Samuel Gibbs’ piece about the internet of things (How I turned my home into a sci-fi dream, theguardian.com, 24 December) omits an important warning: Alexa and Siri must never be left alone in the same room. The Bluetooth/Wi-Fi version of scratching each other’s eyes out is not pretty, but only Siri has that blood-curdling scream.
Tony Waters
Eugene, Oregon, USA
• Can I ask you to review the use of “to sleep with” when you mean to have sex with (Report, 27 December). It is 2016 and I think your readers can deal with an accurate description rather than this 1950s euphemism for sexual activity.
Caroline Pinder
Todmorden, West Yorkshire
• The rich pay £23m for the privilege of rubbing snow into their skins (Perks snowball as luxury flat market cools, 29 December). Homeless people do it for nothing. Wake up, world. Feel ashamed.
Laura Cunningham
London
• Neither Jem Whiteley (Letters, 28 December) nor Judith Flanders (Letters, 29 December) makes an original point. The Monster Raving Loony Party, many years ago, posed the question: “How come there’s only one Monopolies Commission?” At the same time in its election manifesto it indicated that the way to reduce classroom sizes was to push the desks closer together.
Gordon Atkinson
Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex
• Maybe, having explained (Letters, 29 December) the singularity of “thesaurus”, Judith Flanders could tell us why, stepping off the boat at Ostend, you can’t book a quick tour of just the one Flander?
Chris Sladen
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
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