The Tate and Lyle sugary refinery looms large over nearby houses in Silvertown, London

I came across this spectacular painting of the Tate & Lyle factory and its surroundings in Silvertown, east London, this mornng. It is by artist Liam O’Donnell and is remarkably good.

Day 2099, 22 March 2024

Tate & Lyle plant, East London, August 2023.

North Woolwich, E16

They're Escaping the Asylum, and Running Things!

Here I go again, repeating myself, I know. As potentially boring as it may be, something tells me that you, my friend, may well be as exasperated as me by now. So, here we go. Let's share a common vent as we continue to highlight the sheer idiocy of others nowadays.

Where shall we begin? I know, how about The image of a dead lion being swarmed by bees to be dropped from some of Lyle's Golden Syrup packaging. Question one: who actually cares enough about a graphic on a tin can no one even notices anyway? Question two: What relevance, if any does an insignificant graphic have on a buying decision if someone wants a tin of golden syrup? Not me, for sure, and finally, Question three: who is the marketing numpty who considered this a good idea, and did it cause them to lose any sleep due to the graphic which has been in place for somewhere around 150 years without any bother whatsoever? Actually, I have just thought of one further question. Does this person not have a hobby, because clearly he/she/it has far too much time on their hands.

In a similar vein, I was asked by a news channel to participate in a live broadcast about the statue of Bristol's Edward Colston, earlier this week, as later on that day Bristol city council would be having a meeting regarding its future. My point is that the Colston statue has been in place since seventeen hundred and something, with millions of people passing it by since then on their way to and from work, to schools, universities, for business meetings and conferences, and tourists and shoppers alike, all going about whatever they had to do at the time.

To all intents and purposes, no one gave so much as a flying fig about it because it was just there, and pretty much invisible to all except a self-entitled minority over the past few years who suddenly felt oh, so offended by its presence - poor dears, pulled it down, and then returned home to, I presume, watch children's television following their petulant outburst without even the satisfaction of receiving so much as a Blue Peter badge for their efforts. Awww. Still, as long as it served to feed their oversized egos they were happy, bless them. Meanwhile, of course, the majority of Bristol 'adult's did the adult thing and averted their gaze to the Colston statue, as similarly, the same can be said for those who bought golden syrup over the years.

What next then? Aha, yes, here's another among the loonies who, newly born, deserved to have been baptised in a font of sulphuric acid to save the rest of us from their later life moronisitis (yes, I just made that word up). The prize pillock here is whichever employee of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (MS) decided to sack pensioner Fran Itkoff from her volunteer position with the charity because she "asked what pronouns meant". Fran Itkoff had served the non-profit for multiple sclerosis patients for 60 years, with her late husband running the Long Beach Lakewood chapter before his death.

She was left stunned when her bosses forced her to step down on January 19 following an exchange with a colleague who asked her to use her pronouns in email signatures. Well now, isn't this "colleague" just full of her own self-importance, or what? I'm surprised her ego doesn't get in the way of her entering whatever building doorway gives her access to her work. Aren't you? Pronouns, my arse, get over yourself woman before you fall off your high horse and injure yourself. These people aren't even worth the satire. Hence, as soon as people begin thrusting their inane pronouns at me in any communication I go incommunicado with immediate effect until they've got over themselves, or, penguins takeover Parliament. Whichever is sooner. I'm not fussed.

Shall we all now deep-breathe for a couple of minutes before I move on? Very well.

Ready for the next assault on your common sense, are you? Good. So, how about this one? Charity umbrella group Wildlife and Countryside Link claim that the British countryside is a "racist colonial" white space. You see, lunatics like this would be enough to drive the sane of our population on the phone to the Samaritans helpline 24/7, wouldn't they? I feel a headache coming on just from writing about it! Which, of course, leads me towards some smartarse saying, "Well, the majority of 'adults would avert their gaze," I suppose. Yeah, yeah, there's always one! Except, like most, I hope, normal, common-sense people with even a modicum of intelligence would recognise blatant, and quite unnecessary stupidity when they see it.

Whoever dreamed this idea up is clearly scraping whatever barrels of employment they can find that enables them to keep their, no doubt, high-paid job. Simply finding problems where none exist to justify their status and salary by stating the countryside as "'racist space dominated by white people' as well as, and wait for it. Yes, grip on to something firm now, "The UK’s role in the European colonial project has also driven the current climate and nature crises."

"European colonial project"? What the hell is that supposed to be? Do you know the worst part about this? Someone has probably been to university for three, or four years, to learn this tripe. It continues, "People of colour in the UK are significantly less likely to visit natural spaces." Give me a break! I'm surprised whoever didn't go further in stating that whenever a black person is seen in the countryside the locals assume it's an African missionary come to convert them all to Christianity because they are such a rare sight out in the sticks. I can just picture it now, loads of white people hurriedly retreating back to their homes, scared out of their wits at the sight of a black face.

Look, lighthearted humour aside, I don't know about you, but I've seen skin of all colours meandering around the countryside and enjoying it. Some people of ethnic minorities have even discovered we have things called buses, coaches, and even trains here in England. How cool is that! If people search hard enough they'll even find out how to use our buses, coaches, and trains too. Wow, twenty-first Britain, who'd have thought it? However, sometimes I do wonder for myself. So, despite this person's claims, and the transport systems we have in place, I'd say it's more a case of lack of interest combined with laziness that fewer people of colour are seen in the countryside, wouldn't you agree?

Finally, because I simply cannot continue with more of this lunacy without an entire month of Valium to calm my increasingly shredding nerves, I arrive at Pillock Central as the final destination on this particular journey, and Labour MP (seems about right so far - no pun intended) Charlotte Nichols, who was either taking the proverbial, or awaiting psychiatric intervention perhaps, and wanted to change the law to let dead people switch their gender. Hey hun, as much as I hate to state the bleeding obvious. Once you're dead, you're dead. It's a terminal thing, you know? No one is going to rise up out of their grave and complain. Trust me, and move on.

I'm done!

Tate & Lyle : supports new research to improve understanding of healthier, more sustainable food choices | MarketScreener

Tate & Lyle : supports new research to improve understanding of healthier, more sustainable food choices | MarketScreener

London, UK, 19 October 2022: Tate & Lyle PLC, a world leader in ingredient solutions for healthier food and beverages, is delighted to be supporting a new three-year research project by The University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute which aims to improve the understanding of the UK food system and help people experiencing food insecurity and living with obesity make healthier, more sustainable…

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Marchés européens ouverts à la clôture, données, décision de la BCE

Marchés européens ouverts à la clôture, données, décision de la BCE

LONDRES – Les actions européennes ont chuté jeudi avant la dernière décision sur les taux d’intérêt de la Banque centrale européenne. Le Stoxx 600 paneuropéen a chuté de 0,7 % en début de séance, les ressources de base perdant 1,6 % pour entraîner des pertes, tous les secteurs s’échangeant en territoire négatif à l’exception du pétrole et du gaz, qui ont légèrement augmenté de 0,2 %. En termes…

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Character Name Ideas (Male)

So I've been browsing through BehindTheName (great resource!) recently and have compiled several name lists. Here are some names, A-Z, that I like. NOTE: If you want to use any of these please verify sources, meanings etc, I just used BehindTheName to browse and find all of these. Under the cut:

A: Austin, Aiden, Adam, Alex, Angus, Anthony, Archie, Argo, Ari, Aric, Arno, Atlas, August, Aurelius, Alexei, Archer, Angelo, Adric, Acarius, Achilou, Alphard, Amelian, Archander B: Bodhi, Bastian, Baz, Beau, Beck, Buck, Basil, Benny, Bentley, Blake, Bowie, Brad, Brady, Brody, Brennan, Brent, Brett, Brycen C: Cab, Cal, Caden, Cáel, Caelan, Caleb, Cameron, Chase, Carlos, Cooper, Carter, Cas, Cash, Cassian, Castiel, Cedric, Cenric, Chance, Chandler, Chaz, Chad, Chester, Chet, Chip, Christian, Cillian, Claude, Cicero, Clint, Cody, Cory, Coy, Cole, Colt, Colton, Colin, Colorado, Colum, Conan, Conrad, Conway, Connor, Cornelius, Creed, Cyneric, Cynric, Cyrano, Cyril, Cyrus, Crestian, Ceric D: Dallas, Damien, Daniel, Darach, Dash, Dax, Dayton, Denver, Derek, Des, Desmond, Devin, Dewey, Dexter, Dietrich, Dion, Dmitri, Dominic, Dorian, Douglas, Draco, Drake, Drew, Dudley, Dustin, Dusty, Dylan, Danièu E: Eadric, Evan, Ethan, Easton, Eddie, Eddy, Einar, Eli, Eilas, Eiljah, Elliott, Elton, Emanuel, Emile, Emmett, Enzo, Erik, Evander, Everett, Ezio F: Faolán, Faron, Ferlin, Felix, Fenrir, Fergus, Finley, Finlay, Finn, Finnian, Finnegan, Flint, Flip, Flynn, Florian, Forrest, Fritz G: Gage, Gabe, Grady, Grant, Gray, Grayson, Gunnar, Gunther, Galahad H: Hale, Harley, Harper, Harvey, Harry, Huey, Hugh, Hunter, Huxley I: Ian, Ianto, Ike, Inigo, Isaac, Isaias, Ivan, Ísak J: Jack, Jacob, Jake, Jason, Jasper, Jax, Jay, Jensen, Jed, Jeremy, Jeremiah, Jesse, Jett, Jimmie, Jonas, Jonas, Jonathan, Jordan, Josh, Julien, Jovian, Jun, Justin, Joseph, Joni, K: Kaden, Kai, Kale, Kane, Kaz, Keane, Keaton, Keith, Kenji, Kenneth, Kent, Kevin, Kieran, Kip, Knox, Kris, Kristian, Kyle, Kay, Kristján, Kristófer L: Lamont, Lance, Landon, Lane, Lars, László, Laurent, Layton, Leander, Leif, Leo, Leonidas, Leopold, Levi, Lewis, Louie, Liam, Liberty, Lincoln, Linc, Linus, Lionel, Logan, Loki, Lucas, Lucian, Lucio, Lucky, Luke, Luther, Lyall, Lycus, Lykos, Lyle, Lyndon, Llewellyn, Landri, Laurian, Lionç M: Major, Manny, Manuel, Marcus, Mason, Matt, Matthew, Matthias, Maverick, Maxim, Memphis, Midas, Mikko, Miles, Mitch, Mordecai, Mordred, Morgan, Macari, Maïus, Maxenci, Micolau, Miro N: Nate, Nathan, Nathaniel, Niall, Nico, Niels, Nik, Noah, Nolan, Niilo, Nikander, Novak, O: Oakley, Octavian, Odin, Orlando, Orrick, Ǫrvar, Othello, Otis, Otto, Ovid, Owain, Owen, Øyvind, Ozzie, Ollie, Oliver, Onni P: Paisley, Palmer, Percival, Percy, Perry, Peyton, Phelan, Phineas, Phoenix, Piers, Pierce, Porter, Presley, Preston, Pacian Q: Quinn, Quincy, Quintin R: Ragnar, Raiden, Ren, Rain, Rainier, Ramos, Ramsey, Ransom, Raul, Ray, Roy, Reagan, Redd, Reese, Rhys, Rhett, Reginald, Remiel, Remy, Ridge, Ridley, Ripley, Rigby, Riggs, Riley, River, Robert, Rocky, Rokas, Roman, Ronan, Ronin, Romeo, Rory, Ross, Ruairí, Rufus, Rusty, Ryder, Ryker, Rylan, Riku, Roni S: Sammie, Sammy, Samuel, Samson, Sanford, Sawyer, Scout, Seán, Seth, Sebastian, Seymour, Shane, Shaun, Shawn, Sheldon, Shiloh, Shun, Sid, Sidney, Silas, Skip, Skipper, Skyler, Slade, Spencer, Spike, Stan, Stanford, Sterling, Stevie, Stijn, Suni, Sylvan, Sylvester T: Tab, Tad, Tanner, Tate, Tennessee, Tero, Terrance, Tevin, Thatcher, Tierno, Tino, Titus, Tobias, Tony, Torin, Trace, Trent, Trenton, Trev, Trevor, Trey, Troy, Tripp, Tristan, Tucker, Turner, Tyler, Ty, Teemu U: Ulric V: Valerius, Valor, Van, Vernon, Vespasian, Vic, Victor, Vico, Vince, Vinny, Vincent W: Wade, Walker, Wallis, Wally, Walt, Wardell, Warwick, Watson, Waylon, Wayne, Wes, Wesley, Weston, Whitley, Wilder, Wiley, William, Wolfe, Wolfgang, Woody, Wulfric, Wyatt, Wynn X: Xander, Xavier Z: Zachary, Zach, Zane, Zeb, Zebediah, Zed, Zeke, Zeph, Zaccai

Tate and Lyle factory in Plaistow Wharf, Silvertown where more than one million tins of Lyle’s Golden Syrup are made...every month!

A slight departure for LondonEdge in that I have now decide to include industrial sites. The Tate and Lyle's factory in Silvertown in East London is the first.

January 27th 1974 the Greek sugar-carrying merchant navy ship Captayannis dragged it’s anchor and capsized on the Firth of Clyde between Greenock and Helensburgh.

The 4,567-ton 'sugar boat’ got into trouble on the night of January 27, when a fierce storm hit.

The vessel had dropped anchor at the Tail of the Bank, with a cargo of sugar from Lourenco Marques in Portuguese East Africa, and waited for high tide to offload it at the James Watt Dock sugar terminal for processing at Tate & Lyle’s Westburn Refinery.

However, a severe gale hit the west coast, with winds of more than 60mph, and the Captayannis began to drag anchor.

Captain Theodorakis Ionnis ordered the engine to be started, intending to make for the more sheltered waters of the Gare Loch.

Also anchored at the Tail of the Bank, however, was the 36,754 ton BP tanker British Light, recently arrived from Elderslie dry dock.

Before the Captayannis could power-up, the gale blew her towards the tanker, and, although the two vessels didn’t touch, the tanker’s anchor chain ripped through the passing Captayannis’ hull.

Seawater immediately started pouring in, and the pumps couldn’t cope.

The captain made for the sandbank to try to ground his ship, but, when he reached it, the profile of the hull meant the vessel wasn’t stable and began to heel over to port.

This resulted in all power being lost, and the Captayannis eventually settled port side down on the sandbank.

The crew were rescued, without injury, by the tug Labrador and the MV Rover of Clyde Marine Services.

By 10am on January 28, wreckage from the ship had already been washed ashore at Helensburgh.

The vessel has lain in the same spot since the sinking and is not considered a hazard to navigation.

She remains unable to be removed due to a wrangle between her owners and insurers, and plans to have her blown up were shelved due to fears over damage to the nearby Ardmore Point bird sanctuary.

The locals don't seem to mind the wreck lying there as it became a popular attraction for young fishermen and even tourists, a Bistro on Colquhoun Square, Helensburgh even bears the name Sugarboat. Through time Captayannis has become 'home' to marine life and birds, the wreck is even visible on satellite and is tagged on Google Earth.

Clyde Charters are running trips from James Watt Dock Marina to MV Captayannis to mark 50 years since the ship. It's a small boat carrying 12 passengers and the trip, which lasts an hour costs £17.95 for adults and £12.95 for children.

Builders' Tea

for reasons, I occasionally receive updates from an Englishman who is restoring a Scottish castle:

Admonition the Fifty-first: A Cup of Tea is Essential to Keep the Team Happy

If you have self-built or self-restored or even commissioned any significant building work here in the UK, you will know the importance of builders’ tea (BT). Not only that everyone on site drinks at least a dozen cups a day, but that you have to make a good mug to ensure workforce morale.

It helps too if you smoke.

Or did.

Or at least can provide matches.

Smoking or possibly vaping (though I have no experience of the latter) has been an integral part of the tea taste experience for years and shouldn’t be discounted lightly in the building site experience of tea drinking. The cloying sweetness of a good BT can be cut through by a drag of Golden Virginia or similar. Prefabs are, in my view, too polluted with additives – like salt petre – oh – and filter. This is not to say a fag is necessary, or even desirable, its just that for historical purposes, one needs to see that a cigarette until recently has been a virtually compulsory condiment.

A big Newfoundland is helpful too – not as a condiment obviously, but to finish discarded mugs left on the floor, ensuring that next tea-break is presented with a “sparkling” set of crockery.

The builders’ tea which would achieve the equivalent of three Michelin stars for the maker takes practice and an ability to distinguish in microseconds between multiple tea shaded pantones as well as the respective mash- and sledge- hammers of sweetness.

Critical BT elements are:

One: a big mug. Preferably with a sweary joke on the outside, or for a fuller flavour, inside on the bottom as well. It needs to be a big receptacle for the purposes of ensuring adequate hydration in the squad member, but also to retain tea-heat to the bottom of the vessel – this is especially important for the self-styled raconteur of the group, who will, it is true, spend more time gassing than drinking, smoking, laughing or farting, but will still insist on a properly hot cup of char to the end of the mug and / or break. Two: boiling water. Not for the purposes of flavour as refined tea-baggers would have it, but so the tea remains hot for as long as possible, particularly after the violent pressing – (3) below – and multiple silver spoons – (4) below. Three: Violent pressing (VP). For a deep mahogany colour, despite full-fat milk and below-mentioned epic quantities of refined Tate&Lyle. VP is achieved with plenty of greased elbow and an over-large teaspoon (otherwise the already heroic number of four teaspoons of sugar becomes a teeth-crackingly legendary seven). The deep colour of a good builders’ tea will visually presage the hot, sweet assault when you drink it. Four: 1 bag of Tate&Lyle Silver Spoon a day. To sweeten and render the correct stiff tea-texture, in which teaspoon stands momentarily. The legend of the permanently upright utensil is an overstatement. What you need to see as you lift your hand from the spoon is a momentary hesitation, and then a smooth fall in an arc centred on the tip of the spoon sitting on the bottom of the mug. If either the spoon tip slips to the side of the mug or, the fall is as sudden as you’d expect in water or, if the jangle of the spoon hitting the side of the mug speaks to a jostling, and a multiple impact, and therefore a lack of meniscal tension in the liquid – well, then, I am afraid you will have failed.

Now you might ask, what of the actual ingredients? Well, bags are essential. You will not have time to muck about with loose tea, no matter how flavourful and subtle. As you will have gathered, subtlety will be entirely wasted. The jury is still out on round, square or triangles, and I think, is influenced by the fact that various brands have different technologies. For me its about the blend … And a good blend is essential. Yorkshire. Scottish. Cheap is ideal of course because the more dusting included with leaves the thicker the texture. Milk is important. Just on the turn can invoke disgust or, depending on the audience, reminiscence about growing up. Full fat is better – again thicker. Skimmed works, but its thinness mitigates against the overall effect. No, the lactal fizz behind your back teeth of a full fat or even, gold top, as lactose and sucrose interact is an essential part of the experience – although the richness of the gold top might just be too luxurious. Biscuits are the compulsory condiment. We began with variety boxes, roadtested all-comers then settled on Rich Tea, Gingernuts and Bourbons. The deciding factor was the performance of each having been dipped. All other things being equal, you are now ready to recruit your team and begin the restoration – in our case, the house, rather than the castle.

Isn't he wonderful?

Tate & Lyle's Silvertown plant. East London, January 2024.

Before my father died, he read an autobiography by another Trinidadian man in his peer group about what life was like on the sugar cane estates. My dad lived in the labourer barracks on Golconda Estate with his grandparents when he was little, so he was very disparaging of this other man’s account and started noting down his own experiences out of spite  XD

We found a bunch of his notes after he passed, all in his draftsman’s block capitals (a little shaky in his 80s) and I’ve been very slowly going through them. Sometimes it’s hard to conceive of the change that my dad saw in his lifetime. The indentured East Indian workers arriving in the Caribbean seem so long ago to me, but he still saw the direct legacy of all that shit.

[ TRANSCRIPT ]

DUTIES: 

1) The Gen. Manager (white English) was the head of the estate & reported to a head manager delegated by [to] owners (”Tate & Lyle”) of England.

2) The overseers also white were mostly bachelors sharing a multi-room bungalow. They dressed in [kakhi] short sleeved shirt, khaki short pants, khaki tall socks, boots & khaki cork hats & supervise all top personnel.

He used to talk about seeing those overseers ride up and down the estate roads on horses, in their cork hats, with whips. In another section of his notes he remarks that all the white English had servants, too.

“In 1937 Kielberg sold his Liverpool sugar refinery to Tate & Lyle and in return was invited to become a co-investor in the company’s new West Indies raw sugar venture.“ <--- this is all that the Tate & Lyle website has to say about its history of exploitation in the canefields. We were nothing more than the living machinery of its venture.

Tate & Lyle Sugar Silo, Huskisson Dock, Regent Road, Liverpool, February 2024