What do I have in common with Liz McClarnon? Let me think for a second...Liz is an internationally famous pop star, glamorous, beautiful and talented, with a lovely personality, and I'm, erm...also from Liverpool.
And that, frankly, would have been that, until the first edition of Liverpool's new-look "must have" magazine, Liverpool.com, dropped into my in tray this week.

It's a very cool, sophisticated magazine, reflecting the buzzing social scene that is such an intrinsic part of Liverpool's regeneration. The first edition includes a list of the city's 50 most invited people. It's a fascinating and diverse list, ranging from wags like Alex Curran and Abigail Clancy to movers and shakers such as David Wade Smith and Lorraine Rogers.
They are summed up in the article as the people who are "talented, terrific, and more importantly - turn up".
Liz is in there, of course, as befits a chart-topper who is still very much a part of the city's social scene.
Much harder to explain, is the presence, admittedly much further down the league table, of Yours Truly. Yep, that's me. Mark Thomas, man about town.
It's hugely flattering, and I was chuffed to bits to be included, despite having the mickey taken unmercifully by every journalist I bump into, but do I deserve to be on there? As Editor of the Liverpool Daily Post, I get invitations to a lot of social and civic events, and I do my best to turn up to as many as I can. It is a privilege to be asked, and also a great pleasure to get out and represent the newspaper in the city to the best of my ability.
But the invitations don't come because I am remotely popular or well-known, like the real stars on this list. It's just a reflection of the role I am lucky enough to have at the helm of Britain's best regional morning newspaper.
When I eventually hand over the mantle to the next journalist to take up the reins (many years from now, I hope!), I know full well that the invitations will dry up for me, and the new editor will find themselves at the heart of this dizzying social whirl. And that's exactly how it should be.
In the meantime, I intend to enjoy every minute of it. So no, I don't deserve to be on this list, but the Liverpool Daily Post definitely does.
By now the smiles will have turned to guffaws from everyone who knows me, so I had better own up quickly to one more little detail that might just have helped get my name on this list. The acting editor of Liverpool.com is also my partner. Thanks honey...
One of my latest invitations was to the launch party for Liverpool.com, a glittering event held at the snazzy Print club in Stanley Street on Wednesday night. And I got to have a glass of champagne with Liz McClarnon. So come to think of it, there's one more thing we have in common. I won't be joining a boy band any time soon, though.

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