Surely now the SNP will halt conversion therapy bill

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government steams ahead with a conversion therapy bill that includes gender identity. This means that if a gender-questioning child declares they are trans, then any parent, teacher or therapist who does not automatically affirm this identity may face fines and up to seven years in prison.

Under such a ban, Dr Cass would be deemed a criminal because her recommendations (that clinicians adopt a more cautious, evidence-based approach to transitioning children) fall foul of the proposed “conversion practices” ban, which treats anything other than unchallenged affirmation of transgender status as bigotry and transphobia.

Thus, the recommendations of the Cass Review and the proposed conversion therapy ban are in direct conflict with one another. Gender transition is conversion therapy, practised against children who, as Dr Cass states, are most likely to grow up to be homosexual.

So, in light of the Cass Review, will the Scottish Government finally protect children and scrap the conversion therapy bill?

A Lindsay, Linlithgow.

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Myths about the LEZ

IT'S curious how people living outwith Glasgow argue against our clean air policy, ie the LEZ. Colin Mason from Kilmarnock (from where there is a good train service and express buses to Glasgow) highlights the fact that public transport is poor (Letters, April 10), so why isn't he campaigning for better public transport? He also uses a very spurious argument when he quotes friends from Kirkintilloch (East Dunbartonshire) who no longer ferry people to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

The reason he quotes, and possibly his friends have used, is because of the LEZ. But the LEZ operates over a limited area within the city centre, ie the area bounded by the Clyde, the Saltmarket and the High Street, and the M8 (though not including the motorway itself) so why would someone choose to make the journey from Kirkintilloch to the QEUH via the city centre?

However, if those people were to drive through the city centre, then they would see something that William Gold (Letters, April 10) appears to have missed, and that is the queues of black cabs outside Queen Street Station and in George Square.

It's sad that myths beat the facts but the facts often speak for themselves.

Patricia Fort, Glasgow.

The retail meltdown

I WAS horrified on a recent walk along Princes Street in Edinburgh at the total meltdown of retail, but this is repeated across the whole of the UK.

Why? Simple reasons: car parking charges, pedestrianisation, and generally “anti-car” opinions to the fore.

Those responsible should now realise they have killed our city and town centres through crazy short-termism.

Sir Brian Donohoe, Irvine.

Tesco profits a disgrace

THE latest figures from Tesco Group ("Surging profits see Tesco claim success in supermarket price war", The Herald, April 11) suggest that it over-estimated the impact of the cost pressures from supply chain issues, and the cost input for food. No matter how you measure it, it is a shocking figure, at a time when so many families are still struggling with the costs of energy and food inflation.

It is also disgraceful (although I am assured it is legal, although I don’t how, since the practice is bordering on a cartel) how the competition authorities allow the "big four" to simply match the basics of Aldi stores. If they want to compete on price they should compete on price, not just copy a rival. I would have thought that too was the very definition of cartel-type price fixing.

Francis Deigman, Erskine.

Slow motions

I WROTE a month ago about the need for public consultation over the possibility of a visitor levy. At the same time, I wrote to the Scottish Government asking for its projected timetable as I was keen to find out the likely time frame. I’ve just received its response which states, among other things, that “the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill was introduced into Parliament in May 2023. The Bill passed stage 1 on 16 January 2024, with Parliament agreeing to its general principles. The Bill passed stage 2 on 12 March 2024, when the committee considered amendments to the Bill. The Parliament will determine the timing of the third, and usually final, stage of consideration of the Bill. Taking into account the expected time for Parliamentary scrutiny, the need for consultation by a local authority before introducing the levy, and allowing time for business and local government to prepare to charge and collect the levy, it is likely that the earliest a visitor levy could come into place is 2026”.

The wheels of Government turn very slowly indeed.

Brian Watt, Edinburgh.

The 1958 picture of Paisley Cross (Image: Newsquest)

Unlucky lines

I NOTE with interest today's nostalgia picture ("Remember when a... A new line was taken in Paisley", The Herald, April 11) with a picture of Paisley Cross on May 7, 1958 when workers were occupied removing the tram lines to Glasgow. It reminded me of a story associated with St Mirren FC.

There was a time when the club had only won the Scottish Cup once, that is in 1926 when they defeated Celtic in the final. There was a prediction that they would only win the cup again when the trams left Paisley. They won it again in 1959 when they defeated Aberdeen. It as contended that although the trams had their final day of operation on May 11, 1957, it was some time after that before the tracks were removed at a number of localities in Paisley.

There was no such talk about trams and tramlines when they won the Cup again in 1987 against Dundee United.

For the avoidance of doubt, let me say that I only made attendance at two of these cup finals.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.