Author Archives: Pete of MIP

Late October Spring

Posted on 29 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

17 degrees today, no wind, a watery sun. Set out across the Fylde and hundreds of geese were flying south in constantly changing V formations quite low. Opened the car window to hear them talking to each other.  Where had … Continue reading →

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X factor prediction

Posted on 27 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

Started watching X factor last year and was hooked. Discounting YouTube hits, here are my predictions,  it was harder than I thought – and probably completely wrong. 9th – Lloyd – nice bloke, a bit overwhelmed, voice not strong. 8th – Ollie … Continue reading →

Posted in Not particularly Preston, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Royal Lancashire Show to end. Perhaps?

Posted on 26 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

The show has had empty years before but today the Royal Lancashire Show committee put into place actions to put it on ice saying the costs of 2 flooded years have been too much. The Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society also say … Continue reading →

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National Football Museum Deferred Decision

Posted on 23 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

The leader of Preston Council says on his blog. “Our bid (from Lancashire County Council, UCLan andPreston City Council) is the only one that guarantees the museum financial security. We are offering £400,000 a year plus up to £3.5m to … Continue reading →

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Tithebarn Syndrome and Blackpools Casino

Posted on 23 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

Is Preston heading along a cul-de-sac with the Tithebarn Project?  For many years the Casino was going to be the saviour of Blackpool, the ‘Las Vegas’ of Lancashire.  When the rug was pulled Blackpool had a spell of total loss … Continue reading →

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Forensic Science Services Laboratory at Euxton to close

Posted on 22 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

There has been speculation about re-organising the Forensic Science Service (FSS) for a few months and today it was announced the laboratory in Euxton, near Chorley, will close with the loss of 185 jobs possibly in 2011. The jobs will … Continue reading →

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Internet Explorer Version 8 and 10 minutes to get football results in the brave new digital TV world

Posted on 21 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

As a part-time web designer I find IE8 has gone from the extreme of earlier issues to the other extreme in terms of using web-standards. My web-design software puts special code into pages to allow for the foibles of earlier versions … Continue reading →

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Grosvenor pull out of Tithebarn

Posted on 16 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

Grosvenor pulled out of the £700m Preston Tithebarn development today saying they want to focus on smaller developments.  Lend Lease the other developer say they are staying in. It had seemed Grosvenor were the major developer but on looking at … Continue reading →

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North v South and the meaning of life

Posted on 15 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

Watched John Prescott on TV last night with his wife on the subject of north v south.  Quite like John Prescott he’s a down to earth type who can stand his corner, although him and his wife especially like their fancy … Continue reading →

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Visit to Manchester

Posted on 10 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

Drove to Manchester for a Saturday excursion, weather was very nice as well. Almost didn’t when we heard about the demonstration planned but we didn’t see anything like that although police on horseback were prominent. Manchester gets more impressive each … Continue reading →

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Duke of Edinburgh’s wise words about TV technology

Posted on 10 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

The Duke of Edinburgh is reported as saying TV remotes are too complex.   I guess over 95% of the population are probably able to use them eventually without difficulty even if they don’t use all the functions. I have an elderly … Continue reading →

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Councillors Driver and Hudson man the barricades

Posted on 9 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

Two councillors, Geoff Driver of Lancashire County Council and Ken Hudson of Preston City Council have had a letter published in the Times (8th Oct)  defending the location of the National Football Museum in Preston.  This was after Matt Dickinson the Times … Continue reading →

Posted in Preston North End, Technology | 2 Comments

Preston FM your community radio

Posted on 6 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

Driving round Preston the other day a radio station I hadn’t heard of popped onto my radio. Preston FM 103.2MHz. Sounded a bit ‘localish’ although I’ve listened to a couple of their music programmes and they’re OK. So I’m giving … Continue reading →

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International and National powerplay week

Posted on 4 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

Interesting week.  Irish vote to sign the EU Reform Treaty also known  as the Lisbon Treaty. It’s now a bit of a tightrope for the Conservatives as to whether the Poles and Czechs sign before an election in the UK. If … Continue reading →

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BAE SYSTEMS and SFO

Posted on 1 October 2009 by Pete of MIP

BAE SYSTEMS, the biggest high tech employer in Lancashire and the UK, is in the news today. The Serious Fraud Office are saying they will ask the Attorney General to press charges with a punitive £1000 million fine for offering … Continue reading →

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Preston Bus v Stagecoach competition inquiry

Posted on 28 September 2009 by Pete of MIP

The Evening Post alerted me to the Competition Commission (CC) report issued on 3rd September 2009 relating to Stagecoach taking over Preston Bus Limited. The CC have quite a good website and there is a lot of stuff related to … Continue reading →

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Swine Flu or Cold?

Posted on 24 September 2009 by Pete of MIP

My aged mother-in-law has travelled to see us and brought a cold which I now have. It seems like a cold but is it Swine Flu? Checking on the NHS website it says; If you or a member of your … Continue reading →

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Council Tax v Local Income Tax – Liberal Democrats

Posted on 21 September 2009 by Pete of MIP

Vince Cable was on the BBC just now getting a bit shirty that he was being asked questions about his supplementary tax on houses valued over £1million. As I’m against any new tax that brings a foot in the door … Continue reading →

Posted in Political | 2 Comments

Sustainable house standards – 2016 and all that

Posted on 21 September 2009 by Pete of MIP

There has been talk in the news recently about the standards for houses to meet ‘low carbon’ requirements. Developers say it will cost £30,000 to meet the 2016 ‘zero carbon’ standard. Although it is also said the cost is overstated … Continue reading →

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It’s bad news week, but PNE won at the end

Posted on 21 September 2009 by Pete of MIP

There was such a song but following on from my post about Tuesday being a bad day last week it seems there was more to come.  So most posts were bad news last week. However PNE beat Coventry 3-2 so … Continue reading →

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