With lobster, keep it simple

Canadian lobster doesn't need elaborate sauces or accompaniments, says a reader. Other letter topics today: career advice for small children, the Palestinian statehood game, Imran Khan, and respect in politics.

Grilled leek and lobster? These crustaceans are delicious just the way they are, a reader argues. istockphoto.com

No point in giving career advice to 5-year-olds

I don't understand how 5-year-olds can be expected to "make informed decisions about their future" (Career advice for children aged 5, October 4).

How informed is a 10-year-old, even, about how the world works, what options there are, and what his or her aptitudes may be?

If teenagers are "clueless" about career options - and no doubt many are - then the solution is not early- childhood lectures but rather more information provided to them as teenagers. But below age 15, let children be children.

Tom Francoeur, Abu Dhabi

Palestinians lose in statehood bid

The article Symbolic call for 'statehood' only emboldens Abbas (September 27) clearly stated what many know to be true. Yet the charade goes on with all sides playing their part at the expense of the Palestinian people.

After 20 years of nothing but failure to achieve a just settlement, of Israel stealing ever more land and of the Palestinians seeing their struggle for freedom obscured by a pastiche of state-building claptrap, surely everyone is weary of the PA's declarations.

The Palestinians deserve more - much more - and we should all be speaking up to say enough.

Sonia Karkar, Australia

Sentences too short for crime

Your editorial Zero tolerance to stem violent trend (October 4) made a point I want to underline: sentences of six or 12 months for attempted murder are shockingly light.

PJ Mehta, Dubai

Peace march serves only Khan

Why is Imran Khan taking a peace march to South Waziristan? Another political gimmick, perhaps.

The drone issue is actually in North Waziristan, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda are embedded among the locals, using them as human shields. Mr Khan should go there if he is sincere, and counsel the locals not to provide a sanctuary to such terrorists.

But then the wily Mr Khan knows how to swim without getting his feet wet. Well played.

Mohammad Hamza, Dubai

Candidates aren't idiots or devils

I did not get up early to watch the US presidential debate but the news reports and video clips I have seen, including Romney scores points against Obama in US presidential debate on your website, suggest that Mitt Romney held his own, and more.

The Democrats among my American friends here - the strong majority, apparently - mostly seem to regard Mr Romney as equal parts moron and devil. As a Briton, I have my own share of awful politicians, but I do believe that most people in public life in the US and UK are there because they want to do good (in addition to doing well for themselves).

Demonisation of opponents drags down everyone and impairs faith in the system.

If I were American I would have a hard time choosing this year, but I think both men deserve respect and not contempt.

Ted James, Dubai

Israeli radicals will lose friends

I am writing regarding Academics fall foul of Israeli politicians (October 3). This is disgusting. It is unheard of in any society that considers itself a democracy.

It is actually Education Minister Gideon Saar's operation that really needs reform. Until then all US aid and higher education cooperation with Israel should be curtailed.

Jerry MacDonald, US

The real scandal at Ben-Gurion University is not that some professors dare to speak out, but that a government that calls itself democratic can so ruthlessly suppress dissent and free speech.

As Israel grows more radical, it will slowly lose its supporters overseas. Even in the US, many "liberal" Jews are, as I understand this, becoming less and less sympathetic to the hard-line regime.

TJ Haddad, Dubai

Lobster is best served simply

I enjoyed the article Chef's seafood secrets (October 3) and of course as a native of Nova Scotia, on Canada's east coast, I have long known - with all due respect to Oman - that our Atlantic lobster is the best in the world.

But I think my fellow Canadians who saw the article will have laughed, as I did, at the adornments and garnishes proposed by overeager chefs. Grilled leek purée? Vanilla bean air? No no no, you don't need any of that.

Just boil the bugs - as we call them - and serve them with melted butter, and that's all. Anything more is gilding the lily.

Roberta Lorne, Abu Dhabi