I WAS surprised to read Richard Walker’s piece in Friday’s edition, criticising the publication by Wings Over Scotland of a picture with some snippy comments (There are some in Yes movement I can no longer stand side by side with, Sep 1). But that’s what Wings does. It pokes fun.

But what will he gain by no longer being prepared to stand with those who disagree with him on this? He obviously had not read Joanna Cherry’s article in the same edition of the paper, where she called for a truly inclusive movement rather than one which only includes the narrow band who agree with you on everything (Marches are fine but we need a policy reset to win people over to Yes, Sep 1).

The aggressive lobby for men to identify as women never held back on what they thought of us actual women, and never hid the kind of things they think we deserve, many of which were bordering on or actually criminal. We had to “wheesht for indy”, something they never had to do. Many were too scared of these vicious people so kept silent, to the point that we got to December 22 last year, the nadir when Scotland’s leading politicians bowed and scraped to the males in the Holyrood gallery who they had tried to declare to be more valid women than we are.

READ MORE: Not believing women isn't confined to the Spanish FA

After all, they would have been allowed to just say they were women, as would any man, however vicious his intentions, and the Scottish Government cared nothing for the women and girls it put in danger.

There are women who will never again vote for independence because of the gender antics of this government, and as for looking at their record of “good governance”, that has finally been shown to be the smoke and mirrors it always was.

I agree that the young are mostly on board with independence, so it appears obvious that it is the older generation we need to convince. Women and older people were largely unconvinced last time round. Women have had a wake-up call over the gender debacle, and when confronted by the possibility, very few in Scotland actually want their children or grandchildren subjected to males in changing rooms/toilets/school trips and so on. Most are horrified at the re-victimising of female domestic abuse victims and prisoners. And most recognise the inherent unfairness of self-ID taking women’s places in the boardroom, sports and politics.

READ MORE: Scottish Labour’s silence on gender reform is damning

Hence the emergence of the new parties, the first one of which was the Independence for Scotland Party (ISP). We believe gender reform is badly misguided, but also that the whole independence strategy has gone off-piste. The SNP appears to have little new to offer going forward. We intend to let people know where Scotland’s power really lies.

Scotland doesn’t need any more marches until we adopt a new strategy to win freedom rather than begging for crumbs from Westminster.

Julia Pannell
via email

SHONA Craven is right that political debate does not need ad hominem attacks (Nuanced debate needed – not more name-calling, Sep 5). The Equality Network and Scottish Trans are clear that there should be no place in Scottish politics for personalised abuse, attack or threat.

That view is reflected in our social media. But some of the replies on our socials are very different. The many “groomer”, “nonce”, “pervert” and “paedophile” slurs thrown at us in response to our standing up for trans equality are an attack not just on us, but on the wider LGBT community, and are unacceptable.

Tim Hopkins
Director, Equality Network