Brad’s three top tips for getting the most out of networking There's lots of advice I could give you about how to get the most out of networking. If you ever want my help with that come and ask me. But these are the most important things to remember, in my opinion:

England lose World Cup final 2-1 The date is July 30th 1966: Imagine if Geoff Hurst had been sick on that summer’s day, history would be very different.

The Pitch 2010: Your chance to win £50,000 of business support Entrepreneurs from around the country are gearing up to take part in the most business-focussed competition of 2010, competing against fellow start-ups and small business owners from their region and around the UK for the chance to be crowned Britain’s Best New Business.

Are you a business hero? A search to find the UK's most inspirational men and women who have beaten the odds to succeed in business has got underway with the launch of the fifth annual Barclays Trading Places Awards.

Nearly half of business owners more stressed than year ago Pressure is mounting among many business owners according to a survey which shows that 41% of private company bosses say their stress levels have increased compared to a year ago.

David Cameron was right "Put down the BlackBerry" In all the fuss over mounting debt and sneaky give-away's, Claire King thinks that David Cameron made a crucial point in his riposte immediately as Alistair Darling sat down, which I fear will be overlooked by many Budget commentators.

Women are better at interviews but fear of maternity means they loose out According to bosses women perform better at interviews, have better presentation, communication, motivation skills, understand companies and cultures better, are more thorough, affable and better able to balance multiple tasks and yet according to 42.7% of senior management surveyed by TheLadders.co.uk, they will not get the top job because they fear that women will leave to have children.

Women don't need to act like men to succeed in the Boardroom Following the latest reports that women are still under-represented in big businesses, a leading career accelerator is urging women to stick to their guns and not resort to traditional 'command and control' behaviour just to get ahead.

UK’s most powerful companies are Twitter shy With Twitter expected to serve its 10 billionth tweet on Friday, 5 March, research has found that just a fraction of the FTSE 100 have got on board with Twitter. Just 16 of the UK's top 100 companies are using the social networking site to chat with customers. The sidelining of Twitter as an informal communication channel could well be costing them dearly - 20 per cent of 'tweets' contain a reference to a product or brand, according to metrics released last week*.

Rebuilding trust should be top business resolution in 2010 After a difficult year for many top brands, from ongoing strike disputes at British Airways and Royal Mail to the latest Eurostar snow crisis, businesses are being reminded that rebuilding customer trust and loyalty should be their top priority in the New Year.

Lord Sugar sets the record straight Lord Sugar has hit back at the critics who claim that he is “out of touch with SMEs”, insisting that he is “passionately committed” to helping small firms.

The government enterprise tsar reportedly said SMEs who complained about being refused loans were “moaners” who were living in “Disneyland”.

Use Christmas to re-energise for 2010 The season to be merry is upon us as we rush to prepare for a few days off work. Then comes the strain of too much food, drink or financial worries and Christmas is anything but relaxing. Hoping to promote Christmas cheer in tough economic times, Apprentice star, Claire Young has launched the 'Balancing Britain Campaign', working with Chinese health and wellbeing organisation Lishi in a bid to encourage the nation to switch off over Christmas.

The Government is acting like a 'sat nav with no postcode' Entrepreneur Rik Hellewell, owner of the UK’s largest oven-valeting franchise network, Ovenu, has slammed the Government for acting like a ’sat nav with no postcode’ saying they would do well to follow the lead of their counterparts in the southern hemisphere.

The UK's 'excessive' boardroom habits are a complete waste of time Charlie Mullins has hit out at the ‘excessive’ boardroom habits of UK businesses, saying firms need to adopt a ‘less talk more work’ attitude if they are to survive the downturn.

Leading entrepreneur slams 'greedy bankers' over plans to abolish cheques Charlie Mullins, managing director of leading independent plumbing firm, Pimlico Plumbers, has slammed controversial plans by British banks, which could see cheques abolished by 2018.

Recession helps to push 300,000 into starting up a home-based business The number of people starting their own business from a spare room or the garden shed has risen dramatically as the recession bites, reveals a research report - The 2009 Home Business Report released by Enterprise Nation and supported by BT - saw almost a third of a million people made the decision to go alone in the last 12 months, with 5,500 every week leaving behind commuting and the office for the chance to be their own boss.

London entrepreneurs strip off for charity A group of young technology entrepreneurs have joined together for charity to create the first Nude London Tech calendar features 24 tasteful portraits of London's IT pioneers.

The photos show the men and women posing with strategically-placed laptops or wrapped in computer cables.

Julie Meyer: Sugar isn't on message Following on from Lord Sugar’s comments on entrepreneurs, which has sparked a wave of media coverage, we spoke to Julie Meyer, a Dragon on Online BBC Dragons Den and CEO and Founder of Ariadne Capital to get her thoughts on the comments and also whether she thinks they were right or justified.

Adversity motivates UK’s successful entrepreneurs A recently published survey claims that personal adversity is the most leading driving factor motivating the UK’s successful entrepreneurs. Seven out of ten (69%) say they have been motivated by adversity including parental divorce, a car crash, cancer, and under- achieving at school. And the majority (56%) say determination is the most important characteristic for a successful entrepreneur, followed by passion (22%).

Do you see Angels? It’s tough to be an entrepreneur out there in this current market, tougher than I’ve ever seen it before. Small business owners with stellar ideas for start-up ventures and innovators with life-changing inventions are being left dangling over the precipice of despair, abandoned by institutions that previously might have funded them, and having to watch their dreams crumble.