Jonny Nexus

Category: Life

  • The Parable of the Regency Anti-Slavery Campaigner and the Regency Health Freak

    I’m a vegan, and here’s the thing: people who, for perceived health reasons, follow a plant-based diet and then refer to themselves as vegans – when they’re not, not really – kind of annoy me. Why? The Parable of the Regency Anti-Slavery Campaigner and the Regency Health Freak Imagine it’s the 1810s. Slavery is legal…

  • Introducing… The ExplainTo Bear

    I have just had the greatest idea I will ever have in my entire life. Ladies, gentlemen, those who’d rather not say, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri, I give you – the ExplainTo Bear! I’m a programmer, and in programming – and I suspect many other professions – it’s a truism oft repeated…

  • Journalistic Intelligence: Too Much To Ask?

    Yesterday, I was reading John Inverdale’s column on sports in City AM. Inverdale is a supposed sports journalist who recently, famously, nearly lost his job with the BBC by making sexist comments live on air about new Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli. So I wouldn’t necessarily expect him to be the sharpest tool in the journalistic…

  • Didn’t Trayvon Martin Have The Right To Stand His Ground?

    To those who believe that George Zimmerman is innocent… Imagine that everything happened pretty much as Zimmerman claimed it did, with one difference: he wasn’t able to get off a shot and as a result Trayvon Martin beat him to death. You’d say that Martin was guilty of murder right? You’d say that if you…

  • There Is No Such Thing As 0207!

    It’s been several years now since the 020 code was introduced in London, and yet I still see people putting the code 0207 (or 0208) in their phone numbers, on signs, business cards, web pages, email sigs, and so on. So here, again, is the quick primer to the way that London’s phone numbers have…

  • A BorisBus Spotted In The Wild

    There’s been quite a bit of controversy about Transport for London’s New Bus For London (or as the press and public have inevitably christened it, the “BorisBus”). People say that it’s an expensive vanity project for Boris Johnson that puts nostalgia above practicality and which wastes money that could better be spent on existing off-the-shelf…

  • Her Name Was Reeva Steenkamp

    To the editors, journalists, proprietors and readers of the Sun and the Daily Star. She was not “The Blade Runner’s Lover”. Her name was Reeva Steenkamp. She was a law school graduate, an activist for women’s rights, a model, and an aspiring TV presenter. Her tragic death deserved to be marked with dignity, not treated…

  • Why I Hate Calling The Virgin Media Call Centre

    Yesterday evening our Virgin Media cable TV stopped working, displaying a, “Sorry, this channel isn’t available right now. If it keeps happening call us on 150 from your Virgin Media home phone or 0845 454 1111.” error message for every single channel. I didn’t bother calling them, partly because these problems often clear themselves up…

  • Paralympics: Changing Attitudes

    It’s often said of the Paralympic Games that it exists to challenge and change attitudes to disabilities. We need to stop assuming that disabled people can’t do things and start assuming that they can. Disabled people don’t need to be patronised, applauded like children merely for existing. And I think the Paralympics does trigger exactly…

  • Olympics: Men’s Gymnastics At The North Greenwhich Arena

    There’s a strong streak in the British psyche that believes we’re shit and enjoys it that way. Many people predicted disaster for the Olympics, talking of unfinished arenas, an embarrassing opening ceremony. and transport meltdowns. Well the arenas were finished, the opening ceremony was awesome, and I can report that for us, at least, today,…