BRIAN Beacom writes: "Can we applaud the news Cinderella is now a man?" (The Herald, October 24). I say no, we cannot. There is such a thing as tradition which is the glue that holds society together. At least for most of my generation it is, and one of the greatest traditions is the female principal boy and the male pantomime dame.

In the 1940s my local church put on pantos each Christmas; I was actually a fairy in one of them. The scenery and costumes were made by our mums and dads; the music (piano and drums) was provided by two other dads and the two principals were a brother and sister. Each year she was the boy and he was the dame and they were brilliant, but what their ex-army father, who read the lessons in church on Sundays, thought of them, I shudder to think.

The drums would roll, the ice-machine produce great clouds of mist and on would leap the demon king scaring us out of our wits, but the fairy-queen with her magic wand would do battle with him, to the sound of the thunder and lightning machine, and eventually sort him out. Then on it went until the final chorus when even the demon king was forgiven; for after all it was a church panto. The next day most of the adults on stage would be singing in the church choir.

So: no. Tradition says we keep the male dame and female principal boy, and Cinderella is always played by a female. Let the males play Buttons. Stop turning the world upside-down for goodness sake.

The Brexit panto (General Election) is almost upon us so I wonder who, from the motley crew in Downing Street, will play the dame and the back-end of the pantomime horse?

Thelma Edwards, Kelso.