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I am surprised by your report that children from more affluent families are more successful than those from poor families at getting on to many university courses ("Subjects slot into class divide", April 30).

It seems that the advantaged children of rich people such as social workers, teachers and lecturers (all in the top three social classes) are having a better time of it than disadvantaged kids of impoverished people such as property developers and film stars (in class four).

Farther down the class scale, plumbers and electricians, many on as little as ?50,000 a year, also seem to suffer - doubtless because they can't afford to live near good comprehensives and have to make do with sending their kids to selective fee-paying "sink schools" where only 99 per cent of pupils go on to university.

If such studies are received so uncritically in the serious press, God help us when Offtoff gets going.

Richard Austen-Baker
Leeds University