Academic distinction

IN recent days I have noticed that reports about Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in your paper always refer to him as Mr Ahmadinejad.

Considering that the man holds a PhD in civil engineering, surely he should be titled Dr Ahmadinejad? This courtesy is applied to Dr Condoleezza Rice and even to Dr Ian Paisley. It seems strange that the same standard is not applied across the board.

Maybe it is easier for the world to demonise the man as a fundamentalist loony if we can avoid mention of his academic accomplishments?