Author Archives: HIP - Page 45
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
from our website Jess Steele: Questions to be asked Is your article Jess Steele, Community Entrepreneur in HIP 244 what passes for fearless, independent journalism then? Not for the first…
This is Tomorrow Calling
HELEN MURPHY and NICK PELLING investigate an unusual new podcast. It’s not often that we hear the voices of the people of St Leonards when contemplating the state of the…
Hastings Helps Kathleen Get Justice
HIP reports on the hard won justice for a local victim of the Post Office scandal. Kathleen Crane, 69, a widowed, former Sub-Postmaster caught up in the Post Office Scandal,…
Clean Water Watch
A regular column to update readers on the damaging effects of the current management of water in Hastings, surrounding areas (and nationally) and what people are doing about it. If…
Rent Rage
TRACEY JOHNSON, who has lived and worked in Hastings for 27 years, decries local, private and often absentee landlords and says a secure affordable home is a basic human right. …
The Right to Rent
A private landlord, who has asked to remain anonymous, argues that high rents are a result of government policy, not individual greed. Understandably, private landlords get pretty short shrift from…
Robert Tressell: The Original Hastings Independent
STEVE PEAK The creation of a new political party in Hastings – the Hastings Independent Group – because of the failure of the Labour Party to help ordinary people would…
The mystery of agency in a world full of forces
CALLUM THOMSON Yumino Seki as a ‘world spirit’ As the performance begins, a long curtain drops from the ceiling to the floor. It does not take up the full width…
Poetry to be Enjoyed not Endured
SERENA FERRARI looks forward to when Henry Normal and Brian Bilston perform at the De La Warr, kicking off a nearly sold out tour. Richard DavisHenry Normal and Brian Bilston…
Love, Mania, Transfiguration
VICTORIA KINGHAM on the St Leonards Concerts Weekender Once more, it has to be said that down here in a small area of St Leonards and Hastings we are privileged…
Don’t Make a Scene
ELIZABETH ALLEN on a new book by local resident Merryl Futerman COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR Merryl Futerman, author In Don’t Make a Scene, Merryl’s twenty-five years of experience as PA…
Painting Hastings in Oils
VICTORIA KINGHAM on Bill Greenhead’s new paintings at The Stables The genial Bill Greenhead is one of those comparatively rare and happy people whose talent is also their livelihood. He…
Going Big at the Carlisle
AMANDA BROOKS takes in Not Now Norman, White Tyger and The Hot One Two. Stuart Isteed PhotographyThe Hot One Two The Carlisle Rock Venue in Hastings town, run by Gemma…
BOOKBUSTER REVIEW: Follow the Money
By Paul JohnsonPublished by Abacus, rrp £ BY TIM BARTON The subtitle of this book is ‘how much does Britain cost?’, cost being defined here by the balance of taxes…
Poetry Corner: New Year Sea Poem
TOM GRINDROD hear it hear it before you see it against the rain shoulders hunched blowing out turn the corner and there it is a great roiling wall of liquid…
TENNIS: Local Teams Seek Promotion
The Green men’s first team virtually ensured their promotion from the third to the second division of the TDS Ultra Sussex Winter Doubles League when they defeated Preston 3-1 last…
Eat Write Love
A vegetable this colourful, hearty and earthy has got to be good for you, right? Yes, the humble beetroot is an all-round winner: versatile, packed with nutrients and deep purples…
Plugging Away
HARRY HAWKINS The sky’s grey pallor and shallow pockets don’t do anything to deter me or the many others descending on Hastings Fat Tuesday’s ‘Saturday Unplugged’. Walking down High Street…
The HIP List #245
Music Friday 16 February Two Ship: improvised music in Hastings The Nest, Old Town Hall, Hastings, Jazz Rooms meets Soulful Strut Hastings The White Rock Hotel, 1-10 White Rock, Hastings,…
£3M REQUIRED TO COMPLETE ROAD, SAY SEA CHANGE
But County Council Still ‘Looking’ for Funding Hugh Sullivan At a meeting of the full East Sussex County Council on 6 February, a member of the public, Bernard Brown, raised…
Local Transport Plan for County
MARK SULLIVAN A new Local Transport Plan (LTP), issued in January by East Sussex County Council (ESCC) and currently up for public consultation, proclaims five aims: enable safer and more…
The Hidden Value of Carers
LOUISE VLADI, Charity Manager of the Association of Carers gives some facts and figures about unpaid caring and how the organisation helps this hidden army of caregivers. There are over…
Climate Plagues
DAVID EP DENNIS Over the course of history across the world, there have been terrible outbreaks of diseases, and the local climate plays a part in spreading sickness. Science can…
FOOTBALL: Dissent Punished in Derby Defeat
3 February: Kingstonian 1, Hastings Utd 3 6 February: Hastings Utd 0, Horsham 2 10 February: Hastings Utd 1, Lewes 3 HUGH SULLIVAN A comfortable away win for the ‘U’s at Kingstonian on 3 February elevated…
David Rovics: New Songs for Palestine
LEAH LEVANE of Hastings and Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign writes about the David Rovics current world tour which lands in Hastings on 22 February. David Rovics is an American musician…
Beach Hut Tenants Rebel
MARISA McGREEVY ROSE A group of tenants of the beach huts at West Marina are demanding that Hastings Borough Council (HBC), their landlord, schedule a full programme of maintenance to…
Controversy over Council Cabinet – Carr Quits
On Monday (29 January) new Hastings Borough Council leader Julia Hilton presided over her first cabinet meeting since being voted in by the full council a fortnight ago. As reported…
Cornwallis Street Hotel Sale Set for Approval
The controversial hotel development on the site of the former car park at Cornwallis Street is set to proceed after a renegotiation of terms between the land owners Hastings Borough…
Independents Party Launch
PAUL McLAUGHLIN The newly formed Hastings Independents Party celebrated the launch of its breakaway political venture with 40-50 people crammed into Mike’s Bar in Norman Road, St Leonards last Friday…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Housing, Not Amusements Dear HIP With reference to Year of Shutdown for Owens Refurbishment (HIP 241), what Hastings needs is housing, not a huge indoor games complex. How many…
Love Comes in Doodles?
HELEN MURPHY & NICK PELLING investigate doodle dating. As we all know, going on a real person-to-person ‘date’ is full of potential embarrassment and enough social awkwardness to turn otherwise…
Frock up to Get Down
This Saturday, 3 February, the Observer building will host a Frock Up Friday market (). The market stalls will offer a whole range of glamorous frocks, hats, shoes, jewellery and…
Voices from Founder Members and Contributing Members
As part of our 10th anniversary celebrations, we are including thoughts from some of the original founders and others who have contributed along the way. One of the founding members…
Clean Water Watch
A regular column to update readers on the damaging effects of the current management of water in Hastings, surrounding areas (and nationally) and what people are doing about it. If…
In at the Deep End with HIP
BEN CORNWELL worked as an intern with HIP from 2020 to 2021. It’s good to know we were as useful to him as he was to us. My placement year…
Where to find Hastings Independent
People often ask where they can get a copy of HIP, so we are including a list in our anniversary paper to make it completely clear (and encourage you to…
Greening Hastings
IAN BUNCH argues that the council needs to step up to the mark and lead a volunteer army to plant trees in Hastings. Kent Barker Most of us love trees…
Climate Weirding
Local permaculturist TIM REDFERN has observed how, as the seasons go out of kilter, so too do the plants. Over the last three years I’ve been working in a series…
The Brice is Right
BEN THOMPSON Released in 2022 on the resonantly named West Hill record label, double bass virtuoso Olie Brice’s Fire Hills – a double CD for trio and octet – has…
DeFries Leaps In
VICTORIA KINGHAM As jazz musicians get older, it is perhaps understandable that they might settle into a comfortable groove, doing what they are confident in, playing through familiar changes in…