Consultiv Utilities has partnered with the Leicestershire and Rutland FA to provide energy consultancy to clubs across the region. The deal covers three competitions: the Under-7s 3v3 programme, the senior Challenge County Cup, and the Walking Football league.

Clubs involved will gain access to consultancy on energy contracts, cost management, and sustainability initiatives. Options include solar panel installations, battery storage, EV charging infrastructure, LED lighting, and waste management improvements. The programme also introduces revenue opportunities through sports vouchers and referral schemes.

The Under-7s 3v3 format focuses on fast-paced skill development for young players, while the County Cup supports semi-professional and grassroots football. Walking Football engages over 400 participants in age- and gender-specific divisions, promoting inclusivity across the community.

Consultiv Utilities brings experience with sports organisations and membership bodies, helping clubs optimise energy use, lower overheads, and implement efficiency upgrades. The partnership targets financial resilience and operational sustainability for football clubs in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Greg Simpson, founder of Press For Attention PR, considers the problems of being too polished and the opportunity in authenticity. Someone offered me a better lip-syncing service for my videos last week. The irony? There was no lip-syncing involved. It was just me, talking to camera, being what I thought was quite polished in my delivery. My immediate reaction was worrying. Do you think I’m a wooden performer? Do you think all my content is AI-generated? Are you not trusting it anymore? That moment crystallised something I’d been sensing but hadn’t quite put my finger on. We’ve reached a tipping point where being too good at your job makes you look artificial. The polish problem As a former business journalist, I’ve spent 17 years perfecting my on-camera presence. Clean delivery, minimal stumbles, professional presentation. Turns out, that’s now working against me. The data backs this up. Only 45% of UK respondents can correctly identify AI-generated content. We’re living in a world where audiences have developed default scepticism about everything they see. Academic research confirms what I experienced firsthand. Human writing can be mistaken for AI, especially when it’s polished and error-free. My journalism background, which gave me that crisp, professional delivery, now makes me look suspiciously perfect. The authenticity advantage Here’s the counterintuitive bit. Our imperfections have become our competitive advantage. We shouldn’t worry about going “um” and “ah” anymore. We should embrace it. The opportunity to be normal, to stumble on words occasionally, to rephrase things or re-clarify something is exactly how you’d speak in real life. We shouldn’t be afraid to do that on camera, especially as AI becomes more dominant. It’s okay to only be okay. In fact, I think it’s positively encouraged to be less polished rather than picture perfect every time. The strategic response This creates a fascinating opportunity for PR professionals and content creators. As AI-generated material floods the market, with estimates suggesting 90 percent of online content could be AI-generated by 2025, authentic humanity becomes premium. We need to be more “I” in a world of AI. That means scratching your head occasionally. Looking off camera. Consulting notes. Showing the natural hesitations and corrections that signal genuine human thought. The very imperfections we’ve been trained to edit out are now our authenticity markers. What this means for your content If you’re creating educational content, following methodologies like Marcus Sheridan’s “They Ask You Answer,” you’re probably facing this same challenge. Your professional competence is making you look artificial. The solution isn’t to become genuinely bad at your job. It’s to deliberately incorporate the human elements that AI still struggles to replicate convincingly. Show your working. Include the natural pauses. Let people see you think. In a world where everyone’s suspicious of perfection, being perfectly imperfect becomes your differentiator. The person who offered me that lip-sync service did me a favour. They showed me that my authentic human delivery had become so polished it looked artificial. Now I know exactly how to fix that. A former business journalist, Greg Simpson is the author of The Small Business Guide to PR and has been recognised as one of the UK’s top 5 PR consultants, having set up Press For Attention PR in 2008. He has worked for FTSE 100 firms, charities and start-ups and conducted press conferences with Sir Richard Branson and James Caan. His background ensures a deep understanding of every facet of a successful PR campaign – from a journalist’s, client’s, and consultant’s perspective.   See this column in the September issue of East Midlands Business Link here.

Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire will receive a new framework aimed at boosting economic and social outcomes across the East Midlands. The Inclusive Growth Commission, established by the East Midlands Combined County Authority and local council leaders in November 2024, has delivered the UK’s first regional model focused on inclusive growth. The RSA was appointed to lead the Commission.

The plan outlines strategies across skills, health, housing and transport to support access to well-paid jobs, career progression and stronger community networks. Central to the report is the “Opportunity Escalator,” a framework designed to remove barriers and provide clear pathways for individuals to progress in work and life.

Economic projections indicate the region could attract £200 billion in investment by 2035. Targeting 18 emerging industrial sites could increase earnings for 30,000 low-paid workers by an average of £6,700 annually. Improved social networks could add £1.4 billion in household income for the poorest communities over the next decade, while reducing work-related health problems could save up to £10 billion annually.

The Commission recommends ensuring all young people have access to career guidance, work experience and wellbeing support, alongside adult retraining for high-demand sectors such as green energy and digital skills. Strengthening community engagement through local enterprises and public hubs is highlighted, together with promoting fair workplaces and attracting investment to deliver economic growth alongside social and environmental benefits.

The framework positions the East Midlands as a model for scalable, people-centred growth and provides local authorities and businesses with actionable steps to align workforce development, infrastructure and investment strategies.

UK and US companies have signed a series of agreements to accelerate the development of nuclear power, supporting private investment and creating thousands of jobs across the two countries. The deals follow a government-level agreement designed to reduce licensing times for new nuclear projects from three to four years down to around two, enabling faster project delivery.

In the UK, the agreements are expected to expand the nuclear sector, which added 11,000 jobs this year. Projects include plans for up to 12 advanced modular reactors in Hartlepool, potentially generating enough electricity for 1.5 million homes and creating up to 2,500 local jobs, with wider UK programmes targeting a fleet producing 6GW of power. Total economic value for the North East is estimated at £12 billion, with the overall programme projected at £40 billion.

Other initiatives include the development of advanced data centres powered by small modular reactors at the former Cottam coal-fired station in Nottinghamshire, supported by Holtec, EDF, and Tritax, representing an £11 billion investment and creating both construction and long-term operational roles. Last Energy and DP World plan a micro modular reactor to provide clean power for the London Gateway port, backed by £80 million in private funding.

Fuel and technology agreements include Urenco and Radiant supplying advanced HALEU fuel to the US, while TerraPower and KBR will evaluate UK sites for Natrium reactors, each supporting roughly 1,600 construction jobs and 250 permanent positions.

The agreements form part of the UK government’s wider strategy to expand homegrown nuclear energy, including the Sizewell C development, small modular reactor programmes, and investments in fusion energy.