Indeed, the Prison Service's newly-published Corporate Plan reveals that the average time prisoners spend in purposeful activity has already fallen by four per cent.STEPHEN SHAWDirectorPrison Reform TrustLondon EC1. And performance since the Prison Service became an agency has been first-rate, notwithstanding the obsessive interference of Home Office Ministers.Much of this is now at risk. The Service deserves much greater public recognition than it has ever received for the speed with which recommendations in the Woolf report were implemented. Prison regimes at risk Sir: The saddest feature of the current prison scene so powerfully described by Polly Toynbee ("How long before Howard's prisons burst?", 22 May) is that, until the last year or so, the Prison Service was making tremendous progress. Jails today are unrecognisable from the conditions obtained in the late 1980s.

The British Council's work is different: it is as much about learning from others as marketing our own cultural heritage. We gain respect overseas by presenting ourselves honestly and as a country with something to learn from cultural exchange. From what I saw in China, the British Council understands that very well.SARAH BOOTHWest Kirby, Merseyside. The Council there represented a place where women overseas could go to learn who was doing what in their field in Britain. The Council I saw was clear that its task was to bring, in this case, women together across international boundaries to share experiences for the mutual benefit of all parties, Britain included. It is a great pity that it is so hard to put a price on the social and political benefits of international learning and exchange. The Foreign Office exists to sell Britain as politicians want others to see us The DTI exists to promote what we produce. Rather this than an unaccountable, self-proclaimed arbiter of taste.ROWAN CARSTAIRSManaging DirectorGeneral Education GroupGuildford, Surrey.

This is the real world of creating export earnings, ensuring cultural relevance and representing Britain as it is.The Council's pounds 131m government grant would be better spent on the artistic and cultural fabric of Britain: on theatre companies and galleries, on the film industry and the environment.The work of promoting Britain should be left to those who are the true representatives of British contemporary culture, language and history; those who "market" Britain professionally and with integrity and who are happy to take the financial risk as well as the reward attached to their work. Sir: Your leader article of 21 May ("Wanted: a modern British patriotism") regrettably does not describe the British Council I saw in operation last year at the 1995 Beijing Conference for Women. We work to encourage tourists and students to come to Britain in order to learn and enjoy our country and its language. To most people in Britain the British Council is simply a rather vague overseas operation which basks in the reflected glory of the past.The Council does not have a monopoly on high-mindedness: in the private sector we feel very confident in promoting Britain as an integral part of our business interests, which in my case include language and management training in Britain and internationally. The Council imposes its own selective judgement on taste and standards, representing only organisations and activities that it "recognises".The Council promotes its own view of what British culture should be and not the culture that actually exists in this changing society.

Clearly this could not be the case for individuals on the same course at the same university. However, the logic of this argument would lead one to the extremely complex and subjective route of "pricing" courses and universities.MARK HIGGINBOTTOMLondon SW4. British Council: a selective judge Sir: Those in the private sector who labour to promote Britain and the English language overseas know the British Council to be rather more of a restrictive censor than a conduit for contemporary British culture and ideas. Sir John Hanson's comment ("Cultural ambassadors face curb on global crusade", 21 May) that the profile of the British Council is a "a very small one in Britain" is a telling one. Clearly, other factors have an effect, for example hard work, ability, fortunate opportunity. Higher earners are already paying tax on differential earnings gained for these reasons.The observation that it is unfair that a teacher and a merchant banker would pay the same contribution to their education is only true if the incremental opportunity they have each gained is different. So what's the solution from the Digby School of Etiquette? Polish your shoes - it will teach you self-discipline. Urinate only in public toilets marked "Ladies," or "Gentlemen" (never Men or Women).