So more appointments to the House of Patronage (Sue Gray given peerage as Labour seeks to rebalance Lords, 20 December). And more ludicrous titles. A Labour government with a huge majority has a unique opportunity finally to sort out the Lords. All it requires is political will. The Blair government introduced a series of major constitutional reforms, but left the Lords as unfinished business. If this Labour government misses the reform opportunity, it will be a failure of historic proportions.
Tony Wright
Labour MP, 1992-2010
• As a lifelong red republican, I’m not an enthusiast for the monarchy. Even so, reading King Charles’s Christmas message (Report, 25 December), it did strike a rather more social-democratic tone than Keir Starmer managed. I wonder if Charles Windsor is considering a late career change to be leader of the Labour party?
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London
• Condensed milk, or “conny onny”, was a great treat in my 1950s childhood (Letters, 23 December). My grandfather, a shipbuilder, would take to work balls of conny onny rolled in tea leaves and wrapped in greaseproof paper. Added to hot water, they made tea ready milked and sugared. My brother and I helped Gran to finish off the tin of conny onny, eating it by the spoonful. Amazingly, we still have our own teeth.
Jean Davies
Liverpool
• Evaporated milk can be used to reduce the calorie count in a quiche. Whip it up into a mousse with an electric whisk and use it instead of cream.
Vivien Bailey
St Albans, Hertfordshire
• “Avanti West Coast train staff to strike on New Year’s Eve” said a headline in your print edition on 18 December. Shouldn’t Avanti be training them to work?
Barry Guise
Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
