ill - fated Potion bar. The historic frontage was ripped out of the listed building and the character of the place ruined. Now the place has gone bust and the operators ousted by the freeholders of the building. A long time Maggot Sandwich reader who prefers to remain anonymous has made the following observations and suggestions:- "Perhaps we should get as many signatures as possible and lobby Bexley council for their incompetence in the matter regarding Potion. Thus taking the onus off the free holder. I also think Bexley council should get three estimates from from companies competent of carrying out such work and the owners of Potion bar should be made to reinstate the building to its original state. Bexley council would come after anyone else with a bailiff's order". An interesting idea; I am unsure how legally sound it would be, but I think it would be worth a very good try. Do you have an opinion on the subject? Either leave a comment below, or Email me directly to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The ending video this week has rather been dictated by something I mentioned earlier; namely my trip to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Whitehall. I mentioned in passing my meeting with some senior civil servants. The epitome of the Whitehall Mandarin is Sir Humphrey Appleby, never seen in better action than in this classic clip from "Yes, Prime Minister". Incidentally, some years ago I attended a meeting which included a senior advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron. The chap said to me in all seriousness that Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister should be watched, not as an entertaining and well written sitcom, but as a gritty, fly on the wall documentary. It certainly made me think...