fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Pharma can’t avoid the anger of the media
By: Richard A Meyer
Tags: Healthcare, Pharmaceutical

IN SUMMARY: Over the last week, pharma has been blamed for the high cost of healthcare while PBM’s and insurers seem to protected by Teflon. A courageous politician would stand up and admit that our whole healthcare system is to blame, but it’s easier to unite voters against “big pharma.”

A favorite storyline for the news media right now is to talk about how rising insulin prices are putting lives at risk. While it’s true that the high cost of insulin needs to be investigated, it’s also true that both Lilly and Novo have programs to help people pay for insulin they can’t afford. When I asked a couple on social media why they haven’t used these programs, their response was they didn’t know about them.

The number one call to the American Cancer Society Hotline is “I can’t afford to have cancer.” In fact, 40% of people spend their life savings within 2 years of diagnosis.

Four years ago when I had a crash on my bike in Boston, I was hit with a laundry list of expenses not covered by insurance including a charge of twenty-five dollars for a daily multi-vitamin. It’s not uncommon for patients, who visit an ER, to get hit with thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses.

You could cut insurance premiums in half AND insure 5 million more Americans fully offset if you just bump the corporate tax rate from 21% back up to 23–24%

I have made a point, on this site, to also talk about the profits and executive compensation of insurance companies. To say they are off the charts is a huge understatement.

Then there are Americans unhealthy lifestyles

Treating cancer patients who smoke may cost extra $3.4 billion each year. The added cost largely stems from additional treatments needed after continuing smokers fail to respond to first-line cancer therapies, and totals roughly $11,000 per person, the study team calculates.

While smoking cessation after a cancer diagnosis has been found to improve survival odds, studies to date have not provided a clear picture of how treatment outcomes and costs are affected when smokers don’t quit, researchers note in JAMA Network Open.

According to STAT News “In terms of risk factors, being overweight or obese accounted for $1.7 trillion, or 47 percent of the total cost. Approximately 8.7 percent of health-care spending in the U.S. is attributable to cigarette smoking; 60 percent of that is paid by public sources — Medicare, Medicaid, and other U.S. federal and state health programs. Health problems caused by excessive drinking cost $27.4 billion in 2010, or 1 percent of the total cost of chronic diseases and 11 percent of the total costs of alcohol abuse.

If we are serious about controlling healthcare costs we need to look at the whole system, not just pharma companies. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon and blame pharma but doing so does a huge disservice to the public who are scared to death that a chronic illness could wipe out savings.
Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical Services Outsourcing Market Worth $92.9 Billion By 2025
By: Gaurav Shah
Tags: Education, Training, Consulting, Testing, Pharmaceutical

The global biotechnology services outsourcing market is expected to reach USD 92.9 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Pharmaceutical industry has been adaptive of the function of outsourcing certain clinical and corporate functions as early as 2002. Among the services outsourced, clinical trial management and contract manufacturing were the forerunners. For instance, Johnson & Johnson was the first pharmaceutical company to outsource its applications development and maintenance (ADM).

In 2015, over USD 50.0 billion was spent on pharmaceutical R&D activities majorly on oncology, diabetes, and autoimmune therapy classes, which is expected to propel the biotechnology services outsourcing market growth over the forecast period.

Shrinking profit margins coupled with rising competition in the market space, and augmenting regulatory burden are other vital impact rendering factors. The pharmaceutical services outsourcing market is expected to register growth at a CAGR of 8.7% during the forecast period. On the other hand, pending immigration legislations in the U.S. may hinder business economics and outsourcing risks.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in Europe are significantly investing in R&D in the recent year owing to rising demand for advanced medicines. This may be attributed to increasing aging population, incidence of chronic diseases, and communicable diseases.

Click the link below:

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/biotechnology-pharmaceutical-services-outsourcing-market

Further key findings from the report suggest:
Trial by Data Season Two Debut: How Coronavirus is Impacting Clinical Trials
By: Litmus Health
Tags: Covid 19, Coronavirus, Clinical Trials, Trial By Data, Pharmaceutical

Each episode, we pull out some of the key themes of the conversation for our listeners.

Here are the highlights from our conversation with Lydia:

COVID has proven how quickly the pharma industry can mobilize. Considering how long vaccine timelines usually take, it has been fascinating to see how quickly most of the big pharma companies were able to get a vaccine project underway. Part of the reason for this is that the pandemic disease demanded a coordinated, massive response. Ebola and Zika did not spur such dramatic action because they did not impact nearly as many people as COVID now has. Additionally, this time around, most pharma already had a vaccine platform that had been tested and which they could leverage. However, the real question moving forward is whether pharma can keep up at this pace.

Referenced:

The one area we’re still slow in is virtual trials. As soon as the pandemic hit, telemedicine was ready. By the second week of March, patient appointments were basically all virtual and the larger healthcare system began adjusting to a new normal. However, in pharma, virtual trials have not seen the same quick adoption. The slow down here may be due to tradition — there is a culture around having people come into the clinic and collecting data directly from the patients. Some of this culture may be reinforced by fears that the FDA will deem data collected from virtual trials insufficient or inferior.

Referenced:

Humans tend to size cause and effect at a similar scale. This makes us more susceptible to conspiracy theories, as it means that when something big happens, we expect there to be a big explanation or a big cause. We’re seeing this play out in real time with the pandemic. The idea that something as big as COVID could have started in such a small way is actually much harder to wrap our minds around than if it were to have had a big cause.

Referenced:

The literacy of people around clinical trials is going to dramatically increase, which will have long-lasting effects on other parts of the industry. The vaccine race has raised awareness for how clinical trials work and what it means to be in a clinical trial. Whereas before the average person often thought of clinical trials as a tool of last resort, now people understand the importance of enrolling in trials to support science and drug development more broadly. This culture-shift gets us closer to the dream many share in the industry (including Litmus) that someday we will be able to capture all data from all patients at all times and make the whole world a clinical trial.
Drug And Gene Delivery Systems Market Worth $786.9 Billion By 2025
By: Gaurav Shah
Tags: Japan, Mexico, Brazil, USA, Pharmaceutical

The global drug and gene delivery systems market is expected to reach USD 786.9 Billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising investment by the market players to develop innovative drug delivery systems to cater to the demand by the patients as well as to increase the bioavailability at minimum quantity of active pharmaceutical ingredient is driving the market growth. Additionally, increasing focus on R&D of gene delivery systems owing to the high growth potential of gene therapy for the treatment of a wide range of diseases is expected to fuel the market growth in the future.

Drug delivery systems are in a constant evolution along with the changing preference by the patient. For instance, initially, hormone replacement therapy was widely prescribed in the form of pills, whereas, it is now available in the form of prefilled syringes, patches, vaginal rings, gel, and sprays. The principal purpose of development of different forms of delivery systems is to increase the ease of use. Factors such as aesthetics of the delivery systems, price, and amount of API are also considered while designing the drug delivery system.

Click the link below:

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/drug-gene-delivery-devices-market

Further key findings from the study suggest:
What Is The Role Of Robotic Process Automation In The Pharmaceutical Industry?
By: Life Sciences Review
Tags: Life Sciences, Robotics, Technews, Technology, Pharmaceutical

After the pandemic outbreak, the pharmaceutical industry is on the radar, which raises the highest expectations to keeping under control and minimizing the risks.

Fremont, CA: The impact of the pandemic on the pharmaceutical industry is an additional reason for companies to deal precisely with the incumbent economic damage and to strive to place themselves among the 47 percent “rising stars” during turbulent times of the economic crisis, and not among the 89 percent “sinking ships.”

Pharmaceutical companies depend on automation to conduct a range of functions, such as supporting clinical testing to amp up vaccine development or accelerating data entry and analysis.

Check This Out — Life Science News

Foster individualized marketing

Software robots can imitate medical companions for patients, giving relevant information, customized to what each patient needs to know. Intelligent automation enables the usage of chatbots that can take one step further to provide customer-specific data, make sure that the patients get all and only the data that is relevant for them.

Giving patients real-time knowledge that is made to fit their own needs, and bots act as virtual medical companions. This provides customers with a personalized experience. As a result, the pharma company will itself achieve a higher standing.

Facilitate clinical development

This includes the processes focused on drug development and drug approval that are underpinned by clinical trials. Therefore, it has a top priority in the value chain of life sciences and is also very costly.

Software robots can conduct menial tasks like data entry or quality control very fast and with maximal accuracy. This efficiency bonus changes into substantial savings for clinical trials. Also, bots can perform a large-scale interpretation and processing of clinical trial data, for instance, radiology reports, and facilitate the identification of high-risk abnormalities in images.

Amplify sales representatives’ responsiveness

There is a stringent requirement for this because more than 70 percent of pharmaceutical reps’ time is invested in dull, time-consuming tasks like data entry. As a result, their power to discuss with the customers and offer customers services is diminishing. Suppose bots are used to do inventories, retrieve timely and accurate sales data, record tracking customer feedback, or manage orders and inventory. In that case, sales reps could put more energy into the more value-added tasks that need human-to-human communication, such as customer engagement and conversions. By doing this, RPA enables improved sales efficiency.
dHealth, Roche’s Blockchain Partner, to Launch Upcoming IDO on the OccamRazer Launchpad
Tags: Blockchain, Technology, Pharma, Cardano, Pharmaceutical

dHealth, Roche’s Blockchain Partner, to Launch Upcoming IDO on the OccamRazer Launchpad Occam_PR Follow Aug 27 · 3 min read

Together with Roche, dHealth will bring pharmaceutical traceability to Cardano

ZUG, 27 AUGUST 2021 — dHealth, an open network of supernodes built for decentralized and permissioned medical and pharmaceutical data storage, will make its debut through an IDO on the OccamRazer launchpad. dHealth’s solution, already supported by leading Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche and Swiss Universities, will leverage the Cardano network to add to its stakeholders network of supernodes — which operate as access-points and network verifiers.

The existing healthcare industry is plagued by both a lack of transparency and interoperability, resulting in many siloed intermediaries, as well as inefficient data access by all stakeholders. To address this, the dHealth supernode network enables peer-to-peer interactions among stakeholders; without the need to build-out separate digital infrastructure for each user group.

Eberhard Scheuer, President and Founder of dHealth Foundation, says:

“dHealth is focused on developing the most accessible, decentralized, and cost-effective network of supernodes to alleviate the information asymmetry and lack of transparency in the existing healthcare industry. Both dHealth and our node operators, such as Roche and University of Zurich, firmly believe that Cardano is among the most promising blockchain protocols developed to date, and the Occam.fi team are perfectly placed to help us tailor our offering for the Cardano blockchain.”

dHealth Network components and infrastructure facilitates the application of blockchain in healthcare — resulting in faster, cheaper and more transparent infrastructure than traditional centralized solutions.

Elliot Hill, Head of Communications at Occam.fi, says:

“The sophistication of dHealth’s supernode network technology and the calibre of their partners speaks for itself. We are immensely proud to bring dHealth to the Cardano ecosystem through their IDO on OccamRazer — yet another existing project with a strong team and vision joins the Occam.fi family. We look forward to working with the dHealth team.”

dHealth’s other partners and supernode operators include Novartis, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, the NEM protocol, the University of Basel, the UZH Blockchain Center, and more. dHealth’s IDO date will be announced soon.

Follow dHealth’s social media channels to stay up to date with the latest news:

Telegram Official Community — https://t.me/dHealthCommunity

— https://t.me/dHealthCommunity Telegram Announcements — https://t.me/dHealthNetwork

— https://t.me/dHealthNetwork Website — https://dhealth.network

— https://dhealth.network Blog — https://dhealth.network/news

— https://dhealth.network/news Twitter — https://twitter.com/dHealth_Network

Follow Occam.fi’s social media channels to stay up to date with the latest news:
Unlock $54bn savings in US pharmaceuticals
By: Robert Wessman
Tags: Development, Clover Health, Medicine, Biosimilars, Pharmaceutical

The cost of developing a biosimilar product can range from anywhere between $100 and $200 million. Meanwhile, the cost of treating a patient with a branded product can cost anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 per year. It’s not difficult to see why biosimilar manufacturers are so passionate about breaking the brand monopoly. According to a recent analysis from the RAND Corporation, introducing biosimilar versions of complex biologic drugs could cut health care spending in the United States by $54 billion over the next decade.

To enable the biosimilar industry to breakthrough and improve patient access to more affordable prescription drugs, a clear regulatory pathway is needed.

When it comes to small molecules, the market dynamics are very predictable. Usually after the launch of generics, the market share of the brand goes from 100% to less than 5% in a matter of a few months. We are seeing pharmacies and hospitals dispensing generics over brands. So, why is it different for biosimilars?

Ultimately, it’s because biosimilars are made from living cells and it is not possible to make an exact copy of the branded medicine, therefore they are not automatically substituted for the existing branded drug the way a generic drug would be. Now new interchangeability guidelines are out in the US, that might change the market dynamics going forward.

Biotech brands drugs themselves, vary from batch to batch. The key, then, is to develop a biosimilar product which falls within the specs of the variability of the brand. If two products behave in the same way, there’s no reason there can’t be interchangeability at both retail and hospital level.

Developing a biosimilar, which has an element of the reference product and has variability that is the same or less than the original, begins with the right clone selection. Then substance analytical capability is required to understand the brand variation and make sure that the variability of the biosimilars falls within the range of the reference product. Essentially, this means that the two products behave in the same manner. An interchangeability study, involving a patient using the brand and biosimilar, is then conducted to prove that the switch does not result in any adverse impacts.

It is crucial for our industry and for US patients to have access to safe and cost-effective alternatives to branded biologics. If a high-quality biosimilar is produced within the variability of the brand, it can, according to the guidelines of interchangeability in the US, be switched and dispensed in hospitals and retail in the same way that generics are. This will allow biosimilars to take market share away from the branded drugs in the same way we’ve seen with small molecules.

Furthermore, we will likely see the FDA requiring brands to reduce the variability of their own products, thus making it easier for biosimilars to reach interchangeability in the future.
Global Histology and Cytology Market Research Report Size, Trends and Forecast gives an inside and…
Tags: Healthcare It, Medical Devices, Biotechnology Jobs, Clinical Diagnostic, Pharmaceutical

Global Histology and Cytology Market Research Report Size, Trends and Forecast gives an inside and out investigation of the Histology and Cytology Market including definite depiction of market estimating and development, esteem, the vital chances in the Histology and Cytology Market and blueprints the components that are and will be driving the development of the business thinking about the past development designs with Forecast Period 2021–2025.

The Histology and Cytology Market report gives knowledge into fundamental drivers, difficulties, openings and hazard of the market and systems of providers. Central members are profiled too with their pieces of the pie in the worldwide Histology and Cytology Market examined. By and large, this report covers the verifiable circumstance, present status and the future prospects. Additionally, the overall market is divided dependent on type, application, arrangements, and region. It contains numbers, locales, income, and offers similarly as the intensive calculation of the business chain structure, openings, industry news investigation. The application segment shows the vocations of the item. The Histology and Cytology Market report additionally covers a point by point perception of the significant geologies present in the market alongside the key fragments and sub-sections. The report centres around provincial improvement status, which incorporates the market size, offer, and volume.
Day 812: Trump says ‘I know nothing about WikiLeaks’ despite wailing ‘I love WikiLeaks’ nonstop in 2016
Tags: Donald Trump, 2016 Election, Politics, News, Wikileaks

Day 812: Trump says ‘I know nothing about WikiLeaks’ despite wailing ‘I love WikiLeaks’ nonstop in 2016 TrumpTimer Apr 12, 2019·2 min read

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, was arrested after being holed up in an Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years. He initially took refuge there to avoid being extradited to Sweden for a sexual assault case. Ecuador removed his haven of protection and ousted him on Thursday.

However, he now faces U.S. conspiracy charges related to leaked classified documents.

That leaves Donald Trump in a precarious situation. He proclaimed non-stop — at least 141 times in October 2016 alone — during the presidential campaign that he “loved WikiLeaks” and what they were doing as it related to publishing damaging information related to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

WikiLeaks — considered by many in the intelligence community to be a Russian tool — even communicated directly with members of Trump’s campaign staff, including son Donald, Jr.

Thursday, Trump seemed to get amnesia about his numerous statements and praises about WikiLeaks. When asked by a reporter if he still loved the organization, he responded, “I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing.”

Videos, tweets and transcripts don’t lie: WikiLeaks very much was Trump’s thing in 2016.

Many of Trump’s biggest fans would like to pretend that the WikiLeaks make-out fest never happened too.

In just two years, Fox News host Sean Hannity went from inviting Julian Assange to fill in for him on his radio show to scrubbing all references to the WikiLeaks founder from his Twitter.

812 days in, 650 to go
Kim Foxx Continues to Serve Up Her Own Style of Justice After the Smollett Case?
Tags: Donald Trump, Criminal Justice Reform, 2016 Elections, News, Republican Party

Kim Foxx Continues to Serve Up Her Own Style of Justice After the Smollett Case? SusanKnowles Apr 12, 2019·2 min read

It seems that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx from the recent Jussie Smollett case has done it again.

It’s becoming clear that she has her own style of justice and a victim’s family is now calling foul.

Let me explain.

In 2009, 16-year-old Derrion Albert, an honors student was on the way home from school when he found himself the middle of a gang fight and was killed.

Four teens involved in the killing were tried as adults. Three were convicted of murder and one pleaded guilty. They are all serving prison sentences.

However, one of the teens, “D.J.” who was 14 at the time, was accused by prosecutors of punching the victim and knocking him down, essentially signing “his death certificate.”

Instead of trying him as an adult, according to Albert’s family, then-Assistant State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, decided to use the Extended Jurisdiction Juvenile prosecution or EJJ which would stay any sentence as an adult, unless D.J. was convicted of a new felony after he was released from juvenile custody.

D.J.’s adult sentence for the offense of murder was 30 years.

When D.J. turned 20 and was out of juvenile custody, he was arrested and later convicted of another felony.

The Albert family expected that prosecutors would seek to impose the 30 year adult sentence on D.J. that they had been promised but much to their chagrin, newly elected state’s attorney Kim Foxx, informed the family that she was not going to file a motion to impose the sentence for Albert’s murder.

The family says they were told:

“Kim Foxx decided not to go any further with this to just, it’s over. She’s going to drop it and he’s going to get out and there was nothing that we could do.”

Albert’s mother said:

“I felt like she sat in our face, she cried with us, she hugged us and then you turn around and let this murderer, I don’t care how old he is, he was convicted of first degree murder. My son is not here anymore and she gave us all this hope and she promised us that this was going to be OK. And it didn’t turn out like that.”

The Albert family is demanding answers. The rest of us should be demanding answers too.
On Breaking Up with the Republican Party
By: Brooke Mohr
Tags: Politics, 2016 Election, Teaching, Human Rights

Photo by Brian Wertheim on Unsplash

In many ways, I am your stereotypical Republican.

As a child, my muscles were fed by the animal I think is the loveliest, deer, and by cattle that we had raised. My first memories are in fields of blossoming tobacco plants and barns. I have consumed more vegetables that my own hands planted than those of a tractor in Idaho. There are two guns in my closet. I feel more comfortable and at home in the rolling hills of West Virginia than in the bigger cities of Columbus or Pittsburgh. My favorite smells are honeysuckle and dirt and rain.

For years, I clung to the title of Republican.

Yet, in the past few years, as I have grown and matured, I have reluctantly let go of the title. The party started shifting from the issues that mattered to those that did not. The recent nomination of Donald Trump as the Republican candidate has solidified that I cannot align myself with the party I grew up with, the party that I first voted for.

Life revolves around two things for me at the moment: my family and my students.

Recently, Republicans have preached intolerance. I can tell you that there is the main difference between my students. It has nothing to do with their family makeup. They can be from a family of two mothers, a single mother, Muslims, illegal immigrants, or transgender themselves.

None of those classifications that mean so much to Republicans mean anything to my students or their success. What makes the difference between a student succeeding or failing can be summed up in three questions:

Are they loved at home?

Are they influenced by drugs from their parents or themselves?

Can they see the way out of poverty?

So, while I have students that receive no attention at home, who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, who sit and worry if their mother overdosed while they were at school, the Republican party worries about the moral degeneration of our nation because of legalized gay marriage or transgender people using whichever bathroom they please.

These are non-issues. Let people do as they please in their personal lives as long as they love and nurture the upcoming generation.

Instead of fighting society, let’s offer rehab to addicts. Let’s work on placing foster kids with parents that will love them. Let’s encourage and incentivize young girls to go to college and collectively grow out of the masochistic society that the Republican party and Donald Trump symbolize. Let’s work on convicting rape and teaching our sons about consent instead of worrying about the transgender woman using the restroom in the stall beside us.

There are many other reasons, but I am breaking up with the Republican party.
#RIP Doc Thompson. You Will Be Sorely Missed!
Tags: Donald Trump, 2016 Election, Radio, Politics, New

Many of us experienced a bit of a “Reality Check” on Wednesday after hearing the sobering news that our beloved Doc Thompson had been struck and killed while out jogging.

I immediately wanted to believe that Brad and the ‘guy behind the glass’ were pulling an early April Fools joke on Doc’s audience.

Maybe Doc for the first time in his life had not heard his alarm clock go off and was late getting to the studio.

I thought it would be just like the guys to exaggerate his absence by making up some over the top story like Doc getting hit by a train but this time, it was real.

Doc wasn’t going to walk through the studio doors and start with the ‘blah blah blahing’ or tweeting to us on ‘The Twitter,’ as he called it, ever again.

We were all in shock.

Doc said:

“I’ve learned & grown a bit more since launching mojo. I’m learning to, for lack of a better phrase, “live more in the moment.”

And he wanted us all to live in the moment with him by being such a great storyteller who could draw us in and take us along for the ride with him.

He did that beautifully.

We were angry with him when he was “angry doc” and we laughed along with him when his contagious laughter filled a room.

He wasn’t just a guy with a show. He was someone who cared about us all and tried everyday to improve our lives right along with his.

Doc, I know that you are with God and that brings me peace.

I’m sure you’re probably discovering where ‘Steve Cannon’ is by now and you’re out walking your ‘effing dog’ in Heaven.

Know that you left the world a better place by who you are.

Your passing is a reminder that life is way too short.

Rest in peace, my friend.

A GoFundMe has been set up for Doc’s wife and the three children he left behind. Please consider giving to it. Thank you.
-> Golden Witchbreed (Orthe #1) by Mary Gentle -> Available in Hardcover \ Kindle \ Paperback \ AudioBook
By: Reiner Rosengarten
Tags: 2016 Election

Orthe — half-civilized, half-barbaric, home to human-like beings who live and die by the code of the sword. Earth envoy Lynne Christie has been sent here to establish contact and to determine whether this is a world worth developing. But first Christie must come to understand that human-like is not and never can be human, and that not even Orthe’s leaders can stop the spread of rumors about her, dark whisperings that could cost Christie her life.And on a goodwill tour to the outlying provinces, these evil rumors turn to deadly accusations. Christie is no offworlder, Church officials charge: she is a treacherous and cunning descendant of Orthe’s legendary Golden Witchbreed — the cruel, ruthless race that once enslaved the whole planet. Suddenly, Christie finds herself a hunted fugitive on an alien world, where friend and foe alike may prove her executioners. And her only chance of survival lies in saving Orthe from a menace older than time… …

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John Santucci visits his alma mater Hofstra University
By: Stephanie Bongiorno
Tags: 2016 Election, News, Donald Trump

John Santucci gives an informational lecture on his career path and his findings of the industry thus far.

John Santucci alongside his wife Maria Santucci, both Hofstra University alums, visited the University on October 17th to answer any questions that students interested in news and media might have.

John’s path to success

Santucci is currently the Senior Editorial Producer at ABC News. He has been with ABC since 2011 where he began working for GMA then went on to work for Weekend GMA. He has covered mass shootings and other incidents including the Newtown, Connecticut shooting and the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

Santucci has since been able to follow Trump from his campaign through his presidency. Santucci initially thought that the task of following Trump would last a few months long yet it grew into a year and a half of following the then presidential nominee around. Santucci still has a hand in following the president. He produces content that deals with politics for ABC News.

Asking John a question

He shared the ins and outs of the industry with students.

I was able to ask Santucci a question at the lecture which was “What advice do you wish that you were given while you were in college?”

He explained that WRHU Radio Hofstra University 88.7FM, a three-time Marconi award winning station on campus, was the best extracurricular activity to join for him. He learned managerial skills which he brings to the table as a Senior Editorial Producer, a job that requires managing a team and deciding on which stories work best for the show’s production.

Santucci went on to say that he learned how to deal with hard deadlines and how to effectively produce a news broadcast during his time at WRHU.

The logo for WRHU Radio Hofstra University 88.7FM

Personal note

This lecture was informative because I hope to produce for a news organization in the future as well. I admire John and Maria for their hard work, perseverance, strength and diligence in their career. It is inspiring to see their success thus far because I too, am a part of WRHU and am a producer for Newsline, a news broadcast that airs daily on the station.

Their story confirms that dreams do come true with determination.
State Pension UK: Millions missing out due to simple errors — check now
Tags: Politics, UK Politics, Coronavirus, Education

FREE now SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter fornow We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

State Pension payments provide retirees with important financial support once they reach an eligible age to receive the sum. The payment is overseen by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and for many Britons is the primary source for their retirement income. With the state pension hinging on the amount of National Insurance contributions a person makes throughout their lifetime, many will be planning ahead to ensure they receive the full amount from the government.

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READ MORE Attendance Allowance: Britons could receive over £4,600 in yearly help This currently stands at £175.20 per week for pensioners. However, recent research by Lane, Clark, Peacock has shown as many as seven million people could be making mistakes which could slash their state pension entitlement. The reductions are likely to vary, but in some instances could leave Britons with nothing at all in the form of state pension. The key issue to bear in mind is the failure to claim the…
‘Stop-go’ austerity may leave the public wondering what it was all for.
By: Steve O'Neil
Tags: Austerity, UK Politics, Boris Johnson, Uk Budget, Budget

Austerity was supposed to be a mission with a definitive end. Or at least those of us who were part of the Liberal Democrats in the coalition-era believed as much. Following the 2008 crash and 2010 election the nation’s budget deficit and the plight of debt ridden countries around the world loomed large. In response the understanding between politicians and the people seemed to be one of necessary short-term pain to deal with the immediate problem summed up by Liam Byrn’s ill-judged note — “there’s no money left”.

I and many others envisaged that austerity would have a definitive end point. That end point was first supposed to come in 2015, George Osbourne’s original and unrealistic date for when budget balance would be reached. Then a sluggish economic recovery meant it was delayed. Under Theresa May and Philip Hammond fiscal targets changed and the mood music at times shifted towards austerity ending, but it did not end substantially. As Boris Johnson became Prime Minister that music trebled in volume — from the 50,000 nurses, to the 20,000 police officers, to the ‘infrastructure revolution’. Yet until only a few weeks ago then Chancellor Savid Javid was asking for ‘5% cuts’ from unprotected departmental budgets. The question we are left asking again following Javid’s departure, and with a new budget on March 11, is whether we are finally going to see a clean break from austerity.

The reason that may finally happen is that the public, after 10 years of spending reductions, are tired of cuts. Yet it is worth also reiterating that there are also good policy reasons to call time on austerity. The deficit is much lower than it was in 2010, interest rates are low and show no sign of going up and public services are far more strained across the board. All this has been true for a number of years. Most commentators now agree austerity is not a necessity. If you believed austerity was the right approach in 2010, then it has run its course. If you believed it was wrong, it is more pressing than ever to end it now.

Yet the ‘stop-go’ approach to austerity the last three governments have taken has denied the public a moment of closure — a point where the hardship imposed was recognised and a more optimistic outlook plotted. Instead austerity has drifted slowly out of the public gaze as Brexit has clouded all else. As the Government seems poised to reverse many of the cuts of the last few years — such as hiring the police officers and nurses it lost — the public may be forgiven for wondering what it was all for in the first place.
Cain’s Fed dream gone with the wind, UK in Easter recess
By: Limit Markets
Tags: Forex, UK Politics, Forex Trading, Money, Federal Reserve

Trump still plans to nominate Herman Cain for Fed’s board of governors.

British Prime Minister May and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held talks in parliament on Thursday aimed to break the Brexit deadlock.

Easter time

May’s government showed willingness to discuss a possible customs union with the EU as well as readiness to listen to any suggestions made by the opposition including on a second referendum.

May faces increased pressure to quit with members of her own Conservative Party calling for a more pro-Brexit replacement. She defended her decision to delay Brexit and seek a compromise exit plan with the opposition Labour Party.

House of Commons will take Easter recess period from April 11 to April 23.

Trump’s Cain plan vs Fed independence

US President Donald Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said he has confidence in Fed Chairman Jerome Powell but that Trump is sure to proceed with plans to nominate the controversial partisan Herman Cain to the central bank’s board of governors.

Powell meanwhile met with House Democratic lawmakers in a Virginia retreat and asserted Fed’s independence, telling them the Fed doesn’t consider political pressure in any way, according to Bloomberg which cited two people in the room for the closed-door event.

Meanwhile, Trump’s potential nomination of Cain was opposed by a fourth Republican Senator. North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer’s breaking ranks with President adds now to enough numbers along with all Democrats and two independents to block Cain’s appointment.

Lowest unemployment benefits figure

The number of applications for unemployment benefits in the US fell 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 196,000, the Labor Department said. This represents the lowest level since October 1969, when the size of the labor market was about half of what it is now.

German economic growth forecast for 2019 is expected to halve to 0.5 percent from 1.0 percent due to weaker exports, the Der Spiegel reported late on Thursday. New forecast will be released next Wednesday. This week data showed that German exports and imports had fallen more than expected in February.

Kuroda optimism

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda raised optimism on Thursday saying the global economy will see “sufficiently high” growth next year. In G20 meeting Kuroda showed hope the US and China will soon reach a deal on trade indicating protectionism benefits neither side.

International Monetary Fund Official Odd Per Brekk suggested Japan should increase fiscal spending, instead of delaying sales tax hike or expanding monetary stimulus. Higher sales tax rate would rein in Japan’s huge public debt, which is twice the size of its economy and would cover the cost of financing welfare for a rapidly ageing population.
The Brexit Party.
By: Patrick Hollis
Tags: Politics, UK Politics, Brexit, World

The Brexit Party.

Today saw the brainchild of Nigel Farage come to fruition as the Brexit Party was officially launched. As a protest against the leading parties and an attempt to push through Brexit, Farage has launched a war against the elites from a factory in Coventry.

The group joining Farage include business people, educators and a journalist who happens to be the sister of Jacob Rees-Mogg. In total six candidates were announced today who will run in the European Parliament elections next month.

The aims of this party seem straight forward. A swift end to the Brexit delay and an overhaul of British politics, hence the party slogan of ‘change politics for good’. With Farage back as a party leader, it means that he is back in the big time. Not that he ever really went away, his musings whilst in his seat at the European Parliament were always just around the corner.

Farage has come under fire from his old party for comparing TBP to UKIP. The current leader of UKIP, Gerard Batten, criticised Farage saying that the parties are not the same as:

“UKIP has a manifesto and policies. Farage’s party is just a vehicle for him.”

He said the Brexit Party’s “only purpose is to re-elect him (Mr Farage)” and was a “Tory/Establishment safety valve”.

If the Brexit Party could be taken seriously, they might be a genuine threat. However, just hours after the launch event, it was revealed that the domain for the party website was in fact owned by a group called ‘Led by Donkeys’ which is firmly anti-Brexit. This sort of unawareness and lack of common sense has made sure it’s a comical start to life for Farage's new party.

Farage himself isn’t exactly a successful politician. Other than being an MEP and leader of UKIP, he has run for a seat in Parliament on seven occasions and is yet to be successful.

Having an entire party dedicated to Brexit does produce a lot of questions. The idea of creating a party for a cause which could be irrelevant in 6 months leaves a lot to be desired. Any of the candidates put forward might have their political careers cut woefully short, with only the upcoming European Parliament elections to focus on in terms of gaining support.

There is plenty of support for the party. Delay after delay to the Brexit process has created fertile ground for a party of this kind to come in and take support away from both the Conservatives and Labour. Whether the support on social media manifests into anything more concrete remains to be seen, but as of this moment in time they are nothing more than a drop in the ocean and a great distance away from ‘revolutionising politics’. The European elections next month could, however, tell a different story.
Tony Blair has been re-animated by the British media to speak of our ‘moral duty’ to stay in Afghanistan. Curiously, he doesn’t mention his £1m a year advisorship role to the Mubadala Development Fund
Tags: Afghanistan, War, UK Politics, Taliban, Tony Blair

Tony Blair has been re-animated by the British media to speak of our ‘moral duty’ to stay in Afghanistan. Curiously, he doesn’t mention his £1m a year advisorship role to the Mubadala Development Fund who plan to mine $1 trillion worth of resources in the country ForestWolf Aug 27·2 min read

Beware the moral plea of the warhawk.

Despite his well documented and jaded history, Tony Blair has been given significant British media air-time to speak as a supposed authority on our ‘moral duty’ to keep boots on the ground in Afghanistan.

As Mr Blair implores us to think of the women! think of the children! It has emerged he’s paid around £1m a year as an international advisor to an organisation called the ‘Mubadala Development Fund’. Based in the UAE, the fund has allegedly been developing a plan to mine US$1 trillion worth of resources in Afghanistan.

Mubadala, a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government is also considering investing in the country’s oil and gas sector, said Khaled al Rashedi, the senior manager of business development at the industry unit of Mubadala.

It would seem, once again, that Mr Blair has some skin in the game.
Political Parties Need to Reconnect with Low Income Voters.
By: Adam Colclough
Tags: Politics, Society Politics, UK Politics

‘A Britain that works for everyone’, ‘For the many not the few’; these slogans used, respectively, by the Conservative and Labour parties in the UK have become almost wearily familiar to voters in recent years.

To those voters on low incomes they have taken on a hollow ring, for decades this section of the body politic has felt excluded from policy making.

This and the discontents surrounding the 2016 Brexit vote and the fallout from local and European elections that saw populist parties beating the big three mainstream parties have given this ignored group a new power within British politics.

A report published by campaign group the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) highlights the need for Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to reconnect with the concerns of low-income voters.

There are currently 9.5 million eligible voters in the UK who fall into the low-income bracket, 2.7 of these can be classified as swing voters. Although the low paid have traditionally been more inclined to vote Labour they no longer have the old ‘tribal’ loyalty to the left.

Brexit, the ruling obsession of British politics for the past three years, is a major issue for low-income voters; but not their only concern. Equally important is a desire to see an improvement in their community and their individual living standards.

The ‘Every Voter Counts’ report, written for the JRF by Claire Ainsley and Frank Soodeen highlights the disillusionment with and distrust of politicians felt by voters living in communities that have been ignored.

There is, the report suggests, scope for all three main parties to address this situation, but following a strategy that appeals to narrow segments, for example voters worried about the impact of immigration, could easily alienate others.

Instead they need to establish common ground; this will prove more difficult than ever in a sharply divided country.

There is no question that all three main political parties in the UK have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to those communities that have been left behind by the neo-liberal economic project of the past four decades. Their problems have been judged too intractable and their attitudes too challenging for the delicate sensibilities of the metropolitan elite.

Politics abhors a vacuum, into the space left by the retreat of the big three parties has flowed the populist opportunism of the Brexit party, with elements of the far-right following in its shadow.

Slogans about building a fairer country that works for all its citizens express laudable sentiments; but offer little in the way of concrete policies. Too often voters in excluded communities feel that politics is something that is done to them from on high; not a process in which they are equal participants.

Changing that can only be good for the health of our democracy and the long-term prospects of creating a Britain that really does work for everyone.