Today is National Poetry Day and so we’re honoured to publish an original poem by Canada’s greatest living poet, Dr Todd Swift.
When we see
the schoolgirls of Iran
not playing but acting
as unafraid as any tree,
we know that poetry
is an idea whose time
comes in actions
not words alone; standing
up for a thing taller
than beauty, to be heard
and seen, to fan true
flames of history, to grow
a garden, an arbour, green
as every blade of grass,
to bring far fairness to pass.
The Ministry of Defence is on the market for a new helicopter – one which can fulfil the roles of several medium lift helicopters currently in service. The New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme has garnered bids from Airbus, Bell Textron, Sikorsky, and Italian-based manufacturer Leonardo so far, but the programme’s focus on both aircraft capability and UK economic stimulation leaves the most recent contender Team ML70 in a unique position.
Team ML70 was born from the British start-up AceHawk Aerospace. The company, which is now leading the project, proposes to refit and upgrade existing American UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters with larger engines, modern glass cockpits, and advanced avionics packages at their Teesside-based facility in the Northeast of England. We had the chance to speak with AceHawk CEO and experienced pilot Fionnán Collins.
“Most of my experience as a pilot is in search and rescue flying what’s called an S-92, which itself is kind of a development of the Blackhawk. It’s used by the Coast Guard in the UK and in Ireland, and I’ve flown in both, and I’ve also flown it in Norway,” Collins says, “I’m a pure civilian, but at the same time, a lot of my colleagues, friends, and people I’ve flown with are ex-military. Part of my draw to the Blackhawk airframe itself is because a couple of good friends of mine fly them for the fire departments in LA County and San Diego, so I have an understanding from them of what the capabilities of the Black Hawk are in those kinds of roles.”
ML70 helicopter with armament package
The existing helicopters are being phased out not only due to their age, but also because of the increased training and maintenance costs which stem from having a variety of different types of aircraft in service simultaneously. It will always be cheaper to train pilots and mechanics on one airframe than on many, so it was decided that one helicopter should fill all medium lifting roles.
“You’ve got multiple different types there that are causing a drain on resources,” Collins says, “Having crews training on all different types costs money and takes time, so having one aircraft to do all of those functions saves so much grief. The RAF and the Army do exchanges with Brunei, Australia, and sometimes with other smaller users and send instructors to Fort Rucker in Alabama where they learn to fly the Blackhawk, so there is a base of knowledge in the UK already about this aircraft.”
Originally, the plan was to put these fully refurbished and upgraded Black Hawks into European firefighting roles, but Collins realised that regulations currently don’t allow the Black Hawk to fly commercially. Then, AceHawk’s prospects shifted towards the military.
“The initial trigger was the UK defence review in March 2021 which suggested that the Army and the Air Force had four different types of helicopter that needed to be replaced with one single type to do all of the different functions. The Black Hawk clearly is the aircraft that has been proven to do all the required functions, and that’s the big drive behind it as well – it’s a proven airframe. We sat down as a group of us, Damian, Darren, and I with a couple of our other guys, Mike and Simon. Both of them used to fly out of RAF Benson, and they said, ‘The RAF and the Army would have loved to have had the Black Hawk for years, is there a way to make this happen?’”
Garmin avionics on board the ML70
If accepted, the AceHawk ML70 would replace the RAF’s Puma HC2 and Bell 412 helicopters, as well as the Army’s fleets of Bell 212 and Airbus AS365 Dauphin aircraft. Collins explains the variety of functions the NMH will be expected to perform, and how their roles could be filled by the ML70.
“The main body of what it would replace is the Puma fleet, which does Troop Support, special operations, and a little bit of search and rescue as well. But what the government needs is an aircraft that can do even more. It needs to be able to do special ops, command and control, search and rescue in combat, medical evacuation, assault, and it needs to be able to do load lifting as well. The Puma could perform these functions to a point, but not at the level required. When the special ops guys have gone out on operations in places like Afghanistan and Iraq alongside the US Army, they always ended up flying in Blackhawks anyway. So they know what they want, and they know it is a proven and robust airframe which has filled all of these roles,” Collins says.
The NMH programme is not meant to produce a permanent or even long-term replacement for the helicopters currently in service. It is a stopgap measure to allow for the development and production of next generation rotor-driven platforms which they hope will be ready by the 2030s. However, it is more than likely that whatever helicopter is chosen will serve for longer than the 10 years projected, and Team ML70 says that they’re ready to take on the challenge of ongoing repairs.
Stripped Black Hawks awaiting upgrades similar to those they will receive at Teesside
“The whole idea behind AceHawk Aerospace was not just the initial production of aircraft, it was support across the life of the project. The NMH project is suggested to be a 10-year function as a stopgap, but we believe it will need to go on longer, and we will be happy to support it for longer because that’s part of our business,” Collins says, “We will set up a facility that doesn’t just produce the aircraft but maintain them. And the support as well that we will get from General Electric who make the engines, and Garmin who would make the avionics solution is crucial to that. They are very keen and they’re absolutely going out of their way to support us on anything we need.”
Following the pandemic, the government is focussing their efforts toward spending more on British companies, so ministers have agreed that social value must be taken into consideration in regards to defence procurement. The non-UK based companies who have put in bids for the NMH programme are aware that at least a ten percent weighting must go towards that social value when considering any new defence contract, and each have made their own promises.
Airbus has pledged to create a production line of their proposed H175 helicopters at an existing facility in Broughton, Wales which currently produces wings for commercial aircraft. Leonardo plans on expanding their helicopter production efforts in Yeovil, Somerset if they win the bid with their AW149 offering. Bell-Textron, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, has requested that the MoD delay the NMH programme, allowing them time to field their next generation 525 chopper in place of the current stopgap plans.
An ML70 lands in rough, dusty conditions
Sikorsky, who makes the Black Hawk, has put in an NMH bid offering brand new helicopters for the RAF and Army. In terms of both timeline and social value considerations, however, their offer is lacking. They propose that the new airframes be manufactured at their plant in Poland, then shipped over to Britain for modification. According to Collins, an already lengthy waiting list for new Black Hawks also poses problems.
It is worth noting that, of the existing offerings, Sikorsky and Team ML70 are the only companies not pitching converted civilian aircraft. Collins says that these options will be subject to a longer review period delaying delivery.
“We’ve put together a shopping list of mission systems with our supply chain and various partners, so it’s up to them to decide which ones they want and don’t want depending on what missions they want to do. But because of the history of the airframe and the missions that it has covered, there are lots of off the shelf systems that they can buy from proven suppliers. The majority of stuff out there has already been fitted to a Black Hawk airframe, so the UK doesn’t have to spend 12 months doing a trial if they’re willing to accept the data from other users. All of those different things can come quicker, because they don’t have to go off proving them themselves,” Collins says.
Aside from aircraft capability, there is also a strong political consideration at play. The Conservative government is likely more eager to place the economic stimulus which will be fostered by the NMH programme in the Northeast in hopes of breaking down the “red wall”. AceHawk’s Teesside-based production facility would require more employees to fill the order, thereby creating more jobs for County Durham and North Yorkshire residents and providing more opportunities for training.
“When we started this project, we knew that the politics were part of it, because they always have been. Helicopter procurement in the UK has always had that involvement all the way back to probably the 70s or 80s, but it’s something that we were aware of so we’re happy to engage. One of the big winners on that is basing ourselves at Teesside airport, which is owned by Tees Valley Combined Authority, which is a local council. That authority is run by Ben Houchin, who is a member of the Tory party. He is the local mayor, and he was the one who got Tees Valley Combined Authority to buy the airport from the holdings company who were not making a good business out of it. And he’s turned it around,” Collins says, “So that’s a member of the party who’s the local mayor who’s had the vision to say, ‘Hang on, we need this up here. We need jobs.’ And it’s that mindset that drew us to decide on Teesside when we were looking at places where we could do this.”
The cockpit of an ML70 before high-tech avionics are fitted
The next phase, which involves inviting the top five companies to negotiate, is set for the end of October at the earliest. The NMH contract will likely be awarded in mid-2023, with the chosen helicopter reaching the field at the beginning of 2025.
Dr. Paul Hokemeyer’s thoughts on Imposter Syndrome, originally published August 2021
Last week, I received the following text message from a former client, a female millennial, who received a substantial promotion and was transferred from her home in Istanbul to her company’s headquarters in Geneva:
“I’m thrilled with the promotion and with the opportunity to lead a team, but I’m having panic attacks…I did some research online and I came across something called the, ‘imposter syndrome’. I’m definitely suffering from it. I’ve become so insecure and even a little challenge is scaring me. I have no idea the root cause for this. Can you help me?
The sort answer to her question was yes. The longer answer would require her to internalize a new message of self-competency that would expel the external one she’d adopted along her developmental path.
The imposter syndrome is a psychological concept that was identified by clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes to describe a pernicious and persistent belief among successful women that in spite of their successes, they feel at deep in their core that they’re “not intelligent, capable or creative.” These researchers and clinicians went on to observe that while the women they studied were ‘highly motivated to achieve,’ they also ‘live in fear of being ‘found put or exposed as frauds.”
As I note in my book Fragile Power, although not officially recognized as a clinical diagnosis, psychologists find it’s a phenomenon that isn’t just limited to women. It’s a highly prevalent phenomenon that affects approximately 70% of the general population regardless of gender, race, and socio-economic class.
Over the years, I’ve found it exists at both sides of the success bell curve. Most of the “failure to launch” patients I treat, people with great potential but who can’t quite get it together to pursue their dreams, suffer from it in equal measure to the people who present as ‘having it all’, crowing on about their talents and successes.
As I alluded to in the beginning of this article, the imposter syndrome manifests in people’s psyche on both the conscious and unconscious levels through messages they internalize along their developmental path and from the dominate culture that surrounds them. These messages turn into beliefs which in turn manifest in limiting and destructive behaviors. The net result is that the Imposter Syndrome constrains a person’s ability to enjoy peace of mind, to claim their rightful place in the world and to be seen as a human being of value and substance. It also prevents them from producing their best work by causing them to operate from a place of deficiency rather than abundance, weakness rather than strength.
In my work, I’ve found the most common signs of the imposter syndrome are as follows.
What I hope you realize by learning about these traits is how IS is profoundly influenced by unconscious motives. For this reason, recovery requires a deep and holistic dive into the three levels of our human existence. These include:
First, we must understand the messages we’ve internalized by the govern cultures in which we exist and that we’ve internalized from our family of origin. At every step along our developmental path, we’ve internalized distinct messages of what our society and culture believe to be true about how we look, who we love, what God we worship and what zip code we reside in. By articulating the messages we’ve received, we can reject those that perpetuate destructive stereotypes, crawl out from under their weight to embrace the liberation of self-actualization.
The second area we need to explore is the geography of our interpersonal relationships. We need to spend time mapping out what we learned from our families of origin about success, what it means, the costs it entails and who is entitled to it. In addition to taking a historical look at these messages, we need to evaluate our current relationships. Many people who suffer from IS have relationships with people who feel threatened by their success and actively and passively work to sabotage it. Finally, we need to dig deep into our own psyche to find what motivates and makes us feel deep in our core like a person of value, worthy of being seen and heard.
The best way to do this work is in partnership with a safe and compassionate other, a person who you trust with your truths and with whom you can be strategically vulnerable. It’s also important to create a record of your work. To do this I advise my patients to create a simple, but powerful document that records their beliefs and sets out your goals for the future. An outline of this document is as follows:
In approaching this project, pay attention to your resistance. If you discount it as ‘stupid’, ‘worthless’ or ‘a waste of time’ recognize that what’s speaking to you is your IS, not your authentic truth. Then push through. The work, while admittedly time consuming and basic will be worth it. Through it your will be able to identify and banish the most pernicious and self-defeating messages that tell us we’re unworthy of being happy, joyous and free while building a foundation upon which your success can flourish.
Paul L. Hokemeyer, JD & PhD, is a therapist and author. Dr. Paul, as he’s better known, works with families and individuals across the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and European Union; he is also a founding principal of Drayson Mews International.
Online job searches for ‘Tesco jobs’ and ‘Tesco careers’ occur more than searches for any other companies, showing Tesco to be one of the most desired jobs in the UK. There has also been a general trend towards supermarkets and retail stores, with Amazon and ASDA seeing frequent searches.
The marketing hub School of Marketing has analysed Google search trends to find the most searched-for jobs in the UK.
Tesco sees about 362,000 searches a month for job-related terms, which is far higher than the second most searched for job, Amazon. Job searchers Google ‘Amazon jobs’ or ‘Amazon careers’ about 196,000 times a month – a little less than half as many as Tesco.
Behind Amazon are two more supermarket companies; Asda, which sees around 138,000 job-related searches per month, and Sainsbury’s, which sees around 128,000 searches.
Of the top ten most searched for jobs, seven of them are supermarkets. The others, besides Amazon, include Royal Mail with 127,000 monthly searches and Primark which sits at the bottom of the list with 54,000.
After seeing the major losses which the retail industry took during and immediately following the pandemic, it is unsurprising that Primark is at the bottom of the list – but it is interesting that Primark made the top ten at all.
The benefits offered by Royal Mail can likely be tied to its large numbers of searches. Pensions, childcare vouchers, and limited but present private medical insurance options all make Royal Mail an attractive prospect in the post-pandemic job market, in which benefits are of much higher priority to potential employees.
Small businesses will never see the same job search numbers as the big companies, both because they are smaller and because they may not be the first to come to mind. However, this dominance of large supermarkets could be seen as evidence that people are reluctant to look for work at their local shop, instead opting for large chains which offer a known quantity in terms of hours, pay, and benefits.
School of Marketing CEO Ritchie Mehta addresses the new data and calls for small businesses to work harder to attract new employees.
“It’s clear where the interest in the private sector job market lies now, and it’s in supermarkets. Additionally, some supermarkets are much more popular for job prospects than others,” Mehta says, “With major brands at the top of many people’s minds when they begin a job search, smaller businesses need to work harder to find and attract skilled employees. One extremely effectively way to do that is to take advantage of initiatives such as the Apprenticeship Levy scheme to bring in new staff or train current ones in digital and data-led programmes, with the vast majority of the training cost covered by the levy.”
A study by A-Plan Insurance has shown that job availabilities were at a 6-year high in June of 2022 for 71% of the UK. By analysing ONS data based on job adverts, researchers discovered the areas with the most vacancies.
234 out of 331 local authorities have more vacancies in 2022 than in the past five years. On average, we are seeing 88% more job adverts since 2021, which can most likely be explained by the transitory period many businesses and employees went through following the worst of the pandemic.
Westminster has seen the largest increase in job adverts since 2021 – an increase of 1,036%. When the study was conducted, researchers found 163,381 available positions in Westminster alone.
While not as dramatic an increase as Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea has seen the second largest increase in vacancies. There has been a 321% increase since 2021, and at the time of the research there were 166,806 live job listings for the area on Indeed.
The researchers at A-Plan Insurance propose a number of causes for these vacancies but mainly point to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“After the height of the pandemic, areas started to rebuild and this may explain why we are seeing a large spike in some areas of the UK in job adverts this year,” according to A- Plan, “Over the past year, there has been a large shift to remote working, which may be something people are seeking out more and more. As concerns rise about the cost-of-living crisis and inflation, it is at least encouraging to see that there is plenty of work available for those who are searching for a job.”
Redbridge has also seen a dramatic increase in job adverts, with a 265% increase. The London Borough ranks third on the list of high-vacancy areas, with 154,771 jobs available in June 2022.
There are some areas which have decreased or fairly stable levels of job vacancies. Hartlepool, for example, saw an 18% drop in job adverts since 2021, and Mid Suffolk has seen a 1% decrease.
We know that, since the pandemic, the world of work has gone through many changes, so it is likely that these high numbers are a result of post-pandemic turbulence. However, vacancies are still high, and we have not yet seen if the job market will stabilise by the end of 2022.
Read about how to make your job application stand out, even at the start of a new year here
A study by Small Business Prices shows that people who once viewed remote working as a negative thing are changing their minds.
The survey of 1,000 UK employees over 30 shows that, across the UK, 23% of the population have changed their opinion of remote work. 27% say that they were always on board with working from home and are happy with the shift. 10% have held onto their negative views of remote work, and 25% say that they had no opinion on remote working prior to the pandemic.
In London, opinions are changing fast. 44% of people who once disparaged working from home now see it in a positive light.
While it is seen as fact that the younger generations prefer remote working, the study has shown that 72% of UK employees over 30 would like the option to work abroad again. When asked why, 66% say that they would like to experience another culture, while 63% believe they would have a better life overseas.
Another popular reason to work abroad include moving overseas to be with a partner, which 53% of people mentioned. The cost-of-living crisis is also playing on people’s minds, and 53% of people also asserted that the cost of living is cheaper in the countries where they would like to work.
Working abroad is a path which many have already chosen. Over half of 36-44-year-
olds have already worked abroad at least once, and 23% of employees between the ages of 30 and 35 have worked abroad four times or more.
Not everyone is on board with working abroad, and the research shows that this mainly comes down to a fairly simple reason; 42% of employees surveyed believe that is too complicated to work abroad right now. 26% say that they have worked abroad before and would not like to live overseas again, and 24% believe that it could affect their career in a negative way.
Just under a quarter of respondents say that their financial situations and family commitments make working abroad impossible.
The world is heating up. We’ve known it for a long time, and the recent heatwaves across Europe and the world serve as a reminder that things are very wrong. While Summers get hotter, many businesses still enforce dress codes which leave employees sweltering. Luckily, the fashion experts at Karen Millen have come together with wardrobe solutions for the workplace.
The first item to consider is the shirt dress – a long version of the dress shirts synonymous with traditional business. Collared shirt dresses look smart and professional, especially when paired with a light blazer, but Karen Millen also recommends t-shirt dresses as a better way to stay cool, providing that your employer allows them. They say that incorporating a belt can help dress up this light outfit into something that even more traditional employers will have trouble taking issue with.
Free-flowing maxi dresses are also a popular option as they often come in lightweight, breathable materials. They also come in a variety of colours and patterns to fit every level of workplace dress expectation.
A lightweight trench coat can be an interesting addition to Summer wardrobe which allows you to transition from a cool morning to a warm afternoon. Forget the heavy Winter wool – these trench coats often incorporate cotton to keep the wearer cool.
In terms of footwear, it all comes down to what you can get away with at work, but ultimately less is more. If sandals are allowed, go for it, but if not look for smart trainers with good ventilation to keep both your employer and your feet happy.
While cotton is the standard, it is good to remember that you can find just about any item of clothing in linen these days. This lightweight, breathable, and smart-looking fabric is not to be underestimated.
Climate change is an undeniable threat which requires immediate, decisive action. Even with such action, it would take time for the changes in our food production, transport, and manufacturing practices to take effect. Until then, we might as well be comfortable.
Looking for a change in workplace culture? Check out Finito World’s guide to the top 50 cities to work in around the world here
New entrepreneurs are choosing to start their own businesses after careers lasting over ten years, and the businesses they start are often in an entirely different sector. The research from GoDaddy suggests that people are making the switch for increased flexibility and follow their dreams.
The survey of 1,000 business owners found that 70% of them started businesses in an entirely different industry than their previous career.
Julie Daly spent 20 years at an oil company before deciding to start her own interior design business, Verano Interiors. She says the pandemic gave her the opportunity to reflect and choose a new path.
“After working in an oil company for 20 years, lockdown allowed me to re-evaluate my life and I realised I couldn’t see myself doing it for another 20 years, so I decided to change direction entirely. I enrolled myself onto The Professional Interior Design course at the College of Interior Design and I’ve recently graduated with a diploma,” Daly says.
Daly is not alone in her pandemic-driven change. 17% of people surveyed say that the pandemic caused them to reflect and make the shift, while 10% say that they started their own businesses because they had been made redundant during Covid. Starting a new business without prior experience can be a major challenge, but Daly is rising to the occasion.
“I’m completely new to the business world so I’ve been spending hours learning, going to webinars, reading books, and studying,” Daly says, “As a business owner you’ve got to understand everything from marketing to finances, so it’s been a massive learning curve for me but I’m enjoying the challenge.”
The most common reason for starting a new business is the desire for flexibility, according to the survey. 41% say they want more flexibility, while 36% say that they are tired of working for someone else. 35% say that they are following a lifelong dream, and 30% say that their decision was driven by a desire to make more money than at their previous job.
Maxine Jones has also joined the long list of people who have left their previous jobs for a new independent venture. As founder of Maxicise, she describes how she started her now-thriving online dance workout business.
“At the age of 40, I quit my job and launched my own Zumba classes in the local community centre. I moved away from Zumba musically and morphed into MaxiciseTV, and in 2018 I started to livestream my classes online direct to my clients so that they could workout with me from the comfort of their own home,” Jones says, “My website was therefore crucial to my success. Clients use it to workout live with me once a week and on demand. I change over the workouts every week so that they don’t get bored, and I’ve introduced 20-, 30- and 40-minute bitesize sessions. The website is ‘all singing, all dancing’ literally.”
This growing trend of entrepreneurship following the pandemic can be seen everywhere. Students are increasingly skipping university and jumping right into the working world. The rising cost of living has made many re-evaluate their life paths, and the pandemic gave them time to ponder the many opportunities which await them. If you are considering a new venture, don’t panic – you’re certainly not alone.
Robert Halfon reacts to the government’s decision to make poetry optional at GCSE on the national curriculum
I’ve been asked lately about the Department for Education’s decision to make poetry optional on the national curriculum. I don’t think poetry has as much prominence in parts of our education system as it should – in some ways that’s understandable because of all that’s gone on during Covid-19.
I understand the government’s concerns – that children are being left behind and not learning. I also understand those who worry about the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the predictions that 28 per cent of jobs might be lost to young people by 2030. There’s a natural recognition that the curriculum has to adapt and change.
But what the government doesn’t understand is that poetry and literature are one and the same. In my view, you can’t promote one subject over another: literature is actually just as much about learning poetry as reading books. I hope this is just a temporary thing – though it’s undeniably becoming a more widespread assumption in our society that poetry isn’t seen as important.
“Of course, the Department for Education will say that it’s a temporary measure, and designed to take the strain off pupils, but the danger is that a temporary measure becomes precedent. “
It’s a good time then to remind ourselves of the value of poetry – sometimes it can almost be like a puzzle. You have to think more, and it trains your mind in a very different way. If this changes suddenly became permanent, I think that would be very worrying.
And of course, culture – and I include poetry in this – has an absolutely important role, not just in the economy but in our society. It shapes our lives. It’s not just good for our learning; it’s good for our mental health, and expanding our horizons. We don’t want a society where everyone is Mr Spock.
At the same time I do firmly believe that whatever degree or study people do they should do work experience alongside. If you’re a poet, why wouldn’t you do a placement at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum? There should be practical work experience alongside the process of expanding your intellect.
The reason I mentioned Robbie Burns is because I had to learn him for a school competition. I have these bad legs and I didn’t lean on anything at that time. I remember standing up and my knee cap would always shake up and down. But I remember learning the first two or three verses of A Red, Red Rose by Robbie Burns – and my kneecaps just shaking in front of the whole school.
I’m sometimes asked if my reading has affected my career in politics. What I read goes into my subconscious. It helps me when I’m writing articles – I may think of things and quote things, or use metaphors. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily directed me towards change of policy. It infuses my thoughts and permeates like a kind of beautiful stew in cooking for a long time – and it always tastes much nicer on the second or third day of eating it.
But mainly I read to relax – and I’m happy at the moment as I’ve just read some very early stuff from Tolkein – not just The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but also The Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion, which his son, Christopher Tolkein gathered together after his father’s death. Tolkein was not just a great author but also a great poet: if you read Beren and Luthien, you’ll see what I mean.
“There’s an unwritten story: the importance of Conservatism in 20th century art”
But if I’m honest I don’t read enough poetry. I tend to read books more than verse. But when I do read it I like it. I particularly like poetry that tells stories and also poetry which rhymes – especially Philip Larkin, though I won’t quote my favourite poem, This Be The Verse, since this is a family publication. He was a Conservative of course, as was my other hero, the painter LS Lowry. That’s an unwritten story – the importance of conservatism in 20th century British art.
And again work was important Lowry actually began doing pictures when he was collecting rents in Manchester. Thinking about it, Lowry and Larkin, working in the library in Hull, might almost be the embodiments of my apprenticeships agenda.