A Reflection on Hastings and the Other Places
This blog is by Peter Chowney, former Labour leader of Hastings Council, resident of Maze Hill, St Leonards on Sea, UK, finally retiring from the council in May 2022. Also a former microbiologist, a keen gardener, chicken keeper, and classic car owner. It serves no particular purpose, beyond entertainment, debate and constructive comment. You need to be registered and logged in to comment, but if you do, please make sure it is constructive! Click on the post title to comment.
The double helix structure of Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) was established in 1953, in a paper published by James Watson and Francis Crick, working at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. In this post, I’ve provided a beginner’s guide to genetics, with a fairly simple outline of how the genetic code carried on DNA is translated into a human, or indeed any other living organism. Continue reading “What Watson and Crick Were On About: How the Genetic Code is Decoded”
The Covid pandemic has been devastating for the world, with 6.8 million deaths. In the UK, 206,000 people have died from Covid-related causes. As pandemics go, it’s by no means the worst. The 1918 flu pandemic killed 20-50 million people, and the Black Death, caused by the bubonic plague bacterium, killed around 75-200 million people, or around half the world’s population. What was different about Covid was the development of vaccines, in particular RNA vaccines. And with that development of RNA vaccines came a new possibility: a cure for cancer. In this blog post, I’ll try to explain what RNA vaccines are, how they work, and why they could be the key to creating bespoke treatments for cancer.
Continue reading “What Has Covid Ever Done for Us? The Rise of RNA Vaccines in Cancer Treatment”
I have a confession to make: I have always loved cars. From my first Messerschmitt KR200 three-wheeler when I was sixteen to the ‘extended range EV’ Vauxhall Ampera I have now, I’ve pretty much always had one. Cars have played an important role in the liberation of the working class, and the broadening of working people’s horizons. But can we continue to justify the use of personal transport as we battle to tackle climate change? Does the motor car, whether fuelled by petrol or electricity, still have a role? Continue reading “For the Love of Cars: The Politics of Personal Transport”
It’s March 1981, and I’m in a tower block lift in Isleworth that smells of wee and despondency. I have just spent a fruitless hour canvassing for the GLC elections, for a local candidate whose name I can’t remember. Not a single person even answered their door.
And that was my introduction to the Labour Party, having just joined, enthused by the thought that Labour could take control of the Greater London Council and bring in some genuinely socialist policies. Continue reading “Why I Remained in the Labour Party. And Why I Left.”
This morning, I went to a wildflower sowing, for want of a better title of the event. This was a good example of how to encourage and plant wildflowers, why it’s important to properly research and audit the area before planting, and why ‘seed bombing’ can be at best superficial and pointless, and at worst, ecologically damaging. Continue reading “Ban the (Seed) Bomb!”
There has been a lot of speculation about the ‘new variant’ of the Covid-19 virus. But how is it different and why? Is it really responsible for the intensity of this second wave of infections? And is the government really giving us the best advice to avoid infection?
Continue reading “New Variant Covid: It’s All About Aerosols”
The vaccination programme is finally being rolled out, which can only be good news. Here in Hastings, we were off to a slow start, with the public vaccination programme not getting underway till January 4th. But although we’re by no means the world’s fastest nation at getting the vaccination into recipients, it’s good to see the UK, for once, pretty quick off the mark. But is the decision to give only one dose and delay the booster dose the right thing to do? And with this ’one dose’ strategy, can we guarantee anywhere near the two million vaccinations a week that the government has promised?
Continue reading “Through a Glass Darkly? Gambles and Barriers in the Vaccination Programme”
There’s been a bit of discussion recently about Christmas trees. It’s the season for it. But this year, the debates have been around sustainability, and whether it’s better to get a real tree, which you’re cutting down and chucking away, or an artificial tree, that’s (probably) made from plastic derived from fossil fuels.
When put on the spot with the ‘what kind of tree do you have’ question, I described what I did. They suggested I put it on the blog. So here it is.
Continue reading “The Christmas Tree: How to Keep it Green”
The world’s media have gone into excited overdrive over the last couple of days with the announcement that US drug company Pfizer has developed an effective vaccine against Covid-19. Should we be celebrating? Or is our desperation for a vaccine and a ‘return to normal’ clouding our collective judgement?
Continue reading “The Covid Vaccine: Keep the Champagne on Ice for Just a Little Longer”
As the second wave of Covid-19 infections breaks tumultuously over our heads, it’s disappointing that there’s still so much misinformation out there, and some of it is originating from places where it really didn’t ought to. But that’s just one factor in a complicated mosaic that has led us to this dismal outcome.
Continue reading “The Second Wave: It Didn’t Have To Be Like This”