Before Lizzie Cernik puts everybody off online dating (Dating burnout: meet the people who ditched the apps – and found love offline, 18 January), let me suggest you reinstate Guardian Soulmates, which was by far the most reliable dating site. I met interesting and gracious men, who were invariably socialists too, which was always my top priority. I’m now 83 and in a loving and equal relationship. I was lucky to be able to use Soulmates.
Jude McGowan
London
One morning, in the 1980s, I phoned BT directory enquiries and asked the operator if she knew a recipe for bread sauce, as I was cooking a Christmas lunch for the first time (Letters, 16 January). She kindly helped me out, and later that evening phoned me back to ask how it went.
Colin Davies
London
Did the Tories get an early bite at the ChatGPT chatbot (Report, 13 January)? Writing to my MP on diverse subjects, I get back closely typed, two-page replies that resemble each other but are empty of content. Just wondering.
Jenny Tillyard
Seaford, East Sussex
In reply to Ian Grieve’s question (Letters, 20 January), tortoises most certainly can’t swim. As a child my husband demonstrated this by putting Torty in a bucket of water, which sank. Fortunately, Torty lived to tell the tale, dying fairly recently aged about a hundred. My son announced his passing by proclaiming: “The oldest member of the family has died.”
Ros Clayton
York
