Let’s teach children how to cook first | Brief letters

Regarding core subjects in the curriculum (Report, 4 November), I went to a girls’ grammar school in the 1950s and had no domestic science teaching as we were told: “You will get a good degree and then a good job, or a rich husband.” When I was teaching life skills in a further education college, I ensured that young people could produce at least two or three meals, like spag bol. This may be more useful than mortgage information?
Liz Thompson
Oxford

I recently received a letter from the DWP informing me that, for the first time, I will be receiving the winter fuel payment. But the small print says that if I earn over a certain amount, it will claim it back through my tax code. Surely, if it has enough information to work out that I earn too much and claim it back, it has enough information not to give it to me in the first place.
Bill Onwusah
Leyton, London

I was surprised to read that Michelle Obama faced hostility over her appearances in sleeveless dresses (Michelle Obama’s book details how the media’s fixation on her arms was used to ‘otherize’ her, 5 November). I thought the second amendment protected the right to bare arms?
Ian West
Broseley, Shropshire

Dr Neil Denby wonders what “narrow daylight” looks like (Letters, 3 November). With a Yorkshire address, he doesn’t have long to wait: January will tell him.
Colin Graham
Twickenham, London

Guardian letter writers – they’re cool (Letters, 4 November).
Mike Lowcock
Sandbach, Cheshire