Elyn Corfield Writing for The Northern Echo, Elyn Corfield, Lloyds Group Ambassador for the North, argues that collaboration is the key to closing the North-East’s digital divide. THE impact of the pandemic has affected everyone differently. Listening to voices from across the UK is essential in helping to understand others and appreciate their circumstances, making our workplaces and communities more inclusive. This was the driving motivation behind The Big Conversation – a three-month series of roundtable discussions bringing together local businesses, politicians, elected mayors and business groups from all regions and nations of the UK. The insights we gathered painted a vivid picture of the resilience on display from people coping with living in lockdown up and down the country, not least from those across the North-East.