It makes me want to tear my hair out when young people blindly choose a hairdressing apprenticeship over an engineering one – and at a time when the UK manufacturing industry actually needs more people building and making things. Why are young people no longer interested in pursuing a rewarding career in engineering and what is the government doing about it?

It’s often hard to see the merits of joining up some of the over-complicated dots in our industry, particularly when they concern the amount of government support for hot topics like increasing the skill levels of advanced manufacturing capabilities.

Every government’s role in helping rebuild growth in engineering will always come under close scrutiny. The problem is exacerbated by dissenting voices that bemoan this lack of government support, but maybe part of the blame culture is down to the fact that many employers struggle to persuade enough academic institutions to offer modules in working with things like composite materials, for example?

It’s sometimes too easy to blame the government - particularly when addressing the nebulous issues that form schisms within our industry. Perhaps we’re sometimes guilty of breeding a nation of moaners when it would make more sense if we did a better job of telling our engineering success stories to the world.

One thing is clear: everyone at the cutting edge of aerospace manufacturing needs to pull together and increase investment in more skills, if they are to be confident that the young engineers of today will aspire to find all the solutions to tomorrow’s aviation challenges.

Mike Richardson, editor