ROBERT BURNS'S BIRTHDAY 2018

Happy Burns Night!

This is a busy two weeks for me: with my Waypoint hat on, we just finished the Airline Economics conference in Dublin (where I was on a panel refuting a daft thesis that helicopters are not a great leased asset investment) and heading into Helicopter Investor in London (where Al and Louisa Whyte have asked me to close Day One of their must-go-to event.) So it's great to catch up with friends, colleagues and even competitors after the Christmas/New Year break to gauge how sentiment in our helicopter market is improving.

And right in the middle of this hectic rotary fest we have the 259th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns! So from today for a couple of weeks, around ten million people will join in the great Birthday party celebrating a great poetic genius . I hope to catch up with some of you over the eight Immortal Memories I have planned this season.

So tonight release your inner Scot (with the assistance of as much haggis and whisky as you choose), take a respite from 'dry January', sing his songs and remember the fellowship that his poetry commends.

In a world where we increasingly see division, Burns's message of the universality of the human condition could not be a more timely lesson. Let's drink to that!