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Irish Times
12-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
I tried an ancient cure for procrastination for a month. It was grim
I've been staring at a skull for the past month in the hope it positively transforms my life. Not constantly staring at it, I hasten to add. But I've placed the plaster-cast cranium that normally gets taken out of storage once a year at Halloween in a prominent spot on my desk so I can see those dark eye-sockets facing me in daily judgment. This is my attempted cure for procrastination. Such use of a memento mori – a reminder of one's inevitable death – has been advocated by various philosophers and theologians over the ages. Having a sharp appreciation of your mortality injects your life with the urgency and commitment it deserves. So said an array of thinkers from Socrates to Steve Jobs . British academic Simon May explores the topic further in Jump! A New Philosophy for Conquering Procrastination. The book explores a common frustration in a world blending near-limitless choice with a cult of productivity and a sense of powerlessness over global injustices. 'We're not lazy,' he writes. Rather 'we avoid what we most value'. Typically, we manage competing priorities by doing 'tasks that make us feel like we're administering life rather than living it'. READ MORE May follows similar territory to Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks (an approximation of your lifespan if you live to be 80) and a follow-up book Meditations for Mortals. Both authors have lots of practical advice – including to wean yourself off smartphone dopamine-hits and to stop worrying about other people's opinions of you – but the one exercise that I thought I'd really lean into is thinking about death. Not just thinking about it but, as May recommends, 'attaining a deep awareness of death's possibility at any moment'. I've always felt pretty blessed in life – my best friend growing up called me 'Jammy Joe'. And I've sometimes wondered, quite self-indulgently, that had I experienced some awful blow, or near-death experience, could I have been spurred to write the great Irish novel (not that I ever got beyond a short story written in my 20s)? But is it possible to put transformative pep in my step by simply imagining death as opposed to experiencing a real life trauma? There's a classic episode of The Simpsons which acts as a thought experiment on this point. Homer is given 24 hours to live after eating a poisonous fish in a Japanese restaurant. As the end approaches, he tries to achieve various things he has been putting off, like patching things up with his father and passing on some life-hacks to his son Bart. The kicker is the final scene. Homer wakes up the following morning – it turns out the poison didn't kill him. 'From this day forward I vow to live life to its fullest,' he declares. It cuts to him sitting alone on the couch watching sports on TV and eating snacks. The viewer is left to ask, what would you do if you got a second chance at life? Would you also return to the sofa? The author Róisín Lanigan described in a recent Irish Times interview how her life 'massively changed' when he got a cancer diagnosis in 2018 when she was just 26. 'It's probably why I work so fast now,' she said. 'I'm like, 'I have to do things, I have to do things.'' Lanigan described how she got tattoos on her hands reading 'I love you / I'm glad I exist' as a present to herself for being five years with clear scans. And, in a way, a tattoo can act as a memento. 'Carpe Diem' is a popular phrase used in skin art, although I always thought if I got inked myself I'd go for Jill Abrahamson's variation of the theme. The first woman executive editor of the New York Times has a tattoo on her right shoulder showing an old subway token with its slogan 'Good for one fare only'. (Sadly, the Leap card equivalent 'Don't forget to tap on' doesn't have the same ring to it.) But what of the staring-at-skull experiment? Did it work? It hasn't been transformative but the act of placing the memento mori in my line of sight – and occasionally even talking to it like 'poor Yorick' in Hamlet – feels like it has moved the mental dial somehow. It has been a practical lesson in something the Ancient Greeks were aware of – the idea, as Burkeman puts it, that 'we don't think ourselves into new ways of acting; we act our way into new ways of thinking'. The lesson is: don't wait for some persuasive argument to make you start doing the thing that you really know you should be doing. Instead, do something – take a small step – to help change your thought processes. Staring into that skeletal reflection every day, and having it silently question me on what I'm doing with my precious time, is a small step. It hasn't made me more productive. But that was never the point – the aim, says May, is to inspire 'calm attentiveness rather than panicked haste'. To that extent, the trial has fleetingly succeeded. In moments of clarity, I say to myself: why am I getting so anxious about not achieving everything I want to achieve? I'm alive. So I'll give it another month. Then there's always the option of a tattoo.
Daily Mail
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EastEnders composer SIMON MAY reveals how he clawed his way back from a tour that nearly broke him
Simon May not only penned the theme tune to EastEnders, but also composed the music for Howards' Way, Eldorado and Crossroads, as well as a string of hit singles, writes Dan Moore. The composer, 80, started his career, after graduating from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, as a modern languages and music teacher, before catching the eye of BBC producers with his co-written musical Smike. This led to EastEnders where he also penned the chart-topping Nick Berry single Every Loser Wins. A father of four, Simon lives with Rosie, his wife of 50 years, in Guildford, Surrey. He is currently considering new venues for his popular musical, Rick!, which is based on Washington Irving's classic story, Rip Van Winkle. What did your parents teach you about money? My father, Don, ran a furniture business. He was an altruist and philanthropist who was more concerned about his customers than making a profit. With this in mind, I'd say the best advice I got from my father and mother, Eileen, was that money is not the most important thing in the world. In a way, I wish they had felt more able to give me the experience of their lives, even when I was doing well. Advising me to save in the good years for the lean times would have been welcome, but they just didn't think like that. I've tried to make up for that with our children. Was money tight when you were growing up? My brother, Michael, and I had a reasonably comfortable upbringing. We weren't wealthy but we were not short of a roof over our heads, food or an education. As a child, my parents made sacrifices to send us both to public school in Wiltshire – Dauntsey's School. They prioritised our education and we benefited so much. What has been your biggest money mistake? It was a massive financial mistake on my part. I personally financed a concert tour for the Simon May Orchestra through my company. We booked Drury Lane Theatre and Fairfield Halls in Croydon, among others. The result was that we lost an eye-watering six-figure sum. Have you ever struggled to make ends meet? Yes, due to that tour, and to say Rosie and I were struggling would be an understatement. It was a very stressful 12 months. We had to sell our home, a beautiful thatched cottage, when our youngest was three and the oldest 13. It was a great life lesson and I became far more budget conscious. What was the best year of your financial life? Undoubtedly 1986 – EastEnders had been released and Howard's Way was massively popular. I also had a string of chart hits including Every Loser Wins, Marti Webb's version of the Howards' Way theme and Anita Dobson's EastEnders single Anyone Can Fall In Love. We had a few nice holidays off the back of our success, and we bought our home for a song – as in the songs paid for it! What was your best financial decision? To invest in our children's education. They went to state and independent schools, which gave them a balanced education. What is the most expensive thing you bought for fun? An original Wurlitzer jukebox, which has pride of place in our kitchen-lounge. I bought it in 1970 for the equivalent of £10,000 in today's money, just before I met Rosie. When she moved in, 90 per cent of the records on it were my hits and recordings. Just like my wardrobe was packed with my clothes. Over time, I found that all the records on the jukebox were Rosie's and all the wardrobe space was taken up with her clothes. Do you save or invest in the stock market? I am a reformed spender. Rosie has Premium Bonds, while I have recently opened a cash ISA into which I deposit money each month by direct debit. I taught for many years and had a teacher's pension, but I had to cash it in one year when all four of our children were in private education. Now my pension is my copyrights for EastEnders, Eldorado and so on. Do you own property? We have just moved into a lovely two-bed apartment which overlooks the centre of Guildford, with a tiny mortgage. When we moved from the nearby village of Bramley, I went through the ceremony of cutting up all my credit cards – apart from my American Express, which is handy when we go on holiday. What is the one little luxury you treat yourself to? Instead of three weeks in an average hotel, we prefer to spend one in a luxury hotel. If you were Chancellor, what's the first thing you would do? I would back off the National Insurance contributions hike and put a heavy tax on crypto dealers and investors' profits instead. Employers should not have to face a crippling NIC levy. I would also stop penalising our farmers, so we are less reliant on imported produce. The Government's policy on farming is the most ridiculous and spiteful policy, apart from putting VAT on private schools. This tax penalises parents who want the best for their children, who, in turn, will greatly benefit the economy in years to come. Starmer has done a sterling job on foreign affairs, but he needs to rethink these domestic matters. What is your number one financial priority? Now that we've moved and our lives are getting more settled, I'd like to get back to speaking publicly with NMP Live. I really enjoy entertaining, and it brings in welcome funds.
Business Wire
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Agilent Showcases Solutions and Partnerships Transforming Cancer Research and Therapeutics at AACR 2025
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) announced today its participation at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting on April 25-30, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. Innovative Agilent products and partnerships playing a crucial role in transforming cancer research, diagnostics, and therapeutics will be featured, including: "We are dedicated to pushing the boundaries of cancer research and diagnostics,' states Simon May, president of Agilent's Life Sciences and Diagnostics Markets Group Share Agilent Avida DNA Cancer Panels – Based on cutting-edge next-generation sequencing (NGS) target enrichment solutions that enable simultaneous DNA and methylation profiling from a single sample, the Avida product portfolio has expanded to include three new DNA panels*. Optimized based on the requirements of the European OncNGS Consortium, these catalog panels deliver ultra-sensitive and rapid detection of cancer-related genomic alterations from circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in liquid biopsy samples. The streamlined DNA workflow generates sequencing-ready libraries in just five hours, enabling scientists to go from cfDNA samples to sequencing in a single day shift. These DNA panels can be paired with an Avida methylation panel to provide deep multiomic insights. Agilent SureSelect Cancer CGP Assay and Tagomics Interlace TM Multiomics Assay – Agilent has partnered with Tagomics to gain early access to a novel, unbiased approach for epigenetic profiling. The combined workflow of the Tagomics Interlace Multiomics assay with the Agilent SureSelect Cancer CGP assay offers a comprehensive genomic profiling solution, delivering genome-wide epigenetic signatures alongside targeted DNA variant detection. This enables novel and informative multiomic insights into cancer biology to accelerate disease understanding and diagnosis. Agilent SureSelect Cancer Pan Heme Assay – Co-developed with the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, this new assay interrogates DNA and RNA to provide comprehensive genomic profiling for hematologic malignancies. It is the first kitted assay with walkaway automation via the Agilent Magnis NGS Prep System, and an integrated, optimized secondary and tertiary data analysis software powered by QIAGEN Clinical Insight (QCI). This significantly improves laboratory productivity, efficiency, and turnaround time. Agilent and Abcam Strategic Collaboration for (IHC) Companion Diagnostics (CDx) – This collaboration establishes a seamless paradigm for Agilent to develop a novel IHC CDx using Abcam's extensive portfolio of over 10,000 high-quality, extensively validated, and stringently manufactured recombinant monoclonal antibodies, RabMAbs®. The collaboration enables Agilent to expedite the development of custom assays for drug development and accelerates the use of assays in early clinical trials. "At Agilent, we are dedicated to pushing the boundaries of cancer research and diagnostics,' states Simon May, president of Agilent's Life Sciences and Diagnostics Markets Group. 'Our innovative solutions and strategic partnerships are at the forefront of transforming cancer care, enabling us to deliver comprehensive multiomic insights and cutting-edge diagnostic tools that empower researchers and clinicians to make more informed decisions and ultimately improve patient care.' AACR attendees are invited to join Agilent at the Exhibitor Spotlight Theater on Sunday, 27 April from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. for an educational session titled 'Revolutionizing Multiomic Profiling: Tagomics' Interlace Platform and Agilent's SureSelect Cancer Pan Heme Assay.' Presenter Dr. Robert Neely, PhD, Co-founder, Director, and Chief Scientific Officer at Tagomics, will explore their Interlace platform. This platform revolutionizes multiomic profiling with a single sample input and minimal sequencing. Combining Agilent's SureSelect reagents with Tagomics' unique approach to methylation profiling delivers comprehensive genome-wide genetic and epigenomic insights. Following this, Dr. Sean Glen, PhD, Vice Chair of Molecular Pathology at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, will present on the Agilent SureSelect Cancer Pan Heme Assay. This assay is a breakthrough in hematological malignancy testing. It provides a long-term solution by targeting relevant mutation types across all heme-related genes and integrating automated lab and analysis solutions for expedited reporting. AACR attendees can also explore multiple Agilent research posters and a plethora of posters and platform presentations by customers highlighting Agilent instruments and solutions. For more details about these events, visit the Agilent booth #2306. *Agilent Avida DNA Onco LB, Avida DNA Onco LB Plus, and Agilent Avida DNA Lymphoma panels were developed as part of the oncNGS Project, which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. About Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global leader in analytical and clinical laboratory technologies, delivering insights and innovation that help our customers bring great science to life. Agilent's full range of solutions includes instruments, software, services, and expertise that provide trusted answers to our customers' most challenging questions. The company generated revenue of $6.51 billion in fiscal year 2024 and employs approximately 18,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at To receive the latest Agilent news, subscribe to the Agilent Newsroom. Follow Agilent on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Associated Press
10-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Agilent PD-L1 IHC 28-8 pharmDx Receives EU IVDR Certification as a Companion Diagnostic Test for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and Melanoma Indications
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced its PD-L1 IHC 28-8 pharmDx kit has received two new companion diagnostic indications approvals under EU IVDR 1, expanding the eligibility of treatment to early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and previously untreated advanced melanoma patients. These two new indications bring the total indications launched in Europe for PD-L1 IHC 28-8 pharmDx to nine. PD-L1 IHC 28-8 pharmDx is approved for exclusive use with the Agilent Autostainer Link 48 advanced staining solution. Lung cancer and malignant melanoma are major healthcare concerns worldwide, with lung cancer accounting for over two million new cases in 2020 and an estimated 1.77 million deaths each year, and malignant melanoma accounting for over 324,000 new cases in 2020 and over 57,000 deaths each year 2. PD-L1 is a critical biomarker for potential response to anti-PD-1 therapies, which are revolutionizing the treatment of cancer. Pathology labs play an important role in informing treatment decisions. When used in conjunction with the PD-L1 IHC 28-8 pharmDx as a companion test, in the European Union: (a) resectable NSCLC patients with PD-L1 expression ≥1% and at high risk of recurrence may be eligible for treatment with Bristol Myers Squibb's OPDIVO® (nivolumab) in combination with platinum based chemotherapy; and (b) patients 12 years of age and older with tumor cell PD-L1 expression < 1% that have previously untreated advanced (metastatic or unresectable) melanoma may be eligible for treatment with Bristol Myers Squibb's Opdualag™ (nivolumab and relatlimab). PD-L1 IHC 28-8 pharmDx is the only clinically validated test for identifying patients for these treatments; these two new indications will aid pathologists, in conjunction with oncologists, in selecting appropriate treatment options, offering hope for patients diagnosed with these cancers. IVDR compliance certification further enhances the confidence of patients, consumers, and healthcare professionals in the EU by demonstrating that these medical devices can be safely relied upon as part of the diagnostic workflow. Simon May, senior vice president of Agilent's Life Sciences and Diagnostics Markets Group, remarked: 'The two added indications of PD-L1 IHC 28-8 pharmDx will give physicians in Europe critical information to inform treatment decisions for patients with these common and potentially deadly cancers. This endorsement underscores Agilent's leadership in the development of companion diagnostics for groundbreaking therapies containing anti-PD-1 antibodies.' An innovative industry leader with more than 50 years of experience, Agilent launched the first FDA-approved companion diagnostic and continues to deliver world-class CDx products in close collaboration with pharma partners. OPDIVO® is a registered trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Opdualag™ is a trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation ( Sung. H., Ferlay. J., et al. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries, CA. Cancer J. Clin. 2021, 71, 209–249 About Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global leader in analytical and clinical laboratory technologies, delivering insights and innovation that help our customers bring great science to life. Agilent's full range of solutions includes instruments, software, services, and expertise that provide trusted answers to our customers' most challenging questions. The company generated revenue of $6.51 billion in fiscal year 2024 and employs approximately 18,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at To receive the latest Agilent news, subscribe to the Agilent Newsroom. Follow Agilent on LinkedIn and Facebook. Naomi Goumillout Agilent Technologies Inc. +1.781.266.2819 KEYWORD: EUROPE UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA SOURCE: Agilent Technologies Inc. Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 03/10/2025 08:19 AM/DISC: 03/10/2025 08:20 AM
