IoS letters, emails and online postings (25 October 2015)

The reason adults need to know if a newborn baby is a boy or a girl is that girls and boys do not naturally grow up as “feminine” women and “masculine” men (“Only two sexes? That’s a barefaced lie” 18 October).

In order to preserve the status quo the adults have to keep hammering away at them from the first hour of their lives, impressing on them what their future roles must be. I’m told that now the scan tells parents the baby’s gender they speak to the baby in the womb in different ways too.

Some of us believe that society won’t descend into anarchy if we stop doing this. If we let children be just themselves for their first 10 years. We could stop referring to them as “boys” and “girls”, dress them in clothes that keep them warm and allow them to run, turn cartwheels and climb trees, without being hampered by notions of keeping clothes clean, or modesty. We could stop telling them they are “pretty” or “handsome” and say “beautiful” instead.

Intersex children would benefit hugely, and fewer children would begin to feel they were in the “wrong” body. I believe everyone else would also grow into happier, more well-balanced people, even those who currently manage to fit themselves into the box provided.

Henrietta Cubitt

Cambridge

Over the past months, supporters have contacted us with concerns about the felling of thousands of trees in Sheffield (“Hands off our trees, say Sheffield residents”, 17 October). Almost 14,000 people have signed a petition to save them.

More than 80 per cent of people in England and Wales now live in urban areas. Trees help combat pollution, reduce rainwater run off and flooding; and provide shade. They connect people with nature and create a sense of health and well-being.

Sheffield City Council state that all dangerous trees have been removed, so a pause in tree removal until a Trees and Woodland Strategy has been finalised would be sensible, and should be possible.

For each street tree lost, two should be planted. Preferably as close to the original site as possible; with species which mature to provide significant canopy cover. We hope the council will remain true to its traditions to protect and enhance Sheffield’s reputation as the most wooded city in the UK.

Nikki Williams

Head of campaigning, Woodland Trust

Grantham, Lincolnshire

Last week not only saw the opportunity to raise human rights issues with China but also Ethiopia. A Trade and Investment Forum with this troubled African nation took place in London on Wednesday. In attendance were the Ethiopian Foreign Secretary and UK minister Grant Shapps.

One would hope that among the issues raised would be the case of Andy Tsege, an opposition politician, given refuge and a passport by Britain but abducted by Ethiopian agents over a year ago, imprisoned and sentenced to death without trial. We can only speculate on the outcome but, judging by our government’s record, trade trumps human rights every time.

Alan Millington

Beverley, East Yorkshire

The financial problems George Osborne is so intent on solving through ruthless austerity were not caused by the people he is now seeking to punish. Those who did cause it have got off scot-free, and a lot of people are angry at this injustice. Now the tide is turning, and it is to be hoped those in power are listening.

Sierra Hutton-Wilson

Evercreech, Somerset

George Osborne suggests we are “living beyond our means” and must cut tax credits or risk going bust. We should cut the £100bn commitment to nuclear weapons instead.

Brendan O’Brien

London N21

Always dangerous to apply futurology retrospectively to films such as Back to the Future (“The DeLorean, an idea whose time has come”, 18 October). “They did not predict the internet ...” They didn’t have to, since it had already been invented.

Brian Smith

Berlin, Germany