THING OF THE WEEK

RATS… Love them or hate them, rats are an expensive problem for some. Steve Radford, leader of Liverpool’s Liberal Party, put forward a new method of humane rodent restriction… try shooting them by a trained marksman. According to Radford, the council has spent £1.5m repairing walls damaged by rats, and while he was against recreational hunting, he would be happy to trial shooting the furry creatures. Note to self: don’t dress as a rat for Halloween in Tuebrook and Stoneycroft where Radford represents.

PAUL’S PARTY… If you were lucky enough to snag tickets to this year’s Place Party, but unfortunate enough to lose a male compatriot, you could have pushed your luck by shouting either Paul, Chris, or Andrew into the ether and waiting for a response. With 17 Pauls, 15 Chrises, and 12 Andrews attending, along with the eight Emmas and six Katies leading the way for the women, the new way to network is clearly parroting names onto the dancefloor and hedging your bets. Although, with over 700 people in attendance, you may also have wanted to try saying “hello.”

KILI…Property professionals completed their mountainous task of climbing Kilimanjaro for charity earlier this week and aim to continue raising their goal of £50,000 for Claire House Children’s Hospice. THING wants to wish the wonderful team of Alan Bevan of City Residential, Graham Flynn and Justin Myall of Box Clever, Colin Forshaw of Bruntwood, Kevin Horton of K2 Architects, David Gilbert of BAE Systems, Chris Shaw of Urban Splash for their incredible efforts for such a great cause.

TOAST… Northern Soul, the ultimate cheese toastie shop in Manchester if not the world, has finally opened its doors to the public of its new store on Tib Street. The expanded menu includes a variety of breakfast and tea delicacies, along with its classic toastie menu for lunch. In particular, THING looks forward to trying its PARMY & MAC, which is buttermilk chicken thigh, pesto, ham hock, bloody mary ketchup on top of its house mac & cheese.