A red-faced mum went viral this week with an apology she was forced to make after her “mischievous” cat brazenly stole someone’s cooked beef joint.
Meanwhile, her neighbour had also taken to social media to report that his tea had gone missing.
Can you tell where this is going?
Haydn Lawson – 20, from Colne in Lancashire – captured the attention of the community when she shared an apology to anyone who had “just had their tea pinched” in a local Facebook group earlier this week, and it didn’t take long before other eagle-eyed social media users spotted another Colne resident, Ryan, share a post claiming his beef dinner had gone missing after leaving his window open and questioned who would steal it.
Haydn had spotted her five-year-old cat Eclipse with what at first appeared to be a dead animal, but upon taking a closer look, found it was actually a “nicely cooked piece of brisket”.
The embarrassed full-time mum said she’s “never known” anything like her cat’s greed and suspects Eclipse had a whiff of a neighbour’s dinner and seized the opportunity to take it home, leaving Haydn to track down the stolen dinner’s rightful owner.
She said she’d even buy them a new joint if she’s successful in finding the hungry victim.
“I came into my bedroom where I was greeted by Eclipse just sitting there on my bed eating this hunk of meat.” Haydn said.
“I just laughed at first and was in shock. I thought ‘what animal am I looking at here?’, [as] she brings home rats, pigeons, crows, mice [and] she’ll bring home bits of rubbish that she’s found, [so] my first thing was to shout at her and say ‘Eclipse, what are you doing?’ just to get her away from whatever it was.”
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Haydn still has her doubts about who the beef joint belonged to though.
She continued: “[Ryan] lives at the other side of town. He told me where his street was and there was no chance my cat got there and back with meat in her mouth, and also, she wouldn’t have been able to get there without getting lost on the way back as it’s easily a mile or so away.
“He told me his street name and straight away I knew there was no way on this earth that my cat would have walked so far there, grabbed the meat and then walked so far back with the meat in her mouth.
“There’s so many busy roads and stuff, there wasn’t a chance”.
Despite the questioning over who’s tea had actually been stolen, the hilarious incident has still gone on to cheer up plenty of people across the region and beyond, with a picture showing the two posts side by side receiving thousands of interactions on social media, including more than 4,000 on one Instagram page.
“Looking at the comments, I thought it was absolutely hilarious,” Haydn continued.
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“I was just sat giggling at the pure thought of her sneaking into someone’s house and grabbing this meat. I had so many comments on it saying ‘thank you so much for sharing this – you’ve brightened my day’.
“I put a comment on the post and said ‘right, am I going to have to invest in a cat collar camera?’
“I don’t know whose beef joint it was – all I know is that she was on my bed eating it. I was well embarrassed. If I was to really truly find the person, I’ll buy them a new joint of beef.
“This cat, honestly – she’ll be the death of me.”
Although Haydn has been unable to actually track down the owner of the beef joint, she explained that there was a comment saying ‘God knows why you would have left your meat outside anyway to cool’, with a reply to it saying ‘I only turned my back for two minutes to plate up the roasties and it was gone’.
“Now that to me sounds a hell of a lot more likely that this is their meat than [Ryan’s].” Haydn concluded.
This really is some proper internet beef.
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Brighton’s Carlos Baleba is now said to be ‘keen’ on a move to Manchester United
Danny Jones
Manchester United may not yet be done with their transfer business, as another potential summer target, Carlos Baleba, is now reportedly “keen” on a move to the Theatre of Dreams.
The Brighton midfielder popped up on the radar of numerous clubs around Europe following a breakout season in 2024/25.
At just 21 years old, the promising young player has recently emerged as one of the most exciting prospects in the Premier League over the past 12 months or so, and it appears Man United are leading the race to sign him.
Many around the club think the Cameroonian CDM could be the perfect fit for Ruben Amorim’s somewhat makeshift midfield at the moment; perfectly positioned to take the starting spot from an ageing Casemiro or an as-yet unproven Manuel Ugarte. Moreover, it’s now said United appeals to him.
📹🚨🗣️| Laurie Whitwell on Carlos Baleba and Manchester United:
“Now you come to Carlos Baleba, and as you say, Brighton are going to ask for a lot of money for him.
I don’t know an exact figure – I don’t think that’s been communicated yet. Clearly United feel as if they have… pic.twitter.com/MNYQzgeU5a
Whitwell had already explained that the Seagulls would be setting a hefty and perhaps intentionally excessive asking price in a previous episode, as it is understood they would prefer not to sell him at all, with a figure of at least £100 million being floated around as the current rough estimate.
Given that Man United have already forked out over £200m on a selection of new signings – the most recent being striker Benjamin Šeško – the chances of him making the jump in this current window look slim, though it is thought there is still an eventual switch that could be done.
“Talks are continuing”, according to Whitwell. “There are obviously intermediaries working on behalf of United and the player [Baleba] as well, to see if Brighton would be open to this [a deal].
“Brighton are saying he’s not for sale, and there is quite a bit of scepticism at Manchester United as to whether this can be achieved, but still, it’s been totally shut down.
“That is leading me to believe that you never know, but I’m probably in the camp of it being unlikely. There are ways this can be sorted; a crucial point is the player – he’s keen on the move to Old Trafford.”
Whitwell goes on to detail that current players have been in touch to explain the “landscape” around the club amid this rebuild, reiterating that the environment is positive. However, Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler seems pretty confident that the south coast club will hang on to him, at least for now.
Fabian Hürzeler is adamant Carlos Baleba will still be a Brighton player at the end of the transfer window, despite interest from Manchester United… 👀 pic.twitter.com/4AagOtKJbl
Addressing the rumours with reporters, the German manager insisted, “I didn’t see any change. He seems to be in a very good place, enjoying it [the pre-season and training] with his team-mates.”
With that in mind, it’s more probable that Baleba could join the Red Devils next year, when he’s had yet another season to develop and prove himself in the English top flight, though his value will probably increase even further.
On the other hand, if Baleba does indeed want to swap his white and blue striped shirt for a red one, he could push for the negotiations progress, like new arrival and fellow compatriot Bryan Mbuemo did.
This is an outcome that could, in theory, benefit both teams, as not only are Brighton still considered a selling club, but with another EPL campaign under his belt, they could demand and even larger fee come summer 2026/January if Amorim is still desperately in need of a central solution.
You can watch the episode – one that also touches on the new so-called ‘Man United mantra’, which has even been printed on water bottles around Carrington – in full down below.
Featured Images — MyAlbionTV (screenshot via YouTube)
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Aldi is back looking for another taste tester to send FREE crisps to
Emily Sergeant
Aldi is looking for a special someone to become its official crisp taster, and will send the lucky winner a bunch of bags to try for free.
Calling all self-confessed crisp connoisseurs, this one’s for you.
That’s right, Aldi is ready to make savoury snack food lovers’ dreams come true, as the supermarket retailer is back on the look-out for another official ‘Crisp Taster’ to join the team, especially after the inaugural search last year proved to be so popular with shoppers, amassing hundreds of applications.
The highly-anticipated return also follows interest from local celebrities last year too, with Manc actress Michelle Keegan declaring to her 7.5 million Instagram: “IS THIS TRUE @aldiuk? Because I am READY and available with lots of experience.”
Last summer, it was 39-year-old NHS worker George Critchley from Sheffield who became Aldi’s first-ever Official Crisp Taster… but now it’s your turn.
Aldi is back looking for another taste tester to send FREE crisps to / Credit: Aldi UK | Esperanza Doronila (via Unsplash)
The successful applicant will receive a selection of Aldi’s most popular crisps to sample at home for free, including Aldi’s Specially Selected Lightly Sea Salted Hand Cooked Crisps, Specially Selected Mature Cheddar & Red Onion Hand Cooked Crisps, the Snackrite Delta Strips, and Snackrite Cheese Flavour Cheezios.
All that’s required in return is a set of exclusive reviews rating the crisps’ taste, crunch, texture and appearance to help guide the supermarket’s Buying Team on potential future flavours.
“After the success of last year with hundreds of entries, we welcome our shoppers feedback once again to make sure our latest products provide the quality, taste and price they deserve,” explained Julie Ashfield, who is the Chief Commerical Officer at Aldi UK.
“Our range of crisps are going down a treat this year, so launching the role for a new Crisp Taster is the perfect way to encourage innovative ideas and delicious products onto shelves.”
Fancy it then? To apply, you’ll just need to be aged 16 or over, a legal UK resident, and create a short application video, that’s no more than a minute long, explaining why you should be Aldi’s next ‘Crisp Taster’.
Applications are now open, with a closing deadline of Thursday 21 August.
You’ll need to share your application video via the email address [email protected], and you can find out more information on the official ‘Crisp Taster’ webpage here.
Emily Sergeant -
22nd January 2021 
