As someone who was forced – and I do mean forced – to eat kasha as a child (Super bowl, G2, 3 October), I can confirm that both I and my brother have suffered a lifetime’s trauma because of it. Offered it for breakfast a few years ago in Minsk, he fled the room – and my son ran after him and took up smoking that day. I was trapped and forced to eat their portions. This is the first time I have been able to talk about it. I can feel myself healing.

Clive Horbacki

Broadstairs, Kent

• Your photo caption tells us that Helen Mirren’s Russian ancestry makes her “the perfect casting choice” to play Catherine the Great (TV review, 4 October). Except, of course, that Catherine was German, born in Stettin – which is a significant part of this extraordinary story.

William Wallace

Liberal Democrat, House of Lords

• Re Huddersfield Town supporters (Letters, 1 October), in Derby, during a period of indifferent home performances, I naively asked a man in a black and white scarf if he was going to the match. He replied: “No! They didn’t come to see me when I was bad.”

Chris Osborne

West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire

• When I was serving on a destroyer as a national serviceman in the Royal Navy in the late 50s, the midday meal was officially called dinner (Letters, 4 October), but on many occasions the call came over the Tannoy: “Hands to dinner; national servicemen to lunch.” It was the same food, but at least we were not forgotten.

Nick Cockcroft

Weymouth, Dorset

• Did I hear the Who’s Baba O’Riley – aka “Teenage Wasteland” – being used as theme music for the Tory party conference? Says it all, really.

David Walker

Sheffield

• So much for the anti-establishment ethos of “We won’t get fooled again”. I feel betrayed, depressed, incredibly angry that the music of protest, of subversion, of freedom, has been harnessed by the behemoth of capitalism. RIP the Who.

Sarah Harding

Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire

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