Current Affairs EU In or Out

[peteblue]

In other news:

"Science suppliers are raising their prices in the UK to adjust to the steep drop in the value of the pound following the vote to leave the EU.

On Monday US life sciences firm Thermo Fisher Scientific, which sells reagents, told customers it is increasing prices by about 5 per cent from 1 November.

The firm's trading is denominated in US dollars, so sterling's 17 per cent devaluation against the US currency since the Brexit vote in June means that UK prices must inevitably rise.

Scientists are beginning to feel the effects. “In my research I do a lot of molecular biology and biochemistry, for which I need a substantial amount of reagents, plastic ware, enzymes and other wet lab supplies,” said Anne Osterrieder, lecturer in biology and science communication at Oxford Brookes University. “A price increase means our research budgets won't go as far now.”

Paula Salgado, lecturer in macromolecular crystallography at Newcastle University, said the increase on Fisher products translates to roughly an extra £1,000 for her lab.

“That will mean we'll be able to afford fewer items than before. To give you an estimate, we get approximately £15,000 - £20,000 a year for consumables in my current grant. Over the past two years, I spent nearly that much on Fisher products, so this price increase will have a clear effect,” she said.

Finding a replacement supplier for such specialised products is not an option, Salgado added.

Similarly, reagent supplier Newmarket Scientific has informed customers its prices are going up by 10 per cent.

“I run a core facility. For me this simply means I have to raise prices for our customers,” said Daniel Swan, head of platforms and pipelines at the Earlham Institute, a supplier of genomics services.

If the pound regains value, Newmarket Scientific promises to drop prices again. But in the meantime, Swan said the company will push up the cost of sequencing genomes.

“It impacts all our sequencing platforms and our library preparation and sequencing reagents costs – we have a large installation of Illumina platforms and when they adjust their prices this is going to be financially very significant for us,” Swan said. US sequencer manufacturer Illumina did not respond to a question about its price plans.

Higher prices could depress demand for UK scientific services

“Customers may choose to send their samples elsewhere if we become uncompetitive in the global supplier space. [And] when this price hike hits capital equipment purchases, it is going to be particularly painful on some of our more high-end £500,000-plus platforms,” said Swan.

The price rises also mean researchers will have to scale back studies. “They will have to do fewer experiments or [reduce] samples, potentially negating critical aspects of experimental design [and] statistical power,” Swan said.

As a junior lecturer working towards securing the first big grant, Osterrieder is on a tight budget. She relies heavily on advanced microscopy facilities and a few specialist software licenses, so any future price hikes for these services will hamper her career progression.

“I will need to sit down and go through my past and future spending to figure out where price increases are likely to occur, and which ones would affect my research plans the most,” she said.

The pound’s slump has translated into price increases in other services used by researchers. Earlier this week, Microsoft announced its Azure cloud services will go up 22 per cent from January next year, while its Office software will go up by 13 per cent."

Then they should swap to a UK supplier........

 

[Joey66]

Which benefit is that then?

Doom and Gloom hey -
Growth in the last quarter up by 1/4 %!
Two massive car deals done with the Japanese north east companies!
Phillip Hammond states we will go into negotiations on leaving the EU in a position of massive strength which will help negotiations.
If you look at a post further back I did predict that May would have rabbits to pull out of the hat and their will be more before article 50 is signed countries will be cueing up to trade with us without the red tape of the EU I see canada finally got there 7 year deal done after 300 000 people in Belgium one of six parliment were arguing over the EU agricultural policy grant they get complete nonsense - the sooner we leave the better!
Michael gove was on early this am on LBC radio he seemed to to be so happy he is now on a cross party committee headed by hilary Benn, he and a Labour MP are joining up to control our borders and he kind of gave the game away things will be better

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Then they should swap to a UK supplier........

Who's the UK variant to Microsoft Pete? Amstrad?

 

[Joey66]

In other news:

"Science suppliers are raising their prices in the UK to adjust to the steep drop in the value of the pound following the vote to leave the EU.

On Monday US life sciences firm Thermo Fisher Scientific, which sells reagents, told customers it is increasing prices by about 5 per cent from 1 November.

The firm's trading is denominated in US dollars, so sterling's 17 per cent devaluation against the US currency since the Brexit vote in June means that UK prices must inevitably rise.

Scientists are beginning to feel the effects. “In my research I do a lot of molecular biology and biochemistry, for which I need a substantial amount of reagents, plastic ware, enzymes and other wet lab supplies,” said Anne Osterrieder, lecturer in biology and science communication at Oxford Brookes University. “A price increase means our research budgets won't go as far now.”

Paula Salgado, lecturer in macromolecular crystallography at Newcastle University, said the increase on Fisher products translates to roughly an extra £1,000 for her lab.

“That will mean we'll be able to afford fewer items than before. To give you an estimate, we get approximately £15,000 - £20,000 a year for consumables in my current grant. Over the past two years, I spent nearly that much on Fisher products, so this price increase will have a clear effect,” she said.

Finding a replacement supplier for such specialised products is not an option, Salgado added.

Similarly, reagent supplier Newmarket Scientific has informed customers its prices are going up by 10 per cent.

“I run a core facility. For me this simply means I have to raise prices for our customers,” said Daniel Swan, head of platforms and pipelines at the Earlham Institute, a supplier of genomics services.

If the pound regains value, Newmarket Scientific promises to drop prices again. But in the meantime, Swan said the company will push up the cost of sequencing genomes.

“It impacts all our sequencing platforms and our library preparation and sequencing reagents costs – we have a large installation of Illumina platforms and when they adjust their prices this is going to be financially very significant for us,” Swan said. US sequencer manufacturer Illumina did not respond to a question about its price plans.

Higher prices could depress demand for UK scientific services

“Customers may choose to send their samples elsewhere if we become uncompetitive in the global supplier space. [And] when this price hike hits capital equipment purchases, it is going to be particularly painful on some of our more high-end £500,000-plus platforms,” said Swan.

The price rises also mean researchers will have to scale back studies. “They will have to do fewer experiments or [reduce] samples, potentially negating critical aspects of experimental design [and] statistical power,” Swan said.

As a junior lecturer working towards securing the first big grant, Osterrieder is on a tight budget. She relies heavily on advanced microscopy facilities and a few specialist software licenses, so any future price hikes for these services will hamper her career progression.

“I will need to sit down and go through my past and future spending to figure out where price increases are likely to occur, and which ones would affect my research plans the most,” she said.

The pound’s slump has translated into price increases in other services used by researchers. Earlier this week, Microsoft announced its Azure cloud services will go up 22 per cent from January next year, while its Office software will go up by 13 per cent."

Bruce my son is in the IT industry at a very high level network engineer Microsoft will put prices up for anything never mind the falling pound its a greedy firm which he has qualifications in the price of those exams!
every year almost they fetch out an operation system not much better than the last - yet still cheaper than apple products though if people or firms need computers nothing changes, as they need them !

 

[peteblue]

I'm glad the CETA deal will now be done but I wonder what goodies have been given to the Walloons........

 

[peteblue]

Who's the UK variant to Microsoft Pete? Amstrad?

I was thinking about the chemical suppliers......there are lots......

 

[Joey66]

I'm glad the CETA deal will now be done but I wonder what goodies have been given to the Walloons........

A farming and EU grant no doubt as they probably have farmers with two sheep and one pig claiming the massive EU grant monies maybelol
it was over the EU agricultural policy that held it up according to LBC radio anyway the 1/6 of the sector of Belgium agreed in the end lol
Just a farce that they could hold up the CETA deal for Canada over 7 years of negotiations what a joke of an organisation the EU really is!

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I was thinking about the chemical suppliers......there are lots......

So you're saying people who presumably know what it is they're looking for (and have been happy with what they've got thus far), really don't know what they're looking for and there is a better alternative right under their noses?

 

[peteblue]

Who's the UK variant to Microsoft Pete? Amstrad?

Oh, and in respect of Microsoft, the additional increase to any operations via some percentage to Microsoft products is minuscule.........

 

[peteblue]

So you're saying people who presumably know what it is they're looking for (and have been happy with what they've got thus far), really don't know what they're looking for and there is a better alternative right under their noses?

What I'm saying is that there are UK suppliers of the same product......they may have been happy with all sorts of chemical providers and suppliers of scientific equipment, but alternatives are available from the UK...........

 

[Armel]

I'm glad the CETA deal will now be done but I wonder what goodies have been given to the Walloons........

It looks like they got what they wanted. No private tribunals and an emergency break in case of a flooded market. Also some things about the environment et al. Final text will be distributed at 14.30 brussels time.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Oh, and in respect of Microsoft, the additional increase to any operations via some percentage to Microsoft products is minuscule.........

So again, despite you having but a cursory insight (at best) into the life of an academic researcher, you're saying that you know more about the impact of this on their work than they do?

Paula Salgado, lecturer in macromolecular crystallography at Newcastle University, said the increase on Fisher products translates to roughly an extra £1,000 for her lab.

“That will mean we'll be able to afford fewer items than before. To give you an estimate, we get approximately £15,000 - £20,000 a year for consumables in my current grant. Over the past two years, I spent nearly that much on Fisher products, so this price increase will have a clear effect,” she said.

Oh, and btw, on your earlier point about UK suppliers of reagent, Newmarket Scientific are a British company.

 

[Pienaar's gloves]

Doom and Gloom hey -
Growth in the last quarter up by 1/4 %!
Two massive car deals done with the Japanese north east companies!
Phillip Hammond states we will go into negotiations on leaving the EU in a position of massive strength which will help negotiations.
If you look at a post further back I did predict that May would have rabbits to pull out of the hat and their will be more before article 50 is signed countries will be cueing up to trade with us without the red tape of the EU I see canada finally got there 7 year deal done after 300 000 people in Belgium one of six parliment were arguing over the EU agricultural policy grant they get complete nonsense - the sooner we leave the better!
Michael gove was on early this am on LBC radio he seemed to to be so happy he is now on a cross party committee headed by hilary Benn, he and a Labour MP are joining up to control our borders and he kind of gave the game away things will be better

You left out about the bit where growth fell, but it's alright.

 

[Joey66]

You left out about the bit where growth fell, but it's alright.

No forecast recession though if Brexit won?

 

[Pienaar's gloves]

No forecast recession though if Brexit won?

And there is the subject change.

I don't recall forecasting one, but we haven't left yet, I'd still not be shocked to see one.