I HAVE just read Mhairi Black complain of the alleged abuse that trans people reported they received at an SNP meeting (Black ‘transphobia’ action call, June 30). It would be interesting to know how it compares to abuse given to the women who have spoken out against the amendments which were proposed for the GRA reform bill, now postponed in Scotland and dropped in England. The trans activists have managed to attain a very vocal presence in the Scottish Government and are pushing aggressively for changes of which the general public have no knowledge.

The present Gender Recognition Act gives transwomen the same rights as any women. It was only weeks before Holyrood was going to pass these amendments that a friend alerted me to the changes they wished to make. The main one is that a man who says HE identifies as a woman can, after three-six months, be given a certificate which confirms this! HE would not need to seek medical, emotional, hormonal therapy or surgery.

READ MORE: Mhairi Black challenges Nicola Sturgeon over 'transphobia in the SNP'

Most people have no issues with genuine transwomen, whom I think are just as upset by these activists as those that are accused of being transphobic. They are already amongst us and having gone through the transition. This brings the second area of concern. To make life easier for these men who self-ID as transwomen, they want neutral toilets, restrooms and changing rooms etc. The toilet situation is already happening, and many women have been made to feel very uncomfortable and avoid them.

They also want to lower the age of young people making this transition from 18 to 16 years. The Tavistock in London prescribes drug treatment to delay puberty, so we are talking about children. No-one knows how this will affect their body development, apart from sexual.

All of this is the thin edge of the wedge. It, they, ze and zer are just some of pronouns they wish YOU to use to describe them. No wonder JK Rowling questioned the article referring to “people who menstruate”, as if women were some sub species! Of course she was wrongly called transphobic, and the abuse she received was vicious.

In my opinion, vociferous trans activists vote SNP for their own personal agenda as the party has accommodated them thus far, but conversely SNP may lose future votes from many women, fathers, husbands and brothers if they continue on this course.

Name and address supplied

I’M truly disappointed in the lazy and unnecessary way that The National portrayed the rise to power of Hamas in Gaza on Tuesday (Human rights chief hits out at West Bank plan). You state “Israel captured all three areas (West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip) in the 1967 war, although it withdrew from Gaza in 2005, clearing the way for Hamas militants to seize control in 2007.”

This is a total misrepresentation of the facts. Following the Israeli withdrawal, the Palestinian Authority called elections in the area in 2006. Hamas won a majority of the seats in that election. Their rivals in Fatah refused to accept the result and a brief civil war broke out between supporters of the two parties; hundreds died. By mid 2007, Hamas were able to take the control that they had won through the ballot box, and set about running the area. Their focus on feeding the people and providing schools and hospitals cemented their popularity among the people living in Gaza.

I could see no need for the derogatory reference to Hamas, or indeed any reference at all, in the story. The story should simply have been that Israel, with the help of the US, look increasingly likely to ignore international law, and to annex the West Bank and to further hurt the future of the Palestinian people.

Paul Robison
Dundee

MAY I please have one last go at clearing up misunderstandings with Douglas Turner (Letters, July 1)?

Firstly, I agree with his latest letter where he says “small countries were able to finance the cost associated with dealing with the pandemic because they were independent”, though that was not how he put it in his previous letter.

READ MORE: Letters, July 1

Secondly, my mention of Richard Murphy did not refer to borrowing but to the ability of an independent country in control of its own currency and of the banks to create the money it needs. Indeed, Murphy goes further and explains it is not necessary for a country in this position to resort to taxation before it can spend.

Andrew M Fraser
Inverness

THE article in Tuesday’s edition on the Gordon Riots was very interesting (The riots that made Scots lord into a legend, June 30) and after reading it I started to examine the illustration. I use the digital edition, which allows a clear blow up of items, and in this case I was fascinated on examining the foreground figures to observe that they had a mysterious addition to their legs. 

READ MORE: The Gordon Riots: How a Scots lord became a legend

No matter how much I examined them I could not arrive at any kind of meaning. They seemed to have a kind of pole attached to their ankles which seemed to go up behind their backs. Could any reader have an explanation?

Jim Gibson
Selkirk