ON the first Gray Day (February 25, as featured in the Herald Magazine article "What a difference a day makes, February 20), it is worth remembering that it was Alasdair Gray who first prised open the doors of the Winter Gardens of the People's Palace, Glasgow Green, in 1978 after 12 years of closure, with his Continuous Glasgow Show. This was an exhibition of 30 portraits of contemporary Glaswegians, known and unknown, painted by Gray, who had joined the museum staff on a Jobs Creation programme. At that time the People's Palace was in poor condition with a low visitor profile. The Winter Gardens had been closed in 1966 pending demolition.

The invitation to the opening brought several hundred guests, struggling along icy paths on a cold January day to see Alasdair's contribution and celebrate the 80th birthday of the People's Palace. As the paintings are the single biggest collection of Gray's work owned by any Scottish institution, and made not without resistance, it is irritating to see them displayed in other venues and erroneously described as "purchased".

The opening day was was a turning point in the museum's history and Alasdair Gray remained a firm supporter. In the last year of his life, he refused a civic award on the grounds that he did not agree with the way the People's Palace had been treated, following the closure of the Winter Gardens on December 31, 2018.

Covid-19 has thrown a question mark over the re-opening of the People's Palace. It is evident that it will take much effort and money to make the building functional again. Nevertheless, there is a will to see it happen, and when it does, Glasgow will have a second Gray Day to celebrate every January 22 – the anniversary of its opening in 1989.

Elspeth King, Glasgow.

ENERGY FIRMS' SMOKE AND MIRRORS

IN your article on the continuing investment into coal, oil and gas by pension funds ("Councils invest millions in fossil fuel firms despite climate fears", The Herald, February 25), some of the fund managers reiterated the old argument that divestment is a blunt tool, and they are activist investors.

This engagement strategy clearly isn't working, because although many fossil fuel companies have made net zero commitments, they are still investing billions into oil and gas exploration, and starting new extraction projects. None of the eight largest companies is even close to being in line with the Paris Agreement. Almost all their money and infrastructure is still tied up in fossil fuels, and they are using smoke and mirrors, for instance by promoting "breakthrough technologies" such as carbon capture and storage, which they say will mitigate the effects of continuing to burn these fuels. But such technologies are still unproven and will simply not be ready soon enough to avert catastrophic damage to our planet if we carry on as we are.

The conversion ratio of carbon to carbon dioxide is 1-3.7, meaning that for every ton of carbon we burn we must take 3.7 tonnes out of the atmosphere. Otherwise the climate will keep changing. There is no way round this.

I am a member of the Strathclyde pension fund, which has up until now performed very well in providing pensions, but I can see there is a strong likelihood of fossil fuel assets becoming stranded before long. Speaking as a grandmother, I note that on the same day as your article was published hundreds of Israeli soldiers and volunteers were cleaning up long stretches of their Mediterranean beaches after an oil spill, and David Attenborough was giving his most stark warning yet. I know who I trust.

Geraldine Clayton, Glasgow.

LIVESTOCK COULD HELP CLIMATE CHANGE

I AGREE wholeheartedly with Claire Taylor’s excellent piece ("From farm to fork, producing meat can be an ethical pursuit", The Herald, February 23).

In centuries gone by, upwards of 30 million bison roamed the prairies of North America. Yet these prairies had the most carbon-rich soils on earth. It was only when the so-called pioneers arrived and wiped out the bison and cultivated the land that all this carbon was lost to the atmosphere, leading eventually to the dust bowl of the 1930s.

Today in America most of the beef is produced from cattle kept in feedlots and fed on grain grown on the former prairies and often transported hundreds of miles to be fed to the animals. This is madness, exacerbating climate problems and producing inferior beef.

Livestock today could emulate the bison if so-called mob stocking was employed, especially in the Americas. This involves short periods of intense grazing interspersed with periods of stock exclusion, allowing the grass to recover using the fertiliser left by the animals. This would return huge quantities of carbon to the soil where it belongs.

Thankfully, most Scottish meat is produced in a superior way, with grazing being commonly employed. Here, fields where livestock graze generally have a higher carbon content than in arable fields with no livestock grazing.

Livestock could be part of the answer to climate change if the correct practices are employed.

Jim Macfarlane, Berwickshire.

WHAT'S UP, DOC?

IT comes as no surprise that a fresh study into the links between different occupations and drinking has revealed that those who work in “skilled trade occupations” drink the most and that medical practitioners are in the group which drink the least ("Plasterers most likely in the UK to get plastered", The Herald, February 24 ).

However, I know there are some who believe that one definition of an alcoholic is someone who drinks more than his doctor, and recall a much-loved GP many years ago credited as an “awfy guid doctor when he’s sober”.

R Russell Smith, Largs.