Japanese knotweed press releases are a regular sight in Diary’s inbox – almost as if they spread every bit as effectively as the pernicious plant itself. Usually, they offer little new on the topic, are swiftly uprooted and sent to the virtual green bin. But not this time. Knowing full well how to catch our attention, Environet UK unveiled their “cute and loveable solution for the UK’s most aggressive, destructive and invasive plant”. Meet “dynamic duo” Mick and Mack, a pair of Labrador retrievers who are the first in the country to have been specially trained to detect Japanese knotweed. While their canine cousins are sniffing out drugs and explosives, Mick and Mack have the slightly cushier number of finding knotweed in gardens and on development sites, even when hidden beneath the ground. See them in action here.
That’s the spirit
Covid-19 continues to reveal the very best of us – and the very worst. Firmly in column A are Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital & Centric, and his team, who converted a recently-acquired vacant property into an emergency distribution centre to help Manchester’s most vulnerable. Very much in column B, however, are the thieves that broke in over the bank holiday weekend and stole a huge amount of generously donated food, supplies and equipment. Thankfully, good wins out. A “gutted” Heatley vowed not to give up, and his Twitter call for aid soon reaped rewards. “Already getting lots of offers of support,” he tweeted, “thank you @DidsburyGin for sending us 20,000 bottles of hand sanitiser. I’ve got to say the night time economy sector have been incredible.”
First of the Mohicans?
There is plenty of uncertainty about, but if there’s one thing we’re sure of, it’s that people are getting creative with their charitable feats. We’ve had property plankers (not plonkers) from Knight Plank – sorry, Knight Frank. We’ve had virtual pub quizzes a go-go, and people ride indoor cycles for 12 hours to ‘Everest’ in property MAMILS’s favourite training programme, Zwift. Now we’ve seen the former head of Capita Symons, managing director of Lovell and group head of development at U+I take a hair-raising approach to fundraising. Jonathan Goring is going punk for the pandemic, now sporting what might be property’s first professional Mohican. Will Goring – who is raising money for Shelter and has so far collected £1,200 – inspire a trend? Also busy with the clippers, EG publisher Damian Wild succumbed to letting his daughter shave off his (more grey than he’d like to admit) beard live on a company-wide Teams meeting after MD Pete Kumposcht promised a sizeable donation to LandAid. Great to see the industry staying alert, taking control (of their hair) and saving lives.
Metro mayors’ musical melee
Speaking of night life in the North West, it’s about to get a little more lively thanks to Andy Burnham, metro mayor of Greater Manchester, who has challenged his Liverpool City Region counterpart Steve Rotherham to a DJ battle of the cities. A bullish Burnham told the BBC that Rotherham is “struggling because he’s only got a couple of bands whereas we’ve got well into double figures”. Fighting words indeed, and Manchester’s night-time economy adviser Sacha Lord fanned the flames, tweeting: “Game on…In the red corner we have @AndyBurnhamGM (Greater Manchester) vs erm…in the other red corner @MetroMayorSteve (Liverpool City Region). The ultimate DJ battle on http://UnitedWeStream.co.uk @StreamGm.” The date for the DJ set-to will be announced soon, and it’s all to raise money for night-time industry and other charities. Fingers crossed it captures some of that Haçienda vibe – or, if you prefer, The Cavern?
Forget it Jake, it’s (virtual) Chinatown
While the country struggles to wrap its head around where it can go, what it can do, and with whom, Diary prefers to play it safe at home. But that no longer precludes us from enjoying the wonders of some favourite London haunts, thanks to Shaftesbury‘s virtual villages initiative. It is bringing Chinatown, Seven Dials and Carnaby to the people, with a “programme of unique digital content created by tenants to entertain, educate and inform people while they remain unable to visit the villages in person”. #BringingChinatownHome allows followers to explore Chinese culture, mixing mindfulness exercises and basic language lessons with all-important recipe content celebrating the diverse cuisine of the area. Seven Dials @ Home features curated content created in partnership with Seven Dials’ hospitality and retail occupiers, and Carnaby Together highlights the “full breadth of experiences available in London’s iconic shopping and dining destination”, focusing on sustainability, community and charity. Until we get back to life, at least we have virtual reality.
