The Democratic National Convention to nominate Joe Biden took a break on Thursday night from policies and endorsements to showcase a touching speech from 13-year-old Brayden Harrington, who told the audience how Mr Biden helped to boost his confidence by helping him manage his stutter.
“Without Joe Biden I wouldn’t be talking to you today,” said Brayden, addressing the convention in a taped remarks, while reading carefully from a sheet of paper.
“He showed me how he marks his addresses to make them easier to say out loud, so I did the same thing today,” said Brayden, showing his carefully crafted notes to the camera.
“It was really amazing to hear that someone like me became vice president. He told me about a book of poems by Yeats he would read out loud to practise.”
Brayden met Mr Biden during a February CNN town hall in Concord, New Hampshire, where Mr Biden spoke about overcoming a severe childhood stutter. The Democratic presidential candidate has frequently addressed his stutter through the years, noting the anger and frustration of being mocked by classmates and a nun in Catholic school — and how that motivated him to work to overcome it.
“He told me we were members of the same club,” said Brayden, “We stutter.”
Brayden was invited backstage at the February event to receive guidance from Mr Biden on overcoming the speech impediment.
"I'm just a regular kid, and in a short amount of time Joe Biden made me more confident about something that's bothered me my whole life,” said Brayden.
Despite Mr Biden’s transparency about his lifelong stutter, the former vice president has faced near constant ridicule online throughout his campaign for the Democratic nomination, with critics taking aim at his cognitive abilities and intelligence.
Addressing the critics during the February town hall, Mr Biden said: “It has nothing to do with your intellectual make-up.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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