THE BIG STORIES
Civic Scotland left scrambling by gender verdict | Trump ups attack on Harvard | Life on distant planet?

📣 The Supreme Court was unanimous: the words “women” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act refer to biological women.

That decision, a defeat for the Scottish Government, draws the line under years of often poisonous debate in Scotland - and throws the equality policies of much of civic Scotland into disarray.

We round up some of the commentary on the debate later in today’s Early Line. Here, first, the news reporting on a dramatic day, and analysis on its implications.

• Supreme Court backs ‘biological’ definition of a woman (BBC)

• “The court's decision will have huge consequences for how single-sex spaces and services operate across the UK, experts said today.” (Daily Mail)

• “Every organisation in Britain has been told to revisit their equality policies after the country’s highest court ruled that trans women were not legally women.” (The Times £)

• Full list of SNP Government guidelines that could be overhauled (The Sun)

• Here’s the musical reference in today’s subject line explained, for those aged <50 years old… (YouTube)

📣 The Trump administration will escalate its attack on US Universities by targeting their vast financial investments, especially those in areas disapproved of by the White House, including clean energy and China. (Semafor)

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is threatening to strip Harvard University of its ability to enroll international students if it doesn’t turn over records on international students’ “illegal and violent activities,” (CNN)

• Harvard is setting up a showdown with Trump, as other US universities rally in support (Guardian)

📣 Scientists have found new “but tentative” evidence of life on a distant planet. A Cambridge team has detected signs of molecules which, on Earth, are only produced by simple organisms. (BBC)

IDEAS
Joy, and despair, as the Supreme Court defines a woman in law

🗣️ The Supreme Court’s decision that “women” and “sex” in the Equality Act of 2010 refer to a biological woman was a seismic decision which simultaneously drew a line under years of poisonous debate in Scotland, and threw the status of a small number of vulnerable people into question.

🗣️Susan Dalgety, in The Scotsman, has been the highest-profile gender-critical columnist over several years: she writes of a gathering of For Woman Scotland campaigners at a secret location in Edinburgh (where they meet in public these women attract richly unpleasant counter-protests). When the verdict arrived, “the room erupted in cheers, as if Scotland had just won the World Cup,” one attendee said.

“But amid the cheers were tears, lots of tears,” writes Dalgety. “Women, ordinary women[…] had sacrificed the last eight years of their lives – and often their families’ – to prove, once and for all, that sex is immutable, that being female is not a choice, or an identity, but a biological fact.

“Women lost their livelihoods, some were even hounded by former colleagues for their views. They were insulted as ‘bigots’ by the most powerful woman in the country at the time, Nicola Sturgeon. Some, like author J K Rowling and former SNP minister Ash Regan risked their reputations defending what turned out to be a legal, as well as biological, fact.” (The Scotsman)

🗣️Joanna Cherry KC, the former SNP MP and frontbencher, has also been a consistent supporter of the feminist and lesbian rights campaigners who fought, at some personal cost, against her party’s attempts to change the status of trans people.

In the Herald, she writes that yesterday’s verdict was “a huge vindication” for them and their campaign “to establish that the rights of women and lesbians should not have to play second fiddle to the rights of men who wish to identify as women.

“Those who have used their positions of power to misrepresent us should acknowledge the judgment and apologise for their behaviour. And yes, frankly, I am looking at you Nicola Sturgeon.” (The Herald)

🗣️Away from the joy, despair. In The Scotsman, Vic Valentine - manager of Scottish Trans - captures the dismay of Trans people at the verdict. “Trans people are your friends, your family, your neighbours and your colleagues – and we just want to be able to go about our daily lives, have privacy and choice about sharing something so personal about ourselves, and be recognised as who we truly are,” writes Valentine.

“That is something most people can take for granted. It is not clear that trans people can do that with the same confidence today that we have been able to for the past 20 years.” (The Scotsman)

Also…

Jolyon Maugham KC: “The Supreme Court’s decision has made me ashamed of my profession and ashamed of what our law has become.” (The Independent)

Julie Bindel: “Many liberals jumped on board the transactivist train, and betrayed us by failing to apply any critical thinking.” (The Mail)

Alex Massie: “And so, at long last, an era of magical thinking comes to an end. Words retain their customary meaning and “sex” is a matter of biological fact not identification or some kind of fashionable conduit to fantastical self-realisation.” (The Times £)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay will urge the SNP to drop its opposition to nuclear energy in a speech later today. (The Scotsman)

📣 Kevin Laing, head of Edinburgh Council’s Liberal Democrat group, has been made interim chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland. He will be stepping back from his political role. (The Herald)

📣 A man who flew into Edinburgh Airport from Mexico claiming he’d only brought back sombreros was jailed for 10 years yesterday after being found guilty of also bringing in £5 million worth of cocaine. (STV)

📣 The US Consulate in Edinburgh - in Regent Terrace for 74 years, and the city for 200 - looks likely to fall victim to Elon Musk’s cost-cutting. (Daily Mail)

AROUND THE UK

📣 UK officials are labelling trade documents “secret” to shield them from US eyes in the wake of Donald Trump’s trade war. (The Guardian has the exclusive)

📣 British tourists are now forbidden from bringing meat and cheese back from Europe. The measures are to protect UK farms from foot and mouth. (Independent)

📣 Talks to end the Birmingham bin strike have collapsed without a deal. Negotiations will now restart after the Easter break. (BBC)

AROUND THE WORLD

🌎 Israel says it will keep troops in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. That will have signficiant implications in the region. (AP)

🌎 European and US diplomats will meet in Paris today to discuss the war in Ukraine - the highest-level talks on the subject since February. (BBC)

🌎 Two Belgian teenagers have been charged with wildlife piracy in Kenya after attempting to smuggle thousands of ants packed in test tubes. (AP)

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

💰 The chair of the US Federal Reserve has given his starkest warning yet on the potential economic impact of Donald Trump’s policies. (CNN)

💰 BP will face conflicting demands from its shareholders today at its AGM, with some calling for a faster move away from its green agenda… and others upset at its growth in fossil fuel. (Daily Business)

💰 Trading in two obscure New York-listed stocks surged in the weeks before Trump family members were appointed to their boards. Experts view that as “clealry unusual”. (FT £)

💰 Gold surged to a record high yesterday: here’s why. (Investopedia)

SPORT

⚽️ Rangers have the last four of the Europa League within grasp tonight: an almost surreal statement, given the depths of their domestic season, but true thanks to their Thursday night transformations in Europe. But they’ll need another huge performance tonight to beat Athletic Bilbao at San Memes.

• Rangers captain James Tavernier has never been able to watch back the Europa league final of 2022… but will use it as inspiration in the Basque Country tonight. (Daily Record)

• Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde has compared Rangers winger Vaclav Cerny to a bullet ahead of the game. “He’s very precise when it comes to defining moments. He's a player that in the space can hurt you.” (The Sun)

• A huge Scottish contingent has made the trip (The Sun)

• The game is at 8pm on TNT Sports 2.

⚽️ Arsenal completed an incredible 5-1 rout of reigning European champions Real Madrid last night, adding a 2-1 win at the Bernabéu to their handsome 3-0 win from the home leg. (The Guardian)