About Me
My name is Jon. I’m a male hominid of the species Homo Sapiens, which is currently the dominant species and the one causing the most damage to the climate and ecosystems of the planet Earth, a little rocky planet about 4 billion years old, orbiting a very ordinary small yellow star in a relatively quiet backwater of the Milky Way galaxy.
I spend my time worrying about my adult children, each of whom carries one half of my genes, and being an inventor, synthesist, technology consultant and writer.
My patient, long-suffering, lovely wife also seems to think I’m worth spending time with, which is nice. I’m somewhat past half way through my natural life expectancy, having travelled over fifty orbits of the star whose solar system we inhabit, so there’s plenty still to do.
If you’re still reading this, then thank you for the patience and curiosity that got you this far, and for taking the trouble to read my words. They are, of course, of no consequence in the grand scheme of things, but writing them helped me spend some of my time productively, and I hope they help you in some way.
Politically I’m a sort of apolitical humanist rationalist. I find myself unable to support any political party that doesn’t have a strong leader with long term political vision – which rules them all out really.
I loathe the negativity of our press, and the inability of journalists to report the truly important issues when there’s something more juicy or sensationalist on offer. Let’s face it, they can’t even work out who’s truly to blame for most things.
I despair at the apathetic acceptance by my fellow man-in-the-street of inadequate politicians, shoddy customer service, and corporate dominance over both government and society. I despise the UK’s swing to the right, away from social democracy and towards an “I’m alright Jack” society.
I come from the City of Brighton and Hove, which until recently was part of the administrative region of East Sussex, and which now appears to be the lone bastion of centre-left politics in the South East of England.
I have also been a freelance writer since 1989, writing for many UK & international newspapers and periodicals under several pseudonyms. I now write for blogs under a number of psudonyms.
In my spare time I grow older, cook, study bushcraft, scuba dive, ski and cycle.
If you have been, thanks for reading.
Last updated April 2022
30th April 2009 at 8:03 am
Hi Jon,
As an important Brighton foodie I wanted to let you know about our food and drink festival taking place on May 16th and 17th 2009. The event features demonstrations from Brighton’s top chefs including Sam Metcalfe of Seven Dials and Sam’s Place, Peter Bohannon of English’s and Richard Eldon of Blanch House as well as food and drink masterclasses and a market of speciality producers. I would like to offer your readers a special 3 for 2 ticket offer (tickets normally £6) call see tickets 0871 230 7144 – let me know if you are interested. Best wishes
Roben
3rd February 2010 at 11:57 pm
Might I point out that, when you say the planet has completed at least forty orbits of the Sun, this is of course measured in an arbitrary denary numbering system arising from the natural coincidence of us happening to have ten fingers/thumbs. It thus constantly amazes me how people think it’s a big deal when the major digit of the aforementioned number, which I believe is known as age, increases by one major digit.
13th April 2011 at 7:04 am
Hi Jon,
great page. I have only started my own blog recently.
Have a look. http://www.thebrightonstudent.blogspot.com
I will add your blog to my page and hope vice versa.
Thank you
choconanisa 🙂
2nd May 2011 at 8:02 am
Lovely to see you here & good luck with your blog… interesting stuff so far & great photos too, by the way! 🙂
11th November 2011 at 9:16 am
Hello Jon, Great blog just spent the last few hours reading through it and really enjoyed it. Infact it has inspired me to start my own, do you have any tips on how to go about it and start one up? Can you recommend any sites to host my blog that are preferably free? I look forward to you next entry. Regards Paul
11th November 2011 at 11:11 am
Many many thanks for your kind words Paul… I’m glad my brain-dumps appeal to someone! I’d recommend WordPress – it’s great software, they’ll host it for you under their or your domain name, and it’s pretty trouble free and very capable. Let me know when you do and I’ll come and read yours! 🙂
13th February 2012 at 12:29 pm
Jon,
I read your piece about Brighton and Hove parking. Am having a bit of a contra with them myself and just on principal am buggered if Im going to let them get away with this.
So – if you have a moment perhaps you can tell me the outcome of yours, and if by any chance you took legal action.
Many thanks, Anna