THE rear facades, facing Sauchiehall Street, of Charles Rennie Mackintosh`s buildings for Glasgow School of Art, as shown today ("Mackintosh's own words brought to life in play inspired by art school blaze", The Herald, April 10) are masterly and equal in international importance as the exquisite frontage to Renfrew Street. The two rears, in themselves, outshine the lifeless Reid Block in which the school now carries out its duties.

If you excuse the strange grammar, the area in front of the rears should be cleared of their fire-ravaged buildings with any remaining retailers rehoused in vacant buildings of their choice – a large selection exists. This site, looked over by the Macintosh jewels, could become a public square, enhancing the attempts to revive Sauchiehall Street – perhaps to be named Sauchiehall Square. This would also help reawaken its neighbour on the eastern flank, the wantonly under-used McLellan Galleries which continue to be unloved by its operator Glasgow Life. Public squares are social spaces, environmental escapes and a mark of civilisation. If planned well the square could also house, on occasion, some of the events which currently are squeezed around the statues in the western half of George Square.

Insurance funds are available to re-site ravaged operators, heritage funding is available, community buy-out funding is available and is not restricted only to rural areas. Government and civic funding could bridge any gap. A new civic asset for the pleasure of citizens and visitors. A new open space, for posterity. What a novelty...

Our Victorian forefathers knew how to create numerous major parks and a bounty of squares for the public good. We could try, at least once, to do the same.

Presently the Scottish Government and the city council are led by the SNP. Vision and doing could come together.

Graeme Smith,

12 Greenlaw Road, Newton Mearns.

Strachan is over-rated

CONGRATULATIONS to Neil Cameron on his excellent article lambasting the thoughts of Gordon Strachan (“What Strachan said was abhorrent”, Herald Sport, April 10).

As a Celtic fan I well remember him turning his ire on the Celtic support after they booed the team off the park after a run of poor displays – he insinuated that the ordinary football supporter knew nothing about tactics, substitutions or what makes a good player. Only if you were a professional could you pontificate upon such. His dreary and boring sarcastic replies to TV interviewers bordered on a slap across the chops. Little do people realise that when he arrived at Celtic Park, Rangers had their worst team in their history and on the brink of administration. I could have managed Celtic at the time.

With his thoughts and words regarding racism, sex abuse and why the Scottish nation are so wee, and goodness knows what else, he should never be allowed near a microphone, not even pontificating about football. He has for years been over-rated.

Tom Gill,

51 Mains River, Erskine.

Not masterful

IAN Boyes (Letters, April 10) is quite right to note that the gerundival adjective passed away with Latin, the participle taking over. The nearest approach today might be “Our giving Prime Minister”, prompting visions of OHMS-wrapped appeasement parcels of red lines being handed in to pivotal statesmen like Sir Keir Starmer, though none, I fear, for the Right Hon. Ian Blackford. I was dismayed, however,at Mr Boyes’s ending “...talk was masterful”, which mistakes “masterful” for “masterly”.