Jonny Nexus

Category: Life

  • Why Brighton & Hove Fans Are Happy To Be Moving

    On the way home last night, a few stops from Brighton, my train was invaded by a bunch of good-natured fans of Brighton and Hove Albion, our local football team, also known as the Seagulls. The fans, who were heading for an evening match at the Withdean stadium, had reason to be good-natured: they stood…

  • The Census Religion Question: A Football Analogy

    The UK is currently conducting its ten-yearly census. It includes an optional question about religion, but the question’s format has angered some humanists/atheists: “Instead of asking, ‘Do you have a religion and if so, what is it?’, the question asks ‘What is your religion?’, a closed question that funnels people into giving a religious response,…

  • How Virgin Media Shafted Us… Again

    I’ve had cable for nearly twenty years now. And in all that time, as Windsor Cable became The Cable Corporation, and The Cable Corporation became Telewest, and Telewest became Virgin Media, one thing has remained constant: that the biggest argument against going with cable, and in favour of going with Sky (satellite), is that having…

  • Just How Big A Cliff Did Fianna Fáil Fall Off?

    I’ve been following the recent Irish general election quite closely (those of you who’ve suffered through my various tweets and posts can feel free to put in a: “No shit! Really?” here). It’s not news that Fianna Fáil suffered a disaster of epic proportions. But I thought it might be nice to knock up a…

  • The “Problem” With STV

    Yesterday, I blogged that many in Ireland were calling for it to abandon its current Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system in favour of the Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMP) system used for the Scottish Parliament, among others. This makes me sad. I love STV. It has a purity and elegance against which MMP looks…

  • Can An Electoral System Be Too Democratic?

    On 5th May 2011, the British people will be asked by referendum if they wish to change the way they elect the members of their parliament, from the existing First Past The Post (FPTP) system to a system of Alternative Vote (AV). The “Yes to Fairer Votes” campaign list the following as some of AV’s…

  • My Advice to Former Undercover PC Mark Kennedy

    The story of PC Mark Kennedy, a.k.a. eco-activist Mark “Flash” Stone, is like something out of a Hollywood movie: He turned up with long hair, tattoos and an insatiable appetite for climbing trees. Few people suspected anything odd of the man who introduced himself as Mark Stone on a dairy farm turned spiritual sanctuary in…

  • Perhaps Our Non-Return To The Moon Isn’t Such A Surprise…

    That we last visited the Moon in 1972 and have never since returned is usually regarded as both a disappointment and a surprise. Certainly, people at the time assumed that once Apollo had reached the Moon mankind was there to stay – just as once Columbus reached the Americas, many others followed. But something I…

  • An Open Letter To The “Intelligent Designer”

    Dear God, I should perhaps being this letter by admitting that I am myself an atheist who believes the process of evolution as explained by Darwin et al to be the the cause of life on Earth. However, I do accept that there are many people who believe that the human body is the result…

  • My Thoughts On The Cllr Compton / Alibhai-Brown Twitter Joke Controversy

    A Tory councillor has been arrested over claims he suggested on Twitter that Yasmin Alibai-Brown, a female newspaper columnist, should be stoned to death. You’ve probably read this in the news. If not, you can read about it on the above link, or here, here, or here. But basically, a Conservative councillor, Gareth Compton, was…