East Midlands

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your East Midlands shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the East Midlands offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of East Midlands at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a East Midlands? Wrong! If the East Midlands is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about East Midlands then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling East Midlands? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about East Midlands and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your East Midlands wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your East Midlands then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the East Midlands site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about East Midlands, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your East Midlands, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{infobox England region |name = East Midlands|short_name = East Midlands |hq = Melton Mowbray ] |area_km2= 15,627 |area_mi2= 6,033 |area_rank= 4th |density = 267/km² |nuts= UKF |euro= East Midlands (European Parliament constituency) |population = 4,172,179 (2001) |population_rank= 8th |gdp_rank= 6th |gdp= 15,097 |assembly = East Midlands Regional Assembly |election = non-directly elected |url = http://www.emra.gov.uk |-->The East Midlands is one of the regions of England and consists of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It consists of the combined area of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and most of Lincolnshire.

The highest point in the region is Kinder Scout, in the Derbyshire Peak District at 2,088 ft (636 m). A looser definition of the East Midlands would include the City of Peterborough, Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.

Financial funding decisions for the East Midlands (usually public construction schemes) are taken at the East Midlands Regional Assembly, based in Melton Mowbray. It is not an elected chamber, but a quango.

Population and settlement Its main settlements are Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Derby, England, Northampton, Mansfield, England and Chesterfield, England. Leicester is officially the largest city in the region, although the largest conurbation is the Greater Nottingham.

Transport East Midlands Airport in North West Leicestershire is situated between the three main cities of Derby, England, Leicester and Nottingham.

Two of the north-south mainline railways serve the region, The Midland Main Line (operated by Midland Mainline) in the west and the East Coast Mainline (operated by GNER) in the east. Both companies operate high-speed trains to London. The main south west-north east Cross Country Route (MR) (operated by Virgin Trains) run through Birmingham and Derby. East-west routes are provided by the Grantham to Skegness Line - Skegness, Liverpool - Norwich (through Nottingham railway station), and Birmingham to Peterborough Line - Stansted Airport (through Leicester railway station) routes; these last two routes are the essentially the only east-west routes in the section of England between Sheffield and London, both routes meeting at Peterborough.

The M1 motorway also serves the three largest conurbations. In the east, the A1 road is an important, often overcrowded route for the east coast ports and is important for supplying much of the UK's agricultural production. The A46 road since Roman times provided a connection between the south west and north east of the region, although around Newark, it has difficulty coping with capacity. East-west routes by road in the region are essentially single-carriageway roads, with only the dual-carriageway A14 road skirting the northern part of Northamptonshire.

History A historical basis for such an area exists in the Five Burghs of the Danelaw. The current government office region was created in 1994.

Local government The official Regions of England consists of the following subdivisions:

{| class="wikitable"|-! Map || Ceremonial county || Shire county
/unitary || Districts|-| rowspan="10" | || rowspan="2" | Derbyshire ], Derbyshire Dales
South Derbyshire, Erewash
Amber Valley, North East Derbyshire
Chesterfield, Bolsover (district)|-| colspan="2" | 2. Derby || 3. Nottinghamshire || [Rushcliffe, Broxtowe
Ashfield, Gedling
Newark and Sherwood, Mansfield
Bassetlaw|-| [Lincolnshire
], North Kesteven
South Kesteven, South Holland, England, Boston (borough), East Lindsey, West Lindsey || 6. Leicestershire || [Charnwood, Melton
Harborough, Oadby and Wigston
Blaby (district), Hinckley and Bosworth
North West Leicestershire|-| colspan="3" | 8. [Rutland || [South Northamptonshire, Northampton
Daventry (district), Wellingborough (borough)
Kettering (borough), Corby
East Northamptonshire|-|}

MEPs The East Midlands is also a six-member constituency for the European Parliament.

Economy Main employers in the region include Weetabix at Burton Latimer. For engineering, there is Rolls-Royce plc in Derby, Ruston (engine builder) in Lincoln, Triumph Motorcycles in Hinckley, and Caterpillar Inc. has a large factory on an old airfield near Desford. The jet engine was first developed in the region in Lutterworth. The north part of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire used to have many Coal minings, and there are two pits still producing in Nottinghamshire near Mansfield. Now Thorntons is a big employer at Alfreton, and Wilkinson (shop) is at Worksop. Boots Group is based in Lenton in Nottingham, as well as the head office of Games Workshop, the producers of Warhammer miniatures. Many footwear companies such as Shoe Zone and Stead and Simpson, are based in Leicester, as is the clothing company, Next (clothing) and the crisp company Walkers. Alliance & Leicester is based in Narborough, Leicestershire. Carlsberg is brewed in Northampton, and the Black Leisure Group (owner of Blacks and Millets) is based in Duston, to the west of the city. Midland Mainline has its head office in Derby. Lincolnshire and Rutland are very agricultural, with much of the UK's Arable land crops grown in this area. The Royal Air Force have many bases in this area too, with the main RAF College Cranwell at RAF Cranwell near Sleaford. Skegness provides seaside entertainment for many people in the East Midlands with its Butlins resort. Nottingham is a popular night time destination (often for people outside of the East Midlands). The former East Midlands Electricity is now owned by E.ON UK (supply) and Central Networks (distribution).

Education There is a mixture of education across the East Midlands - mostly comprehensive secondary schools, except Lincolnshire has fifteen state grammar schools (as well as some comprehensive schools). For GCSE results, City of Nottingham schools are the worst performing, with Leicester schools a close second. Rutland (the best area for GCSEs) has one of the highest percentages of pupils (Buckinghamshire is the highest) reaching the threshold of five grades A-C (including Maths and English) in England; it is almost twice the percentage value of schools in Leicester, although the highest performing district council area is Derbyshire Dales. Leicestershire and Lincolnshire also have GCSE results above the UK average. At A level, Lincolnshire performs the best, and with schools in Nottingham, has results above the UK average; Nottingham has much better results at A level than those at GCSE on average. This describes the city quite accurately - it has the largest group of under-achieving school pupils in the East Midlands, but yet has one of the highest achieving groups of school pupils as well, giving a salient socio-economic diversity of almost chasmic proportions.

Top ten state schools in the East Midlands (2006 A level results)

1. Caistor Grammar School (1021)
2. Bourne Grammar School
3. Spalding High School (United Kingdom)
4. The Becket School
5. Queen Elizabeth's High School
6. St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, Chesterfield
7. Skegness Grammar School
8. Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Alford
9. Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School
10. The Priory Lincolnshire School of Science and Technology (919)

Local Media

The BBC East Midlands region of BBC Television, based in Nottingham, produces several regional television programmes including the news programme East Midlands Today. This excludes most of Northamptonshire, north Nottinghamshire and north Derbyshire. Most of Lincolnshire is covered by the BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region based in Kingston upon Hull, with its BBC Look North (East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) programme. Derbyshire's High Peak is covered by BBC North West based in Manchester. Northamptonshire is part of the BBC East region based in Norwich and has the Look East programme. Central Tonight also covered the East Midlands, broadcasting from Lenton Lane in Nottingham from March 1984. The studios were closed and is now the King's Meadow Campus of Nottingham University. These studios had been responsible for Family Fortunes and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show). Central News East still continues, broadcasting from ITV Central's Birmingham Studios. Northamptonshire has Anglia Television's Anglia Tonight programme and the north of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire has Yorkshire Television's Calendar (News).
MATV, based in Leicester, which caters to the area's large South Asian population.
BBC Radios BBC Radio Derby, BBC Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, BBC Radio Northampton, BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Radio Sheffield (for Chesterfield). BBC Radio Leicester was the first local radio station in the United Kingdom.
Many commercial radio stations: Leicester Sound, 96 Trent FM (Nottingham) RAM FM (Derby and Burton-on-Trent), Heart 106 (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire), Peak FM (Chesterfield and North Derbyshire), Lincs FM (Lincolnshire and Newark-on-Trent), Oak 107 FM (Loughborough), Fosseway Radio (Hinckley), Rutland Radio, Boundary Sound (Newark), Mansfield 103.2 FM, Trax FM (Bassetlaw), High Peak Radio (Chapel-en-le-Frith), Northants 96, Connect 97.2 & 107.4 (Wellingborough), Sabras Radio, Hindu Sanskar Radio and 106.6 Smooth Radio (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire).
Several newspapers, the largest of which include the Derby Evening Telegraph, Derbyshire Times, Leicester Mercury, Lincolnshire Echo, Northampton Chronicle and Echo, and Nottingham Evening Post.