ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how vital cold chain is for the pharmaceutical industry, particularly as some vaccines needed to be produced, transported, and stored at -70 °C. Market projections for cold chain logistics of pharmaceuticals are projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.03% by 2025, which is reported to be driven by greater global demand for pharmaceuticals, increasing initiatives to promote cold chain, and more demand for reefer containers from the pharma industry (1). Gilmore (Tower Cold Chain): Putting the European success of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout to one side, the demand for effective temperature-controlled packaging solutions in the pharmaceutical supply chain has increased significantly in recent years. Today, the cold chain is grappling with additional challenges: serving a global market, driving out costs and waste, addressing capacity and resource constraints, and dealing with continually mounting regulations-all whilst handling valuable pharmaceutical cargo. Cold chain logistics providers must invest in the latest on-board equipment built into containers to track temperature and location, and to make data available to partners and customers in real time, to prevent or mitigate loss.
ABSTRACT
Bolstered by the increased public awareness of healthcare, expanding government activity-particularly in the vaccine sector-and rapid actions taken by bio/pharma companies in reaction to the pandemic, the pharma industry is expected to experience continued growth in 2021. "The industry will continue to benefit from favourable demographic and lifestyle factors, innovations, and a diminishing threat from expiring patents in addition to the shot in the arm for the whole sector from the COVID-19 pandemic, whose impact goes beyond the vaccines," said Olaf Tblke, head of corporate ratings at Scope and lead healthcare-sector analyst, in a press release (1). According to recent insight from McKinsey, M&A is a critical aspect to a pharmaceutical company's recovery within the new normal (3).
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit have focused attention on the resilience of key sectors and firms. This paper explores the financial resilience of the 50 largest automotive firms in the West Midlands region of the UK in their response to disruption and economic shocks. The findings demonstrate that 22 firms are at high risk due to poor current liquidity ratios, with Coventry and Birmingham emerging as locations most susceptible to firm closures. High-risk firms include key flagship original equipment manufacturers operating at the downstream end of supply chains. If these firms were to fail, there would be a significant destructive impact on both the industry and the local economy. We assert an effective subnational industrial policy is required in order to support economic resilience in regions such as the West Midlands where a few firms account for a disproportionate share of employment and value-added.
ABSTRACT
The UK government is taking advantage of the new regulatory flexibility, afforded by Brexit, to boost the country's competitiveness in pharma On 1 Jan. 2021, the United Kingdom formally left the European Union to become a third country and no longer a member of the Union's single market and customs union. The UK has, for example, decided to draw up its own version of the EU chemicals legislation-called REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals)-which sets technical standards for chemical ingredients for medicines (1). Because the UK is a separate legal entity-a third country-the UK's excipient producers and their raw material suppliers have started to be concerned about procedures like customs declarations and rules of origin. [...]by 18 Feb. 2021 the UK had vaccinated 26% of its population versus 8% in Denmark-the leading EU country for vaccines availability-6% in Germany, and 5% in France (6). NICE needs to change Industry believes that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the government's health technology assessment (HTA) body, is being too restrictive with its evaluation of digitalization products, which ultimately sets the price paid by the government for them (9).
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we examine the challenges and opportunities facing the UK's industrial and regional policy in the context of the policy decisions made over recent decades. We argue that the overly centralized and sectoral logic of the UK governance systems has led to a lack of clarity in thinking through place-based issues. This, in turn, has resulted in policy ambiguity, confusion and contradictions, and successfully moving industrial policy and regional policy forward post-Brexit can only take place if conceptual and operational clarity is brought to these matters.
ABSTRACT
This article draws upon novel survey evidence to examine the possible regional impacts of Brexit as a ‘disruptive process' to manufacturing operations and logistics in the automotive industry, in the context of the regional resilience literature. The current Brexit (and Covid-19) context, along with the sector's need to re-orientate towards electrification, provides renewed urgency to reconsider industrial policy in spatial terms. The findings have salience not only in the context of anticipating and reacting to Brexit-induced economic shocks at a regional level, but also over the role of decentralized regional bodies. In this regard, the UK government's agenda of ‘levelling up' will be challenging, especially in the context of the place-based shocks likely to arise from Brexit as well as the impact of Covid-19. The article concludes that a more place-based regional industrial policy is required both to anticipate and to respond to shocks and also to reposition the sector in the region going forward.
ABSTRACT
The unprecedented pace and scope of globalization over the past half century have had major impacts on the field of psychology. We observe that since the 2008 financial crisis, there have been increased academic and political concerns with "deglobalization,” which is often associated with terrorism, xenophobia, authoritarianism, Brexit, the US–China trade war, the Russian war on Ukraine, and the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the phenomenon of deglobalization is historically uncertain but intellectually and politically significant enough to warrant analysis. Thus, in this special issue, we begin to theorize the psychology of deglobalization by addressing several foundational issues: the major manifestations of deglobalization in relation to psychosocial life, the dialectical relations between globalization and deglobalization, and possible ways to respond to the challenges of deglobalization. In the meantime, we flesh out these theoretical perspectives using the cases of nationalism, neoliberalism, White supremacy, far-right politics, dehumanization, isolationism, and trade conflicts.
ABSTRACT
We are experiencing the rise of unprecedented opportunities as a result of the digital revolution, but regrettably this has also been accompanied by a number of novel threats. One of the most visible manifestations of these threats is the rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation. The implications of this threat extend from the individual to the national and international levels, where misinformation and disinformation bring the risk of hybrid warfare and power competition closer to home. Needless to say, the breadth of these implications makes dealing with digital misinformation even more difficult. This commentary focuses on several global events where misinformation and disinformation were used as a tactical tool, including the 2016 U.S. elections, Brexit, and COVID-19. Then, we discuss the situation involving Türkiye, one of the nations that serves as both a target and a focal point of regional disinformation campaigns. The commentary then shifts to some of the Communication Directorate's most significant initiatives, such as the creation of the Earthquake Disinformation Bulletins, the Law on the Fight Against Disinformation, and the Center for Fight Against Disinformation. Finally, above all, this commentary aims to raise awareness of the dangers of online misinformation and urges international cooperation to ensure that the truth always prevails.
ABSTRACT
The 2020s have got off to quite a rocky start globally, and especially for Europeans. The ongoing crises, beginning with the Covid-19 pandemic, and followed by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, rising inflation and the energy crisis, have created an atmosphere of continual instability and uncertainty for European citizens. The Western Balkans region, in the EU's immediate neighbourhood and geographically close to Ukraine, has also been affected by all these challenges. This article examines the current most pressing issues in the region and the possible outcomes of them. As the countries in the region (i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo,1 North Macedonia and Serbia) are all aspiring EU members, this piece seeks to explore the possibility of addressing the current challenges and the role of the EU as a catalyst in this process.
ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades health has been identified as a key area for increased cross-border working on the island of Ireland. To date though, the approach has been minimalist and often project specific. The global pandemic, the continuing fallout from Brexit and the establishment of the Shared Island initiative have pushed the broad issue of healthcare cooperation up the policy agenda. Theoretically, closer cooperation could deliver economies of scale, value for money, opportunities for clinical specialisation, and facilitate the sharing of knowledge. However, despite its obvious potential and policy significance, cross-border collaboration in healthcare has been the subject of remarkably little research attention. This small-scale qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews with 49 individuals with expertise and experience in this area. From these interviews six broad themes emerged: support for collaboration, lack of strategic direction, knowledge sharing, CoviD-19, data and opportunities for future cooperation. Given the similar social, economic and political pressures faced by both healthcare systems, it is concluded that leveraging the strengths from cross-border collaboration should be a policy priority.
ABSTRACT
[...]just as home working has increased, so has the use of traditional office space declined. [...]that has had a significant impact upon our high streets and shopping centres with rents and capital values falling significantly. Retail values were down but relative to lower market rents, the yield was not as high as many expected. Returning to the doomsayers in my opening paragraph, there is a lovely irony that the Brexit uncertainty exacerbated by all the negative views mentioned actually led to a subdued investment market in 2019 and 2020 so, relative to Europe, the challenges and falls in value experienced in the 2021 economy hit the UK less because the pre-Brexit prices were not as high as they may have been otherwise.
ABSTRACT
The EU is a new form of political organisation which can be defined as an "experimental polity”. Its distinctiveness lies in a novel assemblage of the constituent elements of polity (boundaries, binding authority, and bonding ties), and in the constant testing of new combinations of such elelements when facing functional and political challenges. Experimentalism is not always successful and can occasionally trigger off dynamics of polity disruption. The paper illustrates two instances of ‘bad experiments' along the bounding and binding dimensions, i.e. Brexit and the euro crisis. It then focuses on the Covid 19 crisis and shows that in this case EU leaders were able not only to launch an ambitious plan of response based on joint action, but also to re-establish an "ethos of togetherness” among the Member States, on which to build for securing both social solidarity and political stability.
ABSTRACT
Social cohesion, associated with lower levels of psychological distress, is a predictor of recovery in emergency situations that may be enhanced by social identities such as national identity. We examined changes in opinions regarding closeness to the nation, patriotism, nationalism, immigration, and opinions about the European Union by administering the National Identity Questionnaire to younger Italian adults living in Central Italy six months before and two months after the initial Covid-19 lockdown to discriminate specific aspects of National identity that may aid adaptation to stressors. Results showed that patriotism increased compared to nationalism while feelings toward European Union membership decreased.
ABSTRACT
This article develops a conceptual taxonomy of five emerging digital citizenship regimes: (i) the globalised and generalisable regime called pandemic citizenship that clarifies how post-COVID-19 datafication processes have amplified the emergence of four intertwined, non-mutually exclusive, and non-generalisable new techno-politicalised and city-regionalised digital citizenship regimes in certain European nation-states' urban areas;(ii) algorithmic citizenship, which is driven by blockchain and has allowed the implementation of an e-Residency programme in Tallinn;(iii) liquid citizenship, driven by dataism – the deterministic ideology of Big Data – and contested through claims for digital rights in Barcelona and Amsterdam;(iv) metropolitan citizenship, as revindicated in reaction to Brexit and reshuffled through data co-operatives in Cardiff;and (v) stateless citizenship, driven by devolution and reinvigorated through data sovereignty in Barcelona, Glasgow, and Bilbao. This article challenges the existing interpretation of how these emerging digital citizenship regimes together are ubiquitously rescaling the associated spaces/practices of European nation-states.
ABSTRACT
We examine the time- and frequency-domain spillover connectedness between regional and world Shariah indices. The spillover index approach is employed with data over the period from April 30, 2012, to May 9, 2022, for African, American, Asian, European, and world emerging and developed markets' Shariah-based equity indices. The results indicate significant time- and frequency-dependent spillovers between Shariah indices. The world and developed markets' Shariah indices transmit the greatest return spillover to their African and Asian counterparts, which act as net recipients of system spillovers. Our findings show that Asian Shariah assets are a perfect hedge against all relevant market shocks over the last decade. Our findings have implications for Shariah market regulators, investors, practitioners, and policymakers.
ABSTRACT
Brexit introduced new exporting and importing licensing requirements, border checks, and regulatory compliance requirements, raising costs and the potential for bottlenecks at borders. For financial services, which account for 7% of UK GDP and one million jobs, the deal does not address UK financial services firms' access to the EU, which previously was through a "passporting" right that allowed banks to use their UK bases to access EU markets without establishing legally separate subsidiaries;the parties aim to establish a framework for cooperation by March 2021. U.S. and other exporters will need to manage separate customs regimes and relationships for the UK and EU. Since the transition period, the UK has engaged in negotiations to replicate existing EU trade deals with non-EU countries (e.g., Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, South Korea, and Turkey), and pursued new deals with countries with which the EU has not concluded trade deals (e.g., Australia, India, and the United States). [...]UK farmers and some in civil society voice concerns about the implications of U.S. demands for greater access to the UK market, and potential changes to UK food safety regulations.
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the role of intra‐company transfers in the United Kingdom government's labour immigration policy over the last quarter century. It demonstrates their role in determining the number of non‐European Economic Area foreigners working in the country and examines the way policy, both generally and specifically, has developed. It presents new statistical data and uses that evidence to examine the interplay between the government and multinational corporations in the determination of a significant element of foreign labour immigration. Its findings demonstrate that intra‐company transfers have consistently played a major role in the management of UK labour immigration with a small number of occupations and countries of origin characterizing the system at various times. It concludes that the system has operated through a symbiotic relationship between government and major companies to the mutual benefit of both. However, ‘Brexit' and the COVID‐19 pandemic are leading to reassessment of political and corporate objectives.
ABSTRACT
Brexit, COVID-19 and climate change pose challenges of national and global importance. They continue to have impacts across the economy, society, health, and the environment, all of which are determinants of health and well-being. Between 2018 and 2021, Public Health Wales undertook three Health Impact Assessments (HIA) in relation to the impact of the challenges in Wales. Based on these, work has been carried out to map the synergies across the ‘Triple Challenge'. This paper highlights the commonalities in the impact of the three challenges for Wales, discusses the process carried out, learns from it and proposes actions that can be taken to mitigate harm. Results indicate the three components of the Triple Challenge must not be viewed as separate silos as they have cumulative multi-faceted impacts. This affects some population groups more negatively than others and present a ‘Triple Challenge' to nation states in the UK and Europe. A HIA approach can enable a range of stakeholders to critically view similar challenges not just as single issues but as a holistic whole to mobilise action.
ABSTRACT
Kriza, ki sta jo povzročili vojna v Ukrajini in pandēmija covida-19, je najresnejši izziv za Evropo po drugi svetovni vojni. Stopnja ogroženosti evropske varnosti zaradi krize je brez primere. Ni mogoče napovedati, kdaj in kako se bo kriza končala. Vendar ne glede na njen konec pa ni dvoma, da bo Evropi povzorčila stroške v višini več sto milijard, če ne celo nekaj tisoč milijard evrov, torej bo resno škodila in oslabila evropsko gospodarstvo ter ogrozila položaj Evrope kot svetovne gospodarske sile. Posledice se bodo kazale tudi v korenitih spremembah mednarodnih gospodarskih in političnih odnosov. Za Evropsko unijo bi moralo biti iskanje in oblikovanje racionalnih ter učinkovitih rešitev za uspešno politično in ekonomsko obvladovanje posledic krize prednostno, in sicer takoj za neverjetno zahtevnimi prizadevanji za obvladovanje sedanje krize. Pandemija covida-19 in vojna v Ukrajini sta EU presenetili. Evropa bi se morala taki izkušnji v prihodnje izogniti. Ne glede na to, kako se bo ta kriza končala, bo treba za obvladovanje njenih posledic ter prepoznavanje zadevnih tveganj in priložnosti EU začeti ugotavljati, kdo je imel od krize največjo korist. To ne bo mogoče z omejevanjem aktivnosti na tekoče posle, kot so iskanje novih dobaviteljev surovin in energije, harmonizacija fiskalnih pravil, zagotavljanje potrebnih sredstev za obvladovanje finančne krize itd. Za iskanje rešitev za trajnostni mir v Evropi bo potreben veliko širši vizionarski pristop. Izogibati se je treba izidu, kot je Versajska pogodba. Treba je preprečiti, da bi današnji »zaspanci«, torej tisti, ki ignorirajo »neprijetna spoznanja«, dopustili, da Evropa zdrsne v tretjo svetovno vojno. EU bi morala vsem svojim članicam jasno sporočiti, da je za Evropo »evropska solidarnost« z vsemi svojimi lastnostmi jedro resničnih interesov EU, vključno z interesi varnosti in obrambe. To bo zahtevalo tudi spremembe v Pogodbi o EU in Pogodbi o delovanju EU, obravnavane v príspevku. Če tega ne bo, EU in njene Članice nikoli ne bodo dosegle statusa »enakopravnih živali« v globalnem smislu - se pravi, da ne bodo postale resnično suverene in neodvisne.Alternate :The crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes the most serious challenge for Europe since World War II. The crisis threatens Europe's security and economy to an unprecedented level. No prediction on when and how the crisis will end is possible. However, irrespective of its end, there is no doubt that for Europe, it will generate costs amounting to several hundreds of billions if not even some trillions of Euros, i.e. seriously harm and weaken the European economy and endanger Europe's position as a global economic power. It will also result in fundamental changes of international economic and political relations. Searching for, working on and designing rational and effective solutions to successfully master the aftermath of the crisis politically and economically should have a priority for the European Union, coming next only to the incredibly challenging efforts to master the ongoing crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic as well as the war in Ukraine caught the EU by surprise and unprepared. Europe should avoid such an experience in the future. Regardless of how this crisis will end, mastering its aftermath and identifying the respective risks and opportunities of the EU will have to start with identifying the main beneficiary(ies) of the crisis and analysing its (their) treatment of the EU and its Member States before and during the crisis. This will not be possible by limiting the actions to the day-to-day business, such as finding new suppliers for raw materials and energy, harmonising fiscal rules, providing the necessary funds to master the financial crisis, etc. A much broader visionary approach will be necessary to find solutions for sustainable peace in Europe. An outcome such as that of the Treaty of Versailles should be avoided. One should prevent the "sleepwalkers" of today, i.e. those ignoring the "uncomfortable kno ledge", letting Europe slide into World War III. The EU should make it clear to all of its Members, for Europe, the "European Solidarity', with all of its attributes, constitutes the core of the EU's genuine interests, including those of security and defence. This will require also amendments of the TEU and TFEU discussed in this paper. Otherwise, the EU and its Members will never acquire the status of an equal animal-in the global context-i.e. become truly sovereign and independent.
ABSTRACT
The article aims to analyze Brexit from the perspective of the Visegrad Group countries in the context of the future of the European Union. Addressing this issue is important from the point of view of assessing the role of the EU for the Visegrad countries. The main thesis of the research is that Brexit will not lead to a reform of the EU in the coming years, which is what some of the Visegrad Group countries are trying to do. The article is provocative, because, during the migration crisis, the Visegrad Group was shown as a brake on the European integration process. After Brexit, it was considered that some of EU Member States could follow Great Britain and leave the EU. The article complements the scientific achievements in this field, as it presents the view from the country of Central and Eastern Europe.