Our fear is that this climate is unlikely to produce the nuanced policy response necessary to adequately address the needs of women and girls in the penal system."Frances Crook, its director, said: "There are few women who have committed violent offences and who are a continuing danger to the public."Women tend to be primary carers and the majority of them have young children. They also tend to commit different types of offences from men - they tend, for example, to steal children's clothes and food where men tend to steal electronic equipment."Ms Crook said standards in women's prisons varied widely, but one she had visited recently was "run like a high-security jail, with heavy use of solitary confinement and high levels of distress among the women".Prison service sources argued that a significant minority of women jailed had been convicted of violence or serious offences such as robbery and burglary.A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are aware that there are people in prison who ought not to be there, including 10,000 foreign nationals, those with mental health issues and vulnerable women."We have outlined our intention to remove these where appropriate, and to use tough community sentences to deal with less serious, non-violent offenders."However, the prison service is obliged to take those whom the courts remand or sentence to custody."With the overall prison population approaching 80,000, the Home Office has been forced to convert two women's jails - Bullwood Hall in Essex and Brockhill in Worcestershire - into male prisons. And I think it's fair to say at this stage, 'Is this the greatest thing Carphone Warehouse have ever done? Or is this Charles Dunstone's Iraq War?'"Carphone is boosting its callcentre capacity after being inundated with calls for the broadband product. Mr Dunstone replies: "I've personally stood up and put my name to it so people know who to blame.

Mr Dunstone, who was pictured on a holiday boat with Mr Blair last summer, has admitted that the number of people signing up to the "free" broadband offer from Carphone's TalkTalk service was double what he had expected: 340,000 applications were registered in the first two months. As a result, the company has struggled to connect customers on time, some waiting months for broadband services despite paying a telephone subscription from the outset. In the BBC's Money Programme - "The Broadband Boom and You" - to be broadcast tonight, Mr Dunstone was asked about TalkTalk's customer service issues at the time of its broadband launch earlier this year. Charles Dunstone, the chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, has compared the company's entry into the broadband market, which has been plagued by customer service issues, with Tony Blair's controversial decision to send troops into Iraq. Verizon said yesterday that Verizon Wireless's revenue in the three months to 30 June rose 18 per cent to $9.3bn. Churn, or customer cancellations, fell to a record-low 1.13 per cent..

He reiterated that is exactly the position of Sir John Bond, his new chairman."Mr Seidenberg said talks with Mr Sarin in New York last week concluded that a deal was impossible at this stage and the pair agreed to tell their shareholders to stop speculating on the issue. The pair had talked instead about plans to invest in Verizon Wireless, including the purchase of additional wireless spectrum where necessary.In a separate announcement, Vodafone named Steve Pusey, currently president of European operations at Nortel, as its new chief technology officer.Vodafone first bought into the US with the acquisition of AirTouch in 1999 and emerged with its 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless in a three-way merger later that year. "Arun communicated to us that Vodafone was extremely pleased with its position in the partnership," he said. "Their view is that the creation [of] value over the next few years is far greater than any strategy to exit the partnership. We remain happy with the prospects for the business and our stake. If, however, we received a compelling offer for the stake, we would consider it." Mr Sarin argued that it would be unwise to sell the stake while it is accreting in value.Mr Seidenberg said Mr Sarin's position was no more co-operative in private.