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A specialist in professional relationships and networking for over 20 years, we talk to Andy Lopata, who was called  ‘One of Europe’s leading business networking strategists’ by the Financial Times.

What do you currently do?

I am an author, podcast host, speaker and mentor on professional relationships. That’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it?!

In short, I focus on how people in business can build, nurture and leverage professional relationships, whether for their career or as part of their role. In my book ‘Connected Leadership’ and ‘The Connected Leadership Podcast’ I look at how those relationships underpin executive success; while I work with a number of clients, either delivering presentations or in a mentoring capacity, on developing deep relationships and strong influence with key stakeholders.

My most recent book, ‘Just Ask’ focused on the role of those relationships in supporting us through challenging times, encouraging readers to surround themselves with people … Read the rest

Most Britons back vaccine passports if they mean the end of social distancing.

A survey showed strong support for Covid status certificates in every setting except shops, though a significant minority would be reluctant to visit pubs and restaurants if they had to show one, suggesting a threat to hospitality revenues if they were introduced.

The government said last week that Covid certificates “could play a role in reducing social-distancing requirements”. Any final decision is months off, so pubs and restaurants will initially open with distancing rules in place such as people from different groups staying at least one metre apart.

Polling by YouGov last week found that 61 per cent said they backed certificates being introduced if it allowed venues to lift social distancing, compared with 29 per cent who did not.

For music festivals and sports stadiums, 62 per cent were supportive compared with 28 per cent against, … Read the rest

Debenhams is to reopen 97 of its high street stores on Monday for a closing down sale to clear stock before they finally shut their doors on 15 May.

The department store, which collapsed last year, said it would be offering up to 70% off fashion and homewares and up to 50% off beauty and fragrance in its final closing down sale.

The stores, in England and Wales, will begin to close their doors on 2 May and the process will be completed 13 days later. Debenhams’ 15 Scottish stores and its flagship shop on London’s Oxford Street will not reopen.

Debenhams’ exit from the high street after more than 200 years will leave gaps at the heart of many town centres around the country alongside the closure of all Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton stores as well as some Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser and John Lewis outlets.… Read the rest

Facebook has not notified the more-than 530m users whose details were exposed on a hacker forum in 2019 and has no plans to do so, according to company representatives.

Business Insider reported last week that phone numbers and other details from Facebook user profiles were available in a public database. The social media company acknowledged in a blogpost on Tuesday that “malicious actors” had obtained the data prior to September 2019 by “scraping” profiles using a vulnerability in the platform’s tool for syncing contacts. Facebook has said it plugged the hole after identifying the problem at the time.

But a Facebook spokesperson said on Wednesday that the company would not be notifying users affected by the hack and that it was not confident it had full visibility on which users would need to be alerted. He said the company also took into account that users could not fix the issue … Read the rest