Uncategorized Archives - A View from the Hill

January 7, 2021January 7, 2021

Through a Glass Darkly? Gambles and Barriers in the Vaccination Programme

Scientist holding a vial of the Pfizer vaccine — Photo: U.S. Secretary of Defense, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0,

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?

April 1, 2020January 29, 2023

Poultry for Pleasure: All Part of the Family

Keeping chickens has been such an enormous pleasure. There’s something very relaxing about them, their movements, the noises they make, their behaviour … it’s a much more pleasurable experience than I’d expected. And of course, fresh eggs every day.

March 19, 2020January 29, 2023

West Hill Lift: The Big Wheel Arrives

Today, on a misty morning at about 8am, the new winding wheel for the Hastings West Hill Cliff Railway arrived, and was lifted into place. The wheel failed last year, and had to be re-cast in a foundry in Rotherham. Originally, it had been standard equipment as part of the winding gear for coal mines – now no longer available.

March 16, 2020April 9, 2023

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 don’t need to be registered to comment, but if you do, please make sure it’s constructive. Click on the post title to comment.

March 15, 2020January 7, 2021

A New Blog

This Wednesday, I cease to be leader of Hastings Council. That’s because I decided to resign, after almost five years of doing the job. The new leader will be Kim Forward, in whom I have every confidence, and who I know will be an excellent council leader. The timing of my resignation was intended to be a few weeks before the May council elections. It seemed a bit disingenuous to resign immediately after the election, the local electorate needed to know who they were going to end up with as their leader if Labour were again successful and retained control of the council. In the event, the elections have now been cancelled, but I’m still resigning anyway, and Kim will formally take over on Wednesday.