L.E.P Mapping Locations

I have mapped four articles from an edition of the Lancashire Evening Post on Friday, November 6, 2009. This shows the variety of locations in which news items occur in one day.

View LEP Article Map in a larger map

Should the National Football Museum stay in Preston?

Below is a short video of an interview with Adam Johnson. He gives his opinion on where the National Football Museum should be located. The interview took place outside the Museum's current location next to Preston North End's football stadium, Deepdale.

National Football Museum

The National Football Museum in Preston cropped and resized to 400 pixels wide by 300 pixels high



The National Football Museum in Preston cropped and resized to 200 pixels wide by 500 pixels high



Thumbnail of the National Football Meseum - 100 pixels wide by 100 pixels high





Original Image - image taken, uncropped and not resized

Road Accidents

The number of road users in the United Kingdom is on the increase, as the adult population continues to grow at a rate of knots. In 1999, the UK population was 58,682,466 and in 2008 stood at 61,399,118. As a result, the expectation would be a rise in road casualties...

However, the chart (see above) shows us that the opposite is in fact true. The casualties on the roads have dropped significantly over the last nine years, down by almost 33% (or nearly 100,000 casualties).

An interesting pattern on the chart is the constant and gradual decrease in casualties. This shows that it hasn’t been down to short term government campaigns, which would show fluctuating values in the bars, but rather a long-term crackdown on reckless driving and promoting safety on the roads.

As the chart shows, car drivers have been the predominant casualty in road accidents since 1999, but have also been the type of casualty that have shed the most in percentage terms too. This is shown in the graph by the continual reduction in size of the green bar.

Out of the four main modes of transport on British roads (except Horse and Cart!), pedal cyclists make up the least of the casualties, followed by motorcyclists and there were just over 30,000 pedestrian casualties in 2008. Campaigns such as this recent one will help to further reduce the numbers.

Spreadsheet from the DataStore

Welcome back Kev.

Kevin Pietersen has returned to International Cricket after a fleeting appearance in England’s Twenty20 loss and yesterday’s One-Day warm-up game against South Africa A. It’s a big test of his bouncebackability (Thanks Dowie) at the start of this epic two-and-a-half month England tour of South Africa. But our 'Kev' is expected to be fully fit for the One day Internationals (5 matches) and the proceeding Test Series (4 matches) as England bid to repeat their performance of the last visit to the Proteas four years ago (South Africa 1-2 England in the Test Series), only with more success in the ODIs.

And it's great to have 'the big man' back after an achilles injuries which has hampered him for almost a year; since the Caribbean tour last February. He was supposed to be fit for this year's Ashes Series, but this proved to be a false dawn as he only appeared in the first two tests, and those with clear signs of the injury as he limped during each of his innings.

Perhaps you're thinking; "Hold on a sec. We pretty much won the Ashes without this guy, should you be branding him 'the big man'? I thought only Freddie Flintoff was 'the big man'!" Well, I'm hear to tell you otherwise. I think KP is England's finest cricket player now that Fred is off the scene; and even with FF in the team, I think it's a close call. What's not impressive about Kevin Pietersen's Curriculum Vitae? He averages over 46 in ODI cricket, and is just shy of 50 in Tests; he is currently England's highest ranked One-Day batsman at 17th and is just behind Andrew Strauss in the Test rankings, as he resides in 15th position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings.

Statistics can perhaps only say so much, but this man has all the attributes to accompany them. He is brilliant. Simply brilliant for English cricket. His attitude is fearsome, his shot-selection is fearless, his mindset is also fearless. I love watching him play, his innings’ are epic battles between egos as much as there are about cricketing technique. But that’s cricket at its finest, a game played in the mind as well as on the well-cut green strip.

I think this is Kevin Pietersen's most memmorable innings, a swashbuckling 158 which made the Ashes safe in 2005 with a draw at the Oval. Four and a half years on, KP is now 29 years of age, and with almost a whole year out of the game (on and off), it could take him time to find that best form which makes him the world’s finest architect at the crease. But I’m confident he’ll rediscover it eventually, and I, for one, am glad to see him back in an England shirt and waiting with excitement as the series against South Africa gets underway on Friday.

Newcastle - A Premier League club in the Championship?

Newcastle United have reacted well to life in the Coca-Cola Championship, shaking off accusations that they are 'The New Leeds'. Following an embarassing relegation from the Barclays Premier League last season, many thought the club would struggle to keep hold of it's best players and fall further down the Football League ladder.

But here we are. Now in November, and Newcastle are top of the Championship with 30 points from the first 15 games, and have managed to retain a number of the club's best players from last season. A side boasting the likes of Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, Nicky Butt, Alan Smith, Steve Harper, Jonas Gutierrez, Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini should surely be alien to a league below that of the Premier League.

Even branding a team 'The New Leeds' is becoming less insulting, as the Elland Road club are once again knocking on the Championship door, as they lead Coca-Cola League One by an impressive seven points. Things are looking up for the Toon.

But the Championship season is a more of a hard slog. There are 46 games to be played in all, only 15 have been played. Newcastle have already lost three games - all away - to Blackpool, Nottingham Forest and Scunthorpe United. On top of that, a number of unconvincing performances - like the home win over Doncaster Rovers. Only the one demolition job - 4-0 on the road to and awful Ipswich side. I have seen little to distinguish Newcastle from their Championship counterparts.

There is an enormous amount of work to be done. I don't think Newcastle United are a Premier League side in the Championship. The big stadium can be deceiving. The big fan base and big name players are even more deceiving. Judge a club on their performances and results. At the moment, things look good - but the Christmas period will be a testing time, as Newcastle's small squad do battle with a frantic fixture list. January is perhaps even more threatening with question marks over the 'Big Names' leaving the club for more immediate Premier League football.

Lets not count our chickens before they've hatched. Newcastle for the Premier League - wait and see.