Don't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

Slowly, but surely, a raft of reputable opinion polls reflect welcome rising support for independence.

Yet this could yet be undermined by that minority in the SNP determined to inflict politically correct laws on the public.

The proposal to ban smacking (against police advice) and the equal nonsense of allowing transgender people to self-ID as women (condemned by feminists) will antagonise many if not most.

We simply cannot have women’s refuges, changing rooms or prisons threatened by men declaring themselves to be women.

These woke wars must not allow defeat to be snatched from the jaws of victory.

John V Lloyd

Inverkeithing

COP26 needs a climate change

If indeed it is true that the UK Government has threatened to move the proposed COP26 climate change conference in November from Glasgow to London because of the SNP leader’s intransigence and demands for a reported £450 million, then who could possibly blame them?

Is it because the First Minister feels she is being somehow left out and sidelined when the big players are in town and perhaps there are not enough saltires being flown? Whatever is the case, few would be surprised at the huffy lack of co-operation and grievance-laden words.

In any case, is the conference supposedly to be not about flying flags but about helping to solve the climate change crisis – not another photo-op and ego trip for ambitious and obsessed politicians?

Alexander McKay

Edinburgh

SNP has heard

it all before

Hannah Rodger’s question “Does Derek Mackay scandal mark the beginning of the end for the SNP?” took me back almost 50 years to the South Ayrshire by-election, won by Labour with a majority of well over 10,000 votes and with the SNP in third place.

I seem to recall that the next day the Daily Record’s front page confidently predicted the end of the SNP while dominating the page was a picture of the SNP logo in the shape of a noose.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Ruth Marr

Stirling

The cost of independence?

We learn from the SNP that the cost of establishing a single Scottish governmental department (social security, agreed to be partially devolved in 2015) has doubled to £651 million – and the process is more complex and protracted than initially believed.

As Nicola Sturgeon keeps on claiming support for the UK break-up is growing, let’s recall Alex Salmond assuring us that start-up costs for creating a new country would be £200 million – £250m tops – and the entire process would take 18 months. Sturgeon insists she’ll share with us current cost and timeline estimates once an indyref2 date is confirmed.

Were this ever to happen, can we hope she’ll be substantially more accurate than her predecessor?

Martin Redfern

Edinburgh

Nobody is safe from this PM

Could it be that the story of Boris Johnson’s premiership will have all the elements of the tale of the scorpion and the frog?

Johnson has shown the knack of charming personnel to join his crusade and ditching them once they have served the purpose he needed them for.

If Dominic Cummings’s antennae are as perceptive as they were in his management of Johnson’s electoral victory, then maybe he will have suspicions that his services could soon be dispensed with so Johnson can move on to the next stage of his project as Prime Minister.

But if Johnson does turn on Cummings – and anything is surely possible after this week’s reshuffle – you have to wonder whether the man in the scruffy clothes will take Johnson down with him for his betrayal of the goals he thought they shared.

Duplicity, disguised by buffoonery, has been the hallmark of the Johnson project throughout his career.

So he could be “hoist by his own petard”.

Denis Bruce

Bishopbriggs

Was this really necessary?

I am referring to your cover story on Jack Schofield coming out as gay (Scottish Life, February 2).

I am asking this question – did you really need to plaster two entire pages of your article with the

half-naked picture of your “hero” to make the story ... what? More attractive? More credible? More acceptable?

Your “hero” is standing like a Roman emperor in his toga, defying the rest of the world. and one could be tempted to think that homosexuality is a form of narcissism.

Homosexuality needs acceptance from the rest of society. But glorification? No.

Gilberta Picken

Hamilton

Let’s get more autism-friendly

Most people don’t have to think twice about going to the cinema, but if you have autism it can be a stressful experience.

With 80% having felt excluded from society, we know how vital autism-friendly environments are in tackling this issue.

It is encouraging to see Government acknowledging the importance of this issue.

We’ve been campaigning for years for more autism-friendly environments, working in collaboration with cinemas – our regular autism-friendly screenings, which have been going since 2011 at over 300 cinemas nationwide have had over 454,000 visits.

We’ve seen first-hand how successful their initiatives can be, and while there is always more that can be done, we believe that is an achievement to be celebrated.

Dimensions’ research has found that over 90% of people with autism would go to the cinema more if there were more autism-friendly opportunities.

The industry is aware of the demand, and is working to provide more screenings across the whole country.

Our free training to help cinemas become autism-friendly is open to all, to ensure current and potential guests feel welcome and valued, and – in turn – help make society more inclusive.

Sarah Walters

Dimensions

Sheffield