Weirdly, however, the place in which God is still thriving is the English Premier League! Footballers on £50,000 per minute attribute all their success to ‘the big man’. This season, God has more goal involvements than anyone else. Believing still happens and, evidently, believing is good.

This is all about a complex cocktail of hope and/or dreams. Human nature is to create belief systems and stick by them through thick and, if possible, thin.

My front cover may be the frivolous vehicle for some yuletide wordplay but it is also a poignant seasonal – perhaps even religious – reminder that pharma is so often the dream weaver, while its products are the conduits of hope.

They may come in desperately depressing boxes, like some relic from the cold war, but the contents transform and galvanise.

Indeed, UK pharma is still playing dazzling pharm-ball and busting out trail-blazing moves in premier league labs across the world. Who do we attribute this to? Us – the believers!

This Christmas many of us will reflect on healthcare scrapes from the past year but we must also look forward to the most explosively innovative year for therapies. In this incredibly optimistic scenario, we must believe.

Amen to that,

John Pinching
editor

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EDITORIAL
John Pinching / editor
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Iona Everson / group managing editor
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Karl Equi / executive director
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Tara Lovegrove / business director
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Luci Sargood / business manager
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