YOUR political diary (Unspun, The Herald, May 30) suggested that I should not expect a Christmas card from the Justice Secretary, Michael Matheson, in view of the evidence I provided to the Justice Committee last Wednesday in its consideration of the Prisoners (Control of Release) Bill.

Perhaps you are right, but I suspect you do him an injustice.

I spent last Thursday and Friday at the International Symposium to Consider the Future of Custody for Women in Scotland organised by the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Government. Mr Matheson opened the symposium and attended again at the end to hear my summary of the discussions and of the advice gleaned from the expert delegates from Scotland from about a dozen other countries across three continents. I was struck both by the Justice Secretary's enthusiastic support for the symposium and by the way he listened and responded thoughtfully to the advice that it generated.

Both experiences - giving evidence to the committee and attending the symposium - reminded me that, in Scotland at least, it is possible for academics to be critical friends of government, of parliament and of policy and practice. We are of no use if we can't be critical where we see proposals as lacking a sound basis in evidence or principle, and we are of little use if we aren't friendly enough to talk and to share what we know - and what we don't know.

One thing I do know is that many of the overseas guests at the symposium were deeply envious of the situation of Scottish criminologists and of the constructive, critical dialogue with policy and practice that we enjoy.

Fergus McNeill,

Professor of Criminology and Social Work,

School of Social and Political Sciences, Ivy Lodge, 63 Gibson Street, Glasgow.