Your obituary of Rabbi Lionel Blue (20 December), referring to his Thought for the Day broadcasts, says “His thoughts were seldom profound”. In fact one of his great gifts was to express profound truths in simple and accessible ways. Generations of rabbis, myself included, saw him as a great teacher who opened up a world of deep spirituality with a light touch, and without taking himself seriously.

Rabbi Dr Margaret Jacobi

Birmingham

• My first thought was also that they are only books (I found out that my in-laws had thrown out my treasured books, 21 December). Then my thoughts turned to my collection, safely stored upstairs, with its Christmas annuals inscribed by grandparents long since gone, school prizes and gifts my parents gave each other – and I too cried.

Julia Gristwood

Ware, Hertfordshire

• I understand Victoria Wood making Rafael Behr feel lucky to be British (Opinion, 21 December 21) but as a Geordie Bradfordian European human being she made me feel proud to be English (and undeniably northern).

Geoff Reid

Bradford, West Yorkshire

• I was referred to, affectionately I hope, as a lozzucker by locals when a student at York University in the 1960s, which suggests the term had wider provenance than the north-west (Letters, 21 December).

John Beresford

Cambridge

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