Who decides what a plus-size model should look like?

Love conquers all A reader expresses admiration for those going on with life in bomb-torn Tripoli. Other letter topics: where to go on vacation, the ideal female form, social media, naming and shaming, and Yemen's desperate children.

Love and marriage in a war zone, in Tripoli. A reader expresses amazement that people can persist in normal human emotions despite all the travails of disruption and war. Tara Todras-Whitehill / AP
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I couldn't agree more with your report The rise of the plus-size model raises many questions (August 7).

I saw the Vogue cover mentioned and read a detailed article about it. What was joy at first quickly turned to disappointment when I found out some models are not "curvy" but wear fat suits.

How hard is it to find a big woman? Why is a size 12 or 14 considered "plus size" in the first place? Having a normal healthy-looking body is not "plus size".

No wonder most girls today are insecure about their shape.

Elcy Suleiman, Abu Dhabi

Healthy parents have to wait

My husband and I recognised ourselves in The eternal holiday dilemma (August 8).

We too are frequently pressured to visit two sets of parents - who of course do not live close to each other - but we would rather spend our precious holiday time seeing new corners of the world, alone together.

The approach we took to this persistent problem, without announcing it, is that parents and relatives who are not in failing health will just have to wait a couple of years for the pleasure of our company.

They are, however, more than welcome to come and visit us here (though we do not advise anyone to come in summer).

Jane Wallace, Dubai

Touching report about Libyan life

I was touched by your two reports about life in Libya (Don't they know there's a war on? and Residents of Libya's capital frustrated over fuel, both August 8).

Amid all the headlines about fighting it is easy to remember that real people are trying to lead real lives and are too often just "collateral damage".

I admire the determination - and the love - of people willing to go ahead with a wedding amid such difficulties.

I hope they will remember their wedding day as happily as do other people who marry in more peaceful settings.

Helen Romento, Abu Dhabi

What if Singapore had had some oil?

As a former resident of Singapore, I enjoyed your piece on Singapore (An island of inspiration helps fuel Abu Dhabi's ambition, August 8).

But I'm not quite convinced about the parallels between Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Singapore after all started with nothing but a good location and a determination to do business. If they'd also had huge oil reserves, they might control the world by now.

Sia Cheong Yew, Malaysia

Are 'social media' just a passing fad?

The incessant buzz about profiting from "social media" (Being social can pay off, August 8) smells to me like a kind of high-tech bubble, not supported by the facts.

Are all these services just a fad? There's more to read on all these sites, but not much that matters.

Even the kids are getting wary. My young teen son tells me the joke going around: "Soon YouTube, Twitter and Facebook will merge into one big time-wasting site called YouTwitFace!"

Romeo Persoja, Abu Dhabi

Go after drivers, not webmasters

Law forces name and shame website to close (August 8) shows that the police are being vigilant against those who want the law respected. They should be focusing on the reckless and rude drivers, tailgaters and high beam flashers who endanger so many.

Bruce Dauphin, Abu Dhabi

Glad to hear some are doing well

Your story Dubai apartment a dizzying Dh25m, (August 8) included the statement that sales of premium flats are "much, much better than last year and the year before".

It's nice to know that the world economic slowdown has not impoverished everyone.

Joe Pekar, Dubai

Yemen's children now suffer more

Your story US argues over foreign aid policy along with its debt problem (August 2) draws attention to the plight of Yemeni children.

Even before the current political turmoil, half of Yemen's children were chronically malnourished. One in 10 children there never reached the age of five.

Now more and more Yemeni families find themselves without income or food. Unicef has noted that for poor families letting a child die is, sadly, sometimes the option they feel they must choose.

Aid should not be suspended or insufficient. We should all care.

People can and should donate to the World Food Program.

Name withheld by request