America's next first lady will be Dr Jill Biden. The qualification is also referenced in her Twitter handle: @DrBiden. She has good reason and the right to use it, having received a research doctoral degree from a legitimate US university 13 years ago.
On November 7, the day the 2020 presidential election was called for Mr Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris, Dr Biden’s Twitter feed bore a photo of the future president and his wife holding up a sign in their living room. It read: Dr and vice president Biden live here.
The strikethrough of the word 'vice', Mr Biden’s second-string job in the two-term Obama administration, was the point. More than 30 years after Mr Biden first ran for the highest office in America, he finally prevailed.
His loving wife was recording a proud family moment, as well she might.
The photo was jokey and all too true. Indeed, it was Dr and President Biden who lived in their house in Wilmington, Delaware.
Soon, the doctor and her presidential spouse would move to a different residence, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, otherwise known as the White House.
Except that the conservative curmudgeon of the human species won’t have it. Joseph Epstein, 83, BA and an essayist of long-standing, recently advised Dr Biden, in a patronising opinion piece, to drop the title because it “sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic”.
Mr Epstein even referred to the 69-year-old soon-to-be US first lady as “kiddo”. He went on to question her right to the medical-sounding qualification: “Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title ‘Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs’,” Mr Epstein wrote. “A wise man once said that no one should call himself ‘Dr’ unless he has delivered a child. Think about it, Dr Jill, and forthwith drop the doc.”
The rebuke drew widespread academic angst and accusations of sexism, but it is hardly new or original, which is to say it might not serve as the ideal doctoral research topic. Mr Epstein's gripe against the doctor heading to the White House reprised a 2013 complaint by Charles C W Cooke in the conservative magazine National Review.
But is Dr Biden really pretending to something to which she has no right?
At the time Dr Biden was America’s second lady, which led Mr Cooke, who mockingly revealed having a BA and MA, to diagnose her “credential snobbery”. He also cast doubt on her “doctorate in ‘educational leadership’, whatever the hell that is”. Dr Biden, Mr Cooke concluded, is “not alone in having recognised the virtue of pretending to be a doctor in public”.
But is Dr Biden really pretending to something to which she has no right?
Jill Biden during her husband's first campaign event, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, April, 29, 2019. EPA
The question has particular resonance for me as I received my non-medical doctorate three months ago. It is in creative and critical research and the topic was a mouthful: 'A critical investigation of the Platonic influence on early Arab philosophers’ notion of creative control'. People like Mr Cooke and Mr Epstein might respond, “whatever the hell that is”.
Sections of the medical community too, as happened in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2016, might question “who should be allowed to call themselves doctor?”
But the Canadian kerfuffle was not about non-medical doctoral degree holders such as Dr Biden. Or me.
At the time, an Ontario audiologist, a healthcare worker who wasn’t the type of doctor you see for a bad back, had asked for the legal right to use the title “Dr” on the strength of her research doctorate.
The Canadian view eventually veered towards laissez faire so "long as there is no intent to mislead patients, and all professionals are aware of their abilities and boundaries".
That seems to be a sensible way to look at the matter of who gets to use “Dr”. It is discretionary if you are not a medical doctor, the title being used mostly in academic settings.
A doctor of philosophy degree derives from the original Greek 'philosophia', meaning love of wisdom and from the Latin word 'docco', which means to teach.
In a sense, Dr Biden has a license to teach, something she has done for years, the last 11 of which were as a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College.
That is exactly the sort of academic environment where a doctoral degree is recognised for what it is. Anyone who has earned a doctorate has the right to use the title as they see fit.
Rashmee Roshan Lall is a columnist for The National
Day 1, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Sadeera Samarawickrama set pulses racing with his strokeplay on his introduction to Test cricket. It reached a feverish peak when he stepped down the wicket and launched Yasir Shah, who many regard as the world’s leading spinner, back over his head for six. No matter that he was out soon after: it felt as though the future had arrived.
Stat of the day - 5 The last time Sri Lanka played a Test in Dubai – they won here in 2013 – they had four players in their XI who were known as wicketkeepers. This time they have gone one better. Each of Dinesh Chandimal, Kaushal Silva, Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, and Niroshan Dickwella – the nominated gloveman here – can keep wicket.
The verdict Sri Lanka want to make history by becoming the first team to beat Pakistan in a full Test series in the UAE. They could not have made a better start, first by winning the toss, then by scoring freely on an easy-paced pitch. The fact Yasir Shah found some turn on Day 1, too, will have interested their own spin bowlers.
Roll of honour 2019-2020
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runnersup: Bahrain
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runnersup: UAE Premiership
UAE Premiership
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runnersup: Dubai Hurricanes
UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runnersup: Dubai Hurricanes II
UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runnersup: RAK Rugby
Info
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
Omar Abdulrahman (Al Hilal), Ali Khaseif, Ali Mabkhout, Salem Rashed, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Zayed Al Ameri, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Khalid Essa, Ahmed Barman, Ryan Yaslam, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmin (Al Wasl), Adel Al Hosani, Ali Hassan Saleh, Majed Suroor (Sharjah), Ahmed Khalil, Walid Abbas, Majed Hassan, Ismail Al Hammadi (Shabab Al Ahli), Hassan Al Muharrami, Fahad Al Dhahani (Bani Yas), Mohammed Al Shaker (Ajman)
RESULTS
5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 2,200m Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ahmed Al Mehairbi (trainer)
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Business Insights
As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
1.
United States
2.
China
3.
UAE
4.
Japan
5
Norway
6.
Canada
7.
Singapore
8.
Australia
9.
Saudi Arabia
10.
South Korea
'Morbius'
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Rating: 2/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
The biog
Full name: Aisha Abdulqader Saeed
Age: 34
Emirate: Dubai
Favourite quote: "No one has ever become poor by giving"
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Company Profile
Company name: Yeepeey
Started: Soft launch in November, 2020
Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani
Based: Dubai
Industry: E-grocery
Initial investment: $150,000
Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister. "We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know. “All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.” It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins. Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement. The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
