It’s not just renters who need a living room (The death of the living room: ‘It’s hard to invite people over – not everyone wants to sit on a bed’, 26 November). What about a couple of senior citizens, home most of the time, who do not wish to spend every waking hour in the same room? In our local area there appear to be no flats for sale with a kitchen/diner and separate living room. How can we escape from each other?
Jennifer Henley
London
• All five “homes for downsizers” (Fantasy house hunt: Homes for downsizers, 28 November) are larger and more expensive than the one I’ve happily inhabited for many years. And I have to ask: from what palace might one be downsizing to a three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment in St John’s Wood, London?
Anne Cowper
Bishopston, Swansea
• Samuel Johnson was wrong. Patriotism isn’t the last refuge of a scoundrel. It is the penultimate refuge; hiding behind the term “banter” is the last refuge of the scoundrel (Three more ex-pupils at school with Nigel Farage reject ‘banter’ claims, 25 November).
Prof Stephen Farrall
Sheffield
• Hong Kong authorities wasted no time in arresting those they hold responsible for last week’s fatal fire in tower blocks. Here, eight years on, still no arrests over Grenfell.
John Kendall
Presteigne, Powys
• If we’re done with aptly named people, for now (Letters, 28 November), how about inaptly named places – like the Idle Working Men’s Club, in Bradford?
Mark de Brunner
Burn Bridge, North Yorkshire
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