www.thepeninsulaqatar.com CAMPUS | 3 COMMUNITY | 6 FASHION | 9 Doha College Doha Falcon Cricket Designers try to builds enhanced Club wins tournament go beyond leadership team in Prague fashion TUESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2016 Email: [email protected] thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar P | 4-5 Health myths about US presidents Presidential health is in the campaign spotlight after Hillary was taken ill recently. Five myths about presidential health and their origins. TUESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2016 | 03 CAMPUS Doha College builds enhanced leadership team The Peninsula oha College, a leading British international school based in Doha for over 32 years, has an- Dnounced an enhanced Lead- ership Team for the new 2016 school year. Following the appointment of Dr Steffen Sommer as the new Principal in 2015, the school has undergone a number of enhancements with the ap- pointment of a number of experienced and very skilled education profession- als into a larger leadership team. Each member of the new leader- ship group has taken on, in addition to the roles reflected in their official titles, responsibilities for other diverse seg- ments of school life, linking the prima- ry and secondary schools in a way not implemented before. Dr Steffen Sommer welcomed the new team: “I am delighted that Do- ha College has identified such a broad FRONT ROW (from left): Christine Walker, Senior Vice-Principal and Head of Primary, Dr Steffen Sommer, Principal, Paul Young, range of talent and experience, and Senior Vice Principal, Head of Secondary; BACK ROW (from left) James Conly, Vice-Principal, Student Services, Bill Waller, that we have found a way to put it all Campus Development Director, Nicola Meikle, Assistant Principal, Transition, Uzma Zaffar, Assistant Principal, Admissions together in a group that is strong, mo- and Assessment, Ian Thornhill, Business and Development Director, Neil Thomas, Vice-Principal, Teaching and Learning. tivated and will work resolutely for the benefit of our students and the wider community here in Qatar.” build on our motto, excellence for ell, resent over 72 nationalities. operate under the sponsorship of the “Doha College has an outstanding excellence from all.” Established in 1980, the college British Embassy on a not-for-profit ba- track record of excellence in academ- Doha College is one of the oldest was proud to celebrate its pearl anni- sis. ic results, extra-curricular and sport- British curriculum schools in Qatar pro- versary in 2010. Originally opened to The school’s vision is to enable per- ing achievements. This new leader- viding education to 1914 students, be- meet the demand for a British-style sonal growth, instil a passion for learn- ship team will allow us to maintain and tween the ages of 3 and 18, who rep- education, the institution continues to ing and create aspirational minds. Festive start to DMIS’ post-summer phase The Peninsula oha Modern Indian school (DMIS) com- munity has begun its post-summer break session in a cheerful manner by cele- Dbrating Onam with children of grade 9 to 12 in a special assembly. The celebration com- menced with the preparation of the traditional “Pookalam”(flower carpet). The teachers of Malay- alam Department organised a cultural programme that included songs, speeches and power point presentations to mark the occasion. They did cre- ate an awareness among students on the meaning and relevance of a great cultural festival like Onam. The solemn arrival of Mahabali was a unique and exciting experience for students and everyone else, especially students from Kerala. Principal Rakesh Singh Tomar addressed the school community and appreciated the effort put in by the teachers to make the day very special and memorable. He exhorted all students to start the new academic session with great enthusiasm Principal Rakesh Singh Tomar with teachers at Onam celebrations. and eagerness for learning. 04 | TUESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2016 COVER STORY Many presidents were not free of ailments Several books appeared US President Barack in the 1980s and 1990s Obama and former US detailing the secret illnesses president George H W Bush arrive for the of American presidents “Daily Point of Light” award in the East Room and other leaders. With of the White House in Washington, DC. titles such as “The Impact Democratic presidental of Illness on World nominee Hillary Clinton waves as she leaves the Leaders” and “Ill-Advised: home of her daughter Presidential Health and Chelsea Clinton in New York City after Public Trust,” the authors falling sick at the 9/11 of these volumes showed Memorial. that medical cover-ups were frequent in the White House. By Barron H Lerner ference that divided territory after the Roosevelt had suffered periods of ex- Eastern Europe. Churchill, who was Washington Post war, wrote that Roosevelt “intervened treme fatigue. But his personal physi- surely of sound mind, had participat- very little in the discussions, sitting with cian Howard Bruenn, who was also at ed in the negotiations and had trust- his mouth open. I doubt, from what Yalta, observed that the president’s ed Stalin as well. And, as historian I have seen, whether he is fit for his mental faculties remained intact. “His James MacGregor Burns has argued, hen Hillary Clinton an- job here.” memory for both recent and past the West had only so much leverage nounced a diagnosis of The reality was probably much events was good,” Bruenn wrote in a over the Soviets, who, after all, had suf- pneumonia last week, more complex. It is true that Roo- 1970 article in the Annals of Internal fered the greatest human sacrifices Wsoon after leaving a Sept sevelt was suffering from severe hy- Medicine. “His behaviour towards his in defeating Hitler. Roosevelt, Burns 11 memorial service, she elicited a pre- pertension and congestive heart fail- friends and intimates was unchanged wrote, was a realist who had “reached dictably partisan response. Fans of ure, which the medications of the era and his speech unaltered.” the limit of his bargaining power.” His Donald Trump speculated that she could not effectively treat. And the trip Moreover, Yalta represented a com- illness did not determine the fate of wouldn’t survive the year, while her to Yalta, located in the Crimea region plex series of negotiations on many postwar Europe. own supporters pointed out that hard- of the Soviet Union, had been arduous. postwar issues, not only the fate of working people get sick all the time. Myth No. 2 Both presidential candidates have been pressured to release more in- Sick presidents aren’t good at the formation about their health. But this job. information may not be as useful as Several books appeared in the we think. Past assumptions about the 1980s and 1990s detailing the secret health of presidents and candidates of- illnesses of American presidents and ten have been shrouded in myth. other leaders. With titles such as “The Impact of Illness on World Leaders” Myth No. 1 and “Ill-Advised: Presidential Health and Public Trust,” the authors of these Franklin D Roosevelt gave away volumes showed that medical cover- Eastern Europe to the Soviets be- ups were frequent in the White House. cause he was sick. As Jerrold Post and Robert Robins As the Soviet Union took control of wrote in their book on the topic, such more and more of Eastern Europe af- leaders became both incompetent ter World War II, critics of Franklin D and manipulable. And it’s true that Ed- Roosevelt argued that he — increas- ith Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson, ingly lethargic and confused because Formr US president Ronald essentially ran the United States after of illness — had been unfit to negoti- Reagan at a hospital in her husband suffered several strokes ate. The “sick man of Yalta,” accord- Washington in April of 1981 while in office. ing to this theory, had been duped by alongside his wife Nancy, after But there is no clear relation- his Soviet counterpart, Joseph Stalin. the assassination attempt by ship between a president’s perform- John Hinckley. Lord Moran, Winston Churchill’s physi- ance and his well-health. For instance, cian who attended the 1945 Yalta con- Dwight D Eisenhower had a series of TUESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2016 | 05 COVER STORY debate against Walter Mondale. In July 1972, Thomas Eagleton, the vice-presidential nominee of George Former US President John Myth No. 4 McGovern, was forced to withdraw his F Kennedy aboard the candidacy when reporters discovered “Honey Fitz” off Hyannis The doctors of presidential pa- that Eagleton had been hospitalised Port, Massachusetts on tients tell the public the truth. for depression three times, including August 31, 1963. When Eisenhower suffered his receiving electroshock therapy. Com- heart attack in 1955, he decided that mon consensus held that he could not Americans deserved to know what serve. McGovern, one newspaper ed- had happened. As he recuperated, his itorial read, “does not need the add- doctors held news conferences to ed- ed burden of a presidential running ucate the public about heart disease mate with a precarious health problem and to detail the president’s condition. in the area of mental illness.” In 1988, This type of disclosure became routine presidential candidate Michael Dukakis over the years, as in the aftermath of aggressively denied any history of de- the assassination attempt on Reagan pression when rumours surfaced. Du- in 1981. Reagan’s doctors took this task kakis, his physician told the news me- seriously; one doctor stated that the dia, “has had no psychological symp- hospital “recognised the need to pro- toms, complaints or treatment.” vide accurate information to the news A 2006 study of the first 37 presi- media.” In practice, however, presiden- dents concluded that 18 of them had tial physicians have lied, often blatantly.