Eighty years old, in this age of magical pharmaceuticals that keep blood pressure low and heart rates steady, is not really old.
But US President Joe Biden at 80 is a very old man. He stoops. He forgets sentences. He trips. He stumbles through news conferences. He forgets sentences. “I think that uh … I hope that uh … ”
Does this disqualify Mr Biden from being a capable president? Probably.
And yet his Democratic Party is still solidly behind him – despite recent polling that revealed 70 per cent of Americans think someone else should be running as a Democrat. After a fumbling, embarrassing news conference in Vietnam last week, Mr Biden’s party attempted to save face by releasing a campaign video of him from last February in Ukraine.
There he is, robustly striding alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The point being: this is a man with vigour. This is a man who holds his own in war zones.
“In the middle of a war zone, Joe Biden showed the world what America is made of,” a narrator says.
It ends simply with: “Biden. President.”
Mr Biden might be able to hold his own in Kyiv during a surprise visit, but he clearly can’t hold his own on a podium. After the Vietnam debacle, former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr reluctantly said what everybody was thinking: Democrats must step in and ensure Mr Biden does not run again.
“I thought it was a tipping point,” Mr Carr said. “A large part of American opinion is going to conclude he is too old for the job … too old and too frail.” Mr Carr called the news conference “a milestone in his deterioration”.
To be fair, Mr Biden has never been a Barack Obama or an Abraham Lincoln or even a Franklin Roosevelt – leaders whose oratory skills were celebrated. He is not a master communicator. He has always struggled with his stutter. If he is off script, he doesn’t follow well. His strengths lay in his ability to do Washington-style deals and form alliances, the result of being a lifelong political player. They do not lie in articulate speech.
But it has become worse. Now, Democrats seem confident that they will win the 2024 elections. Their sense is that nobody wants to vote for Donald Trump, who grows more erratic as election time nears.
But Mr Trump is a young 77. His health strong, his appetite hearty, his orange toupee luxuriant. It is true his party has run amok. Republicans are doing everything to blow up their future – the impeachment against Mr Biden – for example. Rather than enact policy, all they seem to do is use inflammatory television to try to score points. But as far as health goes, Mr Trump appears as strong as an ox: an antithesis of a frail Mr Biden.
Historically, young presidents – John F Kennedy or Mr Obama – tended to usher in a new era in Washington.
Kennedy’s Camelot was the Arthurian name coined by his wife, Jacqueline, to describe his youthful, idealistic, glittering administration. The White House was refurbished. Fashion designer Oleg Cassini came to dress Jackie. Adorable young children ran down the halls of the West Wing.
Decades later, in 2008, Mr Obama’s “Hope” campaign brought in a team of young staffers who played basketball with the president. It was a wave of optimism after the misery of 9/11.
There is nothing in the US Constitution that sets a limit on presidential age – one must be 35 years of age and a natural-born citizen. George Washington, the first president, was actually 65 years old when he left office, and died two years later. Lincoln was 52; Ulysses S Grant, a Civil War hero, was 54; Harry S Truman 60 and Richard Nixon 56. Bill Clinton and Mr Obama were youthful 46 and 47 respectively, and Thomas Jefferson 57.
I’d like to point out – having just spent the past five years living there – that America is obsessed with ageing in a way that I have never seen.
The question is not whether you are too old but whether you are fit for the job
This is a country where the recommended age for women to get Botox is the late 20s. But when it comes to Washington, some of the players refuse to go. Mitch McConnell’s recent cognitive deterioration (he froze during a news conference for 20 long seconds) was shocking; California Senator Dianne Feinstein, at 90, is refusing to step down and points to sexism when anyone suggests she leaves gracefully.
Yet in other parts of the world, like in Africa – where ageing is regarded as the coming of wisdom – there is an entirely different culture. Cameroonian President Paul Biya was born in 1933 – between the two World Wars. Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara is 81. Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, who left office in May, is 80. Guinea's Alpha Conde was 83 when he stepped down two years ago. Manuel Pinto da Costa was well into his 70s when he began his second stint as president of Sao Tome and Principe.
This is not to say they are or were great leaders. Africa is young, and many of the continent's leaders are long-standing, dictatorial and out of touch with a youthful population. Many of them should not have remained in office as long as they did. Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, a former freedom fighter-turned-authoritarian leader whose mantra was “Zimbabwe is mine”, died aged 95 in 2019, having left the presidency just two years previously. Gabon’s Omar Bongo had been president for 41 years when he died in office, aged 73, in 2009.
More from Janine di Giovanni
I could look at Asia or Latin America for other examples. But the question is not whether leaders are old, it is whether they are competent.
Mr Trump fuelled the “Biden is too old” debate when he went on a radio show recently.
“Age is interesting because some people are very sharp, and some people do lose it, but you lose it at 40 and 50,” Mr Trump said. “But no, he [Mr Biden] is not too old at all. He’s grossly incompetent.”
Mr Trump then cited Winston Churchill, who was the same age as Mr Trump when he became British prime minister for the second time, as a great leader.
Age is a number. The question is not whether you are too old but whether you are fit for the job. US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, 83, recently announced she will run for re-election, although she no longer leads Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Instead of telling a crowd in Hanoi that he needs to go to bed, Mr Biden needs to step down and let a younger Democrat take over. Mental acuity, particularly in a job where you basically run the world, is imperative.
Australia’s Mr Carr summed it up when he said: “Joe, we love you, but we think the American people will want someone younger.”
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
MATCH INFO
Jersey 147 (20 overs)
UAE 112 (19.2 overs)
Jersey win by 35 runs
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Profile
Name: Carzaty
Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar
Launched: 2017
Employees: 22
Based: Dubai and Muscat
Sector: Automobile retail
Funding to date: $5.5 million
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
RESULT
Copa del Rey, semi-final second leg
Real Madrid 0
Barcelona 3 (Suarez (50', 73' pen), Varane (69' OG)
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2014
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Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press
The years Ramadan fell in May
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Andor
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THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm
Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Top speed: 250kph
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: Dh146,999
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Cultural fiesta
What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO
Schedule (All times UAE)
First practice: Friday, 5-6.30am
Second practice: Friday, 9-10.30am
Third practice: Saturday, 7-8am
Qualifying: Saturday, 10-11am
Race: Sunday, 9am-midday
Race venue: Suzuka International Racing Course
Circuit Length: 5.807km
Number of Laps: 53
Watch live: beIN Sports HD
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
The Transfiguration
Director: Michael O’Shea
Starring: Eric Ruffin, Chloe Levine
Three stars
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
Summer special
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
OIL PLEDGE
At the start of Russia's invasion, IEA member countries held 1.5 billion barrels in public reserves and about 575 million barrels under obligations with industry, according to the agency's website. The two collective actions of the IEA this year of 62.7 million barrels, which was agreed on March 1, and this week's 120 million barrels amount to 9 per cent of total emergency reserves, it added.
