A step back in time

Three decades ago, a phrase first used by others – "political correctness" – was co-opted by small-c conservatives, and used to attempt to ridicule commitments to gender equality, race equality and gay equality. Now, gender, race and gay equality are widely accepted principles in Scotland, though with further to go in implementation.

It is disappointing to see Iain Macwhirter, in his comment piece The Herald on Sunday (December 22), recycle this tactic, with "woke" replacing politically correct, and trans equality playing the part once played by gay equality. Attempts to ridicule don't much help reasoned debate.

Applying reason, Iain Macwhirter's claim that Jo Swinson lost her seat because of her support for trans equality makes no sense when one considers that more outspoken supporters like Mhairi Black increased their majorities. Nicola Sturgeon made clear her support for gender recognition for trans people by a statutory declaration system, during the election campaign, and won a landslide.

Trans equality is of course not a priority for most voters. But, in addition to health, education, the economy, etc, is also the job of government to address legal barriers faced by smaller numbers of people, so that the benefits of those policies can reach everyone. We look forward to reasoned debate and continued progress on trans equality in Scotland.

Tim Hopkins

Equality Network

Edinburgh

JK Rowling's treatment at the tweets of the Taliban trolls of transgenderism over her defence of Maya Forstater's belief that people can't really change their sex has to be abhorred.

Furthermore Forstater's belief is incontrovertibly correct, no matter what the legal judgment was.

All that those intent on transformation can do is to mask the biological sex imposed on them by nature through puberty blockers, major reconstructive surgery and lifelong hormonal medication to hold the power of nature at bay. To be born with either the XY or YY chromosomes defines the biological sex of the individual for a lifetime.

No one can rid themselves of that fixed and innate chromosomal programme which can only be camouflaged and overridden by the methods mentioned above to allow the individual to be passed off as a member of the opposite gender to the individual's inbuilt biological sex.

Denis Bruce

Bishopbriggs

Picking and choosing a mandate

Reader Keith Howell takes issue with Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP for suggesting that the recent general election result in Scotland is a mandate for another independence referendum ("Remember the majority, Nicola," Letters, December 22). He writes: “Being dismissed by our First Minister as if we do no exist is a common experience for all the 55% of people in Scotland who did not vote for the SNP in the General Election.”

Using this logic, he could equally have written "Being dismissed by our Westminster Government as if we do not exist will be a common experience for all the 55% of people in the UK who did not vote for the Conservatives in the General Election". Or perhaps "Being dismissed by our Westminster Government as if we do not exist has been a common experience for all the 62% of people in Scotland who voted against leaving the EU".

Mr Howell also states confidently that “for the majority in Scotland there is no appetite for another referendum any time soon”. How exactly does he know this?

Douglas Morton

Lanark

Where has Keith Howell been during the General Election campaign? Mr Howell contends that Nicola Sturgeon "has chosen to treat every vote for her party as support for imposing another independence referendum on us all".

May I remind him that from the day the election was called Ms Sturgeon could not have made herself clearer; she announced that she was putting a second independence referendum at the heart of the SNP's campaign. Indeed, not only did Ms Sturgeon put it at the heart of her campaign, the Tories put stopping it at the heart of theirs, and talked of little else.

The result; the SNP romped to victory, winning 80 per cent of Scotland's Westminster seats.

Ruth Marr

Stirling

Referring to Clark Cross's letter regarding benefit fraud (Herald on Sunday, December 22), I would say that there is more public money stolen by the rich, with their transfer of funds to tax havens, and their tax avoidance/evasion, than has ever been "stolen" by the poor, the under-privileged, the disabled, the aged, the weak, the infirm who claim benefits.

But no need for Mr Cross to worry, Boris will have no difficulty in bringing back the workhouse and dumping the so-called fraudsters back to where they should stay – oblivion – so that they don't disturb the wealthy.

Margaret Forbes

Kilmacolm

What's the connection?

I travelled from Dusseldorf to Essen this week in the 300kph "ICE" train. The service is run by Abellio Germany along with 113 other trains on 22 lines serving 110,000 passengers a day. They seem to do this so well that in 2020 they will run 275 trains on 49 lines serving 260,000 passengers a day.

Jim McColl, owner of ferry builders Ferguson, has been an outstanding industrialist and entrepreneur, creating £1.5bn annual revenues at Clyde Blowers and is a member of the SNP's Economic Advisory Board.

McColl and Abellio hit the buffers when it came to doing business with the SNP.

Is there a connection?

Allan Sutherland

Stonehaven

Stop printing these pictures

Why oh why are ridiculous photo shoots of the royals published by quality newspapers? For example the one in your paper last week, with four generations of the family baking for the Royal British Legion`s Together at Christmas.

In all their finery with not one rolled-up sleeve between them, rather than standing behind proper bakers. Surely no one is fooled into believing that anyone, other than Prince George, got their hands dirty in this family publicity stunt and I am sure the British Legion could have gained as much, if not more, publicity by other means.

George Dale

Beith

Off the rails

Not content with falling standard in the NHS, education and Police Scotland and the unbudgeted cost to taxpayers of Prestwick Airport, plus the extra fortunes needed to complete the CalMac ferries contract and an IT system for Disclosure Scotland which was twice the original budget, this SNP government want to run Scotland's railways.

Add on the emerging and costly multi-million-pound problems at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Sick Kids facility in Edinburgh and it is obvious the Scottish Government cannot be trusted with a model railway far less the real thing.

Clark Cross

Linlithgow

Let's march on London

On the off chance that Boris Johnson didn’t quite catch what the Scottish electorate said on December 12, might I suggest the next march for independence is held in London rather than Edinburgh or Glasgow ?

Andy Sloan

Perth