The Spectator

Time to rehabilitate Sir: The issue of whether or not ‘Prison works’ is confused in your leading article (19 June) with the broader arguments about reducing the National Offender Management Service’s £5 billion budget. Even if the £2 billion of annual public expenditure on prisons was left largely intact, there is scope for savings and other benefits in localising the punishment and aftercare of offenders with much more input from voluntary and community groups. Such a localisation policy could result in better and less costly services in this part of the criminal justice system, provided sentencing reform was part of the package.

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers' Wall. For those who haven't come across the Wall before, it's a post we put up each Monday, on which - providing your writing isn't libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency - you'll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there's no need to stay 'on topic' - which means you'll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There's also no constraint on the length of what you write - so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything's fair game - from political stories in your local paper, to chat about the latest football results.

Let Turkey join the EU Sir: There are many answers to your editorial ‘Turkish menace’ (12 June) — but perhaps the one that serves its purpose best is: ‘EU asked for it’. Turks feel, quite simply, that they have been insulted by the EU in the way their membership application has been endlessly delayed, while dubious ex-communist countries like Bulgaria and Romania have been given the red carpet treatment. And the ultimate insult is to allow Greek Cyprus, with a population one hundredth that of Turkey, to dominate the proceedings, demanding that the Turks stand to attention while what they regard as insult after insult is flung in their face. The EU is, admittedly, in distinguished company.

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers' Wall. For those who haven't come across the Wall before, it's a post we put up each Monday, on which - providing your writing isn't libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency - you'll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there's no need to stay 'on topic' - which means you'll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There's also no constraint on the length of what you write - so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything's fair game - from political stories in your local paper, to chat about the latest football results.

Christian values Sir: I have no inside track on the organisational perils of the Pope’s visit described by Damian Thompson (‘Spinning the Pope’, 5 June) though, as a career civil servant, I am more inclined to the cock-up than to the conspiracy theory of government and see no reason why Church affairs should be any different. The issue about whether the Pope should address himself while in Britain to global issues rather than to specifically Roman Catholic preoccupations is more germane. There are still millions of Catholic faithful in the UK. But there are even more millions of non-Catholics and non-Christians for whom the Pope’s relevance, other than as a VIP, is a case waiting to be made.

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers' Wall. For those who haven't come across the Wall before, it's a post we put up each Monday, on which - providing your writing isn't libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency - you'll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there's no need to stay 'on topic' - which means you'll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There's also no constraint on the length of what you write - so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything's fair game - from political stories in your local paper, to chat about the latest football results.