Spent Christmas and new year huddled over a board game, retaining a vice-like grip on the rules and a hawk-eye on the family cheat? Well, that sort of commitment and skill could come in handy for the Leeds Met Monopoly Challenge which is being hosted throughout February and Easter.

In case you didn't get one for Christmas, a Leeds version of the popular board game has been released (finally) and in aid of that, and for charity, the Leeds Met Monopoly Challenge has been launched. It aims to get 8,000 Loiners playing Monopoly. It's hoped the quirky challenge will raise £250,000 for the community.

Met students, bless 'em, are taking time out of their study (and the Otley Run) to get as many people signed up to the Leeds Met Monopoly Challenge …

Holy smokes! Is it that time of year already? I hope for me and my family's sake that Santa is real, otherwise December 25 2008 is going to be an unhappy occasion in my house. I'm nowhere near even starting my shopping. Fortunately, Christmas shopping in Leeds isn't such a pain.

One reason for this is that they've put on that Christkindelmarkt again which should help me find some unusual gifts instead of my run of the mill Christmas shopping. In Leeds there's nothing better than wandering around the Millennium Square with a cup of that gluhwein stuff and browsing round all the weird trinkets this place sells.  I usually also wander around the Victoria Quarter. There are so many gorgeous shops there that if I'm not careful me and my credit …